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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
St. Louis
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 29, 2006 - 12:26am PT
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Ewido finished. It found 30 cases of tracking software, and 4 'traces'. All are gone. What the heck are traces? We'll see if this doesn't help...
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WBraun
climber
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Aug 29, 2006 - 12:37am PT
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It's a MS Word Document Template. .dot Word templates can contain macros that are powerful enough to be used for viruses and worms.
Open your task manager and take a snapshot of your running tasks and post them here. We'll find the offender.
Or take the snapshot with Sysinternals Proccess Explorer and sendit here.
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/ProcessExplorer.html
HijackThis, will also be good to look at.
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Aug 29, 2006 - 01:31am PT
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No swearing allowed on ST forums. Even at computers. Machines have feelings, too. And I bet you can't prove to me that they don't.
Perhaps a plethora of personal parrots could be persuaded to pilfer a perfectly pfunctional PC phor you? Preferably post-pilfer they could peck the perfidious pestiferous poltroon to pieces and perdition.
If all else fails, maybe Mountain Man can exorcize it?
Anders
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Forest
Trad climber
Tucson, AZ
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Aug 29, 2006 - 02:00am PT
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LEB, unless you have some important information about getting rid of viruses, I suggest you keep your fingers motionless on this thread.
Actually, Lois' suggestions were spot on. Staying far away from Outlook and IE (i.e. use Thunderbird and Firefox instead) will prevent the vast majority of spyware/virus problems on windows. Once you've already got them, tho (the viruses, that is), you need something like spybot search and destroy or whatever the flavor of the week is to get rid of them. So, crimpie, a "reimaging" as suggested by your tech, followed by never using IE or outlook again should help out.
I suggest getting an Apple Macbook and installing Windows on it just for the office applications.
That would be a silly waste of money (they part where you buy and install windows and the windows versions of office.) MS makes mac-native versions of the MS office apps. They run native on Mac OS X and can read and write the exact same file formats as the windows versions of excel, word, and powerpoint. No windows needed. Here's some propaganda/info: http://www.apple.com/macosx/applications/office/ http://www.apple.com/getamac/office.html
You can use iChat AV for messaging, Mail for email, and Safari or Firefox Mac for web browsing. I'll probably do the same for college.
I'm stunned. But somehow impressed.
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Ouch!
climber
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Aug 29, 2006 - 03:23am PT
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When Outlook gets sick, you probably have to reinstall XP. Wipe the hard drive and start from scratch and you will probably experience password and identity problems. I did and gave up.
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Lurking Fear
Trad climber
Bishop, California
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Aug 29, 2006 - 08:51am PT
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I have a couple of Macs, and I run Office for Macs 2004 with both of them. You can't have Outlook, but you get Entourage with it. I'm in an online Masters program, and Entourage works seamless with Outlook. I like the format better than Outlook.
I first tried to add Mozilla and Thunderbird, but I didn't like the program, and it didn't convert files to Word or PowerPoint very well. I've only had a Mac for a year, and I regret not switching sooner. I have a firewall and no virus protection. The computer runs faster without it, and I don't have any problems. I have a Dell paperweight upstairs, that I don't use at all.
I know you don't have any money, but when you do, make the switch. You will not be disappointed. One of my Macs is an iMac with the intel chip. It's faster than my iBook, but not appreciably. I've got a 2003 McAfree Virus Protection disk I can donate to your cause. Good luck.
Andrew
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TGreene
Trad climber
Jonesboro, Arkansas
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Aug 29, 2006 - 09:22am PT
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FWIW: It's highly likely that the problem is actually associated w/ either your Symantic or Norton products. Outlook is also a nightmare, which is why I use 'Eudora Pro' exclusively.
Download and run the free version of AVG-7 (( http://www.grisoft.com/doc/trial/lng/us/tpl/tpl01 )), and if need be, do a Google search for "vcleaner.exe" and run it in BASIC mode. -- If I recall correctly, you'll need to save this to a floppy disk, then boot to it from startup.
If you have any problems, give me a call and I'll work you through it all.
-Tim
* Before you download and/or run ANY other antivirus programs, make absolutely sure that you have completely turned off any and all open applications of any Symantic and/or Norton products... This is vitally important, as they will conflict and only make matters worse in the end!!!
{CTRL}{ALT}{DEL} --> {Task Manager} --> {PROCESSES}
End all processes that would indicate Symantic and/or Norton programs, then close out and install and run AVG-7.
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
St. Louis
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 29, 2006 - 09:48am PT
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Thanks for all the assistance. The problem with this machine extends beyond Outlook. I didn't want to write a book so I didn't include everything. For instance, the things I've dealt with in the last month or two includes, but is not limited to:
*Spybot crashed and burned. Reinstalled last monday
*About a month ago, Word died. Reinstalled.
*For months, I could not attach any document to an email. Resolved with installation of Outlook a couple months ago
* When robooting (many times a day), all my icons are moved around. Maddening.
* Generally the machine refuses to turn off so I have to hold the power button down to do this.
* I constantly run AdAware, Spybot and Symantec. Now I've run Ewido. And I know to close down other applications (like anything else would during during these scans!), and I never run them at the same time (some believe this causes problems as well).
I have had the hard drive replaced to try and fix this stuff. No change. I've had the machine reimaged more than once. This leads to a week of non-productivity for me as I try to get all my software reloaded and working. This sucks because this is the only machine I have. When it doesn't work, I don't work. And when I don't worry, I see my future as a homeless person.
Because of the system wide issues, I thought it was some far-reaching virus or something. One that is being very difficult to find.
