I.M hack?

[lotsals1]

Does anyone know how someone can hack your aol I.M ? I keep getting replies to crap i never sent!!!!!! is some way to fix this! :fire Cryptic I know you know alot about this sheit. They also have emailed alot of people i know , fukin hacker pricks :flipoff2: :flipoff2: :flipoff2: :flipoff2: --I will have my aim off untill aol gives me a new password --god damn it!!! they also tried to get in my pay-pal account as well --last time i leave my computer on overnight ---so if anyone is being talked shiit to -it isnt me and if you have a way to log their ip addy . let me know

[Crawlin]

r u getting any windows that say you are signed on under 2 locations?

[lotsals1]

nope --how would i check that ? i use win 98 se yet :rolleyes:

[lotsals1]

and when i came in my aim was on --i know it was off too because i had everything off as i defragged my hard drive today while i was working-my yahoo was on but i have to type in a password for that one --i never use it either - i had my firewall off too while i defragged :alcoholic

[v6camarogrl]

i had my firewall off too while i defragged :alcoholic
WOW, there's your first mistake. Never, I repeat, never ever turn the firewall off when runnin windows!!! Windows is so vulnerable it's not even funny.
If AIM is sending messages to everyone on your buddy list with a link to some "amazing" website, you've got a worm.
Are you runnin on a network by any chance?
The chances of there actually being someone on the other end sending messages and such are slim, it's usually a virus that'll run on it's own and appear as if someone has taken over your computer. You might try downloading HijackThis, a program that'll help you sort out possible problems. There's hundreds of sites where you can post hijackthis log files and others will help you sort out the problem, just do a google search for such sites. A good antivirus program helps too, and I'm not talking about Norton!! Gah I hate that program! My new favorite is Nod32, which you can get a free one month trial of, but that'll be enough to find any viruses. Otherwise, I used Ewido the other day to hunt down a virus on my dad's computer, also seems to be a decent program and found the virus that Nod32 missed. Spybot and Adware are also a must have on any pc, virus or not. And while you're at it, if you're still runnin internet exploiter, I mean explorer, download and use Mozilla FireFox, it in itself helps keep your computer safe.
That may have been kinda general so keep me posted!

[murdoc158]

WOW, there's your first mistake. Never, I repeat, never ever turn the firewall off when runnin windows!!! Windows is so vulnerable it's not even funny.
If AIM is sending messages to everyone on your buddy list with a link to some "amazing" website, you've got a worm.
Are you runnin on a network by any chance?
The chances of there actually being someone on the other end sending messages and such are slim, it's usually a virus that'll run on it's own and appear as if someone has taken over your computer. You might try downloading HijackThis, a program that'll help you sort out possible problems. There's hundreds of sites where you can post hijackthis log files and others will help you sort out the problem, just do a google search for such sites. A good antivirus program helps too, and I'm not talking about Norton!! Gah I hate that program! My new favorite is Nod32, which you can get a free one month trial of, but that'll be enough to find any viruses. Otherwise, I used Ewido the other day to hunt down a virus on my dad's computer, also seems to be a decent program and found the virus that Nod32 missed. Spybot and Adware are also a must have on any pc, virus or not. And while you're at it, if you're still runnin internet exploiter, I mean explorer, download and use Mozilla FireFox, it in itself helps keep your computer safe.
That may have been kinda general so keep me posted!


Mozilla Firefox is actually not any safer than Microsoft Internet Explorer. The only advantage to Firefox (which I am running BTW) is that there are not as many people running the software. This is like comparing a Windows-based PC to a MAC. There are less people using MAC's, just like Firefox, so the virus writers and hackers don't target them as much. Now if Firefox users outnumber Internet Explorer users, I'd expect alot more viruses and spyware getting through your computers defenses.

I'd also like to add never turn your firewall off. It uses very little system resources, so a defrag should have no benefit by turning it off. A good virus scanner is also a must. Norton takes a lot of memory and seems to slow most systems down a good amount. McAfee is pretty good, and there are a few 100% free scanners as well. I'm running Avast and it is 100% free as long as you register the product. Finally get a good spyware program. I have good luck with Lavasoft Ad-Aware. This is also a free program and has free updates. This will scan your computer for data tracking programs and other malcious software.

Always keep the firewall active. You should scan for viruses and spyware at LEAST once a month. I have my virus scanner and Ad-Aware run a full computer scan once a week, usually at night on different nights of the week. This would involve leaving the computer on overnight, but I have a firewall built in to my router and Windows XP has a built in firewall as well. Hope this helps and good luck!

