Colin's Weekly Tip: So ya, I'm the Computer Guy

[Colin]

Since I'm the "computer guy" in the family and among my circle of friends, I'm often asked to remove virus's from infected computers. As a more educated computer user (ahem!) I can honestly say that I haven't just had a virus since the 486 days (when I was a newbie) and don't really understand how one can get a virus. All that's needed is a bit of common sense and you should be ok.<BR>The easiest way for one to get a virus is through e-mail and I'm sure all of you get virus's sent to you (I get about 200-400 a day!) If you get an e-mail with an executable file extension (.pif, .bat, .com, .exe, .cmd, .hlp, etc) do not open it! If you don't know who sent you the file just delete it. If you unexpectedly get sent a file from someone you know, e-mail them back and ask what they e-mailed you. Sure this can be a hassle, but it can certainly save a lot of frustration.<BR>An up to date Anti virus program is a definite must as many virus's can be caught before they do damage. Because new virus's come out weekly, if not daily, update your virus definitions every week, make it routine so you don't forget.<BR>A little foresight and common sense can go a long way in protecting your computer, and your data!

[grafton26]

ok so you are caful like that colin , but what about all those people out there who were affected by the blaster worm virus the only thing they did was log on to the iternet and the virus just pushed it way into win 2000 & winxp machines that weren't 100% up to date.<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0">

[jackyw87]

As an active computer user, I get viruses. I've had a lot! I have no idea how or "why me?" I never open unknown mails with attachments. But, the most recent virus I had was the Blaster worm on the day before it was discovered. I just got home from school, turned on my computer to research for homework. I have the router set DMZ to my ip address because I play games on there that needs some ports opened. So, I'm very vulnirable. Then, my computer said that my RPC crashed, and my computer needs to be restarted. I thought, ok, maybe it's just an uncommon problem that happens once in a while. When the computer restarted, that thing about the RPC had appeared again. I look into my Task Manager and found a new .exe file was started. It was called blaster.exe. I knew that this wasn't right at all, because I keep track on what starts up and what shouldn't. After I found out that this file starts up at each reboot, I deleted the startup command and ended the process of blaster.exe. But that never stopped it from crashing my RPC. So, I'm all pissed and everything. I suspected it to be virus or just a system problem. I summoned a friend to help me over the phone. He was as stumped as I am, and he's a computer engineer. I tell him everything that's happened, then we concluded it was a virus, a pesky one too. I check where the virus starts up and after another reboot, I hurry as fast as I can to get to the virus and delete its file, startup, and process. So, I did before my computer restarts, again. After, yet again, another reboot, nothing happened for a while. There's no blaster.exe in the manager, and everything was just the way it was. Then my RPC crashed again.... I checked my processes and find that blaster is back. I called the same friend again. This time he reminded me that RPC was a service!!! Thanks to Colin and his tip in the PC Stats newsletter ; ), I know about services..... I don't know if I should tell the rest of my story on how I defeated this virus, because I think I'm bording some people with this long thread. Whoever wants to hear the rest, reply here, and I might tell the rest. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0">

[Allen]

Yeah, go ahead and reply

[DivinePoptart]

on the MsBlaster worm thingy, i think you can prevent the shutdown if you go into the Command and type in "shutdown -a" <-- cancels a shutdown. But hey, if you're on to read this, you've probably have it all fixed and stuff, so I'll go away now <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif" border="0">

[CHE]

<br><br><< <i>As an active computer user, I get viruses. I've had a lot! I have no idea how or "why me?" I never open unknown mails with attachments.</i> >><br><br><BR><BR>FYI the average home user gets viruses emailed from people they know most of the time, not unknown emails.

[Avid6eek]

I actually get the majority of my viruses through Kazaa. I also get them because I have an open broadband connection with no firewall.

[CHE]

wasn't me

[Zefram]

<img src="http://mysite.freeserve.com/lvee/untitled.GIF"><BR><BR>This kinda neat, you know for all those who are too lazy to patch and update their system.<BR>Some analyst suggest that the MSBlast worm is actually made by Microsoft staff itself, this action does make everybody patches their system and thus, decreasing complains and actually make Windows XP more stabile and somewhat reliable.<BR><BR>Just patch, patch, patch, and patch! Update your virus defrinitions! <BR>Do not open any attachment without scanning them first.<BR><BR>P/S : Microsoft does not send any patch via e-mail. Just as AIDS, KaZaa is full of virus just because it is a virus. Don't use Kazaa, buy genuine software and music cd!<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0">