Graeme

That would seem to be a good warning to check all of your other fans.

A bit of an update regarding my comments on ZA anti Virus yesterday. I am now a bit confused !

While cleaning the machine I used a number of different tools including Trend Sysclean, AVG Free (which has recently been updated to version 7), Mischel TrojanHunter, Spybot S&D and Adaware Free. However even after all of this I was still suspicious that there were some problems, and I did a scan using ZA Anti Virus, and guess what it found a few more infected files, this seemed very strange so I did bit of googling to find what others thought of ZA Anti Virus.

It seems that ZA use a well regarded 3rd party virus scanning engine which has a good detection record. So I went back to the PC I was checking and rechecked its settings, as before they all seem fine.

I have not been able to speak to the owner of the PC to see what he is doing but I am wondering if he is cancelling regular scheduled checks or possibly not taking any action when ZA finds infections that it cannot clear.

For interest the files found by ZA were in archives and it was not able to clean them, I had to clean them by deleting the files.

I did not keep records of what infections were present on this PC however during the clean up I found that my home network kept collapsing, at first I though that this was a problem with my router and rebooting it solved the problem for a little while but it kept returning, then I noticed that this did not happen if the infected PC was disconnected.... So I started up a network Sniffer and watched the network switch and sure enough the infected PC was flooding the local network with traffic to the extent that it was unable to respond.

I still use my router to provide firewall protection and also use Free software for virus and spyware protection, in my view it is not necessary to spend money for a good level of protection.

For anyone that is interested this is how I look after my machines at the moment :-

Firewall - Router provides basic protection and XP SP2 firewall also on my XP machines (I also have a W2K machine and a Mac they have no add-on firewall.
Spyware/Adaware - Spybot S&D and Adaware Free, both of these are free.
Anti Virus - AVG Free, now using version 7.

I also use a proxy server to provide further protection and to prevent web issues that I find annoying ! (thanks Alex)

I know I keep on about it but its easy to get very concerned about all the virus problems and other malicious actions that the press keeps reporting, try and remember that if you take basic precautions and use a few well chosen free products you can have a high level of protections. There is a lot of scaremongering going on and the companies writing software to protect you from these potential threats is doing a lot of it. I am not saying that the threats do not exist, but I am saying that they are mostly potential threats which if you take care you can avoid.

7th Floor, so it turns out that ZA may be OK, however I don't think it necessarily follows that a product by a company that is well know in one area will also be good in others, ZA firewalls are very well regarded however including Vius scanning is to some extent a marketing ploy to enable them to market a security suite, they have bought in the virus technology and even if its detection is OK it seems that its still possible to end up with a badly infected machine.

S

Thats a useful read for everyone.

It is possible that your friend only had one warning from ZA which was then dissabled by the virus. Always best to do the occasional safe mode scan.

As regards the network traffic that the computer generated, was it enough to show up in the XP task manager?

O, I didn't really look at the rouge PC when I was sniffing the network, I was using ethereal from one of my machines and when I realised what was happening I disconnected the rouge PC and continued cleaning it. I am not sure what bit of malware caused the network storm but its not happening anymore ;-)

I am writing a quick note for the pc owner to add a safe mode virus scan to his weekly tasks !

I know some other have been recommending Firefox browser for some time now but I have stuck with IE because of a couple of other programs I use integrated with it. However now that I have ditched the other products I decided to give Firefox a try.

I installed it about 3 weeks ago and so far I have been very happy with it, I prefer tabbed browsers so that aspect alone is very appealing. However the browser seems very stable fairly quick and generally very nice to use. There are however a number of sites that do not work with it, in my case these are mainly bank sites, this problem is annoying as its caused by short sighted developers, It might be possible to configure Firefox to pretend to me IE but if it is I have not found the config option yet.

So a very good browser but you probably need to keep IE as well.

For anyone that's interested its available for download from here :- http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

Warning - I've just opened a "christmas card" from an address I trusted - I now have the I.worm/Zafi.d viruswhich appears to have mailed all my address book.
AVG anti virus is picking it up as I write - although I don't understand how it didn't detect it on receipt? I run the test every day but note that AVG updated definitions before starting the scan so this might be a very new virus.

kernow, Trend sent out a warning about this virus yesterday, it is a new varient of an existing virus. More info here http://www.grisoft.com/virbase/virbase.php?lng=us&type=web&action=view&qvirus=086fdb265e840000

The files detected as infected can be deleted as they are created by the virus.

