Tech/Computer advice from me

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You do a scan, it finds a virus, you ask to clear it, and your system is clean. As your system has been backed up in the system restore files, the virus footprint is hidden in there, and if you do a system restore to a system that has been scanned and clean, you will load the virus back in to your system files.

So, therefore, if you do a scan and it finds a virus, do what is required to remove it, then turn OFF system restore. Reboot your computer, then turn ON system restore.

That's what I used to do before I went with UBUNTU.
 
Fear The Spear said:
So, since scanners don't target System Restore files at all, let"s say i got an infection in my System Restore files, but no-where else on my PC. Then simply deleting all System Restore points will remove the infection, and a scan is not necessary - is that correct ?

And Yes, Windows XP.

Sorry I'm high maintenance.
Click to expand...

Yes - that will remove the infection in that scenario. A scan is not only not necessary, but it wont solve the actual problem in that case.
 
Unless you can actually access the system restore files, and search/scan for any virus, you won't know if a virus resides in the system restore files until you have to perform a system restore.
 
good advice in this thread.

another thing to consider: you can maintain a so called "gold disk" that is read only. won't cover your dynamic data needs, but (assuming you received a clean app), it can allow you to restore your OS to a known good state. what happens after that, of course, is problematic.

in other related areas...folks are experimenting with concepts like bootable media, virtual containers, and VDI.

once you are connected....there is always a path.
 
What follows is a rant. I couldn't think of a better place to put it and I didn't feel like it deserves its own thread.
I'm sure there are quite a few of you that will go 'duh...' after you read this. This isn't an epiphany, I'm aware this has been going on for a long time. This is just the straw that broke the camel's back, and I'm finally put my foot down on the situation.

Begin rant...
I'm starting to get really fed up with google and its new direction. Google used to be a company that was about research - research funded by it's search and ad revenue. Awesome research that was geared around progressive technology but also challenging the status quo and other established industries. Pushing the 'bar,' if you will.

Now they're all about ad revenue and if it doesn't revolve around collecting consumer data to better target users with selected ads, then they aren't only not interested in continue work on it, but they're actually cancelling the services now.

They're trying to compete with facebook on ad's because even though Facebook ads suck and are terrible, facebook has tons more information on the users it's serving ads to, so companies prefer advertising on facebook. So now Google's trying to up their advertising attractiveness by collecting all this data.

Now all the sudden you can't possibly visit youtube without being logged in if you have a gmail account you keep logged in. Log out of youtube, it logs you out of all google services. They obviously did this on purpose.

**** you google, that's why I quit using facebook. It was bad enough they were tracking me on facebook, but once they started tracking everything I did outside of facebook I deleted my account and never returned. Now you're doing the exact same thing

Here's a general how-to stop Youtube from logging you in: http://jclark.org/weblog/2011/10/23/howto-prevent-youtube-from-tracking-your-gmail-credentials/
Here's the specifics for Internet Explorer, just add youtube.com and click 'block':
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-vista/block-or-allow-cookies

Whatever browser you have should have some way to do it, you'll have to *sigh* google it.

What a sad turn of events. Google has gone down hill and is now clearly wrapped around the finger of stock holders. It explains why their best people are all leaving, one by one, to join Microsoft, Apple, or a startup.

Shows what the upper-level management of this country is really about. It's a recurring theme. Do something awesome to build your company brand and get rich; bring in MBA's and stock holders to let them ruin it.

I can't wait until my phone contract is up. I'm dumping Android. I love the OS but I just can't stand how much Google is tracking your every move. God knows what they have buried in Android. I used to trust Google, so it didn't bother me. Their sole focus in life wasn't ad revenue - it was research and product development. Now it's sole purpose in life is to increase ad revenue, so now I don't trust them.

Once that time comes i'll shut down everything Google. Google Music, gmail, Google apps, et al. I'll happily re-spend the money to get the equivalent apps on another platform. I'm already using Bing as my search provider. I know people claim it sucks but majority of those people just don't know what they're going about. They don't even know how to accurately judge a search engine, much less declare which ones are good and bad.

So long google. You're a new phone away from being cut out of my life permanently. Good job. You managed to ruin a company that was unbelievably influential and important in the last 2 decades and set it on a path of being one of the most despised.

Word of warning: You don't have the type of use that facebook does. People aren't tied to search based on all their friends using it. People can and will leave your product if you piss them off enough. They don't have to have all their friends leave and join the same service as them to use your products.
You aren't invincible the way facebook appears to be.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I use Firefox as my browser of choice, and Firefox has an add-on called Ad Block Plus. I haven't seen an ad or a pop-up since installing it.

By your rant, it seems that you still use Internet Exploder, and thus, you are being 'hit' by what IE is a magnet to.

BTW, there is also an android version (free) of Ad Block Plus, which I have installed on my tablet.

No ads for me!
 
