General safety issue.

[Renee59]

Hello dear members,

When I installed my computer I found the standard Windows firewall in Vista
premium. I trusted this and did not want to slow down the system by adding an
other firewall. Besides, this policy also was discouraged by the helpfiles
that came with the system. Virusprotection was not done by the system, so
advisable to install a virusprotection tool. I read a lot on the net on that
item and finally installed Avast antivirus.

So far so good. Had no troubles from oktober 07 till a week ago. Than I
decided to destall Avast and to install One Live one care. The critics did
not take me to this. But I think it is a good policy to have the safety
issues in the same hand as the system resources are. I take another step and
expect the safety cause covered in the system itself. Sell a new car without
safety features!
I installed the One care, I did want to give it my support, I did not expect
it to be bad at all.

Microsoft also gave me a free trial for 90 days, fair enough, join the army
than. Quite a difference in feel, that is because Avast alway gave me a kind
of messenger report with a sliding window, which told me that an other part
of the virus library was loded online, faithfully from as soon as I came on
the internet. Beside of that it did its job silently, without a lot of noise.
That is what we expect computers to do and specially tasks on it, dedicated
to the system.

Until a couple of days ago, I could not install the Adobe flashplayer. The
loading routine caused the firewall problems, or the other way around. To be
short on this, I investigated tasks, processes and services. Also
investigated the ActiveX elements in the tasktray on the ie-browser. Also
came on the installed program list on the controlpanel.

The One Care green ball suits me, but I had expected deleted programs, realy
being deleted from now, why does Vista still leave anything there in that
list, yes it is a safety issue. Only when program does what it is asked to
do, it will be trustfull, can you come around another way?
Thought I realy had destalled the Itune software, when I found not, I could
not trust the window tool and did some deleting and stopping on services and
programs involved with those programs.
It did not work. Now there still are tasks that are scheduled and updates
are done, quite a world behind my computerscreen and keyboard that I thought
was long gone. How can this be under One Care? Why isn't this cleaning more
drasticly done. Why is this? I found this bonjour program and learned a bit
of what it stands for, it might be no virus but it is quite stubburn to get
lost. I deleted it several times, it still is there!
Thought I only installed a player, seems to be part of a strategy to intrude
on my computer and to have control over it. I think safety has a lot to do
with policy. Do the certification, link back to threads and threadrates on a
list, then automate to hit back on trespassing and hacking.

I came upon the site ProcessScanner and scanned my files, after I had
scanned it with the scanning tool that comes with One Care. One Care reported
all fine. ProcessScanner gave me an allert on

wininit.exe. It thougt me in its library and with me millions others, that
it is a trojan horse, an evil virus. ProcesScanner comes under label Uniblue,
it shows there to be a Microsoft certified partner (?)
So I again, I just scanned this file by One Care. No warnings whatsoever!
I roled back the system (fine feature!), but wininit.exe is still there.
There are some tools
offered on that Microsoft goldcertifed board, are they to be trusted. I read
a lot of registry cleaning, it is offered there aswell, do you advise me to
use it? I like the backup and restore part, but should that be this noisy. It
is easy and should be integrated in the maintenance part. Why is this not?

Enough for today, maby also for tomorrow.

Questions:
Does One Care do any virus scanning?
Does it have a frequent update on the virus library? How?
Is One Care right and isn't wininit.exe a trojan horse?
How come I cannot delete wininit.exe? I know, by the accounts and ownership
on the file, but who shuts me outoff permission on that file, though I have
administrator rights? Who is cheating here?
Should I destall One Care and go back to just the common firewall with a
scanner like Avast?
Does the maker of One care still do what is good for the product and the
customers?

 

[Mick Murphy]

Vista Firewall is fine! Uninstall one care.

http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

Above is a link to Avast Free 4 Home Anti-Virus
It is low resource using, free and Vista 32bit and 64bit compatible.

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

For Spyware removal, use the above link to “Spybot Search & Destroy 1.5.2â€
Download it, install it, update it, immunize your system and scan your
System with it.

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/

For a non-scanning, but running in the background, Program to STOP Spyware
being downloaded to your Computer, use SpywareBlaster 4, available at the
above link.

