K
Ken Blake
You've talked me into it--I just killfiled him. I recommend that you,
and others here, do the same thing.
You've talked me into it--I just killfiled him. I recommend that you,
and others here, do the same thing.
X
XS11E
Ken Blake said:
Waaaaaaay ahead of you!
T
Todd
I only swear when I hurt myself. If you are going to smear
someone, at least get your facts straight.
T
Todd
That is actually a pretty good idea. That way I won't annoy you.
And, I won't have to read any non-sense about the glories of
Windows. I don't trust anything out of a M$ troll/evangelist's
mouth anyway.
-T
N
Nil
You should trust me as much as you would trust any other stranger on
the internet. Maybe more, if you've noticed my occasional attempts to
help people out here.
Why?
G
Gene E. Bloch
And how does this have any meaning?
T
Todd
I do not swear in my writing. You pulled that out of your butt.
You smeared me. I am calling you on it.
G
Gene E. Bloch
I have no idea what you are trying to say.
I can tell you this: I never said you swear, if that's what you are
driving at. Read what I wrote. I *did* say that people have heard *me*
swear.
I have *no* idea what you mean by "smeared" you, and as far as *your*
remark, "you pulled that out of your butt", well, oddly enough, that
sounds to me like swearing, and it is apparently directed at me. That
is hardly consistent with your remark "I do not swear in my writing".
I have no idea how your interpretations got to be so far removed from
what I said.
You owe me a serious and sincere apology.
T
Todd
Hi Gene,
Oh crap. You are correct. Yes I do owe you an apology. Please
accept it. I really need to work on my reading comprehension. And
stop seeing what I thing I am seeing. I am sorry this wound up
so badly. My bad, not yours.
-T
T
Thee Chicago Wolf [MVP]
Do this first, go and grab Avira's Rescue System (free,
http://www.avira.com/en/support-download-avira-antivir-rescue-system)
and boot from it. Run a full scan of the system.
As far as and alternate OS goes, Linux might not be such a bad option.
If it's one of the very popular distros. I am a big proponent of
PC-BSD. I find it FAR easier to use for Windows people than Linux.
Easier to install apps for non tech savvy people too. Maybe that might
be a good alternative. As far as virus protection, I use AntiVir
exclusively. It's never let me down. Report back as I am thinking it's
one of those nasty malwares that once it's on, it's hell to remove it.
- Thee Chicago Wolf [MVP]
T
Todd
Hi Wolf,
I have no experience with PC-BSD, but I will look at it. I have
been using Fedora Core (FC) 14/15 with the Xfce spin. I put icons on
their desktop for them to use. One of FC's draw backs is the
installer, as you stated. But, I am thinking that keeping him
from installing new apps, whether on purpose or my virus, might
actually serve him well. I make sure the updater is running
to get security updates.
I have been using Kaspersky. I have scanned him completely with
Kaspersky's Rescue CD and with Kaspersky's AvpTool, which I
rely on to tag rootkits and trojans that don't show up on
the Rescue CD.
I use the Avira free edition on home customer's that are too
cheap to buy Kaspersky or who cop an attitude about us
technicians (I am actually an Engineer) writing viruses
so we can sell them the anti virus. (I tell them organized crime
has that one handled all on their own and don't need my help.)
And, I have to say, I have liked the way Avira worked. It
scores well on http://www.av-comparatives.org/ too. Very
close to Kaspersky. A hole in the free edition is that
it does not seem to scan for legal malware (Ad Ware, etc.).
But, that may have changed.
What does get my goat, if you look at av-comparatives real
close, you will find that no AV does a really good job. I
do believe the last I checked, which was a few months ago,
that Kaspersky was still at the top with a whole 69%! Geez!
I really want to rely on that, especially with customer's
who can't stay off the current event sites!
I am definitely going to rescan with the Avira CD you recommended.
If one rescue disk doesn't catch it, perhaps another one will!
I am due at this customer's house in a few hours. And, he
is the absolute my decent, nicest old duffer you will ever come
across: I want to conquer this thing!
You know what, I do believe I am rambling.
Thank you for all the help!
-T
T
Todd
Gene,
Are we straight with each other? I did seriously
insult your integrity. It is important to me that
I make it right.
-T
G
Gene E. Bloch
Yes indeed, and I thank you for that. I'm much happier now being able
to see you as a reasonable, if maybe a bit crotchety, person
In retrospect, I can see that you just read too fast (I have done that
too, and I certainly understand it), and although you exploded too
soon, I did also. I could have responded more gently, by waiting until
I was calmer.
