Date: 12/02/06 (Computer Help)    Keywords: virus, spyware, microsoft

Hi. My computer is a Compaq Presario SR1011NX, with Windows XP installed. After not having done so for a while (I know, bad thing for me to do), I decided to back-up my important files (text files like writing, artwork stuff, etc). Ever since I had this computer, the only way that I've backed up files was to use XP's built in deal to copy the files to CD-RWs. And that process has worked just fine and good.

But now, I'm having some serious problems with that.

I collected together said CD-RWs and go to clean the old files off of them... and they won't delete. So I look around a bit, and see that I'll just have to erase the whole CD-RW -- okay! Only, there's no option to do so. The option just isn't appearing. Puzzled, I do some more poking around, some more tests, and now I know what's wrong. Apparently, whatever writing ability my CD drive had is... gone. Doesn't work. Any attempt to delete or even add files onto the CD-RWs is met with this error message:

"Files on this CD-ROM drive are read-only. You cannot copy or move files over to this CD-ROM drive."

Any attempt to take off the read-only status on those files results in:

"An error occurred applying attributes to the file: E:\path\file Access is denied."

I tried a third-party CD-writing program (NTI CD-Maker 2000 Plus) installed on here, and tried to erase the CD-RW or tinker with files on there, the error message was:

"No supported CD-RW drive detected."

So I tried copying files over to both a fresh CD-RW and then a fresh CD-R. Both times, the wizard for copying files wouldn't open, and I instead got this lovely message:

"E:\ is not accessible. Incorrect function."

I then checked to see if things like games would run by popping in The Sims, and that ran fine, so... it just won't copy/write to CDs anymore, or let me mess with the files off of data CDs. It'll read the files and let me access them, but I can't delete or alter them. Any options involving writing to/copying to/deleting for CD-Rs and CD-RWs just don't appear at all anymore.

On the My Computer screen, the drive still reads as "CD-RW Drive (E:)". Oh, and for the type, it's a Sony CD-RW CRX25E5, and the Device Status reads that it's working properly... even though it's not.

Basically, I have no idea what's going on. I never messed with any drivers or such, and my computer is clear of any viruses, spyware, and the like. I've tried contacting both Compaq/HP and Microsoft, but those attempts aren't going well. Hopefully I've provided enough information, and if not, let me know and I'll post more. Thanks ahead of time for any help on this problem! I just want to back up my files, as many of them are too big to fit on floppy disks (and I don't have anything like one of those nifty flash drives).

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/718032.html

Date: 12/02/06 (Computer Help)    Keywords: browser, virus, web, spyware, google

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/718593.html

Date: 12/04/06 (Security)    Keywords: spyware

Secure Computer agrees to pay $1 million to settle charges that it violated Washington state's spyware law.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6140656.html

Date: 12/15/06 (Computer Help)    Keywords: software, virus, web, spyware

Ok. In the bottom right corner of the screen there's a flashing icon next to the date that is either an exclamation mark in a yellow triangle or switches to a bomb(ball with spikes). I can't right click to try to bring up a roll window to click exit because like a left click it sends me to this friggin website virusbusters.com. I don't have their software, never downloaded it. I cleaned my internet history, cookies, saved text, etc etc. I've also run Mcafee virus scan, spy hunter spyware scanner, and spybot scanner. None of them can pick this up and I don't know where to look for whatever's causing it on my computer beyond add/remove programs and searching my hard drive with *virusbuster*.

Any suggestions? : /

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/724383.html

Date: 12/23/06 (Computer Help)    Keywords: virus, spyware

112.2o7.net
2o7 adbrite.com
adrevolver.com
atdmt.com
atwola.com
bs.serving-sys.com
com.com
doubleclick
doubleclick.net
fastclick.net
imrworldwide.com
serving-sys.com
tribalfusion.com

My computer has been playing up
Like my broadband disconnects and connects off and on like a yoyo :S and other problems too.

I run a anti-norton virus, Spyware detector, and ad aware se personal but nothing never comes up *sighs*
We did ring our net host for help, they say it could be the modrem but that's a guess.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/727458.html

Date: 01/04/07 (Opera Browser)    Keywords: html, virus, spyware, google

If I do a Google search by typing g whatever in the Opera address bar, I'm now getting a 403 Forbidden response, with an apology page:

We're sorry...

... but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/opera_browser/63728.html

Date: 01/15/07 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: spyware, google

hey guys,

There are a few programs that I see in the Add/Remove Programs window that I cannot remove. They are not all sneaky spyware. One of them is a game I had deleted from the Program Files without officially uninstalling. So, when I tried uninstalling it now, it gave me two kinds of warnings: 1) cannot find the installation log 2)no change after uninstaller is finished. When I reboot and look into the Add/Remove, the program is still there. However, a Google Desktop Search showed me there are no folders associated with these programs anywhere on the computer.

