[Shotimes] RE Computer

[Mike Wojton]

I suppose it makes sense that one program can't do it all.  Wishful
thinking on my part.  In addition to Norton I do have AVG Antivirus. 
Works well, but the wife just had to disable it because it wouldn't
let her connect to her email.  Never did that before, don't know why
it would all of a sudden.  Something for me to check when I go home
this weekend.

I also run Adaware, Spybot, and a couple others that are supposed to
take care of certain pieces of adware that the others won't.  They
don't really.  Or maybe because they don't prevent the downloads they
keep coming back.  There are a few that I just can't get rid of.  I've
gone through the manual deletion process I've seen on some sites but
it doesn't work.

Somebody asked about RAM; I've got 512MB on a 1.2G machine.  It should
run pretty smartly.  When I look at processes, ones I suspect are crap
I can't stop because I "don't have permission".  Some things have
buried themselves pretty deep.

I know somebody will say reformat the hard drive and start over.  It
would take me weeks to get everything installed again.  When I
installed a new drive last year I put Systemworks on it first thing. 
It took a day for everything to get messed up and it hasn't been right
again yet.  I've been playing catch up just installing and running
anything I can find to try to clean it up.

Not using IE is not an option.  Many sites my kids go to only work
right on IE.  I tried using Netscape for a while, but they couldn't do
what they wanted to do.  For example, I tried restricting cookies, but
some sites, like Ebay, won't work with cookies restricted.  We
couldn't bid on anything so that had to go back.  And try to make an
exception for Ebay still didn't work.  And what's the point if you can
only look at a game and not play it.  I keep threatening that the next
computer will be a Mac and damn everything else.  That day is getting
closer and closer.  ; )

Thanks for all the suggestions.  I'll figure out some plan of attack.


-- 
Mike Wojton
Dover, PA
 
   -'95 White MTX
      '96 Brake Upgrade
      Eibachs (front)
 
"Avoid the clap." - Jimmy Dugan


On 5/19/05, Jon Heese <shotimes@jonheese.com> wrote:
> Very good write-up, Bill.  I only have one thing to note:
> 
> I work for a IT consulting/on-site tech support firm, and I am a
> reseller of AVG licenses, so naturally I recommend AVG and make sure my
> clients stay up to date.  In the past 2 weeks, we've been seeing more
> and more trojans and worms popping up on large networks that are
> supposedly "secured" by AVG.  We had 2 large networks (60+ workstations)
> and one small network come down with major infections last week alone.
> 
> Alwil Software's Avast picked up on the infections very well, so I've
> now picked up a reseller account for Avast.
> 
> Personally, on my home network, I run AVG Network Edition and Avast
> Professional on all my machines, a little overlap never hurt anyone.
> 
> As far as the MS Anti-Spyware tool goes: I was *very* surprised with how
> effective this tool was.  Especially for a beta.  I recommend it to most
> of my clients.
> 
> Regards,
> Jon Heese
> 
> Bill Strobel wrote:
> <snip>
> > Anti-virus: AVG updates every day and is free.  5 years no viruses.  It works.
> <snip>
> > Anti-Spyware: MS Anti-Spy Beta. Yes it is beta but it works.  Free.  Download install run it and get rid of the mal-ware and spyware
> <snip>
> > Bill Strobel
> > Independent Towing
> > Fayetteville NC
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