Tech/Computer advice from me

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Fear The Spear said:
I have Avast, Malwarebytes, and Spyware Blaster.

I have a high level of trust in Avast. It actually seems hyper-sensitive, and completely blocks me from even entering webpages that appear suspicious.
I've run scans on both Avast and Malwarebytes and they havn't found anything.
Spyware Blaster does not perform "scans". It's real-time protection, that prevents the majority of spyware and cookies from even entering the system, so there's never a need to "clean them out", like you would with programs like Spybot, or SuperAntispyware, or Spyware Terminator.

Before you mentioned the possibility of me being infected, it never even crossed my mind that I might have had a virus. The only potential sign I see that I might have a virus is the slow performance and frequent "time-outs", however, as you suggested earlier, I also, attributed that to the level of RAM, quality of processor, and the like.

Another thing I frequently do, is uninstall my Avast, and then install another free antivirus, or one with at least a free trial, and they don't find viruses either.
Click to expand...

Just an update on this situation if you all are curious.
I continued to uninstall my AV programs, and install new, free ones, and scan with them, and one of the programs finally came across a hit on a virus.
I used ESET-NOD, Panda, Avira, Stinger, and MSE.
The only program that found an infection was MSE.
And the name of the virus was Trojan:JS/BlacoleRef.W
It said the threat was "Severe" and the recommended action was "Remove".
It successfully removed it.
However, I have not noticed any improvement in performance since removing it. In fact, it seems my PC runs even slower now, and freezes up more, ironically. I googled the virus and it looks pretty serious. Is it possible the damage is already done, even though it's supposed to have been removed ? You guys familiar with this virus ?
 
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If the virus, or anything else suspect, is attached to a file, and that file is transferred to another storage location, the new location then becomes infected as well.

When you do a clean, you have to remember that if you have system restore activated, the virus could also be in one of the stored files, so when you assume the computer is clean, then have to do a system restore, the virus returns and you can't work out where this one came from. It was always on your computer, but dormant until you bought it to life.

When you do a system scan, and a virus is detected, it is best to deactivate system restore BEFORE actioning the virus. Just remember to re-activate system restore when you are done.
 
Fear The Spear said:
Just an update on this situation if you all are curious.
I continued to uninstall my AV programs, and install new, free ones, and scan with them, and one of the programs finally came across a hit on a virus.
I used ESET-NOD, Panda, Avira, Stinger, and MSE.
The only program that found an infection was MSE.
And the name of the virus was Trojan:JS/BlacoleRef.W
It said the threat was "Severe" and the recommended action was "Remove".
It successfully removed it.
However, I have not noticed any improvement in performance since removing it. In fact, it seems my PC runs even slower now, and freezes up more, ironically. I googled the virus and it looks pretty serious. Is it possible the damage is already done, even though it's supposed to have been removed ? You guys familiar with this virus ?
Click to expand...
I believe it might be needed for you to pay a visit to bleepingcomputer.com forums, Fear.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/forum79.html

You'd be in good hands over there.

After this virus problem is hopefully fixed over there, if you still want to use Belarc or CPU-Z to determine your motherboard model so we can see how large of a RAM module that thing can take, try downloading and scanning them in Safe Mode with Networking.

EDIT: Or you can try and see if the model number shows up when the computer booting up or in BIOS.
 
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SkinnedAussie said:
If the virus, or anything else suspect, is attached to a file, and that file is transferred to another storage location, the new location then becomes infected as well.
Click to expand...

Okay, I think there was a misunderstanding on this one. I do understand that an infected file on a PC can infect a flash drive if I myself copy it over. What I am wondering, is, let's say my PC is infected, and my flash drive is not. Can the virus actually "hop itself" from the PC to the flash drive by itself, without me copying it from the PC to the flash ?

SkinnedAussie said:
When you do a clean, you have to remember that if you have system restore activated, the virus could also be in one of the stored files, so when you assume the computer is clean, then have to do a system restore, the virus returns and you can't work out where this one came from. It was always on your computer, but dormant until you bought it to life.

