I can't really say how, but it appeared that my computer received the Klez virus as diagnosed by a manufacturer help desk.
Whether or not the virus was ever present is a good question as after I decided that I would invest the time in cleaning up the mess, I set things up in a manner that indicated I was ready to start over. And it was and is still a bit messy.
Huge amounts of effort were saved by pre-positioning reference files. But I still need to take apart a Ghost backup to grab the 'bookmarks' file that is important to me - which I forgot to spin off a copy.
The Club laptop was used as a guinea pig to test if the problem I was having was a system problem that cleaning up the software would help. It turns out that cleaning up the Club laptop did, indeed, fix the software problem, but the same action did not permit the device to operate on my own computer - even with a new load.
Why tell you this? Because the technique of reloading your own computer or providing for a backup to be used in the interim, is an excellent and fast way of testing drivers. This action can be used to test new software in a manner that makes going back trivial.
The whole thing was started by a manufacturer's help desk finding that I had a file starting with "wink" on my computer and thus I had Klez. The only problem is that when I installed XP onto a pristine HDD, I found that I had a file with "wink" in it. Turns out that the manufacturer was wrong as the file had to have "wink" and end with .EXE. Too bad I didn't have the ability to get back to the representative with the correct information.
The cleanup after years of accumulation was probably worth it as I took the opportunity to dump Netscape in favor of Mozilla to get rid of the popups and other annoyances and also to leave behind programs that were never going to be used and that would not uninstall completely.
There are still a number of additional things that I would like to pass on:
If you are still on Win98 and using Outlook Express as your mail program and are using it as a repository of the received e-mail, there is a 2K limit of DOS on the aggregate of the .DBX files that comprise the remaining e-mails whether deleted or not. Don't get caught by the fact that putting e-mail into the trash does not remove it from your computer. If you do a find on .DBX and find a large Trash entry, then it is time to do a major cleaning as Microsoft merely generates a message, dies, and corrupts your e-mail.
Wherever possible, it is in your best interests to install a second physical HDD into your computer for the purpose of receiving backups. The use of Acronis True Image means that you do not have to shut down or reboot your computer. If you want to make a backup without shutting down, Acronis allows the whole process to be completed in under 15 minutes. You actually could continue to do work, but I suggest letting the computer be as close to idle as possible.
That is how I handled a computer that was used for 36-hour runs and I could not get access to do backups and it was not on the net. I installed Acronis True Image and now merely have to start up a backup, wait 15 minutes, and then maximize the primary function. There is no interruption of the functioning of the computer.
Several times recently computers have been brought to the Clinic with the complaint of 'slow'. If you are having this complaint, some things to look for:
Tired of popups when you have popup killers in place? Go to www.GRC.com and bring down a copy of Shoot the Messenger which turns off the back door to your software intended for system mangers. Microsoft is turning it off in the next iteration.
If you are always mouseing to the default box, be sure to turn on the Start - Control Panel - Mouse option that directs the cursor to the default location. Saves lots of time.
The Club's Sony laptop bought in May of 2002 is no longer on the Sony Website which means that if the HDD fails and SPAUG needs some current driver or BIOS fix, SPAUG is out of luck. Happily, we have CDs of all of this but most other purchasers are screwed. Don't do business with the big boys that obsolete their support within just over a year. MicroCenter still has on its website the drivers for the laptop that that preceded the current one. Ask the MicroCenter GM in January.
If you want to not have to use a password for your XP signon but still want scheduled programs to run, plan on "password hide" to be invoked. You need to have a password to have programs run under the scheduler, but you don't need to see the signon.
Hank Skawinski, President of Datawise (note website has obsolete products - call Hank at 408-993-9473 if you're interested in a system), gave a very informative talk, and showed his latest Pentium 4 Multimedia System. If you missed the talk, Stan Hutchings (contact information) has a video tape.
There are lots of ways to take control of your computer environment and this one of them that I gleaned from the Internet.
My first line of defense is my Panda Platinum, which is my antivirus and firewall protection.
My second line of defense are two Firetrust products, Mailwasher Pro and Benign. I have been using Mailwasher for almost two years now. Mailwasher allows me to control what gets downloaded to my computer. Basically, if it is not someone that I know or a vendor that I do business with, then it doesn't get downloaded.
I use two of the three blacklist databases provided by Mailwasher and sometimes an email message will be blacklisted, which should not be. So I just change the status of that message from blacklisted to friend.
Expecting any software to be 100% correct on which emails are SPAM (or worse) is not realistic. It is up to me as the user to verify that no legitimate email has been incorrectly tagged as SPAM, which is blacklisted. I received email this morning from a friend with a new email address, so his email was blacklisted. I caught this because I don't have any unrealistic expectations that a software program can do my thinking for me.
Benign is another great tool because it neutralizes HTML code and other vulnerabities, so that they are harmless. I run SpyBot and Ad-Aware at least once a week but the only things that either of these programs have found are tracking cookies, which I remove and immunize the system against.
To date these measures have been very effective at keeping my systems free from malware.
Linda Moore
Dallas