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#1
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Critical Updates and Decreasing System Stability
I've been faithfully installing Windows'ME Critical Updates
for some time now and my system seems to be getting more and more unstable. I now get a blue screen crash almost every day and sometimes more than one a day. They are randomly erratic having no particular pattern or cause. Critical Updates appear to consist of an endless number of security updates to protect against hackers or deviant web sites accessing your computer. I'm not aware of there ever being an attempt to hack into my computer nor am I aware of anyone I know having had that experience. With the millions of web sites and hundreds of millions of users online everyday, the probability of getting hacked must be pretty low (especially for an on and off dial-up connection). The endless succession of Critical Updates never seem to offer fixes for known system bugs, which I would appreciate. I'm wondering if there isn't a connection between the endless procession of Critical Update patches and the increasing instability of the operating system. Might I be and have been better off ignoring the Critical Updates? -randau Oregon, USA I read and post from the Google Groups web site using a Spam collecting email address that I don't use for anything else. So if someone wants to contact me, please cleanup and use the Spam resistant Email address below. randau2...(at)...proaxis.com |
#3
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You may have a virus/spyware hijack
download the Stinger from here and run it to make sure that A-V-disabling viruses are not present on your PC http://download.nai.com/products/mca...rt/stinger.exe - update your virus scanner and run a full system scan of all files. download AdAware SE Personal Edition from www.lavasoftusa.com, install, update, and run it to remove spyware, adware, and other such nasties from your system. See what that lot reports - and then say that the risk of malware is low!! Getting 'hacked' isn't the problem - the problem is getting hit with malware either from a drive-by installation from a website, or from 'accidentally' installing the wrong program. -- Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows) Nil Carborundum Illegitemi http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm http://tinyurl.com/6oztj Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's "randau" wrote in message oups.com... I've been faithfully installing Windows'ME Critical Updates for some time now and my system seems to be getting more and more unstable. I now get a blue screen crash almost every day and sometimes more than one a day. They are randomly erratic having no particular pattern or cause. Critical Updates appear to consist of an endless number of security updates to protect against hackers or deviant web sites accessing your computer. I'm not aware of there ever being an attempt to hack into my computer nor am I aware of anyone I know having had that experience. With the millions of web sites and hundreds of millions of users online everyday, the probability of getting hacked must be pretty low (especially for an on and off dial-up connection). The endless succession of Critical Updates never seem to offer fixes for known system bugs, which I would appreciate. I'm wondering if there isn't a connection between the endless procession of Critical Update patches and the increasing instability of the operating system. Might I be and have been better off ignoring the Critical Updates? -randau Oregon, USA I read and post from the Google Groups web site using a Spam collecting email address that I don't use for anything else. So if someone wants to contact me, please cleanup and use the Spam resistant Email address below. randau2...(at)...proaxis.com |
#4
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Noel
I notice that you frequently recommend downloading and running STINGER for potential virus and/or spyware problems. Is STINGER any different from other AV programs ? "Noel Paton" wrote in message ... You may have a virus/spyware hijack download the Stinger from here and run it to make sure that A-V-disabling viruses are not present on your PC http://download.nai.com/products/mca...rt/stinger.exe - update your virus scanner and run a full system scan of all files. download AdAware SE Personal Edition from www.lavasoftusa.com, install, update, and run it to remove spyware, adware, and other such nasties from your system. See what that lot reports - and then say that the risk of malware is low!! Getting 'hacked' isn't the problem - the problem is getting hit with malware either from a drive-by installation from a website, or from 'accidentally' installing the wrong program. -- Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows) Nil Carborundum Illegitemi http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm http://tinyurl.com/6oztj Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's "randau" wrote in message oups.com... I've been faithfully installing Windows'ME Critical Updates for some time now and my system seems to be getting more and more unstable. I now get a blue screen crash almost every day and sometimes more than one a day. They are randomly erratic having no particular pattern or cause. Critical Updates appear to consist of an endless number of security updates to protect against hackers or deviant web sites accessing your computer. I'm not aware of there ever being an attempt to hack into my computer nor am I aware of anyone I know having had that experience. With the millions of web sites and hundreds of millions of users online everyday, the probability of getting hacked must be pretty low (especially for an on and off dial-up connection). The endless succession of Critical Updates never seem to offer fixes for known system bugs, which I would appreciate. I'm wondering if there isn't a connection between the endless procession of Critical Update patches and the increasing instability of the operating system. Might I be and have been better off ignoring the Critical Updates? -randau Oregon, USA I read and post from the Google Groups web site using a Spam collecting email address that I don't use for anything else. So if someone wants to contact me, please cleanup and use the Spam resistant Email address below. randau2...(at)...proaxis.com |
#5
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Yes - Stinger is a targeted utility for the removal of a number of worms -
many of which have the subsidiary function of switching off traditional anti-virus programs. You can have the most efficient, and up-to-date virus scanner in the world, and it's of no use at all if it's switched off by a worm! Stinger of itself is no use - it's purely effective against variants of about 40 worms - without also running a traditional AV immediately afterwards, but what it does, it does well, and is the type of tool that worms have little defence against - for the simple reason that it can be almost totally redesigned every issue, if necessary, while a traditional AV is locked into an upgrade/update cycle. -- Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows) Nil Carborundum Illegitemi http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm http://tinyurl.com/6oztj Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's "Dapper Dan" wrote in message ... Noel I notice that you frequently recommend downloading and running STINGER for potential virus and/or spyware problems. Is STINGER any different from other AV programs ? "Noel Paton" wrote in message ... You may have a virus/spyware hijack download the Stinger from here and run it to make sure that A-V-disabling viruses are not present on your PC http://download.nai.com/products/mca...rt/stinger.exe - update your virus scanner and run a full system scan of all files. download AdAware SE Personal Edition from www.lavasoftusa.com, install, update, and run it to remove spyware, adware, and other such nasties from your system. See what that lot reports - and then say that the risk of malware is low!! Getting 'hacked' isn't the problem - the problem is getting hit with malware either from a drive-by installation from a website, or from 'accidentally' installing the wrong program. -- Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows) Nil Carborundum Illegitemi http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm http://tinyurl.com/6oztj Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's "randau" wrote in message oups.com... I've been faithfully installing Windows'ME Critical Updates for some time now and my system seems to be getting more and more unstable. I now get a blue screen crash almost every day and sometimes more than one a day. They are randomly erratic having no particular pattern or cause. Critical Updates appear to consist of an endless number of security updates to protect against hackers or deviant web sites accessing your computer. I'm not aware of there ever being an attempt to hack into my computer nor am I aware of anyone I know having had that experience. With the millions of web sites and hundreds of millions of users online everyday, the probability of getting hacked must be pretty low (especially for an on and off dial-up connection). The endless succession of Critical Updates never seem to offer fixes for known system bugs, which I would appreciate. I'm wondering if there isn't a connection between the endless procession of Critical Update patches and the increasing instability of the operating system. Might I be and have been better off ignoring the Critical Updates? -randau Oregon, USA I read and post from the Google Groups web site using a Spam collecting email address that I don't use for anything else. So if someone wants to contact me, please cleanup and use the Spam resistant Email address below. randau2...(at)...proaxis.com |
#6
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Thanks for the response Noel.
