Windows xp patch released tooo late

[johnsmatrix]

:hi I'm running windows XP Home edition.. I usually surf websites that are not trusted and which alot of times contain trojans, workms, active X.. etc..... Well I noticed that Windows media player had been deleted the day before the patch was due out. Microsoft said the patch would prevent hackers from viewing my library and changing files.. Whenever I tried to open Win Media player 9... The file " pup.exe " would say not found and my AVG would detect a trojan... So I ran Ad-aware/Spybot/trendmicro/ norton/ spy sweeper only to find nada...I forgot to mention the virus also infected all of my restore points whice i deleted.. So i try to delete the remaining files for windows player only to see 3 pop up again... everytime i delete them the 3 show up again.. I forget the other two but the third ( win player icon program folders/winplayer9 ) cannot be deleted saying it is in use.. I look at the services running and do not see anything abnormal.. I will try reinstalling the player then adding the patch...

p.s.: How many viruses do you get? I get 26 everyday at 8:26am....wtf? I cannot find any trojans, worms, spyware, yet if i dont clear out the quarintined files I'll have 52 viruses every 2 days..... :error

[begoodbebad]

you get 26 viruses at the same time everyday? and Ad-aware/Spybot/trendmicro/ norton/ spy sweeper find nothing. That is not a hacker or a virus, that is a poltergeist. smash the computer to pieces and move away. u are living on top of a cemetary.


I've just got Norton AV & Internet Security, and ad aware. I get precisely zero security problems and my p2p machine runs 24/7, in effect unattended. you are doing something very wrong to have that much trouble. you don't mention a firewall but you are hangin in hacker sites....bet they love you lots.

[phalkon30]

You should really get a firewall, or possibly think about reloading windows from scratch, THEN installing a firewall.

[DwarfBaby]

Never have gotten a virus, and I go everywhere your not supposed to go, and have for years. Firewall, Nat, Norton, and patches take care of Everything before it ever get's to my machine. But I guess that's why I'm special.

Oh, and Never use Outlook Ever.

[phalkon30]

I shouldn't say this because I'm a really bad example...but all I do is windows update, Norton Corp AV, and spybot once in a while. No firewall at all. I even use outlook. I get maybe 3 virus's a year (If that), and have had the same IP for 10 months or so.

And trust me, I go places I shouldn't.

[begoodbebad]

I shouldn't say this because I'm a really bad example...but all I do is windows update, Norton Corp AV, and spybot once in a while. No firewall at all. I even use outlook. I get maybe 3 virus's a year (If that), and have had the same IP for 10 months or so.

And trust me, I go places I shouldn't.
so how do you know what data is leaving your PC? And which services/applications are communicating with the outside world? I'm sure there could be malicious activity on your PC which could never be detected by an AV or spybot or similar, particularly if you have p2p applications running....you are running an unprotected server....if someone is in there doing as they like as admin/root isn't it the case you're not going to know until something strange or calamitous happens and prompts you to start investigating event logs etc?

[kiwibank]

at the moment i`m running windows xp gold professional ver 2002 with no service pack updates and not one microsoft patch...i am using steve gibsons` dcombobulator, unplug `n` pray and shoot the messenger. i`m also using the built-in firewall...and black vipers` xp service configurations by closing all the service ports that i don`t need, and the freeware ANTIVIR virus checker... not one virus, not one worm, not one trojan..oh, and i use mozilla firebird and thunderbird for browsing and email...no ie6, no outlook express...


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on zeropaid, it pays to be "flame resistant". it`s a matter of survival.

[nasrules]

I shouldn't say this because I'm a really bad example...but all I do is windows update, Norton Corp AV, and spybot once in a while. No firewall at all. I even use outlook. I get maybe 3 virus's a year (If that), and have had the same IP for 10 months or so.

Is that that your PC is infected by three viruses per year or you get three virus-infected emails per year? I got 73 virus emails overnight. NOD32 killed every single one of them!

:fire

[PhR34x0r]

u guys will never get it will you ? any desktop-firewall is worth shit !! it runs with the same rights as any other program so its the easiest thing in the world to kill the pfw-process. also, the more code u add to your system the more unstable and insecure it gets, so a pfw will NEVER be good for anything except for giving u the FEELING of security, but not security itself.
all you gotta do is close your fucking ports manually by disabling all the services u dont need. that way ur secure enuff to be no target for those script kiddies anymore. and thats all you need to be. no open ports no entry point. trust me, no "reel h4ck4" gives a shit about ur little computer.
u should also secure ur web experience by replaceing IE with FIREFOX, OE with THUNDERBIRD, ICQ/MSN/ETC with MIRANDA and finally WMP with WINAMP 2.91. remove everything from norton, absolutley everything, except the utilitys if u want. then get some real virus protection from kaspersky, avg, and antivir. oh and dont forget to install spywareblaser and spybot s&d. and thats it, ur as secure as can be. if u dont believe me, believe in what google will tell u about the uselessness of firewalls.
hand, PhR34x0r

[Afn]

Check your start-up folder and research the files in that folder and delete any program link in the start-up folder you do not want to start-up.

[begoodbebad]

u guys will never get it will you ? any desktop-firewall is worth shit !! it runs with the same rights as any other program so its the easiest thing in the world to kill the pfw-process. also, the more code u add to your system the more unstable and insecure it gets, so a pfw will NEVER be good for anything except for giving u the FEELING of security, but not security itself.
all you gotta do is close manually by disabling all the services u dont need. that way ur secure enuff to be no target for those script kiddies anymore. and thats all you need to be. no open ports no entry point. trust me, no "reel h4ck4" gives a shit about ur little computer.Yes this may all be true but you are only looking at it from your (extremely narrow) perspective of a hacker. The firewall can also be a tool for the user for understanding which applications access or try to access the internet, how they do it, and when. . There are plenty of good reasons other than worrying about boring arrogant intruders why a person may prefer to restrict a program's access with a simple rule. It isn't all about keeping people out. Another point is that it is either extremely optimistic or unrealistic to think that every person who uses a PC is going to take an interest in learning thoroughly(or even anything!) about security or even about which services they have running. I have read some of your posts and know that you feel all these people are of a very inferior sub-species but that is not their problem, it's yours. What many millions of people actually want to do is go online, surf without feeling too anxious, use their credit cards to buy books or porn or knitting patterns and feel that at least the security suite that came installed on their PC will protect them when they do something dumb and basically save them a lot of trouble. This is normal human behaviour and having some simple tools which protect even the most foolish or unknowing user from himself is not actually a bad thing. In your almighty state of omniscience and supreme wonderfulness you overlook the simplest things....as it doesn't matter if your security is not 100% foolproof because 100% security does not exist in any field, be it PC security or stopping people escaping from prisons or whatever. The point is to just make it easier for yourself and be slightly less of a tempting target. If you are slightly knowledgeable you can manually configure the services on your PC and close releavant ports....sorry should that be your fucking ports If not you can just load up your Big Bucks Warm Safe Feeling Security Suite and keep your OS patched and let the fool who doesn't even do that attract the trouble.
I help people with fixing/upgrading/installing their PCs, obviously they are not experts just typical home users, and I notice a remarkable series of coincidences: The ones who don't run a firewall have problems with trojans and spyware. They are puzzled that their expensive broadband connection doesn't run so fast anymore and they don't know why. The people who run a firewall don't have this trouble. Incredible. But it can't be because of the software firewall because any desktop-firewall is worth shit !!
oh yeah your sig I say the truth and nothing else, if u cant handle that - its ur fault . you have watched 2 many Arnie movies

[phalkon30]

Is that that your PC is infected by three viruses per year or you get three virus-infected emails per year?I get 3 virus's a year, tops. As far as email virus's go, who knows, I never get far enough to see if my spam has attachments or not.

I guess I should mention I have done Black Vipers tuning guide, and I've used most of Steve Gibsons tools, I forgot about those.

PhR34x0r, you assume that every hacker wants to go through the effort of all that hacking just to get somebodys AIM password. Software firewalls can be good to deter most attempts, because there are so many completely open computers out there, why waste your time with somebody who has a firewall. Firewalls prevent random port probings also.

[begoodbebad]

3 seems too many to me....depends what they are of course cos some are basically harmless. I read a funny post yesterday but can't remember who made it. The poster had got a virus by downloading a keygen.exe and just going for it! I remember doing the same maybe 18 months or 2 years ago... I was running AVG...it didn't see a problem when I d/l the exe and I was in too big a hurry to do the deed...when I clicked it things got exciting! But since then I don't think I had anything worse than adware or spyware that was bundled with stuff and just need cleaning off the system. I like it that way.