RE: [H] Suggested tools for helping a friend with badvirus infestation
At 04:53 PM 14/02/2006, Christopher Fisk wrote: On Tue, 14 Feb 2006, Thane Sherrington (S) wrote: What about the ones not published? Well, according to Systernals, it would take technology not yet seen in a rootkit to get around Rootkit Revealer. It would have to be specifically written to intercept RR calls to directly look at the registry and hard drive files. So right now, it seems like a pretty good tool. I'm not saying it's not a good tool, I'm saying (And they admit) that it's certainly not 100%. From the SysInternals page: Can a Rootkit hide from RootkitRevealer? It is theoretically possible for a rootkit to hide from RootkitRevealer. Doing so would require intercepting RootkitRevealer's reads of Registry hive data or file system data and changing the contents of the data such that the rootkit's Registry data or files are not present. However, this would require a level of sophistication not seen in rootkits to date. Changes to the data would require both an intimate knowledge of the NTFS, FAT and Registry hive formats, plus the ability to change data structures such that they hide the rootkit, but do not cause inconsistent or invalid structures or side-effect discrepancies that would be flagged by RootkitRevealer. Perhaps there has been an update to this, but reading this, it looks to me that right now RootKitRevealer is 100%. It doesn't catch rootkits that don't hide themselves, but those should show up in tools like ProcessExplorer (or even an AV scan) so I would say that right now RootKits are more of a threat to the average user than to the person who knows how to find them. T
[H] Satellite to wireless Internet
I know a guy who lives in the boonies in a cluster of about ten houses (all within 500 feet of each other.) He was thinking of getting satellite internet to his house and connect it to a router and put an omni-directional antenna on his house to share the service with the houses within range. Does anyone have experience with something like this and can you recommend a provider, equipment, etc? T
Re: [H] AntiSpyware becomes Defender...
At 03:25 AM 15/02/2006, Stan Zaske wrote: Microsoft AntiSpyware has gone to Beta 2 status and is now called, Window's Defender. Check it out if you want one more tool for your XP box. http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=4515857 Doesn't security products from MS sound like a protection racket? :) T
Re: [H] Satellite to wireless Internet
At 05:36 2/15/2006, Thane Sherrington (S) wrote: I know a guy who lives in the boonies in a cluster of about ten houses (all within 500 feet of each other.) He was thinking of getting satellite internet to his house and connect it to a router and put an omni-directional antenna on his house to share the service with the houses within range. Does anyone have experience with something like this and can you recommend a provider, equipment, etc? T Satellite has a spotty record at best. On good days, when it actually works, you can get about 128 kbps. So, to create a wireless network with unreliable technology is probably an futile exercise. I hope it works for him, but he'll probably disappointed. Start Here to Find It Fast! - http://www.US-Webmasters.com/best-start-page/ $8.77 Domain Names - http://domains.us-webmasters.com/
RE: [H] Suggested tools for helping a friend with badvirus infestation
Because I have gotten pieces of malware and checked against virustotal and no on got it but reverse engineering it showed it was definitely a virus -Original Message- From: Thane Sherrington (S)[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 2/13/06 6:41:54 AM To: The Hardware Listhardware@hardwaregroup.com Subject: RE: [H] Suggested tools for helping a friend with badvirus infestation At 10:03 AM 13/02/2006, Mesdaq, Ali wrote: Its not a company I work for its a tool we use. You can upload a file and check it against all av pretty sad coverage because no av ever gets it all or even close How do you know that? According to their charts, it appears that if they scan with all the AVs then then catch all the malware, but no one program gets them all. T
RE: [H] Suggested tools for helping a friend with badvirus infestation
Virustotal is a pretty standard tool used by researchers it has consistant results with other methods we use -Original Message- From: Anthony Q. Martin[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 2/13/06 6:09:13 AM To: 'The Hardware List'hardware@hardwaregroup.com Subject: RE: [H] Suggested tools for helping a friend with badvirus infestation : :Its not a company I work for its a tool we use. You can upload a file and check it against all av :pretty sad coverage because no av ever gets it all or even close Then how can you believe the results? Some can be reporting false positives, etc.