In the post in question, I did try to cast things as a difference of
opinion, not as "someone is wrong", and the intention of my comments
about my reactions to Windows was only to counter your remarks about us
being Windows apologists.
T
Todd
Thank you Gene.Yes indeed, and I thank you for that. I'm much happier now being able to
see you as a reasonable, if maybe a bit crotchety, person
In retrospect, I can see that you just read too fast (I have done that
too, and I certainly understand it), and although you exploded too soon,
I did also. I could have responded more gently, by waiting until I was
calmer.
In the post in question, I did try to cast things as a difference of
opinion, not as "someone is wrong", and the intention of my comments
about my reactions to Windows was only to counter your remarks about us
being Windows apologists.
-T
T
Todd
This is a cool Rescue CD. Updates in a few minutes, instead of a
half and hour like Kasperskies. Does not check for root kits.
Kaspersky's does, but I have had it miss root kits (found
by AVP Tool), so the two rescure CD's are tied on root kits.
Found he is using a 1500.00+ U$D Turbo CAD Deluxe V 17 that does not
run under Wine, so he is stuck with Windows. :'(
Thank you for the help!
-T
T
Todd
Got to go out to the customer's site on Friday. Here is where
things stand.
Wiping and reinstalling will definitely cure the problem,
but it won't solve the mystery. And, since I am now doing
this for free, I want to solve the mystery. Plus, I get to
learn a lot of things.
By the way, other than a few off color jokes he gets from
his friends, he does not surf porn sites. Easy to verify
by looking in his cache. He mainly looks at some current
event sites and a lot of cooking sites. (He is a gourmet
cook and feeds me when I come. Love this guy!)
SFC:
"sfc /scannow" did not find any problems.
Malware:
The machine has now been scanned:
-- Multiple times with Malware bytes
-- Multiple time with Kaspersky Internet Security
-- Multiple times with Kaspersky AVP Tool
-- Multiple times with Kaspersky Rescue CD
-- Once with Avira Rescue CD
All drew a blank. I do not believe there is an infection.
Alternate OS front:
Although his wife's Solitaire program works fine under
Wine (Windows application layer for Linux), his
1500.00+ U$D TurboCAD v17 won't run under Wine. So,
alternate OS'es are out. Poop!
Here are other symptoms I found. I do believe there is
a bunch of clues I am missing here:
Clue #1: <win><break> shows the OS as
a) Windows 7 Home 64 bit
b) Windows Genuine Advantage is Happy
c) The OS is Activated
Clue #2: you can set up and preview his screensaver. But
it gets set back to "none" as soon as you exit the set up
dialog. If you go back into the dialog, you see the screen
saver you set up. Back out and back to "none". If you reboot,
the dialog reverts to none. The screen saver never comes
on.
Clue #3: User's profile:
Now this is where things get really weird. I would expect,
even in 64 bit, for the users profile ("%USERPROFILE%") to
be "C:\Users\Name". Instead it is strangely located in
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile
As in
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\Pictures
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\Desktop
and so on.
I could have kicked myself for not looking in:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList
to see where the user's profile was placed, and
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders
to see where things had been redirected.
Since creating a new user did not help, I am thinking that
the "Default" user's registry setting are screwed up too.
I have a working theory. I believe that Windows 7 thinks
that this is the "Starter" edition (it is not). I am thinking
this because of the weird location of the user's profile.
You guys have any ideas?
Many thanks,
-T
G
Gene E. Bloch
Here's what I see, in case it might help:
Both on my desktop with W7Pro64 and on my netbook with W7Starter32, the
Windows NT registry entries point to C:\Users\My Name, and in the
command window, echo %systemprofile% gives C:\Users\My Name on both
(where My Name is replaced by the correct username, of course).
Also in the W7Pro, the WOW64 directory you cited exists. It is not on
the netbook because it's a 32-bit system.
G
Gene E. Bloch
Sorry, I was too brief. I also have the systemprofile folder.
It seems to shadow some of the folders under the three AppData folders,
e.g., the Local folder in the WOW64 path has only Google and Microsoft
folders, whereas the User one has 22 folders, three junction points,
and three files. I didn't look deeper, but the LocalLow and Roaming
also only have a few folders.
T
Todd
Thank you!
L
Lee Waun
I have 2 machines that both run win7 and I am not having problems withTodd said:
either of them. I can't remember ever gettinga BSD.
So off you go.
PLONK!!!