In Which I Vanquish the Forces of Vice, and Solve a Difficult Problem
On April 4 (04/04/04) my computer became infected with a virus. Not sure if it was at 04:04 a.m. or not. The form this virus took was to hijack our home pages and send them to the website findjizz dot com. Yes, it was as bad as it sounds. It did not differentiate among the different users; my 17 year-old was directed there, as were my four year-old, my husband, and me.
I ran Spybot Search and Destroy. It found many problems, but did not get rid of the virus. Adaware found things that Spybot did not, but it, also, did not get rid of the virus. Norton Anti-Virus did not detect the virus. A visit to the web site computercops.biz gave a tantalizing hint: "Delete the file winlogon.exe from \documents and settings\all users." This file does not belong there, and I deleted it. But it didn't help.
After several hours of fruitless running of spyware programs, I baked a pie. I then returned to the project with renewed dedication. I was not done! If my 17 year-old wants to look at graphic porn, he can do it in secret, like other guys his age!
I booted in safe mode, then ran Norton (again) and Adaware (again). I then ran Spybot for each user. I ran Hijack This! for each user and cleaned out just a few things (not much was there in safe mode). I deleted software I'm no longer using, and even removed my treasured Google Toolbar, which blocks so many ugly popups. Then, I restarted. The problem recurred. I knew that I had cleaned out everything the software was going to be able to find on its own. I looked carefully at Hijack This! and saw a cmd.exe running on startup. Could this be it? I found the file, and it was hiding in the "All Users" Startup group. I deleted it. I rebooted.
It worked! I'm clean! I practically danced into the family room. I am still patting myself on the back. What a joyous thing! I have validated myself as a nerd. I'm not just a nerd. I'm a nerd warrior! Viruses tremble before me!
That's why I didn't do any writing yesterday.
I ran Spybot Search and Destroy. It found many problems, but did not get rid of the virus. Adaware found things that Spybot did not, but it, also, did not get rid of the virus. Norton Anti-Virus did not detect the virus. A visit to the web site computercops.biz gave a tantalizing hint: "Delete the file winlogon.exe from \documents and settings\all users." This file does not belong there, and I deleted it. But it didn't help.
After several hours of fruitless running of spyware programs, I baked a pie. I then returned to the project with renewed dedication. I was not done! If my 17 year-old wants to look at graphic porn, he can do it in secret, like other guys his age!
I booted in safe mode, then ran Norton (again) and Adaware (again). I then ran Spybot for each user. I ran Hijack This! for each user and cleaned out just a few things (not much was there in safe mode). I deleted software I'm no longer using, and even removed my treasured Google Toolbar, which blocks so many ugly popups. Then, I restarted. The problem recurred. I knew that I had cleaned out everything the software was going to be able to find on its own. I looked carefully at Hijack This! and saw a cmd.exe running on startup. Could this be it? I found the file, and it was hiding in the "All Users" Startup group. I deleted it. I rebooted.
It worked! I'm clean! I practically danced into the family room. I am still patting myself on the back. What a joyous thing! I have validated myself as a nerd. I'm not just a nerd. I'm a nerd warrior! Viruses tremble before me!
That's why I didn't do any writing yesterday.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home