(Vanity) Computer Help (a desperation 3 pointer!)

5/29/11 | me

[Daisyjane69]

I'm typing fast. My computer is restarting itself every 20 minutes or so.

While finishing my news site browsing before bed, I got a pop up claiming Adobe. I tried to ignore it. Since I had an Adobe file open, I finally relented and agreed to install. BIG MISTAKE. It was a Trojan virus and is in the process of destroying my computer.

Trojan.Win32.Generic.paklacobra

I heard that Macs are better as far as viruses. Is there a reputable dealer that sells Macs? I don't imagine I can afford a brand new Mac.

Failing that, would there be another browser other than IE that would be less hospitable to viruses? This tower is only two years old. And I'm getting messages telling me:

Damaged hard drive clusters RAM usage is critically high RAM memory failure Hard drive failure

This virus is attempting to wipe out my AdAware & AVG as we speak.

I store NOTHING of value on this computer. No photos, movies, passwords, account numbers. I do NO online banking.

I was able, after several tries, to finagle one measly operational window, and it's what I'm using to post this to the people who know everything important...FReepers.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm a plant chick, not a computer chick! LOL

Also, please forgive me if you post a suggestion and I don't reply right away. I have no idea if this window is going to work 5 minutes from now, let alone 5 hours from now. If TSHTF on this thing I won't be able to check replies until Tuesday at the library (as we are in a holiday weekend). Naturally....

I should have been in bed 4 hours ago, and I've been playing around with this box of wires ever since, and I'm exhausted.

This was scary as hell. I never saw anything gobble up things as fast as this miscreant. I knew something was dreadfully wrong within 10 minutes.

Thanks for any help & ideas you have.

[driftdiver]

ctrl prnt screen for the entire screen

alt print screen for the active window

[Montana_Sam]

Good advice. For my business side stuff I have a Windows laptop that I never connect to the Inet (not live, anyway - I download stuff to my main box and then wire it to the laptop), and for all the rest I have an older tower running Linux Fedora 10 using Firefox as the browser. Linux has proven itself over the many years to be robust and virus free.

[Johnny B.]

I see no reason to spend much more for a Mac when I can get a free copy of Linux to do the same thing.

I've been using Linux since about 1995 (0.9x kernel), so agree with you that Linux makes a fine O.S.

However, when I ran Fedora on my Thinkpad T60, the time I didn't have to spend dealing with viruses I spent getting things like the WiFi adapter to work. On a generic desktop machine, Linux works fine, but on a new laptop it's something of a crap shoot.

So, now I run OS/X on a Macbook Pro, and I get almost all the benefits of Linux (*nix based), plus I don't have to screw around with drivers to get the hardware to work right, plus I now have a machine that can run literally any current operating system. I run Windows 7 and Fedora in virtual machines, and I have a system on which I can develop software for anything.

[Johnny B.]

I don't bad mouth Macs - except for the price.

If you are running a desktop, I tend to agree. However, I decided to use a laptop as my primary system, so building one from scratch isn't really an option.

Macs are expensive, but so are other high-quality systems. My previous laptop was a ThinkPad T60, and it was just as expensive as the MacBook Pro I now use.

I started out with cheap, consumer laptops, and really learned the lesson that you get what you pay for!

[AppyPappy]

All I did was install Ubuntu and start using it. I didn’t have to set up anything. It even does updates to software. Ubuntu is perfect for people who don’t understand computers. Once it is setup, you don’t have to fight the virus wars which is 99% of the problems people relay to me.

[Jonty30]

Odds are, it has to do more with the small number of linux computers out there. The people who write the malware programs are doing it for the money, not for just kicks.

Now that Apple has reached a certain number of computer users, it’s a viable target and is now being attacked.

From what I’ve read, Apple is just as vulnerable, despite denials because they’ve never had to deal with dedicated attacks as Windows has.

It will be interesting, over time, how well Apple deals with it and, if Apple has more success with it.

[chickadee]

When you say “restarted” your computer, did you mean “restored”?

Otherwise, please ‘splain:)

[doc11355]

Two years ago, I purchased a MAC - no anti-virus software necessary.

Sorry, NYer, but that's not true. Any computer NEEDS anti-virus software.

Al, Al, Al...

For all practical purposes it is true! Virtually none of my fellow millions of Mac users ever use security software. Nevertheless, since the introduction of OS X in 2002, there has NEVER been a self-replicating Mac virus "in the wild". Yet, I'm told that there are hundreds of thousands targeting Windows PCs.

All of the supposed Mac security vulnerability rumors passed around in the Windows world are bogus or grossly exaggerated. Its smaller market share isn't the reason ["security through obscurity"] as you surmise; it's the core OS, Unix, that makes it so secure. MS Windows is so vulnerable because its core is DOS. It's that simple.

It's hard for Windows users, I know, to comprehend that a competitive system's security archetecture could be so superior, but it's true... and we haven't even gotten into simplicity and ease of use.

