My bad week.

GfK · 17-02-2006, 16:11

1. Friend's computer ravaged by viruses. MSN Worked, no other internet access, browser hijacked beyond repair, DLL errors. Reinstall Windows98. Gave her an almost new 17" monitor because the old 15" goldfish bowl style one she had was making me laugh too much.

2a. Another friend wanted PC upgrading to wireless network. Fixed that up and noticed that the wireless adapter was sending out packets continuously. Removed over 200 files identified as spyware, 14 viruses, still didn't help. Reinstall WindowsXP.

2b. Next day, wireless connection went down. System no longer recognises USB devices that draw power from USB. Unable to resolve, PC (which is 2 months old) went back to shop.

2c. Shop said it was a virus that AVG hadn't picked up!! The said they reinstalled windows and put Norton on. Shop said if he had any more problems, to take it back and they'd change the motherboard. What an odd thing to say considering it was allegedly a virus....

2d. Another day, same fault. Back to shop, motherboard changed. PC working well. Shop maintain its a software problem, yet they changed the motherboard anyway?? Chinny reckon.

2e. Same friend, laptop this time. Five viruses found, all removed. Relatively easy fix.

3a. My own desktop PC hit by viruses and spyware. Couldn't be arsed with it all any more. Reinstall XP.

3b. My own laptop now having problems. Couldn't be bothered to investigate. Reinstall XP.

3c. Desktop hit by ANOTHER bloody virus. A very nasty one as well. It was hidden in a file that could not even be deleted in SafeMode, had to do it through command prompt. I then discovered it had set a password in system BIOS, so I no longer had access.

3d. Done BIOS reset this morning. System won't boot. Dismantled computer again, plugged hard drive power supply back in.

System clock reset to January 2003 which apparently stops MSN from connecting (figured this out after nearly two bloody hours!). AVG reporting out of date virus defs, but then claims no updates are available.

All of this in the space of a f***ing week!!

I hate computers.

KenCo1964 · 17-02-2006, 16:31

Just had a similar experience myself. A computer at work was infected badly....All the computers there being identical in everyway, so I created a ghost backup, wich I made when we first got the computers.....and duplicates on the server and 2external hardrives as well as a dvd copy....(you can never be to careful!) every one was corrupt when I went to re-ghost the machine. Spent 2 days re-installing windows and all the other software we use and making backups again. Fed up now!

Steep · 17-02-2006, 16:38

AVG is alright but there are better out there.

Simple rules for safety.

The only way for a virus to get onto your machine is for you to let it. Get better AV software (I personally use Bitdefender which combines AV and firewall)
Don't use outlook for email it's inherently flawed (I use Courier3 from rosecitysoftware.com)
Don't open email attachments without checking them first and if you weren't expecting them don't open them anyway.
Watch what you download and where from.
Don't just trust your AV software to keep you safe, do regular scans, get both 'adaware' and 'spybot search and destroy' and use them both at least once a week.

I'm not boasting but my pc has not been infected with any kind of virus in years, now and again the odd trojan turns up but is always picked up in scans.

***Dave*** · 17-02-2006, 17:08

Bummer of a week !!! Know the feeliong though....simple job on PC takes 10x longer than expected......sure it's done on purpose to keep us IT people in work

GfK · 17-02-2006, 17:14

Oh, actually I forgot yesterday's episode.

Trying to reinstall Windows98 on an ancient toshiba laptop which would not let you select CD-ROM drive to boot from in BIOS, and also didn't have a 3.5" disc drive.

Answers on a postcard....

***Dave*** · 17-02-2006, 17:32

Chuck it...thats what I did with inlaws laptop after spending days trying to sort it

Warspite · 17-02-2006, 18:56

Hope it boots automatically from a CD despite not having an option, otherwise take the HDD out put it in another laptop - format it and give it a boot record and copy the win98 cd contents over, then replace the drive in said Toshiba laptop, boot into prompt and run setup.

An absolute pain - but that would work, so long as you have another laptop or a 2.5" to 3.5" IDE connector.

Goodluck - its one of lifes punishments to be everyones personal tech support, speaking as someone who knows what your going through

Also its a well known fact that most computer shops lie

and the lies get bigger, the bigger the store

Steep · 17-02-2006, 19:09

You could buy a usb floppy drive for about £20, can't say if it would work for you though.

GfK · 17-02-2006, 19:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steep

You could buy a usb floppy drive for about £20, can't say if it would work for you though.

Probably not. Laptop doesn't have USB.

SammyC · 17-02-2006, 19:24

If you push hard enough a USB connector fits onto a serial port fine.....

busterboy · 17-02-2006, 21:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by SammyC

If you push hard enough a USB connector fits onto a serial port fine.....

noah · 18-02-2006, 12:56

you can get at least 3 usbs in my parralell port

IanC_UK · 18-02-2006, 13:24

Crap lol that sounds like my average week !

evilowl · 18-02-2006, 13:29

www.sophos.co.uk - no other AV comes close.

evilowl · 18-02-2006, 13:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by GfK

Oh, actually I forgot yesterday's episode.

Trying to reinstall Windows98 on an ancient toshiba laptop which would not let you select CD-ROM drive to boot from in BIOS, and also didn't have a 3.5" disc drive.

Answers on a postcard....

laplink and a serial cable

dod · 19-02-2006, 10:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by GfK

snip....

HOW can anyone let their machines get into that mess in the first place