MESSAGE
| DATE | 2004-06-12 |
| FROM | Mike Richardson - NYLXS PRESIDENT
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] [Fwd: The proper MSFT security procedure?] (fwd)
|
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 12 Jun 2004 11:23:10 -0400
From: Michael L. Richardson
To: michael-nylxs
Subject: [Fwd: The proper MSFT security procedure?]
-----Forwarded Message-----
> From: Michael L. Richardson
> To: nylxs
> Subject: The proper MSFT security procedure?
> Date: Fri, 11 Jun 2004 23:35:16 -0400
>
> Guys this is from messages on the wwwac list. They are all on the same
> topic. 12 messages in all.
> Messsage 1.
> My mom, who lives 200 miles away, and, after 7 years of using a
> computer to "do eBay" still can't make a new folder without me there
> to guide her, has come under a full assault of of Spyware and AdWare
> as a result (she claims) of clicking on a "link in Google" - but
> after I pressed her on it, she told me that she DID click on an
> attachment that "seemed like it was from an eBay person"
>
> Her computer started running all sorts of stuff, ignoring her
> keystrokes as more and more stuff piled up the desktop. Well, I spent
> an hour on the phone with her trying to explain to her how to get and
> run adware removers, and ultimately, she lost control of the
> computer, to the point where literally hundreds of windows were
> popping up and all that.
>
> She has Norton System Works, fully updated, it didn't find anything.
> We ran Bazooka, and that found about 25 spy programs, but she
> couldn't figure out how to use Bazooka to delete them.
>
> I need a one-click solution she can buy at a local store.
>
> I told here to pull the plug on the computer and NOT to start it up
> again until I tell her what to do.
>
> What do I tell her to do?
>
> message2.
> I had a client like this, and all the adware was disabling and
> reconfiguring lavasoft, or not allowing it to be installed. I was also
> worried that Norton AV had been warped, too. Finally I just installed
> everything from scratch.
>
> The good thing is that a lot of casual users only store bookmarks on
> their computers (which makes huge hard drives hilarious). So if she can
> just attach her bookmark file to an e-mail in her yahoo mail account,
> you can nuke the computer.
>
> For users like her I think it would be best to set up the system once
> and make an image of it, and make it easy to restore back to that image.
>
> Of course, if she's running XP she could go back to a previous system
> state, which might do much of the same thing.
>
> Either way, I usually don't trust a machine once it's been compromised.
> message 3.Erg...
> OK, here's a recap:
>
> 1. She can't use the Internet - no downloads
> 2. I don't run Windows, and can't make a boot disk for Windows.
> 3. What can she get at say Staples or Office Max or one of those and
> buy, right now?
> No downloads.
> message 4.
> Without being able to use the internet, she's SOL as far as doing it
> herself or you doing it. Even if you were able to buy a boxed
> anti-spyware program, it's definitions would need to be updated online,
> like an antivirus program. If you can download one, like adaware, burn
> it to CD with its latest definitions, and then install it, that might
> work.
>
> Call in a professional and/or reinstall the box from scratch.
> message 5.
> I know this sounds crazy, but you CAN buy a Linux distro at
> Staples or Office Max. Chances are very good that she can
> just shove the CD into her computer and keep clicking "Yes"
> and wind up with a default installation that would suit her
> needs. This is the only thing I can think of that meets the
> above three requirements assuming that her Windows
> installation is hosed.
> or...
> How I handled a similar situation - My mom is on a Mac now,
> and my my sister handles any support issues...
>
> --------------howie
>
> message 6.So I called her with the sage advice of this list, which I can
> summarize as follows:
>
> "The computer is F....ked, you have to reload Windows and start over"
>
> Which, apparently the same advice her computer geek neighbor gave her
> before I called.
>
> She has no idea where the install disks are, and remember, this is a
> person who still can't quite get the idea of a "directory structure"
> and for whom "Cut and Paste" requires a consultation with the
> notebook she keeps by the computer.
>
> I told her it would take a few hours - at best - to recover the
> system, and another few hours to re-install all the software she had
> on there, and her eBay pictures were basically gone.
>
> Guess what she did?
>
> She tossed her 1.something gig processor, 256meg, 40 gig hard drive
> Windows PC in the trash and is heading out to buy a Mac.
>
> There IS a God.
> message 7.