I'm not an expert on operating systems but starting with these symptoms I figured that this is a problem with the system registry. A phantom DLL is haunting my computer, and to eradicate this phantom I must find the associated DLL files and delete them. But, as I said I'm not an expert--and without Scooby Doo on my side I can't go ghost hunting--so there can be something I'm overlooking.

btw, I Googled this before coming here and didn't find a good suggestion other than using HijackThis to stamp out the adware-like apps, which is not very useful to me. What are your thoughts on this? Has it happened to any of you?

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/1022777.html

Date: 01/25/07 (Security)    Keywords: spyware

The Anti-Spyware Coalition offers "Best Practices" and "Conflict Indentification" guidelines for antispyware manufacturers.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6153489.html

Date: 02/09/07 (Security)    Keywords: security, spyware

Congress has tried for years to enact spyware regulations and restrictions on Social Security numbers, with no luck so far.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6157826.html

Date: 02/21/07 (Computer Help)    Keywords: spyware

Ok, for some reason I had a pop up. It was a System Doctor pop up, it closed my firefox tabs windows.
I closed the pop up and then my Tabs came back.

Do I have Spywares or something?

Thanks!

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/748898.html

Date: 02/21/07 (Computer Help)    Keywords: virus, spyware

Last year I got my fan replaced in my computer, since then I have had nothing but problems. They hooked it up to their network and I got tons of viruses, spyware and headaches.

I spent so much time removing things with every imaginable program but it is still slow and completely annoying.

So I have all my files on a jump drive and I need to know how to start over from scratch. I will need details, so whoever is kind enough to type it all out for me (or provide a link) is my new best friend!

x-posted

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/748485.html

Date: 02/22/07 (Computer Help)    Keywords: browser, spyware

The other evening at about 3:20 I decided to go to sleep for a while, so I turned off the monitor to my computer.

When I woke up, I turned on my monitor, and my computer was frozen. So I restarted.

After the restart, Norton came up. Which it doesn't usually do. And it starts getting all active in what I'm doing. 'Allow Internet Explorer to access the Internet?' and all that. Well I can't say I was displeased with that, until I tried to get rid of the icon, which was annoying me.

Anyway, I don't remember what the sequence of events was exactly, but, I ran Ad-Adware, Hijack This, and Spybot Search & Destroy, and got rid of a lot of spyware and stuff. My Internet wasn't connecting, so I restarted, and it wouldn't connect and I tried to fix it, and I restarted again, and blah blah, eventually it connected BUT..

..now nothing will come up in Firefox. Only Internet Explorer.

Any ideas?

Things I have already tried, NONE of which have worked:

1. Downloading another alternate browser (Avant).
2. Checking for and downloading all new Windows updates.
3. Reinstalling Firefox.
4. Checking firewall settings. Firefox and Avant were checked on the Exceptions list.

I really have no idea what to do. And I found out that my torrent program isn't connecting me to any torrents, either. =/

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/749571.html

Date: 02/25/07 (Computer Help)    Keywords: spyware, google

My in-laws are running WinXP with a 56k modem. Both IE and Firefox will attempt to load a page for a split-second and then frequently return the error message that the page cannot be found. Even fast sites like Google will fail to load; or rather, the system fails to even attempt to look for them.

Formerly you had to re-attempt to load the page several times to get it to load. After cleaning up spyware and all that the computer will now load one page with no problem, but attempting to load two at once results in the second page not being found. Ditto if you're downloading something and attempt to load a page.

What causes this? Is there some data-transmission timeout I can adjust? Is there a problem with the DNS server, not that I know much about that? How can it be stopped?

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/750397.html

Date: 04/13/07 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: browser, asp, security, spyware

I've been using Gmail for a while now. I know a lot of people are less than thrilled with their security. My email is slowly becoming a life line and more and more important information is going through my email so I figure this is the time to do some serious looking. My question is 2 fold.

1. What are some opinions on the security of Gmail and should I consider jumping?
2. If I should jump, where should I look to jump into? Pay for email? How much and where?

I tried doing some quick research on secure pay e-mail sites but didn't come up with a whole lot, so I thought I would look for suggestions and opinions.

Thanks.



While I'm at it, why not ask 2?

How good is AVG Free and is it worth paying to upgrade to something else? And if upgrading is suggest, what should I upgrade to? Whether it be just AV, an internet suite, spyware, etc. I've been looking pretty hard at Kaspersky, but I don't know..

I'm a safe browser and I don't run in to many, if any problems.

Just not sure how good a free AV can be, y'know?

Thanks..

