ladyjewels2000
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posted on August 16, 2005 12:27:45 PM new
I just heard on the new about a virus that has hit computers today? Has anyone heard about it and how do you get it.
Thanks
[ edited by ladyjewels2000 on Aug 16, 2005 03:33 PM ]
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vintagepostcardsdotorg
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posted on August 16, 2005 12:33:06 PM new
it's called the Zotob worm...here's a link to a good story about it. the trend micro that they mention in the article has a free online scanner...
here's a story about the worm http://www.cbc.ca/story/business/national/2005/08/15/zotob_computer_virus_2005_8_13.html
and here's trend micro's "housescan" link where they'll scan your computer for free:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
http://stores.ebay.com/postcards-postcards?refid=store
http://www.vintagepostcards.org
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max40
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posted on August 16, 2005 12:51:25 PM new
Update on my Can't Get onto eBay post on last Saturday. I have a virus-worm-spyware whatever, that doesn't allow me to log onto anything eBay related. Also cannot get into Norton or any other protecton web page. I've given up on trying to correct it, and will be reformating my computer tomorrow. What a mess.
PS I tried to read the article about the new worm, and can't even get to that page. Everything else seems to work fine.
[ edited by max40 on Aug 16, 2005 12:53 PM ]
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vintagepostcardsdotorg
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posted on August 16, 2005 01:12:20 PM new
hey max,
in a nutshell, the story says: "The Zotob virus drops a copy of itself into the Windows operating system. It can make changes to prevent the user getting online assistance from antivirus web sites." (according to Trend Micro)
i don't have a lot of free time this afternoon but i'd hold off on the reformatting. see if you can download copies of SpywareBlaster (to immunize your system) and Spybot - Search & Destroy. both are free and a good start.
SpywareBlaster v 3.4 is at http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/downloads.html
Spybot is at http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html
they'll pick up a lot of problems and there are options to "immunize" your system. if you can get them to run, reboot - a cold boot, as in turn your computer completely off for 35 seconds and then turn it back on. first place i'd go is to windows updates, under tools at the top of your internet explorer browser screen. microsoft issued a bunch of security updates this past week.
if you can get this far, you can probably get things like norton's to work. you really shouldn't have to reformat...got to run for now. and...RUN THESE TYPES OF PROGRAMS ONCE A WEEK, REGULARLY...i use a variety of free and commercial programs to scan my system once a week.
http://stores.ebay.com/postcards-postcards?refid=store
http://www.vintagepostcards.org
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glassGRL
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posted on August 16, 2005 01:25:36 PM new
you might want to try Hijack this.
http://216.180.233.162/~merijn/files/HijackThis.exe
it's a direct download in case you've been hijacked or whatever.
To analyze your own HIJACK THIS logfile try this - but I have seen it mark things ok suspect so be careful.
http://www.hijackthis.de/
Here's the Security Ops page with every scanner and virus thingamajiggy known to man -
http://www.security-ops.eu.tt/
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vintagepostcardsdotorg
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posted on August 16, 2005 01:32:03 PM new
duh!!! yes, listen to glassgrl on the hijack this program, it's excellent and will help to pinpoint the problem(s).
http://stores.ebay.com/postcards-postcards?refid=store
http://www.vintagepostcards.org
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glassGRL
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posted on August 16, 2005 02:04:19 PM new
of course I'm a BIG fan of the old Format and clean install variety also 
I think we try to keep far too much stuff too long on our computers and we should back up and format more often.
Don't forget Picasa is a great program for retrieving all your photos in a jiffy for backup.
http://picasa.google.com/index.html
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vintagepostcardsdotorg
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posted on August 16, 2005 02:14:13 PM new
hey glassgrl,
by any chance will picasa also extract pictures attached to e'mails? it sure would be a Godsend if it does...i've got a program that will pick through deceased e'mail data...but it's very, very time consuming...which is why i haven't finished it yet.
http://stores.ebay.com/postcards-postcards?refid=store
http://www.vintagepostcards.org
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glassGRL
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posted on August 16, 2005 02:28:19 PM new
sorry vintage - but TG it doesn't! Who would want a bunch of Britney Spears Naked and Penis Enlargers?
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vintagepostcardsdotorg
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posted on August 16, 2005 02:33:16 PM new
huh? i just want the only copies of some photos i have, that are attached to old e'mail data files. R-Mail, a commercial program i've got, will do it...but i end up with tons and tons of old e'mails that i have to wade through, just hoping to find a quicker way of stripping out the images.
http://stores.ebay.com/postcards-postcards?refid=store
http://www.vintagepostcards.org
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vintagepostcardsdotorg
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posted on August 16, 2005 02:46:33 PM new
hey glassGRL,
wolf blitzer and some other guy on cnn are hysterically reporting that cnn, abc and the new york times have been affected by Zotob, now characterized as the fastest-growing virus ever. esp. vulnerable apparently is windows 2000...maybe the media still widely uses it? kind of surprised at that thought.
http://stores.ebay.com/postcards-postcards?refid=store
http://www.vintagepostcards.org
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sparkz
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posted on August 16, 2005 02:46:36 PM new
Max...Another approach that will work is pick up an old 500 mb hard drive at a yard sale or swap meet for 5 bucks. Install it as drive c on your computer. Format it and install a copy of windows 95 and a copy of IE4. Switch the jumper on your main drive to make it slave drive D: Install your isp software on drive C: and log on to Trendmicro and select their Housecall scan. Have it scan drive D: and remove the virus. Remove drive c: and switch the jumper back on drive D: to make it master drive C: again. Keep the W95 drive in a safe place so you can do it again if you get re-infected again later. It's not as complicated as I make it sound, and it's worked for me in the past.
