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Crimpergirl
Social climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 23, 2009 - 12:24pm PT
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I am on the news all the time and I completely missed news of this nasty bug. My dad (in Houston) is a computer man. He said he's been very busy with the work this has created for him.
The one machine is isolated in ICU.
My machine is pretty new (two months old) with all the latest computer condoms - *hopefully* it is as well protected as it could be.
I don't understand why people write these things - other than it being anti-virus companies doing it. But this particular crud kills those so why would someone spend time and energy doing this? Of course, I could ask the same about a lot of human activity.
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WBraun
climber
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Jan 23, 2009 - 12:26pm PT
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Dave
I trained myself. The internet is an awesome place, if you're into electronics. Electronics was my major in college, in high school and started in 5th grade.
I did quite a bit of embedded micro-controller design for a while along with both analog and digital stuff.
I'm a more of a hardware guy but was forced to go software to keep up and expand my knowledge with our current infrastructure here. We have a lot of equipment at YOSAR, and Valley district.
For those with wireless in their homes and small businesses, make sure you don't use WEP encryption. The best is WAP2.
I can take your WEP encryption apart in minuets. It's not secure.
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Gary
climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Jan 23, 2009 - 12:31pm PT
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Aafter you've reinstalled XP, install a Linux system so that you can dual boot the machine. Use the XP for software that won't run on Linux, use the Linux for anything sensitive, like banking.
And before you boot into Windows, unplug the machine from the network.
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CF
climber
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Jan 23, 2009 - 12:36pm PT
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i always see these crashes as learning more and a time to start fresh.
you may spend hours or days trying to chase this down when it is usually easier to reload.
you can boot into linux using a cd or usb drive and rescue all your data.
then reformat your drive and start fresh. get acronis(or similar) image software and make a image of your fresh system, then make incremental images everyday or once a week. these images are way better than the horrible windows restore point which almost never works. if your system messes up you can be back to your last image in minutes
use free comodo firewall and free avast anitvirus
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happiegrrrl
Trad climber
New York, NY
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Jan 23, 2009 - 01:11pm PT
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Werner wroet: "I trained myself. The internet is an awesome place, if you're into electronics. Electronics was my major in college, in high school and started in 5th grade. "
This would be the time for someone to post that photo of him climbing with the boom box on his shoulder....
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Hardman Knott
Gym climber
Muir Woods National Monument, Mill Valley, Ca
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Jan 23, 2009 - 10:25pm PT
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If this had been me, I would have simply restored from one of my clones, and called it a day.
I have two back up drives for each machine, one at home, and one off-site.
I try to back up once a week as a bare minimum - more often in some cases.
If a drive died (hard drives are extremely delicate), I'd just pop in a new one and restore to it.
If my laptop ever gets lost or stolen, I'll restore to the new one from one of the clones.
Am I the only person in the world who backs up their sh#t?
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MH2
climber
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Jan 24, 2009 - 09:05am PT
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School year 73/74, University of Chicago med school class, one of the students getting kidded for spending so much time with the computers: "If computers ever catch a virus, he'll be ready."
Ha.
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 24, 2009 - 11:11am PT
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All of his stuff is backed up multiple times. We're talking obsessively organized in that way!
The machine is being wiped clean today. Other than it being a bit of a pain, at least nothing will be lost.
We could have done that first for sure, but I admit that trying to save it was informative. Again thanks to everyone for your help.
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WBraun
climber
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Jan 24, 2009 - 11:15am PT
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Do you have all the drivers that go with this machine?
There's a program I use called my drivers and it saves all your drivers. After full reinstall one click and all the original drivers are reinstalled and registered.
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Jaybro
Social climber
wuz real!
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Jan 24, 2009 - 05:05pm PT
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Did this ever get resolved?
We're all pulling for you
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Hardman Knott
Gym climber
Muir Woods National Monument, Mill Valley, Ca
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Jan 24, 2009 - 05:13pm PT
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WBraun wrote:
There's a program I use called my drivers and it saves all your drivers. After full reinstall one click and all the original drivers are reinstalled and registered.
Wow - that sounds awesome! That's the one thing that's kept me from wiping my
mom's Toshiba laptop clean and reinstalling; there a ton of model-specific drivers
which would take hours to locate and install, since the restore disk is long lost.
http://www.zhangduo.com/driverbackup.html
It has a 15 day trial - I'm gonna check it out!
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 24, 2009 - 05:15pm PT
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It is resolved. Dave just returned from his computer friend who helped him wipe things clean and install all drivers. Now he just has to reinstall specific software programs. What a major pain! Still, the machine is better. Even with the economic downturn, there is a market for people with these skills.
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Jaybro
Social climber
wuz real!
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Jan 24, 2009 - 08:37pm PT
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As long as there is Windows™ people like that will have more work than they can handle.
I think that was the point, in the first place.
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TradIsGood
Chalkless climber
the Gunks end of the country
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Jan 24, 2009 - 08:42pm PT
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Now that the computer virus problem has been solved ...
Here is a regular virus/bacteria problem.
Two (hetero) couples decide that they would like to mix things up a bit. They intend each share partners. BUT, they want to do it safely. They have two condoms.
How can they have safe sex, each man, with each woman, with just two condoms? (No they can't go natural with their own partners!)
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CF
climber
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Jan 24, 2009 - 09:06pm PT
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Make a image right away with trueimage or similar. You will then be able to return it to its pristine state in minutes if needed.
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 24, 2009 - 11:31pm PT
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You guys are amazing.
We've learned so much from this. I've downloaded Avast (and other goodies) per your counsel. My machine is scoured. His machine is as well. All that remains is our old workhorse running Windows 2000 (needs it given some specific software dedicated for it).
Wrap your rascals everyone! :)
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Jaybro
Social climber
wuz real!
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Jan 24, 2009 - 11:34pm PT
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It's still a d'oh-zer, that, or something else, will be back.
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Dr.Sprock
Boulder climber
Sprocketville
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Jan 25, 2009 - 02:10pm PT
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Before you start filling up the hard drive again, you should download CCleaner and run the Registry Scan.
Then back it up so you can see what a clean registry looks like.
Then you will have an easier time knowing what should be there, and what should not be there.
This way you can delete with confidence.
Then, every time you add or delete software, run the CC Cleaner Reg Scan and clean everything up, your machine will run like new, even as you clog it up with un installs.
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