Not new to computing, but amazed at current security scene

Thankfully, the last thread that I had started has been terminated, for it strayed way from my initial concerns.

1) The hacker I DID HAVE (for I possess his family photos and music playlists, amongst other things)--how to deal with what seemed to be re-invasion by him via implanted code

and

2) the potentiality of a "super-trojan" of sorts having been slammed on me by this guy or someone else------ becuase no matter what I tried I couldn't stop the crazy anomalies I never saw pre-SP2.


I learned here that most probably the two events are unrelated- yeah, I had a hacker. So he got 86ed, done deal. And yeah all sorts of strange stuff is happening because of conflicts with SP2 and my various programs, which coming on the immediate heels of my little invader only appeared to be related.

I am one of those folks who used to push stacks of punch cards into a mainframe in college- and that kind of neolithic experience with these "computer gadgets" affords me a deep understanding of the "O's and 1's" realities. Is the bloody electrical impulse hitting or not? Hello? All software is ultimately just on or off pulses, and when all messed up on top of each other without proper configuring, weird results are sure to happen.

That said, I have been watching with great interest the latest news about SP2's flaws (as yet not revealed, don't ya know), but portentious nonetheless. Maybe something WAS going on? On ME now and pleasantly oblivious (til my Pro gets here), who am I to really say?

I guess what I am trying to say is that I am not an idiotic neophyte with PCs, security, watching for software conflicts, etc. What I was seeing truly blew my mind- and yet, SP2 is a mind f*** anyway, right? No one can make sense of some of it quite yet.

I may be no computer geek, etc., but I knew where to come, didn't I, when I had pulled out enough hair for my liking?? If I came off as naive or uneducated, so be it-- SP2 does BIZARRE stuff and SCARY stuff when one isn't privy to its idiosyncracies.

I anticipate less turmoil with a fresh Pro install soon, but you better believe I'm watching for more detail on SP2's presently hushed "vulnerabilities" just announced......

 

GalC

Well...perhaps now is as good a time as any...to just simply welcome you to the forum.
Did notice the other post you mention above.......an read it with both seriously and with a bit of humor. Now that was some post. LOL But you took the incident very well...good for you.
An yes you most certainly should hang around the forum....perhaps gain extra knowledge...or just to hang out...........normally its a super nice place................
one small comment if I may. The problems you experienced were not what I would consider odd.....not at all............debating if it was caused by a hacker was pointless........you actually did the correct thing by trying to re-format but just didn't know how to do so and bypass that "ugly" an get a clean format...........eventually you will learn those precedures.....these are changed times.....new exploites require new removal tools.
So...a friendly welcome.........an greatest of luck in your quest to clean that other box.


TheSnowman

 

LOL. S'queeze me? I did low level formats with Powermax (AFTER previously also overwriting system and other files with Eraser on full 35 sweep tilt) and flashed my BIOS twice (before and after the reformats) and then partitioned each time with a different set of parameters- once with 2, once with 3, once with 4)--- nothing stopped the crazy undoing of my careful services configs (tweaked B.Viper's suggestions, like I do keep SysRestore)
and wmimgmt set-ups---
No amount of cleaning stopped this unknown "user" ("N/A"- as opposed to System, Local, me, Security, etc.) who was in the logs and helping himself to full admin rights at the console level (and NOT one MS tells you about, but in my case WARNED ME ABOUT as unauthorized and a cause for notification...)

I'm not going to go over it all again. The consensus is that this is just software conflict, mismanagement of my set-up, etc. I accept that for that now. I just wish I had I photographed some of it before I threw in the towel and reverted to ME to ease my headache.

Though I'm hopeful all of it could be explained as posited here, it was strange stuff, beyond Marja's deal, and so deliberately menacing it was hard not to feel a nasty code was fighting me.

I appreciate your comments, though, and am going to keep my mouth shut about what happened- or why- for lack of illustrations and expertise in this stuff.

Just wanted to say, I guess, that computing has in the last couple of years become less fun and more frustrating.....

 

Hello Galcoolest

What you have said here -

is, we believe, just an intermediary stage in your computer experience. In a little while after you have learned a little more, we believe you will again find computing becoming more fun again. We say this because in just a short while after you have learned a bit more about security you will have passed most malcontents and be on your way to becoming at least a "near" expert if you wish to study these things more. Although one cannot learn everything needful here at Wilders, one can learn quite a good bit to have some kind of foundation (not to put aside your already plentiful measure of experience).

We wish you the very best and we hope that you will not only learn here but turn into a security helper as well so as to bless others with your abilities.

 

***keyboard broken....lots of problems typing&*&*&*



GalC

LOL...you may have mis-understood my previous post.......I don'y doubt what you posted in that other thread......my point was..to much time was wasted trying to explain..........just fix the problem......an don't debate (that said as being helpful only) I notice many posters who get lost in debate.

 

This is tangential as heck, but I can't help relaying the tale to amuse Peter. When I was pretty fresh out of law school I got hired by a publicly listed high tech company in the Valley (SValley, that is, lol- right across the street from Oracle actually) to be the right hand legal eagle to the company's in house corporate counsel.

Well, I find out right away that we were the ONLY two attorneys in the whole place- thousands of workers, etc. and we were IT as far as a legal team!!

So my boss tells me to review the software licensing situation within the company, you know, prepare a memo for him about which group/subdivision was using what software, etc. It turns out that not only was every shred of the original licensure paperwork missing, but literally hundreds of PCs there were illegally operating all sorts of proprietary software, from every imaginable vendor, and not a soul had a damn clue as to how the computers obtained their programs or when. Not to mention the lack of financial records regarding legitimate (if any) use of the software, much of it very sophisticated and expensive indeed.

I was flabbergasted. I had to spell out the astonishing truth to my boss, who then had to pass that info on to our outside law firm, who then completely freaked out (at $400 an hour per freaked out attorney), so in disbelief that a pack of them retraced my steps, coming to the same truth of course- and were right back at the same starting point- NOW WHAT??

Long story short- I resigned in about six months. The company went bankrupt in another four months, and was swallowed up by another, smarter fish. And when I took my hike, one of the biggie telecoms(with whom we had a special joint venture) offered me a job because they had seen what a mess I was thrown and my valiant attempts to deal with it. I went back into public interest law....

LOL.. It was a "stomp on the whole mess, the hell with it deal" just like Peter's!

 

Good one, huh? lolololololol. Go check out more of my sick humor at Ten Forward... (I am housebound for a couple of days, sadly for you all, cus of a broken ankle...)

 

Just can't win?

 

Hello Galcoolest:

I think that a lot of problems are associated with the XP operating system ,
itself. SP 2 is a new package that I believe should be avoided and can be
avoided if you have sound security on your computer installed in place. I
do not have XP , but swear by 98. I know that Microsoft wants to put it on
the backburner , but it is the best operating system that they ever created.
There is nothing wrong with something that works , but of course , since
98 was prone to a lot of crashing , they created XP , which does not crash
a lot , but has a lot more control over your computer than you could possibly
imagine. The key to not having any problems , however , is that the moment
that you purchase a new computer , that you quickly install the security
platform on there so that you will not get invaded once that you start surfing
and etc. Yes , this is a real cool forum and I am new just like you , but not
without experience either.