Posted on 11/23/2010 1:30:19 PM PST by DGHoodini
Ran into a Win 7 PC problem today. I got a 'Win Activation Notice from Microsoft, telling me that my copy of Windows was not legitimate.
Now my PC was running the same Win 7 copy that came preloaded on my PC from Toshiba, and I made sure it was activated within 24 hours of receiving it. I also have been running McAffee Security suite on it the entire time.
On the Win Autehtication notice was a link to test my copy. I ran the software, and *It* was talling me my OS copy was illegitimate. I knew this not to be true, and no one has access to my PC but me.
So even though it was prompting me to shell out a $100+ for a new "legitimate* copy of Win 7, I opted to try System Restore first, and picked a Restore point ftom a month wearlier. When it restored, I then rana full McAfee updatwe and scan, and then checked my activation status, that cam up as 'Successful'.
I am assuming that I wrnt to a site, ran some file that had this nasty little bug buried inside it, that not only attacked my Win Verifican, but likely attacked other things as well, and to my displeasure, was not detected by McAffee at all.
So, be forewarned.
scam bump
I had something similar. Finally fdisked my problem away after making a backup of my hd.
Cost me about a month of tearing my hair out to try to eradicate the problem, without success.
The Windows Operating System itself has always been safe.Prior to Service Pack 2 (or maybe it was SP3), hooking a Windows XP computer directly to the Internet (i.e. not using a NAT router) would almost guarantee an infected machine in a matter of minutes. You wouldn't have to do anything to get infected, just let the machine "see" the Internet.
I've seen that myself in a computer lab for a Fortune 500 company I worked for. They had over 200 brand new Windows XP computers set up to test a new Point-Of-Sale system. Someone had an infected thumb drive, and once they infected one XP box, the rest of the lab was infected in a few seconds. Nobody was surfing the web or doing other dangerous things on any of these machines, but they had to shut down the lab for almost a week to clean up the mess.
You mean I shouldn’t search for naked photos of Brad Pitt?? (just kidding)
Yeah. I just want to run something easy. I am not a geek. Not really. I suppose I coulda been a geek. I used DOS back in the early days, and I did write my own HTML. But I don’t want to have to learn new things all the time. Now I would rather spend my time learning the ins and outs of my Nikon and Photoshop CS5 than have to figure out how to keep my computer safe from some guy trying to use it to attack the Pentagon, or whatever it is these guys are doing.
thats up to you, just don’t do it under a profile with admin rights.
I quit using McAffee years ago when I found they weren’t very proactive in compiling viri databases.
I agree. A month ago two of my clients' who insisted on using McAfee because they got a free 15 month subscription with their new Windows7 Dell desktops suddenly found their network HP printers non-operational... McAfee's latest update had decided that all of the outgoing data packets from HP software to the LAN had to be blocked by the McAfee firewall on all the new Dells. Why? Who knows. Acura or Avast are good. . . Although I really think you can probably get by with Microsoft Windows Security Essentials.
Nah! They both are TSA... one just runs the full body scanner and salivates at the passengers' nude monochrome bodies, the other does the intrusive, sexually suggestive pat down searches and cops unnecessary feels of the private parts of everyones' bodies while ignoring protests...
I want to tell you, the trojan that affected him was very clever, very persuasive indeed. I had one pop up on my computer that came within a hairsbreadth of getting installed—it truly looked, acted, tasted, and smelled EXACTLY as if it came from Microsoft, and I really thought it was just another of the inevitable Windows 7 updates. But I was tired and had work to do and didn’t want to wait for it to update, so I ignored it. Thank God. But it was extremely persuasive.
The virus guys are really really clever. My fantasy is a program that goes right back thru the computer and leaves them a little ash heap on the floor. Yeah, ok, I know it can’t work, but a girl can dream...
Give MSSE a try, I think you'll like it - and no more scareware prompts. :^)
f-prot is quite reasonably priced.
I know. That’s what I use.
It’s just some people don’t want to spend another dime on their computer.
They think the bundle of crapware they get is enough.
It ain’t.
That’s why I run Malware, Spybot, F-prot and Windoze surrender. No real performance issue and my computer’s clean.
Of course I also reg-edit, Cute Defrag and Erasure.
Gots no prawbluhms and it takes nothing to run every week or two.
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