[Popeye]

If it weren't for Dennis talking me through my issues with my latest battle with the virus I had, I'm sure I would have had to take it into somebody like the Geek Squad and been out a huge chunk of change and been without my computer for who knows how long. Dennis sure knows his stuff and has my whole-hearted recommendation if you need someone to help with computer issues. So if you have issues or need a home/small office network setup or even setting up gaming consoles as well, I can’t think of anyone I would call before Dennis.

[DOUBLE D]

Dennis is also very, very,knowledgeable with smart phones and i would also highly recommend him for any of your it needs.
dd

[Bubbalouie]

Never would I have thought he could fix a puter you had screwed up. He must be more than masterful- must be a magician too!!

(ah, just had to pops)- you going out "inland" fishing tomorrow? I know where they are a bitin'

[dylanapollo]

Awww shucks t'weren't nuthin'

Thanks Popeye. Glad we could get you back up and posting!

[pat10323]

wht was the problem in the end with the comp?

[dylanapollo]

Popeye didn't eat his spinach! Just kidding. I do want to make clear that Popeye didn't do something "Stupid" or anything. This can happen to the best of us. I clean up several of these a month on different folks systems.

It was a rogue Malware program (we hope it's the only one he's doing a full scan tonight) called "2011 Internet security". It's one of many of these types. Usually what happens is you go to a website and a box pops up stating some scary stuff about your computer being infected with spyware or viruses and that you need to perform a scan. Usually don't matter what you say "yes" or "no" the scan begins and you are hosed. The payload can take MANY forms such as programs not running and/or you just get tons of popups and your system slows down etc,. "They" say that if you want to fix the problems you need to purchase the AV software in this case "2011 Internet Security". They look somewhat legit and when you give them your CC info they start the wiping out of your accounts and such. Most legitimate AV's don't hit you like this so it's probably a safe bet that if they do ask it's a scam. Best advice is to keep your AV/Malware programs up to date. Even if you don't want to renew a subscription to Norton or whatever there are plenty of good AV's out there. One that I like to recommend is "Microsoft security Essentials" It's put out by Microsoft AND it's free. Most of the white papers also show it being as good if not better than Norton and Mcafee. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles they do but most don't use them anyway. But no matter which you use get familiar with it and ONLY pay attention if it pops up a warning.

I could go on and on about this but following a few simple steps can help.

1. As I stated above good "Up to date" AV software is imperitive.
2. If you get an email from someone you don't know don't open. If it's from a friend with wierd subjects or whatever don't open it. Check with them first. Email Attachments are a good way to get a virus. If a friend sends you a video or a picture and while opening it you are told something like "your adobe flashplayer needs to be updated". Don't update it from that window. Go to the program itself or the software website and do the update.
3. Watch what your computer tells you. A lot of these things are grammatically incorrect or really try to scare you with flashing icons and crap. Take the time to read.

BTW don't install multiple AV applications. For example Norton and Mcafee. They can and probably will conflict with each other causing more trouble than they are worth.

[DOUBLE D]

Dennis i downloaded the program and ran a full scan and presto my laptop is super quick again thanks a bunch for the info
dd

[Bubbalouie]

Your a good man Dennis!!

One question- since Microsoft security Essentials is a Microsoft product, can it be downloaded and not interfere with Norton or McAfee?

[Popeye]

Dennis, PM sent

[Luv2fish2]

Bubbalouie wrote:

Your a good man Dennis!!

One question- since Microsoft security Essentials is a Microsoft product, can it be downloaded and not interfere with Norton or McAfee?

From what the install says of MSE YES it will interfere with other AV programs and also will make your pc run slower.

[dylanapollo]

Yea MSE will interfere with the other programs as it is a complete AV/Malware scanner. There are ways to use multiple AV suites together but it is not for the faint hearted or uninitiated. People are going to tell you that this suite or that one is better; however, I think it comes down to money and opinion. I mean you can go out and pay a good chunk of money for an AV program and still get something that slips thru the cracks. Remember a LOT of these things trick YOU into installing them. If the AV or Malware program folks haven't seen them they will let you do all the damage you want.

Three words for y'all

BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP!!! Over 70% of my business is data recovery. There's no excuse for not having a backup of your important files. USB drives (external HD's) are getting extremely cheap. Most come with backup software, and if they don't there's a ton of them out there for cheap and even free. Even a DVD disk or A Thumb drive is better than nothing. Also, make sure you have your recovery discs created. These will save you from having to buy new Operating systems if your HDD goes bad.

As I said I could go on for hours on this stuff. But AV and Backup are your best chance for survival in this crazy world of dubba.dubba.dubba.scary.stuff.net
And remember we are entitled to a free credit report each year from all three agencies. It's at https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/requestForm?from=landing this is a free site put up by the credit agencies not something like freecreditreport.com which in my opinion is a waste of money. But then again I have no money so there.

[dylanapollo]

Popeye wrote:

Dennis, PM sent

You da Man Popeye!!! Good work.

[wsj_outdoorsman]

Is MSE better than the AVG-free AV program?

[dajord]

In my experience Malwarebytes, has been the best FREE Anti-Virus
protection you can find.

Best protection, get an external drive, backup your PC as often as you
update your files and if you get a virus you can always restore your
PC from a previous date and get rid-off the virus. Easiest way w/o getting
into complected process to clean your PC.

The external drive will save your data in case catastrophe happens.