 

[Kayman]

On Tue, 1 Apr 2008 03:14:02 -0700, Renee59 wrote:

Should I destall One Care and go back to just the common firewall with a
scanner like Avast?

Most definitely; avast! 4 Home Edition and/or Avira AntiVir® have superior
catch rates!
And Avira AntiVir® is better than avast! 4 Home Edition.
Avira AntiVir® PersonalEdition Classic - Free
http://www.free-av.com/antivirus/allinonen.html
You may wish to consider removing the 'AntiVir Nagscreen'
http://www.elitekiller.com/files/disable_antivir_nag.htm

You are not going to find anything better than the Vista FW and Vista in
itself due to the advanced features the FW and Vista are using.

"Personal Firewalls" are mostly snake-oil.
http://www.samspade.org/d/firewalls.html

Jesper's Blogs-
At Least This Snake Oil Is Free.
http://msinfluentials.com/blogs/jesper/archive/2007/07/19/at-least-this-snake-oil-is-free.aspx
Windows Firewall: the best new security feature in Vista?
http://blogs.technet.com/jesper_johansson/archive/2006/05/01/426921.aspx

Exploring The Windows Firewall.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/technetmag/issues/2007/06/VistaFirewall/default.aspx
"If you try to block outbound connections from a computer that’s already
compromised, how can you be sure that the computer is really doing what you
ask? The answer: you can’t. Outbound protection is security theater—it’s a
gimmick that only gives the impression of improving your security without
doing anything that actually does improve your security. This is why
outbound protection didn’t exist in the Windows XP firewall and why it
doesn’t exist in the Windows Vista™ firewall."

Tap into the Vista firewall's advanced configuration features
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10877-6098592.html
"...once you discover the secret of accessing its advanced configuration
settings via the MMC snap-in, you'll find it to be far more configurable
and functional. At last, Windows comes with a sophisticated personal
firewall that can be used to set up outbound rules as well as inbound, with
the ability to customize rules to fit your precise needs."
Or
Configure Vista Firewall to support outbound packet filtering
http://searchwindowssecurity.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid45_gci1247138,00.html
Or
Vista Firewall Control (Free versions available).
Protects your applications from undesirable network incoming and outgoing
activity, controls applications internet access.
http://sphinx-soft.com/Vista/

Does the maker of One care still do what is good for the product and the
customers?

They never caught up in the first place; At this stage it is a
comparatively inferior application.

You may wish to consider the followig:-
The best defenses are:
1. Do not work in elevated level; Day-to-day work should be
performed while the User Account Control (UAC) is enabled. Turning
off UAC reduces the security of your computer and may expose you to
increased risk from malicious software.
2. Familiarize yourself with "Services Hardening in Windows Vista".
3. Keep your operating (OS) system (and all software on it)
updated/patched.
4. Reconsider the usage of IE.
5. Review your installed 3rd party software applications/utilities;
Remove clutter.
6. Don't expose services to public networks.
7. Activate the build-in firewall and tack together its advanced
configuration settings.
7a.If on high-speed internet use a router as well.
8. Routinely practice safe-hex.
9. Regularly back-up data/files.
10.Familiarize yourself with crash recovery tools and with
re-installing your operating system (OS).
11.Utilize a real-time anti-virus application and vital system
monitoring utilities/applications.
12.Keep abreast of the latest developments - Sh!t happens...you know.

The least preferred defenses are:
Myriads of popular anti-whatever applications and staying ignorant.

Peez of pith, really

 

[Renee59]

Hello Nick and other Members,
I did a part of what you told me. I scanned my system with Spybot S&D.
Ofcourse I immunized first. And ran the scan then. The Spybot destroyed 3
cookies about tracking my system by mailsending my internet experience. (Not
to bad.) Furthermore it found three entries from ErrorSmart which were also
fixed. A month or so ago I tried to get rid of that program, did not
download, just ran the routine to report me the anomalies. (I had some
mediaplayer problems.)

The program also reported an abnormal entry in the registry for an IE
feature about a lockdown.The registry content showed false, I decided to
leave that.(?)

So no spy reported. Than I searched through the log files from OneCare. I
found a lot of blocked computer IP's. And on march 24, I found a lot of
removed infected files. Several viruses were reported, all trojan horses. The
reported ones were removed. After this I scanned in two more ways, but no
viruses were found anymore.