-Jason

[v6camarogrl]

Actually FireFox is safer because it limits use of ActiveX which can cause many problems, not to mention Firefox blocks annoying pop-ups. It's also an open source program, one of which will hopefully help bring down the microsoft regime someday! And I'd like to clarify from my first post, Ad-aware, not to confused with Adware which a malicious program similar to a virus that loads onto your computer.
So, programs to get:
1. Mozilla FireFox
2. Spybot - Search & Destroy
3. Ad-Aware
4. Antivirus, many good programs out there, do your homework and please use something better than Norton. People creating viruses know Norton is popular so they create viruses that won't be detected by it!!
5. Microsoft's Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA), helps determine the security state of your computer

[Syclone0044]

Actually FireFox is safer because it limits use of ActiveX which can cause many problems, not to mention Firefox blocks annoying pop-ups. It's also an open source program, one of which will hopefully help bring down the microsoft regime someday! And I'd like to clarify from my first post, Ad-aware, not to confused with Adware which a malicious program similar to a virus that loads onto your computer.
So, programs to get:
1. Mozilla FireFox
2. Spybot - Search & Destroy
3. Ad-Aware
4. Antivirus, many good programs out there, do your homework and please use something better than Norton. People creating viruses know Norton is popular so they create viruses that won't be detected by it!!
5. Microsoft's Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA), helps determine the security state of your computerWow, do you work in IT or are you just into this stuff? :confused I commend your post. :thumbsup -- I hate explaining to people the fact that you use "Ad-aware" to remove "Adware" and they just look at you like "Huh? Well why would I want to put adware on if that's what you're trying to get off?" :chair:

[animal]

At that point josh, I usually tell them to go take 5 while I take over :)

But really, if all you're using is adaware and spybot then you're going to miss something along the way. I've heard good things about the microsoft anti-spyware beta but never used it myself. I use a bunch of other tools that generally work better than most of the package deals out there. Then after that I run the packaged ones to clean up all the little crap left over that's not as important to get (misc unused dll's, etc).

As far as crapper-fox is concerned, I've always reasoned that if people are going to get infected with something in the first place, they'll do it no matter what software you give them, it's really only a matter of time. I've found, with all 150 of the computers/users I oversee, a reactive approach to spyware/malware has been more effective than hoping a free utility will catch things before they happen. Granted I also have the luxury of the format/reimage whenever a problem arises where most people don't.

Plus, trying to teach people 'round here to use crapper-fox that haven't already loaded it themselves will be a pain in the ass. We're talking people that go to a search engine and type "www.ups.com" in the search box :rolleyes:

[wikked]

Actually FireFox is safer because it limits use of ActiveX which can cause many problems, not to mention Firefox blocks annoying pop-ups. It's also an open source program, one of which will hopefully help bring down the microsoft regime someday! And I'd like to clarify from my first post, Ad-aware, not to confused with Adware which a malicious program similar to a virus that loads onto your computer.
So, programs to get:
1. Mozilla FireFox
2. Spybot - Search & Destroy
3. Ad-Aware
4. Antivirus, many good programs out there, do your homework and please use something better than Norton. People creating viruses know Norton is popular so they create viruses that won't be detected by it!!
5. Microsoft's Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA), helps determine the security state of your computer


omg that's hot :drool:
How does a girl know about HijackThis! & the MBSA? :D
I'd recommend AVG for an alternative to Norton's steaming pile of bloatware. lol causes more problems than it fixes.
I also hate when people say that FireFox is "no safer" than IE. They don't know about ActiveX & spoofed certificates & the embedded wmv files with DRM hacks, etc. etc... IE is basically a backdoor with a web browser built-in :rolleyes: Not to mention it takes M$ months to put out patches for known exploits..wtf!!! It takes Mozilla days, maybe a week at most.

I'll join you in the downfalllllll of M$ :shades

[animal]

downfalllllll of M$ :shades

Heh, like that would ever happen :) Not that I'd be upset if it did, but it's really not plausible at this point.

[Cryptic]

you dont need windows firewall if you have something like a cable modem router and you are not set to the DMZ host.

if you are directly connected to your cable modem. then your kinda asking for trouble anyways running windows.


thank you, drive through

[Syclone0044]

But really, if all you're using is adaware and spybot then you're going to miss something along the way. I've heard good things about the microsoft anti-spyware beta but never used it myself. Check it out , one of the worst pieces of spyware infection I've ever seen was when Heidi's Dell laptop HD died, they sent her a new one (and instructed her to install it (WTF?)) and then I advised her "Make sure you put the Windows XP Service Pack 2 on immediately once you get it running" and well, she waited about 5 days. 5 days too long!! It got the worst infection I've seen, about 36 DIFFERENT beasts, and at least one of which was the new type that actually hooks into the Kernel file system directory reading API's so that no matter what utility/antivirus/scanner you use, even CMD.EXE, it will NOT show the file as existing. The only utility that would pick this thing up -- Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta. :thumbsup The spyware was loading a kernel device driver at boot time which hid itself from the services list and from the file system altogether. Extremely sneeky, but it made me turn on to the AntiSpyware product, for sure. Took me about 7 hours to clean that one, but I never let Spyware get me down :D (This machine just had a fresh OS since it was a new HD but just out of principle, I won't ever format a machine, I would feel like I got defeated.)