Re: [H] Satellite to wireless Internet
At 08:44 AM 15/02/2006, W. D. wrote: Satellite has a spotty record at best. On good days, when it actually works, you can get about 128 kbps. He's getting 19.2K dial-up right now, so he's willing to try Satellite. :) T
[H] What do you think about this laptop...
http://www.buy.com/prod/Lenovo_Thinkpad_R51E_1_73GHz_512MB_40GB/q/loc/101/20 2001957.html I need to get my daughter a laptop for graduation (HS). I came across this yesterday. It is $699 after $75 rebate. Quick specs: 15 XGA TFTF screen Intel Pentium M 740 (1.73GHz) 512MB RAM (2GB max, 1 free slot) 533MHz FSB 6-Cell battery (approx 3.5 hour run time) CD-RW/DVD-ROM XP Professional 40GB HD (I think I saw somewhere is was 4200rpm, but I don't see it here) My daughter will be taking elementary education in college next year, so she does not need a high-end laptop. I am kind of troubled by the possible 4200rpm HD. An equivalently configured Dell Inspiron B130 will run about $870 after rebates ($720 with XP home). What do you all think about this laptop? Thanks, Bobby
Re: [H] Suggested tools for helping a friend with badvirus infestation
- Original Message - From: Wayne Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 10:18 PM Subject: RE: [H] Suggested tools for helping a friend with badvirus infestation I haven't been stoned in forever neither has any computer that I've worked on altho I vaguely remember seeing one back in the stone ages when off white text became amber. ;-) Now that you brought this up I sure hope I don't have any flash backs about it. rotfl I saw one where a huge solid black circle covered most of the desktop. An advantage of in-shop repairs is I get to see the same thing on my monitor that the customer saw on their monitor. This takes monitor problems out of the diagnostic picture. Chuck
RE: [H] Suggested tools for helping a friend with badvirus infestation
On Tue, 14 Feb 2006, Hayes Elkins wrote: I'm not saying it's not a good tool, I'm saying (And they admit) that it's certainly not 100%. Neither is there an antivirus tool that detects 100% of viruses. So next time you suspect a variant of STONED, better be safe than sorry and format. This is getting obsurd now. You go on never formatting, always hunting hunting hunting, I will clean 5 machines in the time it takes you to do your one machine, and not have to give my customer any free time. If you have a customer complaining about certain things on their computer, and there is a virus out that does that thing, and you find that they are infected with that virus, you can easilly infer that that was the issue at hand. If you have a customer with no virus detection tools installed at all, they come in with dozens of virus's and spyware on the machine, important data, driver/registry corruption (As was the case in the original email) it is most certainly faster to backup their data, verify that that data is clean and import that data into a newly formatted and installed windows install. I don't know about you, but once a computer repair bill starts getting up to $400-$500 I start suggesting a better alternative for the customer, bringing the customer better value for their money. Christopher Fisk -- Now, by the way, surplus means a little money left over, otherwise it wouldn't be called a surplus. George W. Bush, October 27, 2000 From a campaign speech in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
RE: [H] Suggested tools for helping a friend with badvirus infestation
On Wed, 15 Feb 2006, Thane Sherrington (S) wrote: From the SysInternals page: Can a Rootkit hide from RootkitRevealer? It is theoretically possible for a rootkit to hide from RootkitRevealer. Doing so would require intercepting RootkitRevealer's reads of Registry hive data or file system data and changing the contents of the data such that the rootkit's Registry data or files are not present. However, this would require a level of sophistication not seen in rootkits to date. Changes to the data would require both an intimate knowledge of the NTFS, FAT and Registry hive formats, plus the ability to change data structures such that they hide the rootkit, but do not cause inconsistent or invalid structures or side-effect discrepancies that would be flagged by RootkitRevealer. Perhaps there has been an update to this, but reading this, it looks to me that right now