I reacted on the file wininit.exe to be a trojan horse, it is still in my
directory. Strange enough Spybot S&D responds like OneCare: No thread. I had
not yet gone this deep in OneCare, although I have big problems now (comes
more), I won on confidence about OneCare. It also has these features for
controling on backups and buildin restore. Optimalisation schedule-settings,
total control on malware. You notice, I still want to give it a try.

My system is easy now, the green ball is there, and in the auto-updatelist
are these newly downloaded packages on the defender-library. Quite
confidential. There is a tray in OneCare that shows me the defender, it is
inactive, not needed by OneCare. Switched off whenever I come back there.
Also in that tray I found the resident Spybot R&D, I switched his both
protection routines to off on startup. OneCare excepts it there set active,
but I switched it off there aswell. So OneCare has to do the job.

To save my system, stopped some ActiveX controls, specially those that are
reported not to be certified. ('Certified' maybe troubled by translation. I
am dutch, see.)
There are a triple ActiveX on Apple Inc. These support Quicktime. Coming to
the third to switch to inactive, did not believe my eyes when I saw one of
the others being switched to on again! It left me to choose two outof three
to switch off. After a restart the triple is inactive now.
I doubt about the state of the others I switched off:
XML DOM Document 4.0 - Microsoft Corporation ?
XML HTTP 4.0 - Microsoft Corporation ?
XSL Template 4.0 - Microsoft Corporation ?
isInstalled Class - (Sun Microsystems Inc.) ?
MusicManagerPlugin.MediaBar On - Demand Distribution ltd.
Free Threaded XML DOM Document - Microsoft Corporation
CLVistaGenie Control - Cyberlink
Sorry, to me they are all spy candidates, get that certificat!


Now the problem I came upon, mentioned already, but it became worse: I
cannot remove a program. None at all! In my user directory I come on maps
that were always mine. Not anymore! Went to the account program and found my
account set to common user. No administrator rights anymore! Tricked it,
saved! Came back: Common again! I once had my appartment door destroyed
comming home. I met the junk before in front of the building. That feeling!

Troubles apeared to be bad when I tried to remove Bonjour and Quicktime out
of the programlist. When I start the routine Vista comes telling me that it
gathers information and installs(!) the program. It persistendly ends with a
defender warning that an unknown program is to be executed. The program is
called 'remover' (in dutch). The defender offered me to execute, or to
cancel. In both ways the program is still there! Vista now tells me I have to
start the program as an administrator, remove doesn't start up at all!
Is there some help? I went through the helpfiles on accounts, all I get is a
headache! I get a bit of that stuff, but it is to scarey and tricky to be
sure I make good changes.

What should I do now? Realy need a professional now. Oh, I should be doing
fotographs and other lovely things. Mick, you like this, please?
Gratefull for your attention!

 

[Renee59]

Hello Nick and other Members,
I did a part of what you told me. I scanned my system with Spybot S&D.
Ofcourse I immunized first. And ran the scan then. The Spybot destroyed 3
cookies about tracking my system by mailsending my internet experience. (Not
to bad.) Furthermore it found three entries from ErrorSmart which were also
fixed. A month or so ago I tried to get rid of that program, did not
download, just ran the routine to report me the anomalies. (I had some
mediaplayer problems.)

The program also reported an abnormal entry in the registry for an IE
feature about a lockdown.The registry content showed false, I decided to
leave that.(?)

So no spy reported. Than I searched through the log files from OneCare. I
found a lot of blocked computer IP's. And on march 24, I found a lot of
removed infected files. Several viruses were reported, all trojan horses. The
reported ones were removed. After this I scanned in two more ways, but no
viruses were found anymore.

I reacted on the file wininit.exe to be a trojan horse, it is still in my
directory. Strange enough Spybot S&D responds like OneCare: No thread. I had
not yet gone this deep in OneCare, although I have big problems now (comes
more), I won on confidence about OneCare. It also has these features for
controling on backups and buildin restore. Optimalisation schedule-settings,
total control on malware. You notice, I still want to give it a try.

