Computers and Viruses

Parent Cafe
1

<p>Rant:</p>

<p>My computer basically stopped working last week, so I took it to the Geek Squad at my local Best Buy. The nice man there pointed out that my son had 84 MB worth of games, etc., on it, while the whole memory is 150 MG. Basically, I was out of space.</p>

<p>Oh, and there’s a virus on here too.</p>

<p>So, for $199, they eliminated the virus and deleted my son’s materials. (I told them to; he’s now got his own computer and never uses mine.)</p>

<p>My computer worked great–until the monitor died the next day. Back to Best Buy to get a new monitor, for $150.</p>

<p>Yesterday, all sorts of windows started opening while I was online. Couldn’t close them; had to turn off the power and reboot. Happened over and over. Must be another virus.</p>

<p>So I checked my virus protection. It was turned off. I turned it on again and ran some scans to find and eliminate any viruses.</p>

<p>Problem solved? Are you kidding me? The machine goes positively nuts whenever I go on-line–window upon window opening, tabs within each window… . . Can’t close them; have to reboot or turn off the power. It’s crazy.</p>

<p>I have to take my machine back to Best Buy when they open this morning and have them eliminate this new, terrible virus that won’t let me use my machine. Will they charge me another $199 for the privilege? Uh–over my dead body. </p>

<p>I hate computers. I love computers. I realize I’m addicted to computers. All of which is well and good, as long as the computer works… . </p>

<p>(BTW, I’m on DH’s computer right now. At least I have a “spare.”)</p>

2

<p>Next problem you have - spend the extra bucks and get a Mac!</p>

3

<p>Very Happy:
Even the most careful users catch nasty viruses and spyware. My experience is that the leading virus programs do a reasonable but not perfect job. Some viruses get through…some are actually written to disable the popular virus scanners.
I have an army of programs to fight this. My standard program is PC Cillin (BTW, it didn’t protect me from a recent attack). I also use Spybot (you can download free) and my favorite MalWareBytes (also free). Malwarebytes got rid of one of the nastiest viruses I’ve ever encountered…
System Restore is also helpful. Can you get in there and try to restore your computer to last week? (Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore).
Hey, if I took my computer to Best Buy every time I had a problem, I’d be flat broke.
Best to learn some things on your own if you can.
Also, be sure to back up. I learned the hard way - protect your files!</p>

4

<p>I blame this whole issue on the Microsoft monopoly. After decades of computer software development, how is it possible for any virus to attack your computer? This should not happen at anytime, ever. Instead we seem to get upgraded Microsoft products that are only slightly changed from the previous versions. I periodically think that it is time to change to Apple. Too bad that the hardware costs almost twice as much and a lot of my computer programs are not compatible.</p>

5

<p>wait, how is this microsoft’s fault? I mean Apples can get viruses too</p>

<p>also, I would recommend disconnecting your computer from the internet completely until you solve the problem, and run several virus scans yourself. I use the free version of Avira antivirus and it works well for me. Also if you have your files backed up it might be easier to reinstall windows.</p>

6

<p>I am the resident SA (system adminstrator) for my whole family. I do feel for people that are not computer savvy. My husband is such person and he gets so mad. I did get him a Mac Air. I don’t get as many frantic phone calls at work now.</p>

<p>Las night, our FIOS internet went out. It was worse than a black out at our house. It was panic on all front. I fixed it - unplugged it, turned off the power, waited for 30 seconds, put everything back in, and it was back up. Never under estimate the power of turning everything off, then turning everything back on.</p>

7

<p>I’m with toneranger. I use more than one product. I use the Norton tools (and make sure they are up to date and run weekly). I also have some free software called AdAware that I run weekly for additional spyware protection. I back up to an external harddrive about once a week, too, using Norton Ghost. So the one time I got something that I couldn’t shake via the Norton and AdAware software, I was able to restore the harddrive.</p>

<p>Sometimes I have had to alternate running the products or run them repeatedly to get through what seem to be “layers” of issues (when an virus or something causes the Norton or AdAware to not complete it’s task, but each time I run them they get a little further and clean up a few more items). And I also sometimes run the chkdsk utility (search the internet for info on how to do this) to repair bad disk sectors if I am having repeated issues. Good luck.</p>

8

<p>You’ve got something nasty. At this point, I’d say back up your data and then wipe your hard drive and reinstall the OS. It happens - I’m having to do the same thing.</p>

<p>I recommend getting Spybot and MalwareBytes and updating and running them regularly. HijackThis is also a great program, but it requires a lot more knowledge and skill to use. I’ve been impressed with MalwareBytes in particular - it has found stuff for me that none of the other programs that I’ve tried did.</p>

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<p>Huh? People write new viruses all the time, and then people have to write updates to the programs to detect and remove those viruses. It’s an ongoing battle between people who write malware and people who write anti-malware programs. The quoted statement makes no sense.</p>

