Skip to main content

Recovering from Windows XP virus annihilation

Recently, several members of the family have had their computers "owned" by viruses or spyware. At my house, I'm more focused on prevention but if all else fails, here's a great write up of using Windows XP Recovery features to repair your down and out home computer.

Also, a correspondence with one of my pals (a conversation I've had many times with lots of folks):

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Nope. I think you're on the right path. Good write-up:

Afterwards, I would recommend the following:

1. Set only 1 person within the household as an Administrator...I've found the Mom is usually best. Disable the ability to install software for all other users (i.e. they only belong to Users group)
2. Install virus scanning software; set to update nightly, scan nightly
3. Update Windows with all patches from www.windowsupdate.com. Set Windows to update automatically. Make sure you install SP2
4. Enable the Windows firewall from SP2
5. Download and install the latest Zone Alarm firewall
6. Run a hardware router with a built-in firewall in front of your cable/DSL modem
7. Install and set to run regularly a spyware checker such as Ad-aware
8. If you/they are using a wireless network, use 128-bit WEP encryption with a 13-bit passcode.
9. Enable the pop-up blocker within IE6, Windows SP2
10. Don't use Outlook Express but rather a standard browser for email
11. Don't use file sharing programs
12. Don't use chat programs like AIM or Yahoo messenger without a scanner

Also, from my blog:
http://effectivethoughts.blogspot.com
http://effectivethoughts.blogspot.com/2005/01/preventing-spyware.html
http://effectivethoughts.blogspot.com/2005/03/security-guide-for-smb.html
http://effectivethoughts.blogspot.com/2005/06/avoiding-phishing-attacks.html
http://effectivethoughts.blogspot.com/2005/04/michael-howard-keeping-home-computer.html

Jeff...

On 6/14/05, wrote:

no luck...won't even boot up in Safe Mode...just loops through and says Windows could not start, please choose a mode to boot up in...any option you choose loops back around to same screen. couldn't find his rescue CD to boot from, so I need to order one from HP today. Any other advice? (besides using it as a boat anchor)



-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Hunsaker [mailto:]
Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2005 9:19 AM
To:
Subject: WinXP repairs

How did you fare?

--
Jeff Hunsaker

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hero Write-up: Now this is Customer Service!

My best friend Scott is president/C-everything of a small northeastern Ohio manufacturing concern, KirkKey Interlock . I hadn't spoken with him for a while and wanted to see how Canton fared with the Blizzard of '08 (that's what they're calling it...not me). I say, "So what's new?" He replies that on Tuesday his primary server (which essentially runs the business) came up with lame with not one, but [a statistically improbable] *two* physical disk failures on a RAID5 hardware array. My friend attempts the fix but gives up pretty quickly after seeing some Linux nasty-grams on the boot screen. His service provider is an old college buddy who lives down in Raleigh, Cerient Technologies led by Jason Tower . Scott couldn't email out because Exchange was on the toasted server. Being creative, Scott started Treo-emailing photos of the screen. Unfortunately, Jason couldn't receive email because a storm had knocked out a lot of local hosting. [Sigh] After...
4 comments
Read more

Certified or Certifiable?

As a senior technology professional, I interview a lot of candidates. I also maintain solid relationships with other folks in the community. Frequently, the topic of certifications arises: A good investment? Valuable? A clear measurement of skill? Consensus appears to draw the line related to one's seniority. If you're (for example) just out of school and looking for an instant creditability boost, by all means pursue a certification. Likely, this credential will assist you in overcoming the "junior" tag and likely land you more interviews and client roles. (Note: I'm going to use the terms senior and junior here...no offense to either. Can't think of a better one word description. I was a junior once too.) In stark contrast, the value of certifications drops off the table around the 2-3 year mark. Some in my circles even perceive certifications as a negative for the senior professional. They think, "If this guy is so solid, why is he wasting valuable...
5 comments
Read more

Lab Management in Visual Studio 2010 Released

In my experience, there's a lot of animosity and poor communication between Development and QA . It's not that they don't appreciate one another so much as they never seem to stay on the same page. QA : "What's the status on defect #4874?" Dev: "Done." QA : "Done?" Dev: "Yeah, I fixed that Tuesday." QA : "Err, ok . Well where is it? I mean where can I verify it?" Dev: "No clue. I committed it Tuesday. It passed unit tests and built successfully." QA : "Alright. I'll track it down." Invariably , QA speaks with the build manager (if there is one) to find the build in which that defect was repaired. After discovering the correct build, now QA needs an environment stood up to house that build. But wait, the UAT environment is currently testing the next release. It can't be disturbed for another week. At this point, the QA person's blood pressure heads for unsafe levels and the Dice.com bro...
1 comment
Read more