RootKitRevealer is 100%. It doesn't catch rootkits that don't hide themselves, but those should show up in tools like ProcessExplorer (or even an AV scan) so I would say that right now RootKits are more of a threat to the average user than to the person who knows how to find them. Everytime you make something idiot-proof they go an make a better idiot. The analogy works here as well. Now for home users, yeah, rootkit revealer is very likely going to get anything you would be exposed to, because you're just getting hit with the automated tools. Businesses who store customer data on a machine, and absolutely positively MUST be sure their machine is clean (Health records, presciption information, SSN's, etc) can't afford to be the exception to the rule when it comes to detecting these things. This is coming down to you believe you can completely clean the machine, no matter what is on it, faster than doing a data backup, format, data restore, and that you present more of a value to the customer when you do that. I believe that no matter how good I am, I'm gambling that I'm not going to run into something on the client's PC that will slow down the process, and cost the customer money it didn't need to. Yes, we try to clean the machines as much as possible, but the insane assumption that cleaning the machine is always better than starting fresh with the OS, is just that, insane. You also seem to think I'm recommending a reformat everytime a machine comes in with some spyware or a virus or two, I'm not. But in the case where the user had no virus information, they're being locked out of doing certain things on the machine, their crashing constantly and clearing out thier startup, running a quick scan doesn't resolve the majority of the issue, a backup and format is in order. Christopher Fisk -- Loew's Qaddafi's Mann's Grauman's Chinese Theater
RE: [H] Suggested tools for helping a friend with badvirus infestation
On Wed, 15 Feb 2006, FORC5 wrote: I had 4 systems this week badly infected ( record week ) 3 I spent too much time on cleaning, one I just ran the restore disk, was the easiest one. See, it's not ease which is the determining factor for me, it's the Can the customer go out and buy a better machine than this one for the same price it is going to cost for me to do the repair? I'm providing value to the customer, and I can't do that if they aren't receiving value in return. Christopher Fisk -- BOFH Excuse #277: Your Flux Capacitor has gone bad.
RE: [H] Suggested tools for helping a friend with badvirus infestation
On Tue, 14 Feb 2006, Hayes Elkins wrote: Just like viri - wait a day. How many companies do you work for that are ok with an extra day of downtime? Christopher Fisk -- WEDGIES ARE UNHEALTHY FOR CHILDREN AND OTHER LIVING THINGS WEDGIES ARE UNHEALTHY FOR CHILDREN AND OTHER LIVING THINGS Bart Simpson on chalkboard in episode 3F08
RE: [H] Suggested tools for helping a friend with badvirus infestation
At 09:09 AM 2/15/2006, Christopher Fisk typed: Yes, we try to clean the machines as much as possible, but the insane assumption that cleaning the machine is always better than starting fresh with the OS, is just that, insane. Unfortunately there are too many shops out there that start with the restore disk for the simplest little problem. FWIW I understand there are nasties out there than can go undetected but nothing can change the fact that I've only had to do a complete re-install on 2 machines in the last 10yrs. Sure there may have been some machines that I spent too much time on but I would rather error on the side of caution. When you do a backup do you do a complete backup if not what about all the various configuration files then there is the time to get everything restored? Sure there are times when doing a reinstall is the best thing for the shop but IMO there is less than 5% of the time it's the best thing for the client. This is one of those topics where many of us will have to agree to disagree, eg: I like Fords you like Chevys. Can the customer go out and buy a better machine than this one for the same price it is going to cost for me to do the repair? That is why I never charge more than $200 for my time on a single machine because the client can buy Chuck's favorite eMachine. --+-- Wayne D. Johnson Ashland, OH, USA 44805 http://www.wavijo.com
Re: [H] AntiSpyware becomes Defender...
