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Posts: 4266
| I know somebody mentioned the amount of SPAM that us fishermen seem to get along with pop-ups and banners and all of that crap. I started receiving tons of e-mails that I never even opened, just blocked the sender and deleted them. I have Norton Anti-Virus that is up to date and runs a check daily, so I thought that I was covered......until bad things started happeneing. Weird messages from my computer, the worst being..."Your Norton Anti-Virus program is corrupt." Seems someone's idea of fun was finding a way to corrupt my "protection" and let all sorts of bad things in.
I was on the phone with Microsoft Tech for over 2 hrs yesterday trying to clear things up. They sent me to www.ewido.com where you can run a free scan to check for viruses. This place lets you block Spyware among other things, and when my scan that took oner 90 minutes was done, I had over 10,000 infected files! TEN THOUSAND!!!! Almost all of them from Gator.com, which I've come to find out makes money by getting into your computer uninvited.
After the infected files were deleted.......they couldn't be repaired.......I lost about 75% of what I had saved on my computer......INCLUDING MY GPS MAPS WITH THE WAYPOINTS!!!!!! I was up until 2AM with some very nice support guy from Ottawa trying to get back alot of what I lost. I wound up searching for files, some of which were there, but were empty. And still have a lot to find and try to salvage what I can.
I know Zach or Slamr or many of you better versed computer guys out there probably have better protection and know how to deal with it, but if you are a 2-finger typer and aren't real computer savy (like me) you might want to check out your system. Those harmless little banners aren't so harmless I've found out. Even some of my daughter's Nickelodeon games were infected.
Just a heads up to any of you who have been getting bombarded with unsolicited e-mails like me. Even if you have some protection, it appears that it may not be enough.
Zach, anything you can share with us to help us protect ourselves?
I've got work to do now, uninstalling and reinstalling programs and making phone calls. The first one was to Garmin!
Take care,
Beav
Edited by Beaver 12/16/2005 8:26 AM
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Location: Athens, Ohio | All my e-mail goes thru Yahoo! which has a 'spam blocker' that cuts out the mails before I ever see them. They never get on my machine that way.
Good luck with your recovery. m |
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Posts: 1335
Location: Chicago, Beverly | http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/com/activescan_principal.ht...
http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/
http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/default.asp?productid=symhome&la...
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
I use Panda platinum 2005 internet security as the pc based virus protection, and the above online scans for backup.. I will try the one you mention..but after I back up the important stuff to cd.. That sucks you had that happen, went through something similar back in march last year, both computers... lost some stuff. but not nearly as bad as you say you have.. Hopefully you are able to retrieve most.. Lot s of bad viruses have been going around last month or so...Never open any email you do not know where it came from.. |
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| i've switched to Mozilla Firefox for internet and Mozilla Thunderbird for email.
easy download, and they're free:
http://www.mozilla.com
just keep them updated:
Firefox blocks all pop-ups and banner ads, and aggressively stops spyware, etc.
Thunderbird has a dynamic spam/junk mail aspect that learns what's junk and what's not and sorts it out.
besides the security aspects, they're also much more user-friendly than the Windows products. |
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Posts: 2091
Location: Stevens Point, WI | Much of the spyware and adware you get is simply from opening a web page. Running a few different spyware programs at least once a week will help. I use Spybot and Ad-Aware SE. Lambeau is right on with Mozilla, I've been using Firefox and Thunderbird for a long time and I have hardly any problems with security on the machine. |
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Posts: 4266
| This sucks!
I just found out that my entire address book and the names and addresses of guys that bought lures from me is all gone.
I never open e-mails from anyone that I don't know. I talked to some more suppport people, and it turns out that whatever got to me actually turned off my Norton Anti-Virus and prevented it from doing the scheduled daily scans that it was supposed to be doing.
Now if some guy is smart enough to figure that out, why can't he do something usefull instead.
I bet it was Slamr. |
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Posts: 1438
| Firefox for me, I'll have to look into Thunderbird too.
I've got one of the good "Off" brands of virus protection too. I'm not mentioning the name so someone who has more time on their hands than brains doesn't decide to find a way to beat it.
Anyway, I've only had one problem since I got it several years ago. That has since been taken care of.
