Date: 04/09/05 (Computer Help)    Keywords: software, virus, spyware, microsoft

OK, so out of nowhere DVDs won't play on my computer. PowerDVD gives me the error message "The Current Display Mode Is Not Supported" and Windows Media player plays files (even .avi and .mpeg files) at about half-speed, but the sound is regular speed...

I haven't changed a THING on my PC - I just defragged, ran all sorts of registry cleaning/fixing utilities, did 2 full virus sweeps with current definitions - different programs (norton and avast!) and ran 4 spyware sweeps, all with current definitions and using different softwares (adaware, spybot s&d, microsoft anti-spyware, and spy-sweeper.)

I reinstalled my video drivers, AND direct X.

Yet my video is still messed up. Has anyone else ran across a similar problem?

This is super frustrating for me, since I use my computer as my stereo, TV and DVD player and am nearly entertainment-less at the moment.

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/371869.html

Date: 04/10/05 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: spyware, microsoft, google

I'm dealing with yet another machine for The Charity. This one has been *royally* pwnz0rzed by a variety of scumware, such that it becomes unusable if you connect to the Internet. It's quite possibly the worst machine of the lot, in terms of quantity of crap. 350 Spybot hits, and 950 Adaware hits, plus about 40 CounterSpy hits, and still it's almost saturating my 4.5Mbit connection and using 90%+ of CPU.

Is there somewhere I can download some kind of Windows Update monolith that I can burn to CD(s) and install that way? I'd spend the evening trudging around the various Microsoft sites, but frankly I've got better things to do, and there's more than a slim chance one of you guys has been in this boat. I do not trust Google results for Windows Update, any more than I'd trust them for Spyware Removal or Free Porn.

Thanks,

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/658091.html

Date: 04/11/05 (Security)    Keywords: software, security, spyware

Network security company updates its anti-spyware applications and introduces a new package of tools to fight malicious software.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/Trend+Micro+bolsters+anti-spyware+lineup/2100-1009_22-5662504.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn

Date: 04/13/05 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: spyware, linux, google

I know how frsutrating it is when people post about issues and expect free support or have not googled the problem. Therefore I have exhausted both options to the best of my abilities.
Presently I possess a Sony Viao PCG-FXA53 with a 1.3ghz processor, 786mb of SDRAM, 40 gb (fat-32) HD, and Windows XP Pro. Everytime I play sound on my computer it sounds like a CD skipping and the sound is garbeled and distorted if anything besides the music player is running. Also whatever media player I use will uses at least 51% of my system Rescources. I have tried windows media player (9&10), Windows media classic, xmplay, winamp, and even real player. All of them do this. Therefore I thought it was an issue with something else on my computer. I have scanned for viriuses with (trend micro, avast, and AVG). All of them are current and found nothing, I have checked for spyware with Spybot Search and Destory and Ad-aware. In addition the only things in my startup are the necessary XP components and my A/V.  Naturally I used all of the latest updates of these computers. This problem has been existent for 3 years now and I have worked with Sony Continually on this issue. They said it was my HDD so they gave me a new one. This did not fix the issue. They stated I needed more RAM and this was not the issue. I have changed Windows Media Player and done a full FFR with the deletion of the MBR. After taking it to several tech places, doing reading online, and looking at the same model to see if it had the problem (it did not). I am now at my wits end. What is it? is it my on board sound card? or the driver?
if it is the driver what do I do?

The oddest thing is that: In my Linux partition of FC3, and Debian 3.3 I have no problems with the sound. Granted I have other issues but not the sound issue. In addition I have no trouble with it and Linux Live CD's.

Thank you so much for all of the wonderful help and support that you have supplied me with in the past. I appreciate your help in this manner.

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/659629.html

Date: 04/21/05 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: spyware, yahoo

Hello fellow geeks.

When I go to reply to an email on my home computer it comes up (and stays) like this......



I wait for it to fully load with the original message but nothing actually happens. I also cannot attach anything because the button is light shaded yet I don't seem to have this problem on other computers and I can use my Hotmail on here perfectly fine so it must be something on here conflicting with the Yahoo! email setup.

I don't recall disabling attachment support in IE.

Anyone wonder what might be wrong?

I'm gonna run some scans on it soon to see if maybe there is a spyware program or something conflicting with it. Was just checking to see if any of you's recognised the problem.

Cheers,

-- Tom

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/665628.html

Date: 04/28/05 (Security)    Keywords: security, virus, spyware

Mass-mailing viruses are on their way out, some security execs say, and spyware is set to take their place as a key pest.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/Experts%3A+End+of+e-mail+viruses+is+nigh/2100-1009_22-5688726.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn

Date: 04/28/05 (Security)    Keywords: web, spyware

New York's attorney general says the Web marketer secretly installed adware and spyware on people's computers.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/Intermix+hit+with+spyware+suit/2100-1009_22-5688609.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn

Date: 04/29/05 (Computer Help)    Keywords: spyware

I use Windows XP. How do I change the desktop background?
I went to Display, but I see only the tabs for Settings and Screensaver, not Background.
My background is just black now, not the original green hills and blue sky.