> I dug up this article from an April 11 column in Newsday that might
> help you and your Mom now and/or in the future:
>
> E-mailbag brings a Linux love letter
> Lou Dolinar
>
> April 11, 2004
>
> Time to catch up with e-mail this week. After our last four columns
> on Linux, operating systems are on the front burner, along with some
> general interest questions.
>
> The Knoppix version of Linux, which reader Howard Bates alerted me to
> a while back, seems to be stirring the most interest. Knoppix, as
> you'll recall, fits on a single CD, boots, detects hardware, and
> installs itself without ever touching your hard drive. To the extent
> you can make a case for desktop Linux, you can make a particularly
> good case for Knoppix. I've heard from perhaps a half-dozen readers
> who have tried it. The following e-mail, from an anonymous reader, is
> typical:
>
> "I love Knoppix . . . I just take the CD with my personal settings
> also burned onto the disk and away I go. No longer do I have to deal
> with how someone else sets up their PC. Plop it and presto!
>
> "My mom got tired of her Windows PC and all the problems she has with
> it. Too slow, error messages everywhere, no one available to fix it
> (she lives far away from me). She is 74 so is not interested in
> upgrading to XP, buying a new machine, or anything else that involves
> money or learning the ins and outs of a new system. She just wants
> something to use to read her mail off Yahoo and browse the Internet.
>
> "So I sent her a Knoppix disk. She loves it. No matter what she does,
> she can just restart the machine if she thinks she messed something
> up (she never does mess it up but is concerned that if she does no
> one will be around to fix the problem). I love my mom, but I also
> love the fact that conversations no longer begin with 'Can you help
> me with my PC - I think I messed things up again.' She now spends
> more time messing around with her computer since she knows no matter
> what she does - the damage is never permanent.
>
> "So, I'm sending a disk to my brother so his kids can hammer away at
> their PCs without him needing to reinstall the software once a month
> after they totally nuke the system in their desire to remove,
> install, 'fix' or otherwise improve what they believe can always be
> fixed by Dad."
> message 8.Have her get it to you. Weren't you soliciting donations a
> while back for
> some project?
>
> Why toss a perfectly good Linux machine? Just because it once ran an
> MSFT
> environment? That's the worse type of profiling.
>
> - Andrew
> message 9.
> When she does the same with the Mac, could I please have it?
> message 10.> Kim B. Foglia wrote:
> >
> >
> >>"I love Knoppix . . . I just take the CD with my personal settings
> >>also burned onto the disk and away I go. No longer do I have to deal
> >>with how someone else sets up their PC. Plop it and presto!
> >
> >
> > I've heard of Knoppix, of course, but *this* idea never occurred to
> me. How
> > easy is it to create a login, profile, etc. and then create a new CD?
> >
> > - Andrew
>
> You can actually use a CD and have a USB key handy to save your
> bookmarks, etc on. (it's setup as your home directory in Linux)
>
> To set this up, boot Knoppix on a PC and drop the USB key in. Run the
> command in the "K" (start) menu to create a persistent home directory
> and follow along. When done, you can type "knoppix home=scan" at the
> first prompt when booting to automatically use it. Full details are
> here:
>
> http://www.knoppix-std.org/docs/crypto_home.html
>
> I'm sure there's a Knoppix CD out there that someone set up to scan for
> home automatically, so you can avoid typing the scan command in.
>
> The big advantage to this, besides the fact that you can't really screw
> it up, is that as long as you have your Knoppix CD and key with you...
> you have your desktop with you (bookmarks, few files, mail setup, etc)
> message 11.To all who asked about the unfortunate ad-soaked computer
> that was
> uncermoniously ejected from the house.
>
> My Dad is now involved. According to his latest report on my Mom's
> computer spaz-out, the computer was, quite literally, THROWN out of
> the house, onto the patio in the back, near the trash cans, where it
> has been rained on for the last hour, as he called me to ask if I
> still wanted it despite having suffered dramatic and sudden
> de-acceleration and extensive exposure to rain and such owning to the
> fact that it landed upside-down in a puddle. Given that I already
> have enough broken pentium systems to last a lifetime, I declined.
>
> I told him to get her a nice 20" screen iMac.
> message 12.Martin T. Focazio wrote:
>
> > According to his latest report on my Mom's
> > computer spaz-out, the computer was, quite literally, THROWN out of
> > the house, onto the patio in the back, near the trash cans, where it
> > has been rained on for the last hour,
>
> You lied!
>
> You wrote that your Mom was computer-illiterate. How then can you
> explain
> her knowledge of the proper MSFT security procedure?
>
> - Andrew
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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