Computer Problems
- Thread starter Flyn
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Adaware actually works pretty well from what I've seen. My girlfriend picks up spyware all the time from Web sites. You really gotta be careful when you get pop-up messages from Web sites asking you to install something. Train your parents to always say "no". Also, tighten up IE's security settings to never let anything install automatically.
If they're using Windows XP, you might want to just use the built in Firewall. It works very well. You can activiate it on any connection, including dial-up.
If they're using Windows XP, you might want to just use the built in Firewall. It works very well. You can activiate it on any connection, including dial-up.
I didn't know XP had its own firewall. Better than Zone Alarm? That's what I use and I rarely have problems with my machine. I update my Norton A/V every week and run Adaware and Spybot whenever I think of it. Like you say, I think it's more a matter of training them on what not to do. I'll tighten up their security settings while I'm there. Thanks!
What OS are they using? What kind of connection do they have? Do they have Norten Internet Security or just NAV?
NIS has the virus and firewall built in... what is good about the program is that it searches all programs that can access the internet and then lets you decide what to do with them, whether or not to let them connect to the internet, this is huge. you would be surprised how many programs have the abillity to connect, and those are the ones that have the trojan horses, or those programs that run in the background w/o your knowledge.
My suggestions if you have a virus or constants errors:
1) Reinstall OS and software that came with the computer.
Win98/ NT/ 2000
HP's and Dell's should come with a system recovery disk. Reinstall this, usually the computer does it for you. MAKE SURE YOU BACK UP YOUR FILES THAT YOU NEED BEFORE YOU DO THIS. This erases everything and reinstalls it just like when new.
XP
Has the coolest thing... it autosaves your setting day by day and gives you the ability to restore the settings to any previous day. So there is no need to reinstall OS really.
2) Once completed, the first thing you do is update your antivirus to most current.
3) Update your Internet explorer with all the security updates, this is huge as well.
Cliff if you need more info give me a ring.
NIS has the virus and firewall built in... what is good about the program is that it searches all programs that can access the internet and then lets you decide what to do with them, whether or not to let them connect to the internet, this is huge. you would be surprised how many programs have the abillity to connect, and those are the ones that have the trojan horses, or those programs that run in the background w/o your knowledge.
My suggestions if you have a virus or constants errors:
1) Reinstall OS and software that came with the computer.
Win98/ NT/ 2000
HP's and Dell's should come with a system recovery disk. Reinstall this, usually the computer does it for you. MAKE SURE YOU BACK UP YOUR FILES THAT YOU NEED BEFORE YOU DO THIS. This erases everything and reinstalls it just like when new.
XP
Has the coolest thing... it autosaves your setting day by day and gives you the ability to restore the settings to any previous day. So there is no need to reinstall OS really.
2) Once completed, the first thing you do is update your antivirus to most current.
3) Update your Internet explorer with all the security updates, this is huge as well.
Cliff if you need more info give me a ring.
If you want a chuckle, I'll tell you about my in-laws' computer. I got there and asked what kind of problems they were having. My mother in law said she couldn't get online and her E-mail didn't work. Windows 98SE by the way. They have Net Zero [I know, very crappy dial up]. The Net Zero program is corrupted. Of course they don't have a CD or the program saved anywhere to uninstall/reinstall. I figured maybe I could download the install from the internet. No go, their Internet Explorer program is also corrupted. No uninstall/install possible there either since they have no install disk or file. I ran Norton V/S which was current on its updates since I previously set it up to automatically update for them. No viruses found. I loaded AdAware and Spybot from a CD I had them on and ran each of them. 157 total registry changes, adware/spyware programs and cookies found. Deleted and fixed all of them. Their machine was working slow so I deleted their Temporary Internet Files and cleared their history. Turns out they had 3 years of temporary files [100s of Megabytes] in there. I showed them how to clean them up.