How can I fix this?
Apparently there was some spyware on this computer, but it's been fixed now with Spybot Search & Destroy, I think.

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/385287.html

Date: 04/29/05 (Java Web)    Keywords: spyware

After publishing the story on New York Attorney General filing a lawsuit against a California based Spyware Company, NYT reporter decided the title (New York Sues Internet Company Over use of Spyware) was gramatically dubious. So he decides to change "Over" to "On". Then he realizes "On" doesn't look so good, specifically the capitalization. So he [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/new-york-times-reporter-has-spelling-blues-blogger-versus-reporter/

Date: 05/02/05 (Security)    Keywords: spyware

Commentary--Washington watcher Declan McCullagh explains why a new congressional anti-spyware proposal is doomed to irrelevance.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/New+spyware+bill+needs+a+rewrite/2100-1009_22-5692376.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn

Date: 05/04/05 (Security)    Keywords: spyware

Q&A Harvard student Ben Edelman hasn't made any friends in spyware and adware makers, thanks to his work publicizing how the programs work.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/Spying+on+the+spyware+makers/2100-1009_22-5694727.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn

Date: 05/06/05 (Computer Help)    Keywords: web, spyware, google

OK, now a few months back, this site started popping up for no reason, no matter what. It pissed me off so I ran adware and spyware checks and cleaned everything out. But it still din't stop. It kept popping. So then just recently I decided to search for the name of the website on google. Turns out it's a big "hijacking" thing and there's a way to remove it. It's called sgrunt. The point is, the help that was offered and the solutions were very confusing and it was pretty much for the computer literate, which I'm not. So if anyone knows about this and can help me in a simple way, please please. This is becoming very annoying and distrubing and...I just hate it.

Again, it's called sgrunt. So if anyone can help me. Please do!

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/390825.html

Date: 05/10/05 (Security)    Keywords: virus, spyware

Apple seems to have unwittingly opened a door in its Tiger OS--seen by some as a safer haven from viruses, spyware and the like--to malware authors.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/Mac+malware+door+creaks+open/2100-1009_22-5700982.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn

Date: 05/10/05 (Computer Help)    Keywords: software, virus, spyware

Question #1:
Hi I have windowsxp and spyware (there is also probably a virus--I found a trojan.). I want to reformat my harddrive. How do I do that? Is "reformatting" the same as "system restore"? This system restore is when the computer restores the system to a previous period. If I restore it to the time before the spyware came up, will the problem be fixed?
I can't find reformat in the "help" on my computer, and we don't have the windowsxp software cd. So, I'm considering that "system restore" is better because it won't delete programs I want to keep, like Windows Movie Maker and some sound programs.

Question #2:
Can I backup programs (and not need the windowsxp software cd)? For example, Windows Movie maker. Would I need to have the "installer" of this program? (I don't have it, I suppose.)

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/393387.html

Date: 05/12/05 (Web Technology)    Keywords: spyware

Last year's attempt to enact an anti-spyware law failed. This time may be different--but does it matter?

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/Senators+push+for+anti-spyware+law/2100-9588_22-5703986.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn

Date: 05/16/05 (Mozilla)    Keywords: virus, spyware

I'm happily using FireFox, but I need the composer functions from the full Mozilla suite.

I went and downloaded the newest Suite package from mozilla.org, but when I try to run the executable, it gets past extracting the XPI files and simply disappears - no error messages or anything! I also tried downloading the installer stub, but it flashes on the screen and disappears instantly...

I am running FireFox with absolutely no problems, and have had no other problems with my system. I'm running XP Pro SP2 on an Athlon64 3500+ with 1gig of ram. Spyware/Virus FREE.

Anybody know where I might look to solve this problem? I really need composer!

EDIT

Bugzilla to the rescue! I was bitten by a "long-standing bug": Installer exits with no error after unpacking files - problem with TMP environment var

I thought at first "But I don't have a space in my tmp environment var" (which is how the example works..).. But then I realized that the default tmp is under the "Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\tmp\" directory. So I looked there, and sure enough, there was a file left over from an installer months ago under "Documents and Settings\Username\" and the file's name was "local"... fits the bug exactly.

Deleting the file allowed the Mozilla suite installer to function. YAY!...

Anyway, I just edited this post to include this info in case anyone else runs across it.
/EDIT

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/mozilla/283957.html

Date: 05/18/05 (Computer Help)    Keywords: web, spyware

I have a Dell, Windows XP home edition, and recently I've been having problems opening new window links on the internet. The website freezes up and stays frozen until I exit off the internet. A lot of times a window that pulls up saying an internet error occured. To make matters even more confusing, once in a blue moon new window links will open fine without any problems.