The problem with anti-virus programs is that they give a false sense of security. You are better off removing them and instead ensuring that the way you use your computer is safe. Opening attachments from anyone, known or not, is a no-no unless you are absolutely sure you are expecting them.

Yes there is a new virus that masquerades as Christmas greetings, see http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.erkez.d@mm.html. Symantec only updated their virus scanner the day before yesterday.

I don't like disagreeing with fellow posters here especially someone as knowledgeable as Kayak ! I know that Kayak knows what he is doing and his approach is fine for technically able users. However ....

For most users I think that a virus scanner is now advisable, this does not mean that sensible approaches like those mentioned by K should not be followed. It is just that there are far more viri around now and having some protection makes sense.

You will know from my earlier posts that I suggest free and pretty good products, AVG Free (now v7) is fine for most.

But Kayak is also right when he says that virus programs can 'give a false sense of security' , they wont protect you completely.

Thanks Spaceman, Kayak. AVG has picked up and sorted all except the Norton Update.exe which it refuses. I've found the file myself and tried to delete but it will not as it says file is in use. Any tips?

kernow, boot into safe mode and delete it from there.

Spaceman - all done. Very many thanks. Wish I could drop something medicinal by but tis a bit far I think.

I understand this new xmas card virus is not an attachment - how can you delete without opening? thanks

Maddoctor - mine was certainly an attachment. I just clicked it without my usual caution.

SEYMOUR CLEARLY.
My TIME experiences.
I bought a Time Computer in May 2002 at the Southport shop[now closed]
The computer came ok but what followed was a disaster.
In May 2003 the computer would not start.
I checked everything and tried to put a disk in the floppy drive, I notice the drive had fallen from its mountings.
Maybe that was the reason it would not start. I caught the bus took the computer brain box with me very heavy I am 68years old, could not do anything at the shop.
Come back on Friday was the reply 'We have an expert coming in on Friday who will solve the problem'
Not being a chap who gives up, I took it in 3 more times and having an almighty row from me to the the computer guyin the shop.Eventually he managed to get it started fixed the floppy drive.
I eventually returned home,next morning it would not start again- phoned up Time.
I have 3 year warranty waited some 20 minutes managing to get through.
Time took it away more trouble waiting all day not coming, more expense, phoning them ,waiting in another day .At last success.The computer returned they had put in a new mother board in.I then decided to buy another computer from Dell this time.The Dell works fine.
My grandson came often to play just a Football game on the Time Computer.
Then 5 week ago the computer just crashed .I put in the recovery disc .The message i got this was the wrong disc.
Eventually I managed to get it working with a windows 98 disc I had, but I did not know what my sound card was graphics card etc.
I managed to get through to them the guy give me details of drivers I needed to get to back to squareone.
The software disk they gave me was incorrect and did not recognise anything to my computer.I tried with the Dell computer to find the available software to no avail.
This week I phoned again to Time a chap from India, he told me I had the wrong disks.They agreed to take it away.
Ii must point out that they have a support web address to download drivers, but the models they have on display are none of mine.
I have sent them 5 or 6 emails to complain they have not replied to one or will phoned me up.

Is there some way that you can change the font size of a web page for general viewing? I've just hooked up a new screen and the text on the thread list, for example, looks a bit kind of clunky ?!? if you know what I mean. I've tried VIEW - TEXT SIZE - SMALLEST but that doesn't seem to make an appreciable difference.

I'm sure there was a way that involved using the scroll wheel on the mouse when Kayak answered this question for me last time I got a new screen!

Thanks chaps

Robb
Why not try firefox web browser

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

Robb

Try Tools/Internet Options/General Tab, click Accesibility.. button and check Ignore Font sizes .......

You should then be able to change the font size using View-Text size or by Ctrl/Mousewheel.

The downside is that you will have to do this on many websites that are currently OK.

Problem with Firefox browser is that there is no mousewheel support for Java appletts.