Microcrap coruption

Is their any way to truly avoid the inebitable microcrap coruptness?

I'm getting sick of reinstalling my OS and now I have to call microcrap to activate windows.

Are we doomed to a life of crapy OS's?

I'd go pure lunix if my software was not winsht only.

Sniper_83 said:

I'd go pure lunix if my software was not winsht only.

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There can't be much software left that is genuinely MS-ony. The only areas are professional graphics and sound software, and games. Most Linux users who game tend to keep a Win98/XP partition around for that purpose anyway.

Are you having a specific problem...Or just venting?

If you are, some details would be helpful.

Personally, the only time I have ever crashed my OS was the time in class when I sat there and said to the others there..."I wonder how much of the registry I can delete before it will not reboot". You'd be suprised how much you can get away with using "Last Known Good"

I'm mainly venting.

Though it seams that every time I reinstall windows I end up installing more protection crap along with it, which starts to bog the system eventually.

Its always a virus of some sort, I was fighting it for the last 3 weeks and last friday I killed it when I installed a 3rd virus detection and removal tool. Norton, AVG, ZoneAlarm with Anit-virus trial; in that order. All 3 were stumped and could not remove what the found, ****es me off that they found it but couldn't remove it, after zonealarm ran its search the PC ran like it had a 2 MHz CPU with 32 KB RAM. All of em were up to date I might add.

I had also picked up Ad-aware and Spybot Search & Destroy running a check almost every day, both up to date as well. I still seamed to move from 36 processes to well over 50 by the time the end came.

Why is that windows cant be open source code, so more ppl can find the flaws in the code to windows and prevent it like they do with lunix?

I also want to add that I don't just go around DL just anything, so where do the viruses come from?

You don't need to download anything to recieve trojan horse and spyware programs. Usually they come by way of cookies. If you are using Spybot make sure that you are using the immunize feature. It works pretty well. That feature's weak point is that all the"bug makers" have to do is change it slightly and it may not be recognized the next time. Another way of stopping that kind of crud is to turn off cookies...it takes a bit of the fun out of using the net IMHO, but if you are having as much troubles as it sounds; it may be the way to go. You can always overide it and let sites that you trust drop cookies.

Hope some of that helps.

Oh, as far as open source goes...just use Firefox. Since I switched to that...my problems have become nearly nonexistant.

Well, they can come from a myriad of sources. You can...

• Download/Run infected files
• Open infected files from a disk
• Access a disk with a bootsector virus
• Go to a website which secretly downloads an infected file thanks to IE's exploits
• Go to a website which secretly runs a java based exploit
• Open an infected e-mail attachement
• Have an HTML based e-mail secretely download an infected file
• Have an HTML based e-mail secretely run a java based exploit
• etc.

The way to prevent/delay the inevitable corruption is to be as strict with your computer as possible. Use a different browser, scan for spyware and virii periodically, run a registry cleaner every once in a while, update all your software (especially windows and your scanners) regularly, use a firewall, and disable unneeded services. If you stay vigilant, the time between installs should increase dramatically. It's a lot of work, but it should pay off if you really hate reinstalling every few months

JigPu

Well that so far was my longest run with no problems. One thing I would like to know is where do all the running processes come from.

I have added a firewall after this last reinstall but their is only so many things one can runn b4 the effects of you protection do the same thing as the viruses do.

I want to move to lunix but the software I have cost too much to just toss it out.

So I take it you connect it directly to the internet. What I would do is burn a free software firewall then next time you install physically unplug your self from the internet. Before connecting to the internet install the firewall. Also keep windows updated. I have it set up to automatically download updates and tell me when they're ready to install. Also use firefox as a browser and thunderbird or web based email for email. That'll prevent most spyware and viriiii.

Software costs money? Huh...never knew. j/k

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. There is plenty of good about MS. It just takes a little more effort. Look at as a tradeoff. You can have an ulta-secure machine that you would need to have an owners manual on hand at all times. Or you can have a completely user friendly machine that will be getting the funk knocked out of it every other day. What I try for on my MS boxes is a balance. JigPu had some good tips. You asked about the processes as they pertain to firewall...well, that is only going to come into play if a process is trying to access the net or something from the net is trying to turn on a process. If a local process is trying to turn on a local process, firewall is not going to help.

Like JigPu said, it takes a bit of maintanence. I run spybot once a week. I run virus scan a little less frequently(but not much). I'll run Bazooka any time I am wondering if something is odd(it takes about five seconds to run). Get familliar with "Task Manager", specifically the process tab. If anything looks odd...google the process name. There are many sites out the that will tell you precisely whether or not it is a "good witch or a bad witch". http://answersthatwork.com is a great place to start, but there are many. Use Internet Explorer as little as posible. I discribe it to my clients as a "portal of filth".

Oh yeah...and keep a *NIX disk handy for when you totaly loose it.

Yes, definatly become familiar with Task Manager. I can honestly say that Task Manager is probably THE most used "utility" I run on my machine. Seems like I open it at least once a day to make sure nothing is hogging my memory that dosen't need to be, and use it to close down anything I don't recognize. If it's not on my list of usual processes, it gets nuked and I look it up on Google to see if something nasty has gotten on before any severe damage is done. Very handy little piece of software MS gave us


EDIT: You don't really need all that much monitoring software running in the background. Really, only a firewall (if you don't have a hardware one) and antivirus are needed. Anything beyond those two don't really have any need to be running 24/7, and should only scan the system every few days to few weeks. That'll help reduce the load on your system while keeping it fairly safe from 99% of stuff.

JigPu

I know their are places out their that also tell you what processes you can stop from msconfig to reduce security issues (like remote Desktop) and running processes (like yahoo auto updater), any tips on where to go find thoes tutorials?

One thing I want to add to your needed programs in the background is spybot S&D, I have found that to be rather usefull with the imunize tool.

I run Norton once a week (I had also had AVG run once ever 24 hr too), Spybot and ad-aware are normally run every other day.

Andyman902042 you said that I should burn a free software firewall then next time I install physically unplug myself from the internet and before connecting to the internet install the firewall. Well first off I should tell you I almost did that this time, I had zonealarm install on my second HDD and I can't connet to the internet with out my 3rd party nic drivers (gigabit lan = no microcrap drivers). So hopefully that will help me out.

What finally killed that last install was zonealarm with anti-Virus, in order for zonealarm to scan my HDD's with its AV soft it had to remove Norton. I think norton had something that it was not showing in the Q list and Z/A killed the last bit O protection.

One of my favorite sites for tweaking is Kelly's Korner, she has a ton of good tips, tweaks and links to other XP and Windows sites.

Cool.

Microsoft is in the business to make money, and they want you to think that good stuff is going to cost lotta money. Hense the irritating activation with XP. Also the usually buggy releases, as they are pushed for deadlines. Freeware programs are written as a service to people, that share a common interest. We want a free operation system... there is linux. The GIMP takes place of adobe photoshop. And there are many other utilitys that are as good as, if not better than ones you may pay for.

But If you are a gamer, and you are running on an alternative operating system, (non microsuck) there is a smaller variety to choose from, for it would be a much unecessary expense and development costs when they are happy with providing MS only versions.

Either way, as said earlier, Task Manager... make it your friend. You never know whats lurking around thread ID 1336...cause it cant be good...

snafumaster said:

You don't need to download anything to recieve trojan horse and spyware programs. Usually they come by way of cookies.

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Cookies aren't executable; you can't get anything like spyware or viruses from them. See the Cookie FAQ, especially 2.4 (Are Cookies Dangerous?).
Being selective about cookies (which I do when I remember to) isn't about security as much as it's about privacy. By blocking a cookie from Amazon.com, the only thing you do is keep them from knowing that your computer has visited them before (and some similar information like what you've searched for, etc).
I don't have any problem with messing around with cookies, but you should know what its proper role is. Cookies don't have a lot to do with security, and if you're trying to secure windows there are better ways to spend your time.


BTW Sniper_83, very few people run Lunix, and I doubt that any use it as their main OS. You're probably thinking of the more popular Linux.
If your excuse for not switching is anything except games, you don't have an excuse. Drop by the Alt OS forum, find out how to dual boot between windows and Linux, and see if you haven't killed windows (on purpose, of course) by September. The freedom and openness of Linux is uncannily addictive.

Christoph said:

Cookie FAQ

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Great link Christoph, very informative.

I still may be wrong, but I was referring to the method by which a cookie is dropped. If you can drop a cookie, isn't it logical to think that you might be able to drop something a little more malicious through the same process?

Urm...me bad spellser.

Any who, I've thought about doing a dual boot. Bout the only thing I don't know how to do is point grub to the win32 boot kernal. Either way I feel it is best not done.

Microcrap is a Disease, linux is the cure!

Snafumaster, the FAQ has a section that explains how and why cookies are stored. It should answer your question. Just remember that cookies are not executable, so even if code were put in one, it wouldn't ever be run.

Sniper_83, lots of people dual between windows and Linux with grub. A quick search in the Alt OS forum will turn up what you need. If you put half the energy you spend hating MS into finding a solution, you'd be dual booting now.

Yea, but I just feel it aint right to infect a box with microcrap and then force Linux to run with the parasite in the same box!