Computer wipe out

mick pinner · #1 24-10-2008, 05:22 PM

at work this morning we had the windows update icon come up in the lower right tool bar ( yellow shield ), after opening and clicking install it wiped out the whole computer. so be careful guys and gals the internet loonies are at it again.

Ric · #2 24-10-2008, 06:00 PM

That must be so frustrating Mick not to mention the downtime and loss of of all your data.

Hope it can be salvaged.

Cheers

Dennis · #3 24-10-2008, 07:55 PM

Ouch – that is horrible news Mick. The people that do this are quite despicable. Hope you manage to recover the system and data.

Cheers

Dennis

vindictive666 (John) · #4 25-10-2008, 08:11 AM

that's one reason i dont update automatically

AstralTraveller (David) · #5 25-10-2008, 11:25 AM

So that's why we had an urgent security patch, just released by MS, installed here last night.

Jen · #6 25-10-2008, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mick pinner

at work this morning we had the windows update icon come up in the lower right tool bar ( yellow shield ), after opening and clicking install it wiped out the whole computer. so be careful guys and gals the internet loonies are at it again.

oh no Mick i hope you get all your data back ok (that really sux when that happens)

matt · #7 25-10-2008, 05:44 PM

Oh.

I've got the same little shield at lower right.

I don't know how long it's been there? Perhaps a day or two.

Is there an easy way to check if it's fair dinkum or some malicious little bit of trouble?

matt · #8 25-10-2008, 05:45 PM

Don't worry. I figured it out.

You can use the Custom Install feature to get details of what the update is.

xelasnave · #9 25-10-2008, 06:05 PM

Glad to hear its fixed

but what a mungrel thing to do

... How does this sort of thing get pasted virus softeware

... I guess someone is a smarty and thinks it is cute to stuff up folks property cause they can.

I suppose there is no way to find out who does it and kill them (figuratively speaking that is) ...

How can the net go forward so really ordinary folk can use it ..Governments want everyone on the net so they can get tax returns easy cant they do something???

alex

h0ughy (David) · #10 25-10-2008, 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mick pinner

at work this morning we had the windows update icon come up in the lower right tool bar ( yellow shield ), after opening and clicking install it wiped out the whole computer. so be careful guys and gals the internet loonies are at it again.

that sounds a horrible death - trusted and betrayed!! just a inquisitive mind here - what virus product were you running before the crash

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #11 26-10-2008, 09:01 PM

Thanks for the warning.

mick pinner · #12 26-10-2008, 10:59 PM

Norton IS 2008.

h0ughy (David) · #13 26-10-2008, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mick pinner

Norton IS 2008.

Mick, for quite a few years I have fixed peoples PC's where that have nortons on it for virus and firewall security - nearly every single time they have suffered from a virus disabling the system - allowing the updates to be redirected or in some cases go through the motions but nothing happen with respect to a real update. usual cause is some ones teenager changed the settings to allow access to download a music file or video file. one kid even downloaded viruses delibertely to see how many they could get and capture. for the record they had 28 seperate viruses on the one system at the one time, with 87 in the vault. One family even upgraded to the new nortons (through a dummy website the virus update was directed to). it cost them 129 dollars plus they got one mega bill from telstra bigpond at the end of the month for excess useage - it cost them 1490 dollars for a $29.95/month plan. it seems their system was using the broadband for a downloading machine for the web for their (the virus owners) other activities.

of all the virus engines out there - nortons seems to me to be the worst and most targeted by viruses directly. the better virus programmes I personally have found to be worth the money is AVG and FPROT. For some reason they are not targeted like nortons

mick pinner · #14 26-10-2008, 11:48 PM

thanks for the info David. on the up side l have used Norton IS at home for 6 years and never had a virus, trojan or any problem with my system at all. could be the luck of the draw l guess.

Ian Robinson · #15 27-10-2008, 03:29 AM

I keep getting the little yellow updates ready shield , when I click it it tells me XP SP3 is ready to upload.

I tell it no.

SP2 is good enough for me.

If I want SP3 I'll download it of my accord later. I see no benefit installing it .... someone convince me it's worth installing please.

Norton's came with the Dell laptop , I uninstalled it immediately and installed Sophos Antivirus.
Norton's also came with the dodgey HP desktop that was provided by my insurer when my old desktop was killed by lightning strip - I uninstalled it immediately .... I really hate Nortons and think it's worste antivirus package available.

Sophos seems pretty good - even better, while I am a uni student, I get it for free.

Kal (Andrew) · #16 27-10-2008, 12:37 PM

I also hate Nortons. I stopped using it many years ago and switched to free products (AVG then Avast! more recently).

It is important to install critical updates from microsoft as soon as possible to protect against these sort fo vulnerabilities. The irony of the situation is that the worm you seem to have been affected by is a worm that attaches itself to the background service which downloads the windows updates, and it probably attached itself to the critical update microsoft released to address it

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sec.../ms08-067.mspx

Ian Robinson · #17 27-10-2008, 03:16 PM

XP Pro SP3 installed safely , directly from MS Updates Site , this way I had some control.

Took over near 2 hours via ADSL and the process once the .cab file is installed is fully automated.

I think everything I had before is still there.

Jen · #18 27-10-2008, 05:16 PM

I have used AVG for ever cause its free and it hasnt let me down, and i also use Advanced Window Cleaner which is also free

Glenhuon (Bill) · #19 27-10-2008, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ian Robinson

XP Pro SP3 installed safely , directly from MS Updates Site , this way I had some control.

Took over near 2 hours via ADSL and the process once the .cab file is installed is fully automated.

I think everything I had before is still there.

Best to let it install through Auto updates. Click on the yellow shield and do a custom instal. Downloading from the MS site is 150mb, auto install is 60mb. I've found, like Houghy, that most of the puters I've had to repair after an install SP3 were running Nortons earlier versions, 2006 or earlier. They got more holes than a collander.

Bill