OT... Computer crash , OUCH!!!

[Chuck 100 yd]

Friends, I am back on line after 9 days. $422.00 later everything seems fine.
If you ever see an offer for Microsoft 360 anti virus software DON`T!!
It looks like a legitimate offer and there are links to Help lines and the hole nine yards.
This thing is the mother of all computer bugs.

If not for the hundreds of photos and other info that I had ,repeat HAD, no back up for I would have just purchased a new computer. Tom at Battle Ground Computers in BG WA. extracted all our info and made us well again.
We are now using Firefox as he said the bug is using Java script to enter your machine.

If anyone has links to favorite forums and would care to share I would appreciate the info as my favorites list is gone and so far the only thing I have found that is lost.

It`s good to be back.

[kimwcook]

Sorry, Chuck. I know how you feel though. I've had that happen a couple of times in the last four to six years and it sucks, big time.

[J Miller]

Chuck,

You got email.

We got hit by something similar last year. It took us days of work to fix this thing. Luckily we were able to do it ourselves otherwise we'd still be offline.


Joe

[Buffboy]

I hear you brother, my dad clicked on that link, first virus I ever saw that was operational in safe mode. It was a bugger to get rid of so he didn't loose his files.

[JohndeFresno]

Please, guys - it bothers me when one's stuff is lost and there is an easy way to save it.

On this forum, most of us think nothing of spending several hundreds of dollars a year on ammo and/or reloading gadgets, powder, dies, bullets, and GUNS - and you can get a huge hard drive with its own backup software for less than a Charter Arms 44! I do double backups - two hard drives - and a biyearly backup to DVD's - and it has saved my reputation and hard work more than once.

Not only are viruses and malware a problem, but sometimes your registry just gets messed up if you install and uninstall lots of programs (as I do). And hardware does fail.

I subscribe to full image backups of my drives - one drive holds all the programs and one drive holds the data, so the data is never lost if the first drive goes out, and mostly unaffected by different program installations. But if you aren't into all of that, and if your job is not based upon the computer itself as my job generally is, at least:

Please look into getting at least a second USB external hard drive for your data. Your operating system will take care of itself as you re-install it; but once the data is gone, it's poof. I've been hit just a few times by some nasty, nasty virus attacks, because antivirus software usually only catches the ones that have been discovered and reported. But I just re-installed my backup and was up in less than an hour. It's the only way to go. A "My Book" 500 Gigabyte USB drive, Essential Edition, costs around $90 or less, shipped to your door, available from several suppliers.

You can use your Windows backup software or get excellent backup software of various types for less than $50, as I recall - so $150 to give you future peace of mind!

[El Chivo]

I still have a low tech backup system, but I have saved my last 4 computers, so they're all wired together. I backup frequently by copying from place to place on this small network. So if one hard drive goes out, I probably have it on another. I do cd's about twice a year.

[JohndeFresno]

I still have a low tech backup system, but I have saved my last 4 computers, so they're all wired together. I backup frequently by copying from place to place on this small network. So if one hard drive goes out, I probably have it on another. I do cd's about twice a year.

That's a cool idea. You can't hardly give away a computer with an older version of the Operating System ("O/S" - such as Windows 98), but it can certainly hold a lot of data on the hard drive(s)!

My modest work area is pretty cramped, so I wouldn't do well with another box on the table or floor. So the portable USB drives work best for me. I disconnect them when they are not running backups, which safeguards against one of the more aggressive types of malware that search out all drives to destroy the data.

[DBW]

I backup everything I save onto a Western Digital portable hard drive. Since the computer I have in my truck is a modded desktop it makes transfering things to my home desktop easy as 1.2.3.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=391

[PaulB]

Windows is not fit to use on the Internet.

Try Puppy Linux:
http://puppylinux.com/

You put it on a CD, boot with the CD (it leaves your Windows installation alone). Get on the internet and have fun. I run only a firewall; no virus checker, no having to dig out spyware, nothing else of the security crupola you have to put up with in Windows. And best of all, it's free!

When you're done and need to do some Windows stuff, just reboot with the CD drawer open and your Windows is back, unsullied by any contact with the Internet.

Another thing you can do, since Puppy is such a lean, mean OS, is dig that old box out of the closet (or go dumpster diving) and load puppy on it. It works very fast on old hardware. Just disconnect your Windows box from the internet. You can network between the two easily if you want.