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/1059921.html

Date: 04/16/07 (IT Professionals)    Keywords: asp, security, spyware, spam, microsoft

Debate the Future at the 17th annual Computers Freedom and Privacy
Conference, 1-4 May 2007 at the Hilton Bonaventure Hotel in
Montreal, Quebec. WWW.CFP2007.ORG

CFP is the conference where the inventors and innovators on the Internet
met the industry, the regulators, and the creative community to talk about
the new freedoms the net brought. Free speech, censorship, filtering
spam, crypto controls, business security, dataveillance, were all meat
for the all-night debates that took place at this annual gathering.

There has never been a greater need to talk about these issues. This
year's agenda is packed with plenaries and breakout sessions, and Birds
of a Feather sessions that look at all aspects of the growing threats
and opportunities for autonomy in cyberspace.

Featured Speakers

* Whitfield Diffie Sun Microsystems
* Ron Rivest MIT
* Simon Davies Privacy International
* Michael Geist University of Ottawa
* Bruce Schneier BT Counterpane
* Kim Cameron Microsoft

* 1 full day workshop * 8 half day tutorials * Topics include: * ID
Management * Digital Divide * Surveillance * Stalking * Wiretap * War
on drugs * Digital Millenium Copyright Act * Charter rights * RFIDs *
Spyware * No Fly lists * Traffic analysis * Airline Passenger Data *
Health Information * Censorship * Data Retention * Forensics * Security
Information Management

All this and lots more! Watch the program at www.cfp2007.org

Simultaneous Translation throughout plenary sessions

*Discounts for Students and ACM Members*

Stephanie Perrin
Chair CFP2007
forge@ca.inter.net

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/itprofessionals/56274.html

Date: 04/19/07 (Computer Help)    Keywords: software, browser, virus, web, spyware

SOLLUTION:
I had NETframework installed, which effected many applications on windows.
I uninstalled it.
Possible other problem:
Tag by mailware.

Thank you so much for your help!

I’m running Windows XP and I’m using BitDefender, Spybot and AdAware.

My problem:
My internet connection suddenly cuts off when I’m surfing the web. Usually, my messenger switches off first. I don’t think I would really notice if I didn’t have my messenger on, because my net-connection icon doesn’t switch off at all. Nor does my LAN-status-icon change.
It all started when I rebooted my computer a few days ago, and my computer suddenly asked me for my username and password. I never ever make a computer administrator account/user account and activate it, though I know it’s always there from the start. It’s driving me nuts!
I tried deactivating it, but it won’t let me. I can’t even change it or anything.
Maybe I installed some software that activated it. I don’t know.
I haven’t knowingly downloaded any malicious software and installed it ever since formatting my computer, and neither spybot, AdAware nor BitDefender find anything when I do a system scan.
Another odd thing is that BitDefender is now always trying to connect to the internet without being prompted to. I have switched off automatic updates, because I can’t stand it when I’m in the middle of doing something, and those updates start eating up all my MB RAM.
Anyway. When my connection breaks down, the connection-icon doesn’t vanish as it usually would. It shows me that I’m still online. When I double-click on it, a window opens and vanishes again instantly, though it shouldn’t. When I left-click on it and try to cut the connection, I don’t get a reaction. The icon doesn’t change.
What confuses me the most is that my messenger won’t reconnect, my browser won’t open any new sites, but the clip I’m watching over at youtube dot com won’t stop playing. As far as I know, internet connection is required for watching clips at youtube.
I’m very confused right now, and I really hope that all of this makes sense.

(again in short: 1) my browser and messenger seem to be cut off from the net, but the icons tell me I’m online – and so does youtube.
2) I can’t deactivate my local user account – which I myself have never activated
3) my spyware and anti-virus software doesn’t detect any infected or defect files/etc.)

Does anyone have any ideas?
Is my network card maybe messed up somehow? It’s brand new, but it was super-cheap.
Is my computer maybe infected with a virus or Trojan, that somehow manipulates my anti-virus and spyware software?

Your help and ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/770745.html

Date: 05/06/07 (Computer Help)    Keywords: rss, software, virus, web, spyware, google

I'm trying to help my Mom out with her computer.

She bought a Sony Vaio desktop in Winter 2003/2004 at Best Buy. She bought it to replace the Gateway desktop that my brothers had basically killed. She intended for them to use the old computer and she'd use the new one - but slowly my brothers got hold of her computer too.

We ran a virus scan this week and she had something like 30+ "threats" that were spyware, adware, or viruses.

I backed up all her photos to CDs and then used the Vaio Recovery Wizard which is supposed to restore your compute to the day the factory built it.

Now her 30+ threats are gone (where Norton couldn't get rid of them before), but she's still getting the same error message when she starts up her computer (she has to hit F2 to get to some screen - then from that screen she has to hit Esc and then Enter), but she's gotten used to that (I have no idea what the hell happened there!) All night, every couple minutes, she's been getting these error messages saying that she needs a registry cleaner, that there's an error, etc.