At 06:37 AM 2/15/2006, Thane Sherrington (S) typed: Doesn't security products from MS sound like a protection racket? :) If one wants real protection would you rely on Ford putting the alarm system on a Ford or would you go out buy a 3rd party system? The whole concept doesn't make any sense. Doesn't MSFT know that they are the biggest target on the planet? --+-- Wayne D. Johnson Ashland, OH, USA 44805 http://www.wavijo.com
RE: [H] Suggested tools for helping a friend with badvirus infestation
On Wed, 15 Feb 2006, Wayne Johnson wrote: Unfortunately there are too many shops out there that start with the restore disk for the simplest little problem. Which is not what I'm advocating. FWIW I understand there are nasties out there than can go undetected but nothing can change the fact that I've only had to do a complete re-install on 2 machines in the last 10yrs. Sure there may have been some machines that I spent too much time on but I would rather error on the side of caution. So who eats that time? You? Or the customer? When you do a backup do you do a complete backup if not what about all the various configuration files then there is the time to get everything restored? The restore isn't bad. Prior to the reinstall you explain whats going on to the customer. Find out what data they need, what programs they use (You can have a list of the programs installed on the machine to jog their memory) and backup from there. Personally I just do the safe method on backups, I have an easy way of making ghost backups, so I just ghost the drive to a spare I have on the bench for the process, then I can be sure I won't miss any data, because I'm not losing any data. And as for settings, if I need I can boot up and find out what they were. Sure there are times when doing a reinstall is the best thing for the shop but IMO there is less than 5% of the time it's the best thing for the client. This is one of those topics where many of us will have to agree to disagree, eg: I like Fords you like Chevys. Actually, I like Fords too. Can the customer go out and buy a better machine than this one for the same price it is going to cost for me to do the repair? That is why I never charge more than $200 for my time on a single machine because the client can buy Chuck's favorite eMachine. $200 is 2.5 hours of work. How long does it take to clean the machine, verify the data, install all the windows updates, update the drivers, check capacitors, run memtest and other repair tools, etc? Christopher Fisk -- I don't want to look like a weirdo. I'll just go with a muumuu. -- Homer Simpson, King-Size Homer
Re: [H] AntiSpyware becomes Defender...
At 10:41 AM 15/02/2006, Wayne Johnson wrote: At 06:37 AM 2/15/2006, Thane Sherrington (S) typed: Doesn't security products from MS sound like a protection racket? :) If one wants real protection would you rely on Ford putting the alarm system on a Ford or would you go out buy a 3rd party system? The whole concept doesn't make any sense. Doesn't MSFT know that they are the biggest target on the planet? They don't care. It's a new market (which they created.) It's like Ford building a failure into their product, then charging to fix it. I'm surprised it's not illegal. T
RE: [H] Suggested tools for helping a friend with badvirus infestation
At 10:49 AM 15/02/2006, Christopher Fisk wrote: Personally I just do the safe method on backups, I have an easy way of making ghost backups, so I just ghost the drive to a spare I have on the bench for the process, then I can be sure I won't miss any data, because I'm not losing any data. And as for settings, if I need I can boot up and find out what they were. How long does it take you to do all that, and what do you charge? T
RE: [H] AntiSpyware becomes Defender...
I like using this tool in addition to the other tools that I use. They all seem to fins something the others leave behind. Bobby -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Wayne Johnson Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 9:41 AM To: The Hardware List Subject: Re: [H] AntiSpyware becomes Defender... At 06:37 AM 2/15/2006, Thane Sherrington (S) typed: Doesn't security products from MS sound like a protection racket? :) If one wants real protection would you rely on Ford putting the alarm system on a Ford or would you go out buy a 3rd party system? The whole concept doesn't make any sense. Doesn't MSFT know that they are the biggest target on the planet? --+-- Wayne D. Johnson Ashland, OH, USA 44805 http://www.wavijo.com
RE: [H] AntiSpyware becomes Defender...
At 10:57 AM 15/02/2006, Bobby Heid wrote: I like using this tool in addition to the other tools that I use. They all seem to fins something the others leave behind. I read a review this morning that put Spysweeper at the top of the pack, and put Beta1 of MS anti-spyware at the lead of the free products (but well behind Spysweeper.) I agree that a multiple program approach is the way to go. T
RE: [H] Suggested tools for helping a friend with badvirus infestation
From: Christopher Fisk [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Subject: RE: [H] Suggested tools for helping a friend with badvirus infestation Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 09:10:31 -0500 (EST) On Tue, 14 Feb 2006, Hayes Elkins wrote: Just like viri - wait a day. How many companies do you work for that are ok with an extra day of downtime? What do you suggest? Format everything? Symantec has released 0-day response cleaning tools for 95% of new threats since the day we started using SAVCE in 1999. Only time we had a threat not locked down in 24 hours was ILOVEYOU. Killing exchange for a day while waiting for the imminent fix sounds a lot better than formatting everything.