At first I thought it had something to do with the computer being chock-full of spyware but after running several spybot programs I'm still having the same problem.

Any idea what's going on or how I can fix it?

Thanks.

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/398915.html

Date: 05/21/05 (Computer Help)    Keywords: browser, spyware

I saw luckysafire's post linked somewhere, so I figured I could find help here too.



The original problem started in the first week of April, so I'm starting there.

This is what the message looks like:

ERROR 013c4225: The service cannot accept control messages at this time. : $

When it sits in the windows tray, it looks like I've opened a folder, or something like it:



Here's what happens:

I sit down at the computer on Saturday night [first week of April] as soon as my sister got off. All of a sudden that error message pops up as soon as I get on AIM. I thought it was an AIM thing, so I click out of it. And it comes back. In threes. I restart the computer and don't get onto AIM. I start up Mozilla Firefox and go to LJ, reply to a comment, then try to change icons using a drop-down menu. Big mistake. I learned after restarting fifty million times that the drop-down menus trigger the error message to pop up. [I'm not sure what happened with AIM the first time, because the message came up without me being on Mozilla.]

Someone said to re-install my browser, Mozilla Firefox. I do.

Someone else said to download HijackThis. I do.

Nothing works. I downloaded other spyware blockers/detectors, and they cleaned out some bugs [about 200 bugs ><] but this error message still comes back. And I just don't know what to do. The error message's numbers change every time I restart, but the message is the same. haunted_spark said his college had something like this happen and he couldn't register for classes on time because of some virus. But nothing is being picked up by any of the scans.

I've run:
HijackThis
Spybot Search And Destroy
AVG AntiVirus Scan
Ad Aware
Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta
there was at least one other but I don't know what it was since my files were wiped later

I asked around different message boards people referred me to, but no one responded except for one person who said she/he had the same problem.

I've stopped using Firefox, and went back to Netscape, and haven't had the problem, but I'd prefer to use Firefox because of the popups that Netscape lets through which are starting to gather more spy/ad-ware.


Since then, my computer's run very slow, and isn't keeping up with the time, when I get online, it says the same time as when I got off before.

I have two hard drives [the main one is 3 gigs and the other is 4 -- it's a really old computer, it used to run Win95]. One day I let my sister online again to check her email and go to take a shower. When I get back and go online, the Blue Screen Of Death appeared [I should have taken a picture of it because I don't know what it said now] and my computer wouldn't start up. It would start the normal DOS bit, where it checks the boot record of my floppy and CD drives, but then it would say Windows could not start because the following file [or driver, I can't remember] is missing: System32\DRIVERS\pci.sys. So I grabbed my eMachines Restore CD and popped it in there. It asked to reformat the hard drive, and I let it. But it reformatted the wrong one. It deleted the drive I use for storing things like photos and school papers, and left my Windows drive alone, even though it said it would reformat that drive. So now all of my photos and things are gone, and I've still got my junky Windows XP.

After that, I figured it couldn't get any worse, right? Except refusing to start up? Well now I get this message when I start up.



Then when XP started up, it said my clock was wrong [which it was], and told me to reset it. When it finally loads up everything, it says that it's 01 January 1999.

A few people have told me that could be a problem with the motherboard, and another friend of mine said that she got that message and her motherboard fried a few weeks later, so that doesn't give me much hope.

This also started after my sister got offline. She refuses to believe that she's got anything to do with it, but whenever something like this happens, it's right after she's online. And every time I get online and somehow have a virus problem, I can retrace my steps and figure out what happened and fix it. But since it's her problem, I don't know where it came from. It may have been something through AIM or an IM service, or through something she did on Firefox.

And now when I get online, Spybot and the Microsoft AntiSpyware have windows coming up saying that spyware is trying to install. And it's different spyware every time I start up, but after I remove it and then run a scan, nothing comes up, so I don't know what's triggering it.

So I have absolutely no idea what's going on. I've had this computer for about three years, so it's outdated, but my dad is too cheap to get even a new printer cartridge, so the only way I'm going to get a new computer is when I get a new job.

Is there something you know of to stop any one of these problems?

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computer_help/403079.html

Date: 05/24/05 (Security)    Keywords: spyware

Members of the House of Representatives can't decide how to punish spyware makers, so they approve two bills with different approaches.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/House+approves+spyware+bill--again/2100-1009_22-5717658.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn

Date: 05/24/05 (Security)    Keywords: software, spyware, microsoft

As Congress mulls spyware bills, Microsoft seeks immunization from "frivolous" suits for companies that fight such software.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/Microsoft+seeks+protection+from+spyware+firms/2100-1009_22-5718370.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn