I hate viruses!!!

[vorpalbunny]

Sorry about all the exclamation points, but I really need to complain, and who better to complain to about viruses, etc., than a bunch of computer owners, right?

Last week my computer started refusing to go to various web sites (none in particular, just web sites in general, including my home page.) I took off all the add-ons I had on my browser; I even uninstalled and reinstalled IE; nothing helped. Then the E: drive stopped recognizing CDs and CD-ROMs, ones it had never had a problem with before. Then I couldn't get it to restart or shut down! I had a similar problem with it in April.

I took it in to be repaired on Wednesday, and as of today (Monday) they still have not even looked at it. When I took it in I was told my computer had picked up a virus or an adware problem from any of three places: the extra Google toolbar I had installed, some freeware I'd downloaded from download.com, or some online games I'd played at sites the McAfee Site Adviser indicated were safe.

So now I'm being charged $150 for the shop to roll my computer back to its original factory settings again - meaning I'm going to lose MS Word and have to reinstall it, along with a bunch of other stuff, again. I suppose it could be worse - last time, I didn't have a recent backup, so they charged me an extra $100 to backup my files for me.

Here's what really gets to me: someone out there thinks this kind of thing is funny. There are people who get their kicks destroying people's data, sabotaging their computers, and generally being malicious. Why don't these people get real lives?! Where I live, if I were to cause someone else this much property damage for the fun of it, it would be a misdemeanor and at the very least I'd be looking at a day in court.

I know there isn't much, if anything, that can be done about it, but I just had to share my wrath: I hate viruses!!!

[Alexander]

Hello, I'd like you to recommend to download and install the antivirus software that can be downloaded from http://avast.com/ This program is active for 14 months after free registration and reliable enough. I use it for several months and really satisfied.

[jmarcv]

I used to own a computer repair shop. The guys you use are "chumps".

Anyone can roll back a computer. Even my 8 year old niece.
There are so many good programs to kill virii (including at download.com LOL!) that there is really no excuse for such drastic steps. I have rolled back my computer once in the last 7 years.

[vorpalbunny]

Hmm . . . maybe I'm the chump for going back to them! How do you roll back a computer? Since they haven't even looked at mine yet, I might be able to get my money back.

(Also, I have Trend PC-cillin and Webroot on my computer and the virus, if that's what it was, got in anyway.)

[Matt]

I do not run AntiVirus but when I feel I messed up and have got a virus installed, I usually run the free onliine scanner from trandmicro and when it identifies a virus it will tell you how to get rid of it and sometimes even provide you with a file that will do the work for you.

"rollback" of a computer means taking it back to one of the system restore points that MS creates usually right before you install something or make some other drastic change to the system.

I haven't done it since it because a feature of MS, when I did, my computer gave me the BSOD so I have a bad taste in my mouth from that one...

[vorpalbunny]

* shudder * I've done system restores before without a problem, but the guys in the Geek Squad are talking about wiping everything off my computer and restoring it to the original factory settings, which is what they did back in April - no more wallpaper, I'll have to reload my games and the entire Office suite, and so on.

Oh - and they're the ones who sold me the anti-virus and anti-spyware when I bought the computer. Somehow figures, doesn't it?

[vorpalbunny]

I just received an email from HP detailing how to do a recover (I contacted them this morning when the Geek Squad told me it'd be another five days or so before my computer would be repaired) so I'm off to save myself $150!

[Dmitriy]

Well, in companies like HP, DELL & so on they're always ready to restore your PC to factory settings. Some DELL PCs comes with the software that allows you to do it by yourself.
I'm always running NOD32 antivirus & firewall to be sure, I'll got no problems with viruses & worms. THis is an advice actually. Doesn't matter if you have files worth $1k or just games - your PC should be protected.

[rlhanson]

My yahoo rant:
I have an unsupported opinion: stay away from yahoo anything. I had to trash a pc after so many reinstalls due to all the crap (spyware/malware) I would pick up from using yahoo mail and having my site hosted on yahoo (a few years ago).

I had been on a tirade about yahoo for years before finally hearing a blurb about them being sued for subscribing to spyware and malware sites in order to "up" their page results for their advertisiers.

Some options you may use instead of the popular programs:

A really good chat program that enables users to use yahoo messenger, aim, icq, and msn - all in one interface: Trillian - http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/ - you don't get any of the extra adware or spyware with it.

Totally agree with the trend micro online scanner! As long as you are still able to download it. Make a habit of using it weekly at least.

I use Google for a lot of things, including gTalk - and have never had any issues related to spyware or adware.

Free spyware remover - Adaware: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

Paid Spyware remover - Spyware Doctor: http://www.pctools.com/spyware-doctor/

Registry Mechanic (love this!) http://www.pctools.com/registry-mechanic/

---Stay away from search bars, etc. You don't need them - and try Mozilla Firefox as a browser too. I use both IE and Firefox.

Do you know how to disable your startup items and start in safe mode?

[vorpalbunny]

My computer is back home (with a full refund) - yippee!

Thanks, Dmitriy. I checked and found out that I didn't really need to wait for the email from HP - all I had to do was hit F10 while my computer was starting up, and there it was, a built-in system for rolling everything back to the factory settings!

I haven't done that yet, because I finally found a checkpoint that my computer was willing to use to do a system restore (I had to go through several!) If that doesn't solve all the problems, at least now I know that I can do a roll back myself if I have to.

And I definitely will continue protecting my computer; even if a virus does get through every now and then, I'm way too cautious not to use anti-virus and anti-spyware programs!

Thanks also to rlhanson for the links and advice! So you loathe yahoo too? I had nothing but trouble from them, and on top of that, their customer service/tech support is awful!

I have started a computer in safe mode before but I don't remember how to do it (that was with my old computer, and I was given instructions at that time.) Uhm, why will I be disabling startup items and restarting in safe mode?

Here's a question for everyone: does anyone know anything about "VirtualTruck"? Ever since my computer's most recent problems, whenever it starts or restarts I get a box titled "Rebooting VirtualTruck..." telling me to "Please make sure the VirtualTruck CD is in the CDROM drive." I have no idea what that is! I've tried doing searches for it, but my computer can't find it anywhere despite the fact that it's right there in the middle of the screen. Seriously annoying! Any suggestions?