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Friend's Computer gave me a headache (1 Viewer)

Scott L

Senior HTF Member
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Feb 29, 2000
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So my buddy's sister is out of town and he invited some people over to hang out, he told me to take a look at the puter since he noticed some wacky things about it. After trying to get to my email I was about to recommend a full re-install of XP, it was that bad.

Pressing ctrl+al+del showed the task manager for 1 sec before closing again, telling me there was a virus or two on the system. I used my online account to install McAfee antivirus which found 150 individual problematic files, with *5* seperate viruses on her one system. Fixed that.

Then onto the spyware... downloaded and ran the latest build of Spybot first which turned over a hundred files as well. Then Ad-Aware which found close to a hundred. About an hour and a half later I wanted to run Windows Update but noticed the system was dragging. Checked the HD and it needed to be defragged badly. Set the pagefile to 766mb (windows recommended) and let it spin.

Watched Family Guy episodes with buddies, checking back an hour later. Defrag was done and ran Win Update, they didn't have SP1 yet along with all the recent worm fixes so grabbed those.

Also got rid of their Kazaa in favor of Klite K++, still noticed some weird advertisement pop-up windows I've never seen before. The title bars said Messenger but shutting MSN Messenger down didn't fix it. Ran a Google search and found out there's another program in XP called Messenger, having nothing to do with MSN chat. I went into the Services settings, disabled it, and set it to manual in case it was needed in the future. Finally free of all spyware/pop-ups.

3 hours later and the computer is about 3x as fast, much less clutter, and virus protected. I wonder just how many systems are exactly like hers or worse?

Oh, and do you think she'll go out with me now? :D
 

Rob Gillespie

Senior HTF Member
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Aug 17, 1998
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3,632
Ran a Google search and found out there's another program in XP called Messenger, having nothing to do with MSN chat
That'll be the Windows messaging system. It's the service a sysadmin would use to broadcast a message to users. Using a firewall such as ZoneAlarm should stop that nonsense dead in it's tracks, without having to disable the service. You really should be running a firewall anyway. The web is not a friendly place.
 

John Watson

Screenwriter
Joined
Jul 14, 2002
Messages
1,936
How many other computers are almost fubar?:)

It's a pet theory of mine that perhaps 50% are? They are just too complex to be managed by most of us simpletons :frowning:

BTW Why is MS so lame in using English to name computer functions? As well as Internet Explorer, we have Windows Explorer, and plain Explorer, whatever that is :thumbsdown:
 

Mike Voigt

Supporting Actor
Joined
Sep 30, 1997
Messages
799
Most are. You are heads and shoulders above 99% of the folks on the internet, who have no clue; they really don't.

The various ISPs, Microsoft, e-businesses et al aren't making it any easier, though some try. One could wish they were. And everyone changing to Macs would just refocus the problem - apart from being expensive as hell :D

Mike
 

PhilBoy

Second Unit
Joined
Sep 30, 2003
Messages
427
Best fix if you know what you're doing...

FORMAT C

I run an old 200Mhz box with 98 for internet connection and keep the new system offline. I got tired of trying to compete with all the hacks on the web.
 

Kimmo Jaskari

Screenwriter
Joined
Feb 27, 2000
Messages
1,528
Actually, it's not that hard to keep a computer working, but quite a few people can't be bothered... it should "just work".

- antivirus software with automatic updates
- software firewall to keep the incoming connections to a minimum
- visit windows update once a week or so.

That's about it. Will keep the system clean for most people.

As for going out with you... chances are she'll call her brother and yell her head off because Kazaa is gone, her four favourite spyware-infested programs no longer run because the spyware has been removed and "who moved the icons on the desktop?? Arrgh!" :D
 

Scott L

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Feb 29, 2000
Messages
4,457
haha! Well she's married anyway, and weird. ;) Thanks for the tip Rob and Kimmo, I'll install Zone Alarm on their system (but will still keep mine firewall free!).

Phil- format C is always nice, but then you have all the fun of swapping out old files, spending hours re-tweaking the OS (if you're into performance), and installing it takes a good part out of the day. With all the registry cleaning the spyware programs do I don't re-install Windows unless there's a major problem.
 

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