"Noel Paton" wrote in message ... Yes - Stinger is a targeted utility for the removal of a number of worms - many of which have the subsidiary function of switching off traditional anti-virus programs. You can have the most efficient, and up-to-date virus scanner in the world, and it's of no use at all if it's switched off by a worm! Stinger of itself is no use - it's purely effective against variants of about 40 worms - without also running a traditional AV immediately afterwards, but what it does, it does well, and is the type of tool that worms have little defence against - for the simple reason that it can be almost totally redesigned every issue, if necessary, while a traditional AV is locked into an upgrade/update cycle. -- Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows) Nil Carborundum Illegitemi http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm http://tinyurl.com/6oztj Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's "Dapper Dan" wrote in message ... Noel I notice that you frequently recommend downloading and running STINGER for potential virus and/or spyware problems. Is STINGER any different from other AV programs ? "Noel Paton" wrote in message ... You may have a virus/spyware hijack download the Stinger from here and run it to make sure that A-V-disabling viruses are not present on your PC http://download.nai.com/products/mca...rt/stinger.exe - update your virus scanner and run a full system scan of all files. download AdAware SE Personal Edition from www.lavasoftusa.com, install, update, and run it to remove spyware, adware, and other such nasties from your system. See what that lot reports - and then say that the risk of malware is low!! Getting 'hacked' isn't the problem - the problem is getting hit with malware either from a drive-by installation from a website, or from 'accidentally' installing the wrong program. -- Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2005, Windows) Nil Carborundum Illegitemi http://www.btinternet.com/~winnoel/millsrpch.htm http://tinyurl.com/6oztj Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's "randau" wrote in message oups.com... I've been faithfully installing Windows'ME Critical Updates for some time now and my system seems to be getting more and more unstable. I now get a blue screen crash almost every day and sometimes more than one a day. They are randomly erratic having no particular pattern or cause. Critical Updates appear to consist of an endless number of security updates to protect against hackers or deviant web sites accessing your computer. I'm not aware of there ever being an attempt to hack into my computer nor am I aware of anyone I know having had that experience. With the millions of web sites and hundreds of millions of users online everyday, the probability of getting hacked must be pretty low (especially for an on and off dial-up connection). The endless succession of Critical Updates never seem to offer fixes for known system bugs, which I would appreciate. I'm wondering if there isn't a connection between the endless procession of Critical Update patches and the increasing instability of the operating system. Might I be and have been better off ignoring the Critical Updates? -randau Oregon, USA I read and post from the Google Groups web site using a Spam collecting email address that I don't use for anything else. So if someone wants to contact me, please cleanup and use the Spam resistant Email address below. randau2...(at)...proaxis.com |
#7
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I have Norton AntiVirus protection which I update and then
scan the disk every week besides getting the Virus Definitions updated automatically during the week. I also have Lavasoft Adaware software that I run periodically to root out Spyware. I don't think it's the canned/preprogrammed malware (viruses/spyware) that's being addressed with Windows Critical Updates. I think it's the threat of real-time hackers that's being addressed to prevent them from establishing live malicious access to your computer. Isn't it? |
#8
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randau wrote:
I have Norton AntiVirus protection which I update and then scan the disk every week besides getting the Virus Definitions updated automatically during the week. I also have Lavasoft Adaware software that I run periodically to root out Spyware. I don't think it's the canned/preprogrammed malware (viruses/spyware) that's being addressed with Windows Critical Updates. I think it's the threat of real-time hackers that's being addressed to prevent them from establishing live malicious access to your computer. Isn't it? No. Not at all. That you use NAV is perhaps more of a factor in your loss of performance than anything else. No Symantec product targeted at the domestic market performs well regardless of the operating system in use with NAV especially causing more problems with Win Me than any it might claim to prevent. -- Mike Maltby MS-MVP |
#9
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On Sun, 19 Dec 2004 09:11:19 -0000, "Noel Paton"