The bottom line is: for the vast majority of computer users that just want to be able to easily do the basics [email, web surfing, photos, music and home videos] Macs are far superior and vastly easier to master than Windows machines.

Just like BMWs, they cost more, but are affordable for most people when you also consider their lower long-term operating costs.

As for purchase price, the basic 21" desktop iMac system starts at $1199, complete:

For more information, I would direct you to www.apple.com

[Tribune7]

I heard that Macs are better as far as viruses.

They are

Is there a reputable dealer that sells Macs?

Apple Stores are as reputable as you can get.

I don't imagine I can afford a brand new Mac.

The bare bone Mac Mini is $699 so that is an issue. You should be able to use your existing mouse, keyboard & monitor with it.

Also, if you do switch to Mac, don't let anyone tell you it will be a total bed of roses.

The OS is different than Windows and you probably will be cursing it for a week or two or even three.

If money is really an issue but you have reached the point you are ready to ditch your existing machine, you might want to just reformat your existing disk & reinstall Windows.

Or if you want to avoid future pain reformat your existing disk & install Unbuntu or another version of Linux. Of course, expect to be cursing for a longer period than a Mac as you get to learn it.

Obviously before formatting you'd want to back up the data you need to save.

With Linux & OSX you can dual boot into Windows.

[Cyber Liberty]

flr

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

There is a majorly bad Mac virus making the rounds now.

There is a trojan which might be able to penetrate the default security of the Mac. It is not necessary to run in the default security mode of the Mac.

You can run an antivirus on your machine, and I will run as a Unix standard user, rather than the default administrative user, on my Mac. Since either of us can blow up our own system by suckering for a trojan, the best your antivirus can dois elevate your security to the level of a Mac standard user. So which of us has the more aggravation in that scenario?

The irony is, of course, that the Mac-targeted trojan "majorly bad virus" uses precisely the fear of viruses to try to spook the Mac user into running the malware which styles itself as an antivirus tool.

[al_c]

Doc, Doc, Doc ... I’m a Mac user too. And I use virus protection software. I also us Windows based PCs. Definitely load those up with anti virus software too.

Macs are not immune. They’re just not targeted as often as Windows.

[Future Snake Eater]

1) If nothing of value is stored, reformat the drive, reinstall the OS. Problem solved.

2) Buying a Mac won't help you. You're downloading crap from God-knows-where without checking into it. That'll destroy any OS you're running.

3) Antivirus software is free (download AVG from download.com). Only a fool pays for his AV software.

5) Don't download a hundred different spyware/malware pieces of software. Default Vista/Win7 settings coupled with a good free AV package like AVG or Avira is plenty of security. Any of those packages you download will automatically update, so the whiners upthread about keeping them up-to-date don't know what they're talking about.

6) Don't discard message boxes. Read them. If you're unclear as to what they mean, Google search exactly what it says--you're not the first person to encounter this issue, trust me.

7) A poor craftsman blames his tools. You don't know what you're doing with it, and you blame the tool for your lack of knowledge. Educate yourself on your tool. You'd have to do this with a Mac as well, so you may as well save the money.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

This Adobe trojan may not be new but it looks real. I saw the pop up a few days ago on a sports site. Three things that made me suspicious was that I wasn't going for a PDF, I don't use Adobe, and when I closed the window it went away. Cant find a screen shot but the trojan has been around for a year.

For those who want a smaller free PDF reader that is only 1/15 the disk space of Adobe then go here.

http://www.foxitsoftware.com/products/reader/

[Montana_Sam]

I believe Apple uses a (U)nix-style core. Unix/Linux tends to be more robust simply by architecture than does Windows. Unix/Linux do not incorporate the graphical shell into the system the way Windows does, and the graphical shell in Windows - especially given the lack of system-level security in older versions of Windows - has proven to be full of target holes for virus-writing vandals. On the other hand, root kits are the real bad boys in the Unix world but not so much (up till now) for Windows. My $.02 worth.

[Daisyjane69]

I think you hit the nail on the head regarding adobe. As I poke around with my limited ability today, I’ve come to learn that the adobe updates that I’ve been pestered about(and putting off) were to close a glitch in their software that was allowing this particular Trojan to get through.

Guess I had this coming. ppfftt

[driftdiver]

Doesn’t matter what OS you use. If you say OK to installing the software nothing will stop it.

[driftdiver]

Sorry Daisy, I hate messing with that stuff myself.

[Monitor]

While finishing my news site browsing before bed, I got a pop up claiming Adobe. I tried to ignore it. Since I had an Adobe file open, I finally relented and agreed to install. BIG MISTAKE. It was a Trojan virus and is in the process of destroying my computer. Trojan.Win32.Generic.paklacobra I heard that Macs are better as far as viruses.

I hate to break it to you, but won't matter what operating system you choose, nor what computer hardware you run it on, if you allow yourself to be conned into downloading and installing a trojan virus, you will end up with a trojan virus.

[herewego]

Two words- Linux Mint.