Anyone hear about Conficker?

[bicostp]

Our main PC was infected with a pretty nasty one. It came from one of those 1001freehairstyles4ubutreallyitsmalware.com kind of sites. It took about a month to get rid of every trace of it.

If you were REALLY PARANOID you would get a Mac or Linux

Macs? I have several. They're almost all from the late Amelio era, though. (1993-1997) The newest isn't even an Apple computer, it's a Motorola StarMAX 4000/200 (200 mhz PPC 604e), from when they licensed System 7 to third party companies. If I really wanted to, I could go online with my old SE/30. (8 MB RAM, 80 MB original hard drive, 16 mhz 68030 CPU.) It would just have to go through Localtalk and a Cayman GatorBox (LocalTalk to Ethernet bridge) to get it on the DSL.

Linux? Tried it, hate it. Let's not open up that can of worms here, OK?

[Tibia]

Symantec came up clean. It did say I should download that Windows patch, though.

That reminds me, I have a virus related question. I got a used laptop from my brother last year, but I've kind of abandoned it because I never was able to get all the infections out. If I swap hard drives, will I have a completely clean slate to start a fresh install of XP on? And please don't tell me to go Linux. I have a valid XP product key and SP3 installation disc already, and I have certain programs I use for work that I've yet to get functioning on a Linux machine.

[bicostp]

Yup. Completely different hard drive = no viruses at all.

You could try using something like the Ultimate Boot CD to perform a low-level wipe of the hard drive. If you do a full format with it, you should get a perfectly clean install.

[gamecube6]

You could try using something like the Ultimate Boot CD to perform a low-level wipe of the hard drive. If you do a full format with it, you should get a perfectly clean install.

Ick, that looks disgusting.

Doesn't Backtrack accomplish the same thing?

[bicostp]

Funny, I thought Linux users loved text-mode interfaces! Besides for basic tools like this, there's no reason to have a 400 MB GUI live CD, especially if it's a one-time job.

There's also Darik's Boot and Nuke. I like this one, too. We used to use it all the time to quickly erase our removable lab hard drives in college.

[gamecube6]

Funny, I thought Linux users loved text-mode interfaces! Besides for basic tools like this, there's no reason to have a 400 MB GUI live CD, especially if it's a one-time job.

There's also Darik's Boot and Nuke. I like this one, too. We used to use it all the time to quickly erase our removable lab hard drives in college.

Don't look at me, man, It was either Ubuntu or Windows 2k.

Oh, that looks interesting. Secure, huh? I've heard that the only real way to securely wipe data from a hard drive is to physically destroy it

[DJ711]

I'm running Norton Antivirus 2009.

Am I safe?


Oh, I keep getting the virus scanner thing too, and my laptop makes a grinding noise from the inside. Any one got any ideas what the heck is causing it?

[bicostp]

You should be safe, just run the utility I linked to earlier to double-check. As long as your comp is fully up-to-date you shouldn't have an issue.

What do you mean you "keep getting the virus scanner thing"?

"Grinding noise"? That could be anything from a worn-out fan or worn hard drive bearings.

[DJ711]

You should be safe, just run the utility I linked to earlier to double-check. As long as your comp is fully up-to-date you shouldn't have an issue.

What do you mean you "keep getting the virus scanner thing"?

"Grinding noise"? That could be anything from a worn-out fan or worn hard drive bearings.

Alright, once and awhile when I'm on the internet sends me to a site where it says free computer scanner and it shows me a screen of a virus scanner and tells me to download something.

[gamecube6]

You should be safe, just run the utility I linked to earlier to double-check. As long as your comp is fully up-to-date you shouldn't have an issue.

What do you mean you "keep getting the virus scanner thing"?

"Grinding noise"? That could be anything from a worn-out fan or worn hard drive bearings.

Alright, once and awhile when I'm on the internet sends me to a site where it says free computer scanner and it shows me a screen of a virus scanner and tells me to download something.

Aren't those fisching sites? Or is that a firefox thing? I've come across that a few times, I just get the heck out of there.

[Triton]

its malware, try running ad-aware or something. i use a combo of ad-aware and avast antivirus

[ShockSlayer]

I'm actually looking forward to April 1. Self-aware computer network here we come!

Totally with you on that one. This all sounds MMBN to me, which would be awesome.

SS

[Tibia]

Yup. Completely different hard drive = no viruses at all.

You could try using something like the Ultimate Boot CD to perform a low-level wipe of the hard drive. If you do a full format with it, you should get a perfectly clean install.

I'm going to replace it, as I think the HDD itself is also corrupt. I've popped it into an external enclosure and hooked it up to a computer to reformat it, and it never did complete the format. Thanks for the answer.

[nevermind1534]

Yup. Completely different hard drive = no viruses at all.

You could try using something like the Ultimate Boot CD to perform a low-level wipe of the hard drive. If you do a full format with it, you should get a perfectly clean install.

I'm going to replace it, as I think the HDD itself is also corrupt. I've popped it into an external enclosure and hooked it up to a computer to reformat it, and it never did complete the format. Thanks for the answer.

You could put that corrupted drive in our migratory box.

[Tibia]

Yup. Completely different hard drive = no viruses at all.

You could try using something like the Ultimate Boot CD to perform a low-level wipe of the hard drive. If you do a full format with it, you should get a perfectly clean install.

I'm going to replace it, as I think the HDD itself is also corrupt. I've popped it into an external enclosure and hooked it up to a computer to reformat it, and it never did complete the format. Thanks for the answer.

You could put that corrupted drive in our migratory box.

Thinking about that, actually. lol