9

<p>In the past few months, both my H and I had virus issues, never had before (at least, I didn’t–he goes through all sorts of contortions on his computers that I try to ignore.) He resorted to wiping clean and starting over with Linux and Open Office (he lost everything–everything–because he messed around with his registry…).</p>

<p>I hired a tech guy from work who freelances after hours. I recommend everyone asking around about this option. I paid 100 dollars, got the whole thing cleaned up, layers of new virus protection added, a lot of other good stuff he threw on for free, all my docs saved, and guaranteed free tech support from someone whom I know and trust.</p>

<p>I don’t plan to need it–the virus got on while others were using my computer–I"m religiously careful about where I go. but, you never know.</p>

<p>I agree that switching to Mac would cost me more, and limit what I can do. Also, their whole approach is too cute for me. I will consider, in the future, following H into Open Source World, but for now, I’m sticking with what I’m used to.</p>

10

<p>Just back from Best Buy. Apparently I have a 30-day warranty for the service, so I don’t have to pay any more. Of course this clean-up will take a few days… . When I get my computer back, I will follow all of your good suggestions for installing virus protection.</p>

<p>Sigh.</p>

11

<p>OP - problem #1 was taking your PC to the Geek Squad at Best Buy. They are minimally trained and are a security problem sometimes as well. I hope there were no confidential files on your PC. </p>

<p>Your best bet is always finding a local shop to service your system. They have a vested interest in fixing the problem the first time so that you are a happy customer. Best Buy will try to sell you something. </p>

<p>I can’t tell you how many people I’ve seen get their computers screwed up or sold something they did not need (and at an inflated price) by Geek Squad.</p>

12

<p>I run AVG, SpyBot, Ad-aware, and CCleaner. Should I add Malwarebytes too? </p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

13

<p>$199? No way. For a little more you can get a new computer.</p>

14

<p>If you aren’t already, stop using Explorer. Install Firefox (free download) - much less chance of getting nasties than Explorer, although you will still need to use antivirus and antispyware programs.</p>

15

<p>Iron Maiden, Yes, the Geek Squad did try to sell me a new internal hard drive with 300 or 500 MB of memory. I was happy when I realized I could delete both sons’ stuff from my machine and free up ~70 MB-- certainly more than little ole’ me will ever need. (When combined with what I’m already using.)</p>

<p>I did use some independent guy several years ago – actually, maybe eight or so years ago – and he charged me an absolute fortune. Charged by the hour, and then of course hung around (with the clock ticking) while the scans did their (lengthy) thing. That was not pretty. So I assumed that at least a place like Geek Squad would charge me their (inflated) flat rate, but at least not by the hour.</p>

<p>BTW, every single person who has helped me at the Geek Squad has been extraordinarily – geeky. Must be a job requirement.</p>

16

<p>I had a similar problem several weeks ago. I ran a Norton scan but still had a problem. I did a CC search on anti virus programs and ended up running the free AVG and Malwarebyte. My computer has been great since.</p>

17

<p>veryhappy:</p>

<p>You should always keep your anti-virus application (McAfee, AVG, ect.) running as I’m sure you know now. You should also run an anti-spyware application (ad-aware, malwarebytes, etc.) fairly frequently. Also make sure you have the security level of your browser (on IE - tools-internet options-security) enabled and at a medium-high level. The ‘popping windows’ is usually because a virus got into the browser and is redirecting it to various websites. If you get the popping with, for example IE, then switch to using Firefox instead at least until you can virus check and anti-spyware check your PC.</p>

<p>Be careful of upselling by Best Buy or other places. In most cases you don’t need it. I’ve known people who worked as Circuit City Firedogs (Geek Squad equivalent) and they make a lot of money by simply running anti-virus and anti-spyware apps on the customer’s PC and selling them things they don’t really need, like bigger hard drives. You can run the same apps for free yourself.</p>

<p>See if you can find some ‘free-geek’ - someone in your family, a neighbor, a colleague, etc. who might be able to walk you through some of this stuff without charging you. Of course, you can always come to CC for this for free too.</p>

18

<p>Thank you all. I’m hoping I get the d*mn thing back tomorrow (virus free!!) and can implement all your good ideas.</p>

19

<p>There are benefits to larger and newer disks as newer generations usually run faster and, in some cases, use much less power (Western Digital’s Variable Speed Green Disks). For non-technical people without budget restrictions, I recommend Macs if you want to reduce “service calls”. One thing about using computer store tech services - remove or encrypt your sensitive data. You never know when your personal pictures might wind up on the internet from some kid that copies all of your files to a portable drive.</p>

20

<p>Also, it’s a bit like discussing bailouts and the deficit. The units now are $100 billions and trillions. With hard drives its GB (not MB) and even TB (terabyte). :D</p>