We Ctrl-Alt-Del to get the Task Manager up and click on the error message to find the process. The process is csrss.exe. I Googled it and it says that is a normal System file - but if it's located elsewhere it's a virus. Well, it is located in the folder it's supposed to be in, but she's constantly getting these messages. They're telling her that her system is corrupted and she needs to go to a website to download a registry cleaner. We tried about 3 of those web addresses, but she keeps just getting software that finds errors, but won't let her fix them unless she pays $39.95 (or whatever that particular program charges) for the program.

Any ideas? Should she pay for one of those programs? Should she just keep ignoring the pop-ups? Or should she just suck it up, bring her computer to Best Buy / Geek Squad, and have them fix it for her?

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/776012.html

Date: 05/14/07 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: virus, antivirus, spyware

I just downloaded and installed AVG antivirus and anti-spyware programs. I ran them both and they found 4 things

3 cases of trojan.zapchast
1 case of trojan.cloner....

I put them in my quarantine folder... How do I go about actually deleting them? Thanks.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/1070612.html

Date: 05/15/07 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: virus, spyware, microsoft, google

So, I offered to fix this lady's laptop, which was going "berserk" and was to the point that she "couldn't even work on it". I figured, she has some spyware, maybe a virus, so it's an easy fix. Wrong. She had at least 3 viruses that started up with the OS.

With that, I decided to do a wipe of the HDD and just reinstall the OS. Luckily I have a Dell copy of WinXP Pro, since she couldn't find her install disks. I also had to do the backup of all her files because she hadn't had time to do it. To do the backup, I had to go in to safe mode because Outlook wouldn't open.

I get everything backed up, the new OS on, and since the disk was for (I'm pretty sure) a laptop, the computer doesn't recognize the network card. I had to go to my computer, find the drivers for it, copy them to a CD, and install them to the laptop that way. So I get it working, get the rest of the drivers, the laptop is mostly happy. I get all the OS updates, so the computer is "protected" by SP2.

However, WinXP Pro had decided to dual boot on the same partition. I did a Google search, and with all my Google-fu skills, there were only 2 hits for my problem. But they had solutions. So that's fixed.

I then decided to be nice and install, in addition to the anti-virus and anti-spyware I said I'd do, some of the other programs she had had on there, like iTunes and Roxio (I have the Dell disk for that too...I have a Dell) and a couple more.

I take it back to her, give her the laptop, the backup DVDs, and a list of the programs she used to have on the computer. I told her she would have to reinstall Office and the other programs herself, and she pretty much freaked out, since she apparently has no clue how.

And now she has sent me another email, stating that she hasn't been able to do work in 10 days and would like me to come and reinstall the programs she had originally. I thought I was done with the devil laptop.



So, my main questions are:
1) Does Dell keep a record of the keys they use for Microsoft Office for specific computers? Because if she doesn't have the install disks, I'm not sure if I can get that back for her. I have my copy of Office, but no extra keys just lying around. The OS seemed to recognize the key right away, because I never had to input the key. But will Office be the same?

2) How cam I politely tell her that I will need to charge more for this? I got $50 for the first stage, which ended up being less than min. wage with all the time I spent on that stupid laptop. She also wants me to come to her house to do this. I know professional computer repair people charge more for house visits, and I already picked up the laptop for her and dropped it off at her house.

3) When a professional place, like CompUSA or someone who doesn't go to the home, wipes a HDD and reinstalls the OS, do they usually put all the programs and data back on the computer? Or is that left up to the customer? No one I know has had their computer in for repairs before, since we all know how to work with them.

4) Do they install the updates for the OS, like SP2 and all? Or do they just leave it as a fresh install with nothing done to it?



And as a funny thing, my daughter doesn't push CD trays in with her hands, she uses her stomach to push them in. However, she knows how to put a CD in the tray. (She's 15 months)

(x-posted to ubergeeks

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/1071466.html

Date: 05/21/07 (Computer Help)    Keywords: rss, software, html, java, web, spyware, yahoo, microsoft, google

I have two computering questions I hope I can find assistance for. One is for me, and one is for my mom.

Mine: I have a Digital Camera with an Lexar Media 32MB MMC Memory Card. I put the card in the slot in my computer, it reads it, everything is dandy. I take the card out, go take some more pictures. Come back to my computer, stick the card back in, and...NOTHING. Light doesn't come on, card isn't seen. I make sure to use the proper removal procedure each time (stopping the process so the light goes off). The only way to make my computer see the card after it's already seen it once is to completely restart. You can imagine how annoying that is...help!

Mom's: My mother has a worse problem. Her computer randomly crashes. Completely shuts down and starts again. She has no idea why.

I had her run Hijack This, and here is her log.

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/780942.html