RE: [H] Are all keyboards basically the same?
The old IBM click keyboards are the best (IMHO). Specially for typist who practiced the iron finger technique in their childhood. 007. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of JRS Sent: Tuesday, February 14, 2006 6:37 PM To: The Hardware List Subject: Re: [H] Are all keyboards basically the same? LOL. I still use a couple orginal IBM clickey keyboards with the buckling spring switches from the 80's. They work as well now as they did then and I love that clicky feel. :) My feelings after many keyboards has come down to this: Get one that uses switches not membrane. That's after 1. Owning 2 Keytronics, who voided my lifetime warranty for spillage caused by spaying cleaner on the keyboard (i.e. bullshit excuse). 2. MS Natural, Rev 1 or so. Printing wore off, stiction on key travel after a few months. 3. 3 logitechs. One goes unsupported (pre-iTouch); On another, eventually required an elephant typist after 2 years (membrane); A 1.5 year old MX that despite being totally disassembled cleaned by hand, never since worked right mechanically (key travel has stiction) even though electrically the membrane works fine; Lastly a $200 DiNovo abortion that seems to consistently miss the A CTRL keys unless hit just right (membrane). My next keyboard will at least have switches likely corded. -- JRS [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please remove **X** to reply... Facts do not cease to exist just because they are ignored.
RE: [H] Satellite to wireless Internet
Because of latency issues with Satellite, it is recommended that the service be used for Internet (burst packet services). For Telnet and some UDP services, it may not be the best solution. 007. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Thane Sherrington (S) Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 8:12 AM To: The Hardware List Subject: Re: [H] Satellite to wireless Internet At 08:44 AM 15/02/2006, W. D. wrote: Satellite has a spotty record at best. On good days, when it actually works, you can get about 128 kbps. He's getting 19.2K dial-up right now, so he's willing to try Satellite. :) T
RE: [H] Satellite to wireless Internet
At 11:57 AM 15/02/2006, 007 wrote: Because of latency issues with Satellite, it is recommended that the service be used for Internet (burst packet services). For Telnet and some UDP services, it may not be the best solution. He just wants email and websurfing, but faster than a 19.2 modem. T
Re: [H] Satellite to wireless Internet
Actually with the latency involved with satellite it will be about the same as dial up. That's just my opinion based on experience. Thane Sherrington (S) wrote: At 11:57 AM 15/02/2006, 007 wrote: Because of latency issues with Satellite, it is recommended that the service be used for Internet (burst packet services). For Telnet and some UDP services, it may not be the best solution. He just wants email and websurfing, but faster than a 19.2 modem. T -- Cheers, joeuser (still looking for the 'any' key)
Re: [H] Satellite to wireless Internet
At 12:28 PM 15/02/2006, joeuser wrote: Actually with the latency involved with satellite it will be about the same as dial up. That's just my opinion based on experience. Ouch. You mean the ads are lying? :) 100 times faster than dial-up! T
RE: [H] Suggested tools for helping a friend with badvirus infestation
On Wed, 15 Feb 2006, Thane Sherrington (S) wrote: At 10:49 AM 15/02/2006, Christopher Fisk wrote: $200 is 2.5 hours of work. How long does it take to clean the machine, verify the data, install all the windows updates, update the drivers, check capacitors, run memtest and other repair tools, etc? You get $80/hour US? Can I move to your town? :) No, We don't need the competition. We primarilly have business customers, and if they prepay for the service (Service plans, etc) the price is lower. We also don't double charge for our time (Meaning work on 2 machines for 1 hour for 2 customers and charge 1 hour of work to both customers. Christopher Fisk -- I WILL NOT FAKE SEIZURES I WILL NOT FAKE SEIZURES Bart Simpson on chalkboard in episode 8F23
Re: [H] Satellite to wireless Internet