Yes - Stinger is a targeted utility for the removal of a number of worms - many of which have the subsidiary function of switching off traditional anti-virus programs. It's like spending 2 days swotting "spots" at the end of a 3-year course. It doesn't cover all (or even most) of the material :-) Slightly better is Trend's SysClean. Like Stinger, this is a free fixer that you can run without having to install it. But it detects a lot more malware than Stinger does, so I've taken to using it instead; it fits on a USB stick, but not on a diskette. Then again, you aren't cursed with NTFS, so there's no reason you can't use a *real* av that detects "everything". You'd do a diskette boot, ideally using an EBD that creates a RAM disk, then copy the relevant files and run the DOS-based av from there. www.f-prot.com offers F-Prot for DOS as free for personal use, and it's what I use. You can get updates from the site as well, and you'd need to, as the data built into the download will likely be stale. www.sophos.com and www.nod32.com also offer free DOS-based av for download, but they are evaluation copies only. That means you have to sign in, and I presume you can't download updates on an ongoing basis. You can have the most efficient, and up-to-date virus scanner in the world, and it's of no use at all if it's switched off by a worm! Absolutely. Chasing active malware from the OS that it's already running in is doomed, because the malware is positioned to resist, hide, take punitive action against you, etc. It's merciful that the last is rare, but it's been done; I wouldn't count on such mercy. Stinger of itself is no use - it's purely effective against variants of about 40 worms - without also running a traditional AV immediately afterwards, but what it does, it does well, and is the type of tool that worms have little defence against - for the simple reason that it can be almost totally redesigned every issue, if necessary, while a traditional AV is locked into an upgrade/update cycle. Yes - it's a useful lifeline for those cursed with NTFS. Also, once you've identified a malware, Symantec has several dedicated cleaners that each kill one particular baddie. Actually, most av sites have free cleaners for one malware each; I've used these from Symantec, F-Secure and Sophos (Sophos's fix for Jeefo was da bomb!) --------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - Tech Support: The guys who follow the 'Parade of New Products' with a shovel. --------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - |
#10
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Thanks for your input also, cquirk. I use Avast, AdAware and Spybot
S&D religiously. Just wasn't sure of why STINGER. Now I know !! Thanks again. Dan "cquirke (MVP Win9x)" wrote in message ... On Sun, 19 Dec 2004 09:11:19 -0000, "Noel Paton" Yes - Stinger is a targeted utility for the removal of a number of worms - many of which have the subsidiary function of switching off traditional anti-virus programs. It's like spending 2 days swotting "spots" at the end of a 3-year course. It doesn't cover all (or even most) of the material :-) Slightly better is Trend's SysClean. Like Stinger, this is a free fixer that you can run without having to install it. But it detects a lot more malware than Stinger does, so I've taken to using it instead; it fits on a USB stick, but not on a diskette. Then again, you aren't cursed with NTFS, so there's no reason you can't use a *real* av that detects "everything". You'd do a diskette boot, ideally using an EBD that creates a RAM disk, then copy the relevant files and run the DOS-based av from there. www.f-prot.com offers F-Prot for DOS as free for personal use, and it's what I use. You can get updates from the site as well, and you'd need to, as the data built into the download will likely be stale. www.sophos.com and www.nod32.com also offer free DOS-based av for download, but they are evaluation copies only. That means you have to sign in, and I presume you can't download updates on an ongoing basis. You can have the most efficient, and up-to-date virus scanner in the world, and it's of no use at all if it's switched off by a worm! Absolutely. Chasing active malware from the OS that it's already running in is doomed, because the malware is positioned to resist, hide, take punitive action against you, etc. It's merciful that the last is rare, but it's been done; I wouldn't count on such mercy. Stinger of itself is no use - it's purely effective against variants of about 40 worms - without also running a traditional AV immediately afterwards, but what it does, it does well, and is the type of tool that worms have little defence against - for the simple reason that it can be almost totally redesigned every issue, if necessary, while a traditional AV is locked into an upgrade/update cycle. Yes - it's a useful lifeline for those cursed with NTFS. Also, once you've identified a malware, Symantec has several dedicated cleaners that each kill one particular baddie. Actually, most av sites have free cleaners for one malware each; I've used these from Symantec, F-Secure and Sophos (Sophos's fix for Jeefo was da bomb!) --------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - Tech Support: The guys who follow the 'Parade of New Products' with a shovel. --------------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - |
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