BTW tgreene - I don't have a floppy drive on this beast. cd only. Oh, and that burner died a couple of years ago. I should tell you all, this is an Ispiron 5150. Avoid at all costs.
A week ago, while spending 3.5 hours of my day with the IT people working on this pile, the IT worker said "I feel sorry for whoever buys this out of surplus." Lesson: never buy computers out of surplus.
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
St. Louis
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 29, 2006 - 09:53am PT
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Oh and let me add. This week, it's starting eating all formatting in my Word documents. I'll open a file, and it will tell me how there was a serious error, and the document was saved, but all formatting was lost. Maybe that is a clue?
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TGreene
Trad climber
Jonesboro, Arkansas
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Aug 29, 2006 - 10:15am PT
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Goto the {CONTROL PANEL} then select {Add/Remove Software} then REMOVE any and all traces of every Symantic and/or Norton product in your system... You may have to go through this routine 2 or 3 times to actually rid the system of them completely.
What you are describing, is actually very commonly associated with Symantic & Norton products that have taken control of your system and then gone haywire. You remember HAL..? ;~)
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mdavid
Big Wall climber
CA, CO, TX
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Aug 29, 2006 - 10:15am PT
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hard to say if you have a virus, sometimes they get into the master boot record and become a pita to remove. But can still be done by someone with the right tools and knowledge.
Sounds more like you might have a hardware related problem (provided it was scanned and cleaned properly).
I've seen clients mess with faulty memory or other hardware problems for years. Many techs do not follow standard protocols regarding electro stat protection and I've seen folks install memory while standing on carpet, pulling and touching everything under the sun...just makes me shake my head and thank the gods i'm not responsible for supporting that machine.
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WBraun
climber
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Aug 29, 2006 - 11:05am PT
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Very true mdavid
I had a guy bring in a lap top last year that would only boot very rarely. He gave up on the machine after service tech guys couldn't fix it. I found one of the memory modules were bad. The machine after replacing the memory became fully functional again and rock stable.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Aug 29, 2006 - 11:38am PT
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LEB wrote:
"Crimp,
I forgot to mention that Spysweeper from Webroot is a really good spyware removal (and prevention) program. We buy it wholesale and sell it to all of our customers who come in with infected machines. We are seeing many more machines infected with spyware then we are viruses these days. Spysweeper is well worth the small investment to buy it."
what business is that? I thought you taught college... sounds like you have a side concern with an IT firm...
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matisse
Trad climber
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Aug 29, 2006 - 11:41am PT
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Hey Crimpie,
Normally I'd just say get a Mac since I switched years ago, but my Powerbook G4 is driving me nutz. As a loyal Apple user I hate to say these things in public, but I feel your pain. The thing is only 9 months old. First the screen died so it had to go back to Apple for repairs, I can't get it to sleep automatically, although I've tried nearly everything the Apple discussion support group suggested, then they recalled the fricking battery last week-with a promised 4-6 WEEK turnaround for replacement, and now the F6/numlock key seems to be sticking every time I close the lid. argggghhhh.
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
St. Louis
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 29, 2006 - 12:37pm PT
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tgreene - that antivirus found a virus and put it in the vault. Maybe that will make things better. I do like the car battery solution. Given the resources here, or lack thereof, I am worried that I wouldn't get a new machine though. In fact, when I came here in July 2003, I didn't get a computer until the last week of October. That was fun - trying to work with NO machine. I wouldn't put it past them!
I'll keep looking at this....
Thanks again. I should have given up on the IT people long ago and come straight to everyone here!
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
St. Louis
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Topic Author's Reply - Aug 29, 2006 - 02:13pm PT
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Question Tgreene: Now I cannot synchronize. This is veeeery important. Nor can I access Outlook. Any ideas? I know that not being able to access Outlook may be a good thing for some of you, but, um, I need to be able to get to my email. And synchronize. I think Avenger changed something...
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TGreene
Trad climber
Jonesboro, Arkansas
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Aug 29, 2006 - 02:25pm PT
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Nothing would have been changed, UNLESS the file that was snagged was an OUTLOOK file that had been corrupted by a viral...
I would re-install Outlook, as it should simply overlay your existing copy, and automatically configure itself.
-Tim
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Mighty Hiker
Social climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Aug 29, 2006 - 02:44pm PT
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Perhaps it caught psittacosis from a passing parrot?
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Ouch!
climber
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Aug 29, 2006 - 03:13pm PT
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"I would re-install Outlook, as it should simply overlay your existing copy, and automatically configure itself. "
I didn't think you could reinstall Outlook independant of the entire OS.
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Voltzwgn
Trad climber
Sac CA
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Aug 29, 2006 - 03:28pm PT
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Outlook is now part of Office I believe has never been part of the OS. That was IE and MS took a beating on that. As mentioned above it Outlook is causing problems you might try Mozilla's T-bird as an alternative to see if it's Outlook/Office that's causing problems. I think there's a way to use word as your editor (normal.dot) or turn that off.
The ability to use T-bird or other 3rd party mail product will depend on your mail system. If your using Exchange and not doing POP Mail you may not have many options.
There are really so many variables that without more information it's hard to guess at the situation. Things to be considered, version of Outlook? version of Office? what OS XP, 2000 service packs installed? patches applied? What your mail system? version Exchange 5.5? 2003? What services is it running pop? imap?
Guess the point is that internet tech support is often worth what you pay for it? Everybodies got their favorite anti-virus, anti-spy, anti-ad-ware, system checker and so one. But really without some good information about your system and the system your connecting to making a good diagnosis and recomendation are just shooting in the dark.
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