As far as crapper-fox is concerned, I've always reasoned that if people are going to get infected with something in the first place, they'll do it no matter what software you give them, it's really only a matter of time. Well the Firefox does have the awesome tabbed browsing and it is faster (until the memory leaks catch up after a day or two and you have to restart the Process...), but I think what people fail to recognize is that Microsoft is the King of useability, nobody spends more money on R&D (Billions) to make the software do things that users expect and predicted. What I'm saying is, IE is designed to auto load plugins like Flash etc. easily, because that's what the users want. Firefox makes things difficult kind of like Linux or any open source in general, so of course it less prone to spyware infection because the average user using it is a lot more advanced in the first place. If Firefox were to come preloaded on every PC and become as easy to use for the average dumbass as Internet Explorer; then you'd have a real test as to which one is more "secure". I think it all comes down to the user, like you said. I haven't run antivirus on my computer since 1996 and I have never gotten a virus or spyware infection. I never run Adaware or anything else and I'm running IE half the time. But I'm quite an eccentric Windows user. (apologies to all for this lame tooting of my own horn)


We're talking people that go to a search engine and type "www.ups.com" in the search box :rolleyes: :rolf GOD do I hate that one! My Dad has never got that, and he never will, no matter what I say.

[animal]

then your kinda asking for trouble anyways running windows.

I would have to edit that remark.



you're kinda asking for trouble anyways running XXXXXX and not knowing how to use it.


...but at least if you're running windows it means you're not on OSX.

OSX is great.... :punch: :punch: :punch: :punch: :rolleyes:

[wikked]

and then I advised her "Make sure you put the Windows XP Service Pack 2 on immediately once you get it running" and well, she waited about 5 days. 5 days too long!!

Heh, the average time it takes for a fresh XP install to be hijacked is like 8 minutes I think? Probably less.
Best thing to do is have an install disc with all the updates/hotfixes/sp2 slipstreamed into it, and keep disconnected from the network until everything is done.

Routers are not invincible, i've had a port scan or 3 go thru the linky.
ZoneAlarm <--- for the paranoid :shades

BTW... for those with a, uh...'borrowed' version of XP, if you do a clean install w/o any of the service packs and try and get them from windows update, they have a check now for valid versions called the 'genuine advantage' :gay
to bypass this:

Before pressing the 'Custom' or 'Express' button, paste this text to the
address bar and press enter:

javascript:void(window.g_sDisableWGACheck='all')

Enjoy ;)

[v6camarogrl]

Hmm.... so much to add, where do I start?
For those of you wondering, I've always been alittle more up on computers than most people, and right now am in my second week of IT training at madison so I can hopefully work in IT this fall. So that may explain my knowledge base.

Anywho, I have to totally agree that Windows is THE most vulnerable OS out there. MS created it for functionality, not security. If you want security, use Linux, or even Mac OS is better than Windows. As for the MS regime, I think it may someday come to an end. All it's gonna take is for people to recognize open source and MS is gone. For example, check out OpenOffice, an open source program originally created by Sun Microsysytems. It's completely free to download at openoffice.org and you'll be amazed at how similar it is to MS Office, and there's nothing Microsoft can do about it. Why pay hundreds of dollars for a program when you can get almost the same thing for free??? You're payin for the name and the supposed reputation.

Back to security. The second day of my training we had to do a clean install of xp. We completely disconnected the computers from all networks, as in physically disconnecting the cable, and installed xp, sp2, antivirus, ad-aware, spybot, and mozilla before even plugging the computers into the network again. A fresh copy of XP can be a gonner within 5 minutes of install if connected to a network without these security measures. Sad, but true

And routers are not 100% safe as a firewall, they work very well but if someone obtains a private IP address, they can get in. A firewall on your computer is always a good safety precaution even with a router.

Now, all we really need is for someone to design a new OS that is secure AND functional..... :thumbsup

[Cleveland Dave]

where in madison are u going to school at?