Now their machine was working better but the internet connection was still touchy. I got Net Zero to connect and Internet Explorer to open and went to their mail program. It showed itself to be receiving mail. My Mother in law said that Net Zero would disconnect before any mail could download. I hit the refresh button every couple of minutes to stay online and got the mail to download. It turns out my brother in law send about a dozen HUGE pics of his new van and it took a quite a while to download them. So, OK, the E-mail is fine. End result, Net Zero is corrupted. IE is corrupted. I need to download them on my machine and head back over there with the programs on CD so I can uninstall/reinstall both of them. Hopefully that will fix things and I can avoid reformatting. My wife's cousins built the machine originally so maybe I can get them to add some more RAM or even a new hard drive. My computer has me spoiled. A three year old Windows 98 model seems ancient to me. I tried to talk them into getting DSL but my father in law is.....what's the word? Frugal. LOL. Jim and Victor, thanks for your input!
Now their machine was working better but the internet connection was still touchy. I got Net Zero to connect and Internet Explorer to open and went to their mail program. It showed itself to be receiving mail. My Mother in law said that Net Zero would disconnect before any mail could download. I hit the refresh button every couple of minutes to stay online and got the mail to download. It turns out my brother in law send about a dozen HUGE pics of his new van and it took a quite a while to download them. So, OK, the E-mail is fine. End result, Net Zero is corrupted. IE is corrupted. I need to download them on my machine and head back over there with the programs on CD so I can uninstall/reinstall both of them. Hopefully that will fix things and I can avoid reformatting. My wife's cousins built the machine originally so maybe I can get them to add some more RAM or even a new hard drive. My computer has me spoiled. A three year old Windows 98 model seems ancient to me. I tried to talk them into getting DSL but my father in law is.....what's the word? Frugal. LOL. Jim and Victor, thanks for your input!
Funny you guys should mention these problems.
I just spent the last 2 1/2 days fixing a buddy from work's computer.
It originally started out swapping in a larger Hard drive and setting up a small in-house network.
2 1/2 days later, it's finished.
Internet Explorer wouldn't connect to the internet, wouldn't load a page. DNS error...
But I could ping anything.
To make a long story short, I had to delete DUN and all the winsock files and registry entries and everything else related to networking, and then reinstall everything.
It would have been easier to do a fresh install of Win 98 or 2000 or something I have laying around here, but there were files and software that had to be saved.
No more favors...
Dan
I just spent the last 2 1/2 days fixing a buddy from work's computer.
It originally started out swapping in a larger Hard drive and setting up a small in-house network.
2 1/2 days later, it's finished.
Internet Explorer wouldn't connect to the internet, wouldn't load a page. DNS error...
But I could ping anything.
To make a long story short, I had to delete DUN and all the winsock files and registry entries and everything else related to networking, and then reinstall everything.
It would have been easier to do a fresh install of Win 98 or 2000 or something I have laying around here, but there were files and software that had to be saved.
No more favors...
Dan
Coincidence is funny. Today my Mother in law calls and says a window popped up saying a new version of NetZero is available for download. She clicked yes and the new version loaded itself and fixed her Net Zero problems. I knew Net Zero was corrupted. Just IE to reinstall now.
Dan, nothing turns out as easy as it seems it will be. Do you want my M.I.L.'s address?
Dan, nothing turns out as easy as it seems it will be. Do you want my M.I.L.'s address?
Well, you might as well install I.E. 6 if that isn't what is running now, as long as you're going through all that.
I have one burned onto a CD, which was something else I tried on my buddy's computer. That didn't help though...
It (the full downloadable version) is a pain in the ass to find on Microsoft's web site.
Let me know if you need this one. I have it for Win 98 and 2000.
Dan
I have one burned onto a CD, which was something else I tried on my buddy's computer. That didn't help though...
It (the full downloadable version) is a pain in the ass to find on Microsoft's web site.
Let me know if you need this one. I have it for Win 98 and 2000.
Dan
Thanks Dan,
One of my wife's cousins [the guys who originally built the computer] has IE on CD. He's supposed to go over there Thurs. to uninstall/reinstall. If that doesn't work, I'll have to rethink the situation but I think that's all my M.I.L. needs. She says the machine is working much better since I was over there. :biggthump
One of my wife's cousins [the guys who originally built the computer] has IE on CD. He's supposed to go over there Thurs. to uninstall/reinstall. If that doesn't work, I'll have to rethink the situation but I think that's all my M.I.L. needs. She says the machine is working much better since I was over there. :biggthump
Once you get Internet Explorer up and running (IE 6 SP1), you can hit Tools - Windows updates and it will tell you what service packs and critical updates you need to install, and you click Install and off it goes. If it's on a dial-up connection it's going to be SLOW. In my opinion, no one should be using dial-up anymore.