I also use Yahoo email so that I don't have infected stuff coming into my computer, opened or not. Yahoo catches about 100 or so spam emails a day and I just empty that folder without ever looking at them. Once in a while I'll get one from someone I don't know and I just have to mark it as spam and notify Yahoo.
Been good so far.
Sorry to hear of your problems Beav. I had the same thing happen to my old computer before I upgraded.
Scott |
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Panda Platinum, that's a great company. I use that on my OutdoorsFIRST unit, and Norton on my home 'puter, with added spam protection and firewall protection. Any infected message or file is removed automatically. I REALLY like the Panda software, and would use it on my other 'puter, but it came with a two year deal with Norton. |
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Posts: 921
Location: Apollo, PA | Beav,
Get Panda or Advast as far as security. I also use spybot to clean up atleast once a week. Your picking up this crap from websites that you visit, i doubt it if its coming from any of your mail since you don't open crap. I think that anyone that surfs the net and looks at various websites gets this stuff. I'm having trouble with adware as we speak. Security will protect from virus's but not sites that download some adware. Thats too bad you lost so much stuff. Your lure buyers will find you (like me!) Holidays best, Pikiespawn |
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Posts: 2091
Location: Stevens Point, WI | It doesn't even matter if you open an infected file or not, it will infect the computer if it is sent to you. Set you virus scanning software to scan e-mail, continuous backround scanning, automatic update for virus defintion files and it is very unlikely you will get into trouble. |
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| You should also make sure you are set up to receive your Windows updates automatically. |
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Posts: 94
| I strongly advice ya'll to get a nifty little program called Mailwasher. You can use it to delete spam and virus infected emails directly from the server without actually downloading them to your own computer, and you can also preview ANY email with no risk, as all it will show is text. Attached viruses and crap won't be executed even if you preview the email contents in Mailwasher, as long as you don't download them to your computer.
I have used this program for a couple years now and haven't had any problems with attached viruses ever since, although I of course recommend that you still use a good antivirus program, firewall and spyware checkers as well, better safe than sorry. But Mailwasher sure does improve the security alot.
http://www.mailwasher.net/ |
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Location: Duluth, MN - Superior, WI | Two # one no no is, PORN and free web pages. That is where most Spy and junk ware comes from. If they say it is free you can bet you are going to run into problems down the line.
About a month ago I got a new laptop and a friend was trying out my high speed Internet and just opened Party Poker. That was all it took and I needed to reinstall the OS.
-Corey
Edited by ckarren 12/16/2005 1:31 PM
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Posts: 2691
Location: Pewaukee, Wisconsin | Major bummer Beav.
I wondered why you have not got back to me after a few good buck pictures and storys I sent you lately. |
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| Bummer Beav that sucks I run avast, Ad-ware, Spybot,Yahoo anti viris and Micro anti spyware last fall I had all kinds of stuff but I ran all of these and each one seemed to find something the other didnt so more is not a bad thing I run them 3-5 times a week and some run automaticly at 2 am good luck |
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Posts: 1335
Location: Chicago, Beverly | "Panda Platinum, that's a great company"....Steve, I started using Panda because of something you posted about it last year.. thanks.... |
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Posts: 11
Location: Pleasant Prairie, WI | And backup those important files once in a while. No matter how hard you try to prevent something from ever getting you, if your computer has access to the net the question is when. Either the hardware will get you or the software will get you. |
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| if you use outlook express or outlook for mail, you'll definitely want to go into:
Tools>Options>Read> now UNCHECK the "automatically download messages when viewing in the preview pane".
u should also be using high security setting in internet explorer if u use that. it's a pain cuz every little thing, the browser will ask you to confirm, but worth it.
xblock.com, and get the latest version of this program, its free, and removes all known scumware and adware
if you don't have a firewall protection, i would recommend some kind. i use zonealarm.
most of the stuff that u can get for free works fine and prevents this type of unwanted crap.