When you do a system scan, and a virus is detected, it is best to deactivate system restore BEFORE actioning the virus. Just remember to re-activate system restore when you are done.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I understand this completely. So, you're saying, once I clean the PC, do not do a system restore to a point before it was infected. Am I right, so far ? That makes sense to me. But I was not aware of the "deactivate" or "re-activate" feature on system restore. What if I clean my PC, and then just delete all my history of "Restore Points" ? Is it really necessary to deactivate it ? Because, otherwise how would the PC go back to a previous state of being infected, if I never manually do a system restore to a previous point ? But rather, either don't restore at all, or just delete the history of restore points ? Am I making sense ?



SirClintonPortis said:
I believe it might be needed for you to pay a visit to bleepingcomputer.com forums, Fear.
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/forum79.html
You'd be in good hands over there.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll check it out.
 
The easiest way to delete the restore points is to turn off the restore feature, or de-activate it. This removes all files stored in restore memory, including any traces of a virus.

You then scan your system with your anti-virus software, removing any other traces it finds. Then, now that your system files are clean, you turn on (activate) system restore.

The problem with a virus is if it makes a home in the registry, no manner of scanning will delete it, but as system restore relies on registry files to create the back-up, any virus still in the registry will ALWAYS return, even on assumed clean systems.

That's about how I understand it as my Ubuntu system has NEVER had anti-virus software installed, and has NEVER been affected by a virus or any other unwelcome nasties.
 
MikeSr619 said:
Apple guys always swear their machines are so good.

How much did you pay? How easy is it to swap out hard drives, upgrade memory, change our video cards?

Oh ya...you "dont get viruses". Sorry, but apple is all hype. And its hysterical that they have windows for macs but you dont see many PC people begging for snow leopard or whatever crap animal theyre on now
Posted via BGO Mobile Device
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mac's are nice machines if you can deal with a unix os - not everyone can.

but so are PC's that are 1k+.

problem is people compare a $1500 mac book to a $600 pc and act all surprised when the mac is better.

of course it's better. it cost over twice as much. it should be better.

I own a mac book pro, an hp elite book, and hp envy (envy is my wifes but I steal it for hd video streaming :) ). they're each better than the other at certain things. they're all nice machines. they're all over 1k a piece (not that I paid that. I got the envy for 700, the elite book was free, I did pay full retail for the mac book :( )

you buy cheap stuff you get cheap stuff. paying $600 for a computer is normally bottom of the line. you can always find deals - but as a base price that's pretty much bottom line.
 
I don't know if this falls under the topic here, but maybe someone can help.
I'm trying to find out if it's possible to recover some text messages that were accidentally deleted.
I have Boost Mobile Service and it's a Sanyo Juno phone.
I googled and one place says deleted texts are stored on the SIMS card, but doesn't tell how to recover it.
Another source I found from Googling, tells me to download a program that will recover the deleted texts. However, the Sanyo Juno is not a Smart Phone, so I don't see how downloading a program would work on it - so I think that's a scam.
I called Boost Mobile Support and they tell me it's not possible to recover them. But they never seem knowldgeable, so I take what they say with a grain of salt.
Anyone have an answer here ?
 
Fear The Spear said:
I don't know if this falls under the topic here, but maybe someone can help.
I'm trying to find out if it's possible to recover some text messages that were accidentally deleted.
I have Boost Mobile Service and it's a Sanyo Juno phone.
I googled and one place says deleted texts are stored on the SIMS card, but doesn't tell how to recover it.
Another source I found from Googling, tells me to download a program that will recover the deleted texts. However, the Sanyo Juno is not a Smart Phone, so I don't see how downloading a program would work on it - so I think that's a scam.
I called Boost Mobile Support and they tell me it's not possible to recover them. But they never seem knowldgeable, so I take what they say with a grain of salt.
Anyone have an answer here ?
Click to expand...

Technically they are recoverable as long as your phone hasn't overwritten the space they were stored on. How you recover them is phone specific though, and I've never dealt with it.