Windows XP has a firewall option in the network settings, but when XP SP2 comes out later this year, it will be the full blown firewall with internet security.
ISP's like NetZero are going to install crap on your PC. The best protection would probably be the following:
1. In 2000 or XP, keep Automatic updates ON and set it to install immediately. Do a Windows Update yourself before doing this to get all the latest criticals and SP's.
2. Norton Anti-Virus (with active subscription for updates!). Symantec and TrendMicro are good, too. Your choice.
3. Norton Internet Security (firewall) - for DSL or cable. I recommend a router that will allow you to shut down the ports on your own. There's also a utility on the net that will allow you to hide your IP so people won't be port scanning you left and right. On a dial-up connection you really don't need a firewall unless you plan on staying connected a LOT, the the connection is usually to slow for a hacker to want to even bother.
4. Ad-Aware (full version that you buy so it runs active)
5. Spy-Bot (don't use Immunize, just update and scan once and a while. I've seen immunize do things from block anti-virus updates to crashing a PC on reboot - it locks the registry from changes or something).
6. Retail pop-up blocker (optional)
If anyone needs a tech, I'm available for fixing stuff - and it's free if you've already worked on my car!
Windows XP has a firewall option in the network settings, but when XP SP2 comes out later this year, it will be the full blown firewall with internet security.
ISP's like NetZero are going to install crap on your PC. The best protection would probably be the following:
1. In 2000 or XP, keep Automatic updates ON and set it to install immediately. Do a Windows Update yourself before doing this to get all the latest criticals and SP's.
2. Norton Anti-Virus (with active subscription for updates!). Symantec and TrendMicro are good, too. Your choice.
3. Norton Internet Security (firewall) - for DSL or cable. I recommend a router that will allow you to shut down the ports on your own. There's also a utility on the net that will allow you to hide your IP so people won't be port scanning you left and right. On a dial-up connection you really don't need a firewall unless you plan on staying connected a LOT, the the connection is usually to slow for a hacker to want to even bother.
4. Ad-Aware (full version that you buy so it runs active)
5. Spy-Bot (don't use Immunize, just update and scan once and a while. I've seen immunize do things from block anti-virus updates to crashing a PC on reboot - it locks the registry from changes or something).
6. Retail pop-up blocker (optional)
If anyone needs a tech, I'm available for fixing stuff - and it's free if you've already worked on my car!
I just talked to my network admin:
1. If you buy a linksys router, the ports are already shut down for you. For home use, apparently the XP built in firewall will take care of this for you. You won't be 100% but it will block a lot of stuff. Also, found out XP SP2 just enables the firewall automatically in XP.
2. The XP firewall also prevents your IP from being pinged (I didn't know that!). Otherwise, there's software around the net you can download to bounce your IP or program code that you can use to keep it from showing up. How it's actually used, I'm not sure.
1. If you buy a linksys router, the ports are already shut down for you. For home use, apparently the XP built in firewall will take care of this for you. You won't be 100% but it will block a lot of stuff. Also, found out XP SP2 just enables the firewall automatically in XP.
2. The XP firewall also prevents your IP from being pinged (I didn't know that!). Otherwise, there's software around the net you can download to bounce your IP or program code that you can use to keep it from showing up. How it's actually used, I'm not sure.
Flatliner said:
That would explain it... I have a linksys router and wasn't sure if it shut them down by itself. Prior to purchasing router I installed NIS and would constantly get warnings popping up about attempts or blocks. Then when I purchased and installed the router that went away. NIS would tell you when port scanning was being attempted, and the router shut it down apparently. Thanks for the info
Good advice, Mike. Believe me, I've tried to get my inlaws to go to DSL. They don't want to spend the money. I already use most of the things you talk about with my own machines... :biggthump
Edit- As long as my wireless routers are working properly, they are great things. Make sure you remember your passwords and other settings info with them. I spent some phone time with Linksys when I had problems.
Edit- As long as my wireless routers are working properly, they are great things. Make sure you remember your passwords and other settings info with them. I spent some phone time with Linksys when I had problems.
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