I use IE because it's the most secure browser out right now and because it's installed on every machine I have to service so it prevents me from having to constantly switch back and forth in terms of mindset. I know it's 'common knowledge' that IE sucks but majority of that is from experiences in the pre IE 8 days.

My rant is not about ads. I don't mind ads. I don't mind being served ads and I certainly don't mind being served ads that actually relate to my interests as opposed to random ads. It helps me buy stuff for cheaper that I might actually be interested in and on rare occasion reminds me that I need something I had forgot about.

My rant is about not being able to go to youtube (owned by Google) and look for something without my gmail account being tied into it and used to track me. That should be an opt it, if you want it, type service. Instead Google not only automatically ties it all together, but now they wont let you log out of youtube without being logged out of all google services (it didn't used to be this way). If you go to your google dashboard and try to remove your youtube account, it takes you to delete your entire google account.

They've tied the two together and made it impossible to use them independently without either using different browsers (lame) or disabling cookies (nefarious, they're counting on majority of the people not even knowing that exists much less how to do it.)

That's what irritates me. The 'automatically sign you up and make it so you can't do it any other way' mentality that Facebook adopted and went full press with about 5-6 years ago irritates me to no end. Now Google is doing it, so I'll be leaving them behind as soon as I can get a non-google-tied phone.
 
Nope. Not really going to defend my stance on it, for ever article I find showing that you can find one that shows Firefox or Chrome as being the best.

I've posted about it before, it's the browser I use for many reasons. I know people like to **** on IE, that's fine, please continue to do so.
 
I really like Krebs. He's probably my most read RSS feed, although lately his posting frequency has taken a hit...
 
In a related vein...

security.jpg


Link: http://www.treelobsters.com/
 
Unlike traditional botnets which could only generate limited traffic because of the modest Internet connections and home PCs they typically run on, these open resolvers are typically running on big servers with fat pipes. They are like bazookas and the events of the last week have shown the damage they can cause. What's troubling is that, compared with what is possible, this attack may prove to be relatively modest.
Click to expand...

Russian Business Network?

chinese-military-at-computers-possibly-hacking-640x353.jpg


Or the Chinese flexing their cyber warfare muscles?
 
yeah, they're likely controlled by a Russian crime group, Chinese government, or some kids in the Netherlands playing around.

There's two groups involved in this stuff - the people that hack into the servers and set them up so they can be used, and the people that actually use them for some purpose.

The later group is paying the former group to acquire access to the servers. It's done for pretty cheaply though.

All of that is how they take advantage of home botnets. I'm not sure in this case since this wasn't home computers. I think it's reasonable to assume it's related to the same types of people - possibly just more sophisticated groups with better hackers and more money.

I know the typical home user thinks IT people know a lot about computers but there's just as many people in our field that are clueless as home users. They satisfied the requirements to get a degree and they somehow worked their way into an organization, but in terms of actually understanding the technology, the job, and doing things correctly they're clueless.

That's how these servers get compromised. We see attempts on servers we run all the time, but we:
a - have reporting to see it
b - actually read the reports
c - are capable of recognizing an attack
d - are capable of doing something about an attack

most people fail at step b. I know, you'd think step a, but no most people actually set up the reporting. They just don't ****ing read it.

i'm not talking about the guys at the big dogs - cloud fare, or the t2 and t1 providers that blog post mentions. I can't speak to how the people that work there are, I would imagine the vast majority of them know a hell of a lot more about networking than I do.

I'm talking about the people running the servers that were compromised and used for the attack. That's the field I'm currently in. It's a field full of idiots.
 
Over a period of time I noticed these folders with strange names appearing out of nowhere, directly inside my C drive (not in any of the folders or sub-folders). I don't even know if "strange name" is the proper term, because they each simply have about a 20 character folder name that is completely a random combination of letters and numbers that neither spell or resemble anything, for example the folder name "4f050256eb5039560a773aea298885cd"

I've never seen anything like this on a PC in my life. I open the folders and the contents are largely unrecognizable. Among other files, they include Word documents by the names of "EULA" with a code after that, and when I open the Word document it's usually some foreign language. You can even see "EULA" files on the outside of the strange folders in the screenshot below, and not just inside the folders. Not only very strange, but they keep multiplying, one by one.
What are these folders, and where did they come from ?

Folders_zps4e78004a.png
 
If you don't know what EULA means, it is End User Licensing Agreement. Every time you agree to install a program, you are agreeing to the EULA, and thus, creating a folder with this EULA info.

The next time you carry out a disc cleanup, make sure you check for the removal of temp files. When the cleanup is finished, go back and have a look at the C: drive and see what remains.
 
I did not know what EULA means, thanks.
I have done quite a few disk cleanups during that time, and don't seem to have made any difference. So, does that mean none of these are temp files ? And I guess I should not delete any of the files or folders ?
 
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