Subject: I AM ASHAMED TO BE AN ITer [<==this person used to work in a computer support section - Ed.]
Chuck
Can u believe this? I got (it seems) every single virus on my Home PC!
I must thank Charter for it's wonderful speed-of-light cable-net access and its wide open back doors!!! Yikes
I was logged off, but on, and now---My homepage is about:blank.
I've got spyware, adware, registry hacks, etc, etc, etc
Also, the lovely people who gave me all these diseases also offered to clean them up for a fee. Nice.
My firewall is on fire, and I had a bad sig file on my (alleged) Norton Live (again, alleged) Realtime update
In other words, help me please
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My answer:
OK.
First: It's not Charter's fault. Much of the fault lays at Microsoft's feet. They created an operating system that was designed to be easy to use and allow the user the maximum freedom possible. That is, by definition, an unsecure system. Therefore, the hackers/crackers out in the wild wild web (think Wild Wild West) have taken advantage of that 'freedom' to their nefarious ends.
Now what to do about it.
Look for AdAware (www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/), SpyBot Search and Destroy (http://security.kolla.de or www.safer-networking.org), and a new site I've been looking at called (appropriately) PC Hell (www.pchell.com).
If you are that infected, you have quite a job on your hands. You may be better off saving your documents and doing a fdisk-format-reinstall (do-dah, do-dah). Once you're re-installed, go out to the Microsoft Update site (http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com) scan your computer for updates, install all Critical updates, reboot, repeat until there are no more critical updates (as you install updates, there are updates to the updates that can't be seen until the first update is installed - clear as mud?)
Chuck
P.S. House calls are available - call for rates.
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Sound about right?
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