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Joined: Aug 2008
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Recently in "Classifieds" a computer was advertised for sale that just has XP SP2. This means it CANNOT have been immunised from the latest and greatest threat http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sciencea...ts-waiting-for-activation-of-botnet.html .

Anyone with a Windows computer regardless of version, and that means most of us, should bring their computer totally up-to-date on the Microsoft Update website. Failure to do so is not merely extremely foolish but is also irresponsible, as they could be helping to spread this extremely pernicious virus.

I know someone with a machine still running Windows 2000. AFAIK this is no longer supported by Microsoft so there won't be an available patch to deal with the virus. Time to upgrade!

Joined: Nov 2001
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LOL....you sound like the wizard of OZ behind his big green curtain. hehehehe

People "should" do a lot of things....but they don't.

If only it were a perfect world....

smile

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I have recently worked on two PCs that crashed because of the virus. In both cases I managed to salvage the hardware, but only by reformatting the hard disk and losing everything on it. Sometimes the BIOS is corrupted and then bye-bye computer. These people were very active on email - goodness knows how many other peoples' machines they've corrupted. I have no idea whether they had any bank account/eBay/Paypal details on those computers, but if so it's more than likely that someone else now knows their logon and password particulars.

This thing is not a joke, a mild irritant. Read the press - it is a serious threat that costs real money, and is currently getting worse. It's the people who laugh it off who are most guilty of spreading it.

Someone gave me a file on a memory stick last week. I plugged it into my computer and immediately got a virus warning. When I scanned the stick I found 38 viruses on it, many of which could cause major damage. What was particularly worrying was that the stick came from a respected Belizean professional business, and likely all these viruses were on their computers.

Joined: Nov 2001
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true Peter...it's a never ending battle and most folks don't have a clue how vulnerable they are.

Thank goodness we have folks like you we can just hand our stuff to and say.."fix it please". LOL

I do upgrades, updates, virus scans,malware/spyware scans, firewalls,etc.etc. Sometimes it feels like Ft. Knox.

I still get viruses. Hackers will always be smarter and faster than we are.

Unfortunately...

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The last computer I rebuilt was for a friend and I didn't charge him - this isn't my business. But it took me 9 hours - do you have any idea what professional computer repair shops would charge for that? In practical terms the computer would be scrap.

Yes, I'm as careful as I can be consistent with actually using my computer and I still get the occasional virus. But as I do selective scans every day and complete scans every week those viruses don't have much chance to spread.

As I suspect you know, the days when people can safely "leave computer security to the experts" are behind us. Each one of us has to be aware of what could happen at any given point in time, and what to do to combat it. The bad guys are actively targeting us, and if you read the Telegraph article you can see that they have very serious financial motives for doing so. It's a war, and simply rolling over and saying you're a non-combatant doesn't stop them shooting you.


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