[v6camarogrl]

UW-Madison... I live about 3 blocks south of campus

[Cleveland Dave]

oh wow...im downtown like 5x a week...lol so maybe ill run into ya sometime.

[animal]

Hmm.... so much to add, where do I start?
For those of you wondering, I've always been alittle more up on computers than most people, and right now am in my second week of IT training at madison so I can hopefully work in IT this fall. So that may explain my knowledge base.

Anywho, I have to totally agree that Windows is THE most vulnerable OS out there. MS created it for functionality, not security. If you want security, use Linux, or even Mac OS is better than Windows. As for the MS regime, I think it may someday come to an end. All it's gonna take is for people to recognize open source and MS is gone. For example, check out OpenOffice, an open source program originally created by Sun Microsysytems. It's completely free to download at openoffice.org and you'll be amazed at how similar it is to MS Office, and there's nothing Microsoft can do about it. Why pay hundreds of dollars for a program when you can get almost the same thing for free??? You're payin for the name and the supposed reputation.

Back to security. The second day of my training we had to do a clean install of xp. We completely disconnected the computers from all networks, as in physically disconnecting the cable, and installed xp, sp2, antivirus, ad-aware, spybot, and mozilla before even plugging the computers into the network again. A fresh copy of XP can be a gonner within 5 minutes of install if connected to a network without these security measures. Sad, but true

And routers are not 100% safe as a firewall, they work very well but if someone obtains a private IP address, they can get in. A firewall on your computer is always a good safety precaution even with a router.

Now, all we really need is for someone to design a new OS that is secure AND functional..... :thumbsup


Openoffice is nice, but it's certainly not MS. The problem with it becomes when 90% or more of the business world uses MS, the little things that are lost in transition are what causes more problems than it's worth. Little problems with powerpoints are especially bothersome. With some clean up of openoffice I could see it being not quite as much of an issue, but there will always be direct compatibility problems simply because MS add's it's own stuff to everything. It will perhaps change once everything MS goes to XML, but I suspect there will always be stuff that won't translate perfectly between the two. That goes for most the other programs out there as well, especially CAD programs written for windows, there's just not good opensource solutions to stuff like that at this point. That said, i've also used OO to recover corrupted excel documents so it does have it's uses.

These reasons alone I think are plenty for MS to remain on the scene forever. Opensource will grow, but I personally don't ever see it getting more than 30% market share. Just my opinion tho.

As for router firewalls being ineffective, the chances someone will break onto the private lan just to infect you are pretty slim. If they're doing this, they're probably there to steal infomation or other files and they're not going to bother pushing exploits or adding backdoors they likely won't be able to contact from outside the firewall anyways. That's not to say it couldn't happen, but if someone gets inside the internal network, you've got bigger problems than exploits.

I tend to think that if you took these other OS's and brought them up to the level of functionality and convenience that microsoft implements you'd have pretty close to the same amounts of available exploits. Problem being people write these with the market share in mind. Why bother working to infect 10% of the market out there when 60% is more productive. That's not to excuse them either, but it's a well known fact that security never comes hand in hand with convenience... they're nearly always opposite.

I think it's pretty amusing tho that part of "rebuilding a pc" is automatically installing adaware, spybot, and hozilla as "necessary" security measures. They help but what happens when your users go out on their own and download weatherbug, webshots, comet cursor, and inadvertantly installs gator & bargain buddy, then doesn't tell you about any problems for a few weeks. By that time you've got big problems, spybot or otherwise.

[Cryptic]

I think it's pretty amusing tho that part of "rebuilding a pc" is automatically installing adaware, spybot, and hozilla as "necessary" security measures. They help but what happens when your users go out on their own and download weatherbug, webshots, comet cursor, and inadvertantly installs gator & bargain buddy, then doesn't tell you about any problems for a few weeks. By that time you've got big problems, spybot or otherwise.

not too mention they install every spyware infested file-sharing program so they can get a bootleg photoshop they have no clue how to use and it's nicely tagged with a virus.

[wikked]

They help but what happens when your users go out on their own and download weatherbug, webshots, comet cursor, and inadvertantly installs gator... <snip>

Gator/Claria is owned by Micro$oft now :punch:

At least Billy G. doesn't horde his money, he donates hundreds of millions of dollars, as he ought to... who's going to spend billions?


640k ought to be enough for anyone... <-- classic :rolf

[Yooformula]

Before pressing the 'Custom' or 'Express' button, paste this text to the
address bar and press enter:

javascript:void(window.g_sDisableWGACheck='all')

Enjoy ;)

That doesnt work anymore. :rolleyes:

[animal]

Gator/Claria is owned by Micro$oft now

I'd heard that already. But it really doesn't matter. Morons will still find ways to infect themselves.

