Three things I hate:
- Laptops;
- Windows XP;
- Laptops running Windows XP.
OK, so I know that’s only really two-and-a-half things, but stuff it. I spent most of yesterday (and a large part of the day before) cleaning up the laptop belonging to our Director. The copy of Norton Anti-Virus has been nagging her since August that its subscription has expired and she hadn’t mentioned it, or tried to update it. I only found out about this because other Strange Things were going on with it.
First, primed with her credit card number and billing address (!) I updated her copy of Norton, then in an effort to clean the thing up, I ran the spyware-checking utilities AdAware and Spyboy Search & Destroy. This found a couple of Gator-related spyware things, which she’s had before (and I’ve cleaned off before!). Then I decided to run Windows Update.
Given that I don’t run Windows, I’m generally spared the horror that is Windows Update. You go there and you see a big friendly button saying “Click here to download all critical updates”. It lies.
Click button, stuff downloads, stuff gets installed, reboot.
Go back to Windows Update, see “Click here to download all critical updates”. Hmmm, thought I’d already done that …
Click button, stuff downloads, stuff gets installed, reboot.
Lather rinse repeat, except that this time it’s Windows XP Service Pack 2 which is huge – something like 300MB; just as well we had that connection upgrade recently, really.
After the next reboot, it’s “Click button, stuff downloads, stuff gets installed, reboot.” again.
Stupid thing. I realise that some upgrades may have dependencies, but frankly that’s ridiculous.
Anyway, it’s now back in working order, with auto-updates switched on (I realise that can be a double-edged sword, but it’s probably the best option for a machine that I only see when it breaks).
To be honest, I can hardly blame $DIRECTOR for not keeping her laptop up-to-date and secure – that’s not her job and it’s not something which she understands.
There were times yesterday, though, when I felt like just whipping out the Debian installation CDs and putting a Proper Operating System on. Given that she only uses Word and Powerpoint, I could probably have got away with that: “I’ve upgraded your laptop” might have convinced her.
🙂
You should also install Microsoft’s free tools:
1) Malicious Software removal tool
http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx
2) Microsoft Anti-Spyware beta tool
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/default.mspx
The spyware tool is very good (but does not check for BHOs)
I run these plus SpyBot, Ad Aware, Spyware Blaster, Bazooka and IE-SpyAd
Spyware is out of control
PermalinkYes you have keep running windows update to make sure you have all the updates as some of them will only download/install by themselves, or spring other updates required on top. (bet you’re glad you no longer have the 64k line!!)
I find it helps not to run IE as the default browser. We are slowly moving to FF. Bu I guess you’re moving that way.
Every time we get a reported problem with Spyware we scan with several tools (you normally need around 4 to pick up most things, most aren’t free but will at least tell you which spyware is there so you can fiddle with the registry etc to remove it manually).
AND the MS spyware thing is currently tagging FF as spyware!!!!
PermalinkAND the MS spyware thing is currently tagging FF as spyware!!!
That was a hoax, from what I hear – it doesn’t actually do that.
PermalinkA clever IE trick when running other browsers is to check the proxy setting and set it for 0.0.0.0 then add exceptions for the sites you are forced to use IE for (such as Windows Update).
PermalinkStuart: interesting idea, hadn’t thought of doing it that way. In the corporate environment, I normally deal with this on the proxy server itself, since it can permit or deny access based on the browser’s identifying string.
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