Porn and game sites are BIG offenders.
i have cable, and honest to god, i know when theres adware or junkware one simple way. you won't be connecting at those high rates that u're used to on a clean computer.
beav, i sent you a mail, i can help you with some of this stuff since u're a "2 fingered" computer user.
spybot and adaware are good programs, but u can mess stuff up if you manually do some stuff while using those programs.
be careful what u download and let run on your computer. the best thing to do is ask if you don't know anything about it.
a lot of these programs that are designed to help, are actually also embedded with junkware and adware that communicates back to their server about your computer usage and habits. be careful. |
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| Spyware
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.m...
Use mozilla FireFox Tabbed Browser
http://www.getfirefox.com/
Use Thunderbird for email
http://www.mozilla.com/thunderbird/
PLUG-INS GALORE! |
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Posts: 4266
| Well guys, I took some advise from a few of you guys and downloaded some new protection from a copuple of different sites and so far things are running smoothly.
Thanks for your help, and you guys that have had contact with me in the past, send me an e-mail so I can create a new address book.
Thanks,
Beav |
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Posts: 1316
Location: Madison, WI | Hey beav,
PM me if you are still having problems, maybe i can help. If i can't help, i'm pretty sure i know someone that can. |
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| i downloaded and installed Panda Titanium today.
good news: it cleaned out 57 spyware programs.
bad news: it then kickstomped my computer.
i had to restore...reinstalled Panda, crashed my computer again.
restored things again, haven't touched Panda yet.
must be some kind of conflict, i'll have to call their tech support monday.
doh. |
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Posts: 335
Location: Pulaski, WI | There are a couple of steps you can take that will go a long way towards preventing issues on Windows based PC's:
- Go to Microsoft.com and download MBSA 2.0, run it and make all the suggested changes
- Don't use an account with Administrator priviledges to read email or surf the web (Most important)
- Use an antivirus program and a firewall
John
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Posts: 1335
Location: Chicago, Beverly | Lambeau, you still have other antivirus software installed? If so that could be the issue. I only have the platinum, so am not familar with the differences of titanium...might be possible if you have other syware detection programs they could intefer too... |
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Posts: 32886
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Yes, that could be the problem. Turn off or uninstall all other anti spyware/virus programs before installing the Panda. They have superb customer service, and as I said, I really like the software. |
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| thanks guys...that was the problem.
their tech support told me the same thing a couple hours after you did.
everything seems to be in order now: it removed 57 some spyware apps and 3 viruses.
and i'm careful about what i do - sheesh. |
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Posts: 4266
| Now that I've installed some Spyware stuff from Microsoft, and another security system that they reccomended, and now we have been having trouble uninstalling the Norton Anti-Virus stuff that we have. I've noticed that with it partially installed that there is a "battle" going on in the computer and if we need to restart it, it takes 45 minutes because it does a complete system scan. I'll be glad when we can get the Norton uninstalled and let the other programs do their thing.
One good thing is that I don't have to delete and block 25 e-mails a day.
So, if I go with the Panda, do I have to get rid of all of my other programs that are security minded?
Beav |
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| If you guys would just buy a Mac you would have none of these problems...no spyware...no virus protection...and a better machine all together...Ben |
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Posts: 1316
Location: Madison, WI | Beav do me a favor...
Check out this site, my buddy put it together. If you are still having problems, i might be able to help. If not, i know he can.. ...He's helped me get rid of 2 nasty's in the past.
http://computerninja.net/Cleaning.htm |
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| If you guys would just buy a Mac you would have none of these problems...no spyware...no virus protection...and a better machine all together...Ben
and no software either...  |
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| Not true, may have been an issue in years past...but now you can pretty much get anything or buy a program which lets you run PC programs on it...once you go mac, you cannot go back:) |
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Posts: 224
Location: Madison | BenR - 12/19/2005 11:11 PM
Not true, may have been an issue in years past...but now you can pretty much get anything or buy a program which lets you run PC programs on it...once you go mac, you cannot go back:)
Exactly. Unless you use your computer for hours of video games, macs are a better choice for most people. No spyware, no viruses, and a much easier computer to use. My 88-year-old grandfather had never used a computer before - I had to teach him that when he moved the mouse in his hand, the cursor on the screen responded. He's been happily using his mac for the past six years, and he does his own scanning on it too.
If you play video games on your computer, no question a PC is the way to go. |
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Freakin' Computers!!!!!