[animal]

not too mention they install every spyware infested file-sharing program so they can get a bootleg photoshop they have no clue how to use and it's nicely tagged with a virus.

Well file sharing programs is one thing I can control when it comes to company policy. Most of them don't work though as they're filtered by the proxy.

[wikked]

That doesnt work anymore. :rolleyes:

Yuh huh! I just did it last night, multiple times after reboots. :goof

[wikked]

I'd heard that already. But it really doesn't matter. Morons will still find ways to infect themselves.

heh well I meant that it's evil in the hands of evil... M$ Anti-spyware doesn't see it as a threat anymore, it will be incorporated into Windows Vista, and the basic user won't be any wiser about having their usage habits/whatever else sent off to M$ whenever they want it.

Meh.. I think by that time I'll be 90% Mandriva/KDE and just use my other box for gaming.

[Syclone0044]

it will be incorporated into Windows Vista, and the basic user won't be any wiser about having their usage habits/whatever else sent off to M$ whenever they want it. That's a pretty extraordinary claim. Do you have any equally extraordinary evidence to support it?

[wikked]

lol what other intentions would you have by buying a spyware company!

1. MS-Antispyware flags gator/claria as spyware, pre-buyout.
2. MS buys claria/gator.
3. MS-Antispyware mysteriously lowers the threat level of gator/claria to 'non-threat'...huh...imagine that.
4. Gator/Claria fades out of sight/out of mind.
5. Vista is released sometime next year, long enough in the future where people have forgotten the Gator/Claria name.
6. Vista has a "feature" which will probably have some polished name & description like "in order to give you the best possible windows experience, Vista now includes user-enhanced features that, based on your habits, will deliver the best/fastest/coooolest windows evAr"

c'mon, how many sheep wouldn't fall for that :goof

[Syclone0044]

When you said "it will be be incorporated into Windows Vista" and talked about it tracking users; I thought you were implying you read an official MS statement regarding the subject. I guess if there's nothing but speculation at this point, we'll have to wait and see what turns up... I am sure sites like Slashdot.org will be keeping a close eye on it..

[animal]

It will be easy enough to block outbound anyways as soon as people figure out what site it's trying to contact. Gator itself, as far as I can remember, was more a password caching program and all the crap that came with it was the actual spyware pieces. If they're just using that same piece of the gator program for password stuff, it's far more believable than a worldwide spying campaign.

Also, if microsoft was really trying to be sneaky and write some spyware themselves, they wouldn't do it under the gator name, they'd just imbed it in a new service pack and no one would know anyways.

[lotsals1]

ok here is the deal --I admin a few game servers -I use or did use PC anywhere to reboot the servers or switch games on them -somehow someone had full control over my pc -i mean if i would of came home in time i would of seen my mouse arrow moveing!!!!! So i have removerd my pc anywhere ! Now i have to change all my account passwords ect. and might even just reformat my drives just to be safe . :fire

[animal]

Set up a vpn and remote desktop to each server, it's probably better and safer than pcanywhere.

[lotsals1]

Set up a vpn and remote desktop to each server, it's probably better and safer than pcanywhere.yah it was quick thats why i used it ,I forgot it was even on my pc

[animal]

yah it was quick thats why i used it ,I forgot it was even on my pc

Well I'm sure the extra time doesn't seem like so much when you're looking at resetting and formatting :)

[PARALYZER]

GET RID OF WINDOWS 98!!!
Thats the culprit,.
I was getting multiple viruses a day. I had to buy a whole new pc a couple months ago.

[animal]

Actually, 98 is probably less targeted these days than most other windows versions :)

Funny thing is, i'd bet NT 4.0 has almost become safer from new exploits since no one really bothers with it anymore.

Time to switch back ;)

[Syclone0044]

Actually, 98 is probably less targeted these days than most other windows versions :)

Funny thing is, i'd bet NT 4.0 has almost become safer from new exploits since no one really bothers with it anymore.

Time to switch back ;) I have been operating on NT 4.0 exclusively since about 1998 ;) I'm probably the only one left. My maximum uptime was 400 something days. I usually run about 40 tasks at once and the workstation has about 6 hard drives.. So it really works well for me. Just can't use USB.

[wikked]

well in that case... WFW 3.11 must be goddamn bulletproof :goof
Throw a copy of Microsoft Bob on there and you'll scare away anyone.

[animal]

Yeah but wfw is so 1990's :)

We had an old nt 4.0 file server with a 600 or so day uptime and a long term power outage took care of that.