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
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replaymedia
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posted on August 16, 2005 03:10:24 PM new
My hard drive died about two weeks ago and I ordered a new one. After a couple of days it arrived DOA. For two weeks, while I awaited a replacement, I ran my PC WITHOUGH a HARD DRIVE AT ALL!
How?
I put a Linux bootable CD in my CD drive and ran off that for two weeks. It was amazing what I was about to do without a hard drive at all. I especially liked 'Puppy Linux'. The entire thing boots from the CD and loads itself into RAM. Your browser bookmarks and stuff are saved on a USB pen drive (IF you want).
The new replacement drive came yesterday, and after installing Linux on it, I have no fear of viruses.
I have a machine to run Dazzle and a few other Windows-only programs, but my main machine is now 100% Linux/0% Microsoft.
Again, check out any of the various flavors of "live" Linux.
http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php
download one, burn it to CD, and reboot. You don't have to install them to try them out, they boot and run right off the CD... nothing to risk!
p.s. My new 300 Gig hard drive and DVD Recorder are cool too 
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Quidquid Latine dictum sit altum sonatur.
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sanmar
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posted on August 16, 2005 03:33:32 PM new
I hope Trend & Norton get a fix on this in a hurry. All of my incoming email on hotmail is scanned by Trend. On verizon.net it is scanned by Norton. Also I understand that Microsoft is putting out a patch. I have XP Pro with automati updates, so I'll be carefull but am not going to worry.
Life Is Too Short To Drink Bad Wine
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glassGRL
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posted on August 16, 2005 03:33:43 PM new
Max - have you tried downloading Mozilla/Firefox and using it to get to the online scanners?
Additionally - Avast (I will NEVER waste money on Norton or the likes again) has a cleaner. I don't know if it will work for you but it's worth a try.
http://www.avast.com/eng/down_cleaner.html
They say at Avast we've been protected from Zotob for two days now.
When the last hurricane crashed my new Dell computer they came out and put a new hard drive on it. They didn't have the old hard drive but my new one is twice the size and it's HUGE! I went to defragment the disk the other day and I just had to laugh - there was nothing showing on it but about two lines!
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vintagepostcardsdotorg
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posted on August 16, 2005 03:51:26 PM new
yeah, the really sad part is, if people would download the microsoft updates once a week - i think they come out on tuesday or wednesday - the security holes that let these worms/viruses in would have been closed in the first place.
fbi still says they're not aware of any virus attack...jeez.
i'd think heads would roll at affected companies in their security departments. this thing was preventable.
http://stores.ebay.com/postcards-postcards?refid=store
http://www.vintagepostcards.org
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tOMWiii
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posted on August 16, 2005 03:56:22 PM new
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8958495/
How many covert heros has this slimeball murdered?
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ladyjewels2000
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posted on August 16, 2005 04:03:39 PM new
I downloaded some microsoft updates about an hour before I heard this on the news. Will that protect me??
vintage - I ran the "housescan" and it said everything was OK?
I'm really in a panic here - I've been waiting for my "new to me" laptop with my new hard drive and windows 2000 for a month now and I just got it a few days ago. I have not had time to get in touch with Norton to transfer my Virus Protection.
Should I just shut down and go back to my old laptop?
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vintagepostcardsdotorg
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posted on August 16, 2005 04:30:10 PM new
lady,
i'm not there to look at your system of course...do you remember if you downloaded the ***security*** updates from windows when you did the download? (hint: it would have said that it required your computer to restart if you downloaded those, for the fixes to take effect).
if you downloaded the ***security updates*** and trend said your system was clean (did you have it check for not just viruses but the option to check for worms, etc. as well? i hope so, if not, rerun it to make sure), you're probably in good shape. i wouldn't panic, if i were you.
microsoft also says they now have a patch for this new worm/virus...you can check your ms updates again. if you downloaded the security updates earlier, it's going to give you a message that you don't need to download anything.
re: your laptop...do you have a WEP key on it? if not, to make it more secure, call your ISP and they'll walk you through adding one to your system. this will prevent your "neighbors" from using YOUR wireless service that YOU are paying for - and close a lot of security concerns that way as well. you can use the same WEP key for every puter in your house.
for your laptop, also ask them to assign it to the MAC key. (boring explanation omitted, they'll know what i'm talking about.)
even here in this small town, people have been cruising slooowly past the houses on this side street for no particular reason other than, i think they're looking for unsecured laptop wireless systems to log onto. (there's nothing noteworthy on this street that i can figure out, no houses for sale, no pretty teenage girls or handsome teenage boys, etc.)they can see my little network - named after my dog - but they can't get on it. (well, anything's possible but it's unlikely, they'll go steal service from someone it's easier to steal from.)
you're to be commended, for downloading the windows updates and running housecall!
http://stores.ebay.com/postcards-postcards?refid=store
http://www.vintagepostcards.org
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ladyjewels2000
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posted on August 16, 2005 04:42:21 PM new
I am pretty sure it was "Security" and I did have to reboot.
I don't have wireless yet but hope to get it soon.
Thanks for all your help - I won't worry too much tonight and will work on my system tomorrow.
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sciclone2000
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posted on August 16, 2005 04:44:42 PM new
Replay,
What flavor of Linux do you use? I've been using Suse for about a year and love it. Before Suse I used Mandrake and found pretty easy to use.
Tony.
In a world without walls or fences who needs Windows and Gates?
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replaymedia
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posted on August 16, 2005 05:01:07 PM new
Yep, Suse it is!
But this is the first time I was able to install from the DVD version... MUCH quicker!
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Quidquid Latine dictum sit altum sonatur.
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