They are probably true from a pure speed perspective. But once you add in latency the user experience from what I have read is very similar to dialup. On 2/15/06, Thane Sherrington (S) [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: At 12:28 PM 15/02/2006, joeuser wrote: Actually with the latency involved with satellite it will be about the same as dial up. That's just my opinion based on experience. Ouch. You mean the ads are lying? :) 100 times faster than dial-up! T -- Brian
RE: [H] Suggested tools for helping a friend with badvirus infestation
On Wed, 15 Feb 2006, Thane Sherrington (S) wrote: At 10:49 AM 15/02/2006, Christopher Fisk wrote: Personally I just do the safe method on backups, I have an easy way of making ghost backups, so I just ghost the drive to a spare I have on the bench for the process, then I can be sure I won't miss any data, because I'm not losing any data. And as for settings, if I need I can boot up and find out what they were. How long does it take you to do all that, and what do you charge? We charge hourly, for what we call keyboard time. The Ghost takes approximately 5-10 minutes keyboard time, then we start from there. That way we can also return the machine to the state it was when we received it, if need be. Christopher Fisk
RE: [H] Suggested tools for helping a friend with badvirus infestation
On Wed, 15 Feb 2006, Hayes Elkins wrote: How many companies do you work for that are ok with an extra day of downtime? What do you suggest? Format everything? You havn't been reading my posts. I will refer you to my posts on this topic, which directly answer that question already. Symantec has released 0-day response cleaning tools for 95% of new threats since the day we started using SAVCE in 1999. Only time we had a threat not locked down in 24 hours was ILOVEYOU. Killing exchange for a day while waiting for the imminent fix sounds a lot better than formatting everything. Melissa and ILOVEYOU were solved with sendmail header checks for my company (Which I no longer work at, that was awhile ago). Not as easy to do with newer virus's, but it didn't cause more than a few hours of downtime for our exchange admin. Christopher Fisk -- BOFH Excuse #198: Post-it Note Sludge leaked into the monitor.
RE: [H] AntiSpyware becomes Defender...
I've actually been using Giant's software before MS bought it. I found that it was able to find and remove some things programs like Symantec couldn't. This coupled with AdAware has kept my computer pretty clean. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Thane Sherrington (S) Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 10:16 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; The Hardware List Subject: RE: [H] AntiSpyware becomes Defender... At 10:57 AM 15/02/2006, Bobby Heid wrote: I like using this tool in addition to the other tools that I use. They all seem to fins something the others leave behind. I read a review this morning that put Spysweeper at the top of the pack, and put Beta1 of MS anti-spyware at the lead of the free products (but well behind Spysweeper.) I agree that a multiple program approach is the way to go. T
RE: [H] Suggested tools for helping a friend with badvirus infestation
From: Christopher Fisk [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com Subject: RE: [H] Suggested tools for helping a friend with badvirus infestation Date: Wed, 15 Feb 2006 12:04:10 -0500 (EST) On Wed, 15 Feb 2006, Hayes Elkins wrote: How many companies do you work for that are ok with an extra day of downtime? What do you suggest? Format everything? You havn't been reading my posts. I will refer you to my posts on this topic, which directly answer that question already. I've read them all. Where do you argue on the side of cleaning a computer vs formating? When a company with over 100 desktops and a server farm experiences a virus outbreak with a pending virus definition update coming out the next day - what do you suggest? I said wait - you answer wasformat? Help me here. http://hardwaregroup.com/pipermail/hardware/Week-of-Mon-20060213/author.html http://hardwaregroup.com/pipermail/hardware/Week-of-Mon-20060206/author.html
Re: [H] Satellite to wireless Internet
It would seem to me that a provide would want to sell several to all ten houses, not to just one. Thane Sherrington (S) wrote: :: I know a guy who lives in the boonies in a cluster of about ten :: houses (all within 500 feet of each other.) He was thinking of :: getting satellite internet to his house and connect it to a router :: and put an omni-directional antenna on his house to share the service :: with the houses within range. Does anyone have experience with :: something like this and can you recommend a provider, equipment, etc? :: :: T