[dylanapollo]

dajord wrote:

In my experience Malwarebytes, has been the best FREE Anti-Virus
protection you can find.

dajord, yes Malwarebytes is a very very good program for what it does; however, the free version doesn't have a resident scanner and it doesn't cover ALL virus types. What that means is that it doesn't catch a problem as it occurs just afterwards and you have to remember to run it. It is a great tool for removing malware/adware and some trojans; however, it doesn't prevent all things. The paid version does have a resident scanner that is pretty good but again not perfect.

Someone mentioned Avast antivirus software. Again a real good one. BUT it doesn't cover everything as well.

Comcast users: Comcast has something called constantcare they offer free to it's customers. It includes Norton antivirus and is pretty good (especially for free) the tradeoff? Well it can make slower machines run slower (uh what?). Same with Mcaffee suites. The ALL-in-ONE suites can be really good at protecting you from multiple types of infections; however, they can't protect you from unknown stuff and from yourself.

Here are just two quick reviews of multiple AV packages. The first are all paid services. I am NOT endorsing any of these per se. I'm just showing you that depending on who you talk to there's going to be differing opinions.
http://anti-malware-software-review.toptenreviews.com/
http://i1-news.softpedia-static.com/images/news2/Microsoft-Security-Essentials-vs-Kaspersky-Nod32-BitDefender-Symantec-McAfee-3.jpg

Bottom Line: I've been doing computers for over 20 years and I've yet to find the perfect solution for the average user. Best bet make those backups/recovery disks (if you can).
and get to know a good IT person.


****** SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT ********
I am always happy to help out to an extent; however, this is my line of work; therfore, if I do have to spend any great amount of time helping I do charge. I charge WAY less than any of the big stores and I care much more about my customers data. Of course my fellow fisherman do get special treatment


Now below is some other stuff that you might find interesting. Some of this stuff is long and tedious but if you want to know a little more read ahead.

**** What's the differences? Malware/adware/spyware/scareware/worms/trojans OH MY!!! ****

Here is a pretty fairly easy to understand explanation I found on yahoo.answers.com. Funny how a regular user get's it best.
This is a pretty good definition I found on yahoo answers.com
Virus is a program to cause damage to computer.
*Trojan is a program which is used to gain access to a computer by installing a program on infected PC to open some backdoor. [Trojans are also known as Backdoors].
*Worm is a program which infects the computers which are connected by some network. Worms slow down the network.
* Spywares are the program which are used to monitor/Log the activity performed on a computer. These are used to spy on some one either for legal or illegal perpose. Example: Keylogger applications.
* Adwares are the programs which delivers ads to your computer (generally in POP-UP's form). They consume your network.
*Malwares are the program with malicious intention. It can be damaging your computer, spying on you or any other malicious task.


Here are a few links to some different guys trying to explain differences between all these things. WARNING only for those with easily exploding heads
A definition of some things. Fairly accurate but not complete
http://lifehacker.com/5560443/whats-the-difference-between-viruses-trojans-worms-and-other-malware
Definition of Malware (confusing and not necessarily accurate)
http://www.antivirusworld.com/articles/malware.php
trying to describe the difference in Malware v. Virus (confusing and not necessarily accurate)
http://chriselbert.com/2011/01/06/computer-virus-vs-malware/
And one more just to completely confuse you

[Popeye]

I like the last bit. I unplugged and put a piece of Duct Tape on my hard drive plug and while it doesn't do much, it is protected from all known and unknown viruses now.

[dylanapollo]

Popeye wrote:

I like the last bit. I unplugged and put a piece of Duct Tape on my hard drive plug and while it doesn't do much, it is protected from all known and unknown viruses now.

Good one Popeye.
One of the funniest things I ever seen about this sort of thing was by the comedian Joe Rogan (Fear Factor, UFC) who did this skit about Technology.
Here's a link. ****** He does say a couple of minor dirty words *****
http://youtu.be/qxXD9WQWZck

[dajord]

Dennis, I also was in the computer industry for 24 years. Main frame and
networking. Hardware and software, engineering, sales, marketing and management.
Worked for:

Motorola
McDonnell Douglas
US Robotics,
3Com
Cisco
Marconi

Wow!

As I am sure you know, the good old days (and we did have a lot of them) came
to a holt in 2000. Man I miss them days.

Oh, by the way, in my last post, I was refereing mostly for
folks that are not in the industry and some times, you can go
crazy trying to stay up on all the forms of attacks and panic sets in
when a virus does invade our PC's.

We all should know by now, to be very cautious when downloading
from web sites and opening emails and chat invitations. When we
do these tasks we open ourselves to viruses and attacks.

I don't know how many times I told my customers and friends to:

Make sure to do BACKUPS!!!!

[dylanapollo]

Dajord, yeah the good ol' days when we could wear shorts and tshirts to work and they couldn't say a word cause we was the only ones that knew how things worked! The old SCO Unix, Dos, and COBOL and fortran programming. When you could spend hours programming to get a little nifty one page report and forget about a chart! Then you're talking overtime babeee

I certainly hope you didn't take any offense to what I said. I definitely am not trying to talk down to anyone. I use Malwarebytes ALL the time. I used it with our resident spinach eater and on most every computer I work on. It's just that without the resident scanner part most people don't use it enough to rely on as a complete AV solution.
But as my mama used to say "opinions are like a-hole's everyone's got one"

And besides the fish (or phish) don't care either way right?

[bill b]

Interesting topic.

Dennis, I can't access your web?????????????? I tried but............ It goes to a place in Arizona?

I sent you a pm. Bill