[PLUG-TALK] Windows (ick) maintenance help

[Keith Lofstrom]

> On 4/18/2012 12:46 PM, Keith Lofstrom wrote:
> >Granted, the best way to fix a Windows computer is Service
> >Pack Linux, but some of my business contacts are stuck
> >with oddball closed source apps for professional reasons.
> >I just got a virus mail from one of them - where should
> >I send her to get her computer cleaned up?
> >
> >While "skilled with windows" /seems/ like an oxymoron,
> >perhaps that is uncharitable.
> >
> >Keith

On Wed, Apr 18, 2012 at 12:50:12PM -0700, Bill Ensley wrote:
> We use Kaspersky on all of our Windows machines.
> 
> For a quick cleanup, Malware Bytes Anti-Malware works well.
> 
> www.malwarebytes.org
> 
> The free version is a run once kind of program, the pro version is an 
> install and monitor type.
> 
> -Bill Ensley
> www.bearprinting.com

Thanks, Bill.  Part of her problem is between keyboard and 
chair - She is not technical, and I think she will need a
Real Live Human to guide her through this.  I'm looking
for a person or organization to send her to.

After a computer has been seriously compromised, you can
no longer trust anything (including antivirus software)
supposedly running on it.  Output can be intercepted and
faked.  She will need help scanning and cleaning her hard
drive mounted as non-executable data on another machine. 
That is something 95% of computer users can't figure out,
as well as 70% of so-called windows "experts". 
That is why I'm asking the group about the other 30%.

Not too long from now, the black hats will learn to rewrite
the firmware sectors on the hard drives, at which point 
disks may need a factory rebuild to be certified clean.
And if the black hats compromise the factory ... :-(

Keith

-- 
Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com         Voice (503)-520-1993
KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon"
Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Scan ICs