RE: [H] Suggested tools for helping a friend with badvirus infestation
At 01:01 PM 15/02/2006, Christopher Fisk wrote: On Wed, 15 Feb 2006, Thane Sherrington (S) wrote: At 10:49 AM 15/02/2006, Christopher Fisk wrote: Personally I just do the safe method on backups, I have an easy way of making ghost backups, so I just ghost the drive to a spare I have on the bench for the process, then I can be sure I won't miss any data, because I'm not losing any data. And as for settings, if I need I can boot up and find out what they were. How long does it take you to do all that, and what do you charge? We charge hourly, for what we call keyboard time. The Ghost takes approximately 5-10 minutes keyboard time, then we start from there. That way we can also return the machine to the state it was when we received it, if need be. Sorry, I meant, if you get in a machine that needs Windows re-installed (how do you know it has viruses, btw, or do you reinstall for all machines?) how long and how much does it cost to have Windows reinstalled, updated, software installed (assuming say Eudora, Office, and Firefox) data recovered and configuration reset to original configuration? T
RE: [H] Nero 6.6 questions
Does the drive you are reading from in winamp support reading the cd-text data? Nero's InfoTool should tell you -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Winterlight Sent: 15 February 2006 00:48 To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com Subject: [H] Nero 6.6 questions How in the hell do I get the help files to work in Nero 6.6. I download the chm files and run them but nothing. it keeps asking me to find nero.hlp but it doesn't exist. How do I get Nero 6.6 to include the txt information... track and artist when I burn a CD so that it appears on programs like Winamp? I have the write text box set. All the tracks show title and artist under properties, but they don't show up in Winamp??
Re: [H] Satellite to wireless Internet
On a download of any size yes, but surfing? No. Think about the way the packets will travel and you'll see what I mean. From him to Sat back to earth then to the server and back. Thane Sherrington (S) wrote: At 12:28 PM 15/02/2006, joeuser wrote: Actually with the latency involved with satellite it will be about the same as dial up. That's just my opinion based on experience. Ouch. You mean the ads are lying? :) 100 times faster than dial-up! T -- Cheers, joeuser (still looking for the 'any' key)
Re: [H] Satellite to wireless Internet
Which is probably a violation of the agreement with any of the Satellite providers also. I forgot to mention that. Anthony Q. Martin wrote: It would seem to me that a provide would want to sell several to all ten houses, not to just one. Thane Sherrington (S) wrote: :: I know a guy who lives in the boonies in a cluster of about ten :: houses (all within 500 feet of each other.) He was thinking of :: getting satellite internet to his house and connect it to a router :: and put an omni-directional antenna on his house to share the service :: with the houses within range. Does anyone have experience with :: something like this and can you recommend a provider, equipment, etc? :: :: T -- Cheers, joeuser (still looking for the 'any' key)
Re: [H] Satellite to wireless Internet
The latency is primarily due to the speed of light. The geosyncronous satllites hosting the service are 35,000 km away (roughly). So to send a packet one way from your house to the ISP's routers on the ground is a distance of around 70,000 km. At 3.0x10^6 m/s that takes the packet 0.25 seconds, or 250ms just to get to the gateway into the internet. Add the time it takes to get to the destination server, lets say 100ms on the low end. That is 350ms for your packet to go one way, or 700ms both ways. With no network lag :) -- Brian
RE: [H] Nero 6.6 questions
At 10:06 AM 2/15/2006, you wrote: Does the drive you are reading from in winamp support reading the cd-text data? Nero's InfoTool should tell you I am getting a play list, if that is what you mean, but it is not putting it on the CD so Winamp can read it.