Does it have a sim card? Boost Mobile is a CDMA/IDEN service and typically sim cards are for GSM services; though I admittedly don't know much about IDEN services :\

If it does have a sim card then there seems to be some recovery software that can be used, but I've never used any of them so I can't recommend anything :( If you do have a sim card, i'd turn the phone off until you are able to try whatever recovery software you want to use to minimize risk of it being overwritten.
 
So the pig at work is blaming me for another round of attacks on our share drive at work. I have done thorough diagnostics from several different sources...you guys here helped a lot... I have found nothing on any of my devices!

Pig is throwing me under the bus!
 
If you are being accused for these attacks, ask your IT to specifically name the problem files. How can you be expected to deal with it when you don't know what you are looking for.

But, in future, if you have to carry out work related duties on any computer OTHER than one connected to the network, tell your boss that it ain't gunna happen, but explain why.
 
SkinnedAussie said:
If you are being accused for these attacks, ask your IT to specifically name the problem files. How can you be expected to deal with it when you don't know what you are looking for.

But, in future, if you have to carry out work related duties on any computer OTHER than one connected to the network, tell your boss that it ain't gunna happen, but explain why.
Click to expand...


SA, I don't use their computers at work. I only transfer images from my MacPro to them via a thumb drive. Every time I put images on a thumb drive, I format it prior to putting images on it.

The one who is blaming me continues to say it is coming from my thumb drive, but every time she uploads images she scans the drive and finds nothing.

Monday, I gave the thumb drive to someone else to upload and she did not scan the drive... apparently there was another attack on Monday from her computer.

Again, I formatted that card prior to transferring images. The images came from my camera, to the Lightroom program, to a file on my Mac, to the formatted card and submitted to this girl. How can a transfer anything in that process?
 
If it was me, they would no longer get any photos. In fact, they would get NOTHING from any peripheral that is NOT company equipment. If the photos were taken on a company camera, transferred INHOUSE to a company supplied thumb drive, then uploaded to a company owned pc, the problem wouldn't be yours to be accused of.

Until you have been proven to NOT be responsible for the 'attack', stop uploading anything from your computer.

If it was me, I would be telling the IT person to go forth and prolificate!
 
SkinnedAussie said:
If it was me, they would no longer get any photos. In fact, they would get NOTHING from any peripheral that is NOT company equipment. If the photos were taken on a company camera, transferred INHOUSE to a company supplied thumb drive, then uploaded to a company owned pc, the problem wouldn't be yours to be accused of.

Until you have been proven to NOT be responsible for the 'attack', stop uploading anything from your computer.

If it was me, I would be telling the IT person to go forth and prolificate!
Click to expand...
Set up a site to dump the images and will not be heading into the office unless the big man calls me in.
 
Sounds like he's just being lazy. I just can't imagine accusing someone of something like that without proof...
 
tshile said:
Sounds like he's just being lazy. I just can't imagine accusing someone of something like that without proof...
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Lazy and willing to throw anyone under the bus as long as the fault does not lie on their shoulders.

The IT guys really isn't much help either. He just cleans things up and leaves, never getting down to the cause of it...or so it seems because he would clearly have been able to find the source of it...wouldn't he?
 
If you're just transferring image files and not running executables from the flash drive, then there's no way you can be infecting anything. At least, that's how I always understood it.
 
tshile said:
Technically they are recoverable as long as your phone hasn't overwritten the space they were stored on. How you recover them is phone specific though, and I've never dealt with it.

Does it have a sim card? Boost Mobile is a CDMA/IDEN service and typically sim cards are for GSM services; though I admittedly don't know much about IDEN services :\

If it does have a sim card then there seems to be some recovery software that can be used, but I've never used any of them so I can't recommend anything :( If you do have a sim card, i'd turn the phone off until you are able to try whatever recovery software you want to use to minimize risk of it being overwritten.
Click to expand...

What if I don't have a SIM card ?
 
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