RE: [H] Suggested tools for helping a friend with badvirus infestation
On Wed, 15 Feb 2006, Thane Sherrington (S) wrote: Sorry, I meant, if you get in a machine that needs Windows re-installed (how do you know it has viruses, btw, or do you reinstall for all machines?) how long and how much does it cost to have Windows reinstalled, updated, software installed (assuming say Eudora, Office, and Firefox) data recovered and configuration reset to original configuration? We have a standard diagnostic timeframe, where we'll look at a machine and make a judgement call on which is the better method, generally that diagnostic time includes things like a quick virus scan, spyware checkers, verifying caps on the board, looking at the startup, etc. This usually takes about 30 minutes or so, and at that point, if we're confident things are going well on the removals, we'll generally move forward with cleaning the machine. Formats and reinstalls generally aren't done unless the machine keep crashing in safe mode, or other things that would slowdown the system recovery beyond a few hours. It's hard to quantify what triggers us needing a reinstall, as it is a judgement call we make. As for the total time on reinstall, configuration, updates, etc: Windows can be reinstalled with 15-30 minutes of keyboard time, driver installs generally take anywhere from 15m-1 hour depending on if we need to track down what they have or if they provided us with that information Total time on a machine generally (not always) comes in at 3 hour billed to the customer. Christopher Fisk -- Bob Barker: I may be against the fur industry, but that won't stop me from skinning you alive... as long as no one wears the skin. Fry: How can I live my life if I can't tell good from evil? Bender: Ah, they're both fine choices, whatever floats your boat.
RE: [H] Nero 6.6 questions
For CD text to work 4 things are needed. You need to tell Nero to write the CD Text information (on the 'Audio CD' tab when selecting a new Audio CD in Nero Burning Rom. You also need a burner that will burn the CD Text information, I don't know if they all do. You also need a drive that id going to be able to read the text information off the disk. I know many don't. Finally the software that is playing the CD needs to be able to display the text. I presume WinAmp does, but to be honest I haven't used it in years. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Winterlight Sent: 15 February 2006 19:12 To: The Hardware List Subject: RE: [H] Nero 6.6 questions At 10:06 AM 2/15/2006, you wrote: Does the drive you are reading from in winamp support reading the cd-text data? Nero's InfoTool should tell you I am getting a play list, if that is what you mean, but it is not putting it on the CD so Winamp can read it.
[H] Installer on startup
Got a Win2K machine in the shop here. Every time it starts up it tries to install some apps. Since the media for the apps is not present it will not install and take multiple cancels attempts before it goes away. Searched the registry and the autoexec and stuff and still I cannot find where these apps are being called from. Any ideas? I would install the apps just to make it go away, but the customer doesn't know what they are or how they got on in the first place. -- Cheers, joeuser (still looking for the 'any' key)
Re: [hardware] [H] Installer on startup
use a freebie like StartUpRun to see whats what. http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/strun.html - Original Message - From: joeuser [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Hardware LIST hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 1:34 PM Subject: [hardware] [H] Installer on startup Got a Win2K machine in the shop here. Every time it starts up it tries to install some apps. Since the media for the apps is not present it will not install and take multiple cancels attempts before it goes away. Searched the registry and the autoexec and stuff and still I cannot find where these apps are being called from. Any ideas? I would install the apps just to make it go away, but the customer doesn't know what they are or how they got on in the first place. -- Cheers, joeuser (still looking for the 'any' key)
Re: [hardware] [H] Installer on startup
Yeah nice utility but didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. These installers are trying to install software and the place they are being called from isn't found in the usual suspects (like start up dir, run areas in the reg, etc) Someone has to know how to keep these friggin things from installing Steve wrote: use a freebie like StartUpRun to see whats what. http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/strun.html - Original Message - From: joeuser [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Hardware LIST hardware@hardwaregroup.com Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 1:34 PM Subject: [hardware] [H] Installer on startup Got a Win2K machine in the shop here. Every time it starts up it tries to install some apps. Since the media for the apps is not present it will not install and take multiple cancels attempts before it goes away. Searched the registry and the autoexec and stuff and still I cannot find where these apps are being called from. Any ideas? I would install the apps just to make it go away, but the customer doesn't know what they are or how they got on in the first place. -- Cheers, joeuser (still looking for the 'any' key) -- Cheers, joeuser (still looking for the 'any' key)