My system is easy now, the green ball is there, and in the auto-updatelist
are these newly downloaded packages on the defender-library. Quite
confidential. There is a tray in OneCare that shows me the defender, it is
inactive, not needed by OneCare. Switched off whenever I come back there.
Also in that tray I found the resident Spybot R&D, I switched his both
protection routines to off on startup. OneCare excepts it there set active,
but I switched it off there aswell. So OneCare has to do the job.

To save my system, stopped some ActiveX controls, specially those that are
reported not to be certified. ('Certified' maybe troubled by translation. I
am dutch, see.)
There are a triple ActiveX on Apple Inc. These support Quicktime. Coming to
the third to switch to inactive, did not believe my eyes when I saw one of
the others being switched to on again! It left me to choose two outof three
to switch off. After a restart the triple is inactive now.
I doubt about the state of the others I switched off:
XML DOM Document 4.0 - Microsoft Corporation ?
XML HTTP 4.0 - Microsoft Corporation ?
XSL Template 4.0 - Microsoft Corporation ?
isInstalled Class - (Sun Microsystems Inc.) ?
MusicManagerPlugin.MediaBar On - Demand Distribution ltd.
Free Threaded XML DOM Document - Microsoft Corporation
CLVistaGenie Control - Cyberlink
Sorry, to me they are all spy candidates, get that certificat!


Now the problem I came upon, mentioned already, but it became worse: I
cannot remove a program. None at all! In my user directory I come on maps
that were always mine. Not anymore! Went to the account program and found my
account set to common user. No administrator rights anymore! Tricked it,
saved! Came back: Common again! I once had my appartment door destroyed
comming home. I met the junk before in front of the building. That feeling!

Troubles apeared to be bad when I tried to remove Bonjour and Quicktime out
of the programlist. When I start the routine Vista comes telling me that it
gathers information and installs(!) the program. It persistendly ends with a
defender warning that an unknown program is to be executed. The program is
called 'remover' (in dutch). The defender offered me to execute, or to
cancel. In both ways the program is still there! Vista now tells me I have to
start the program as an administrator, remove doesn't start up at all!
Is there some help? I went through the helpfiles on accounts, all I get is a
headache! I get a bit of that stuff, but it is to scarey and tricky to be
sure I make good changes.

What should I do now? Realy need a professional now. Oh, I should be doing
fotographs and other lovely things. Mick, you like this, please?
Gratefull for your attention!

 

[Renee59]

Dear members, (Sorry for the double post before, took a log time to come up.)
Maby help comes soon, but in the meantime this post. Welcome for reading!
There are more posts in this area and on User safety issues, under Windows,
that shows the problem on permissions.
All of them lost the administrations rights. I also notice there is a lack
of help on that issue.
Can there please be done some more help?
I suggest to open a new tread just on this subject. Maby a MS MVP can do so.
One comment on that more:
I subscribed to the open system on Microsoft experience share. Maby
Mircrosoft expects us then to behave in a sertain way. For example I moved
some file, that was not on mine and I changed on some file the permission
settings. But if Microsoft expects me to don't things on my own computer, I
might expect them to say so.
I also changed my mapsettings from default: no system files shown to:
standard shown. I once got a warning on this, maby standard system, one realy
gets paranoia by these. Can somebody tell us a bit more on this and explain
on behavior of Microsoft in these matters.
If you cannot find similar posts I refered for, feel obliged to make you a
list.

Hope to get some answers.

 

[Malke]

Dear members, (Sorry for the double post before, took a log time to come
up.) Maby help comes soon, but in the meantime this post. Welcome for
reading! There are more posts in this area and on User safety issues,
under Windows, that shows the problem on permissions.
All of them lost the administrations rights. I also notice there is a lack
of help on that issue.
Can there please be done some more help?
I suggest to open a new tread just on this subject. Maby a MS MVP can do
so. One comment on that more:
I subscribed to the open system on Microsoft experience share. Maby
Mircrosoft expects us then to behave in a sertain way. For example I moved
some file, that was not on mine and I changed on some file the permission
settings. But if Microsoft expects me to don't things on my own computer,
I might expect them to say so.
I also changed my mapsettings from default: no system files shown to:
standard shown. I once got a warning on this, maby standard system, one
realy
gets paranoia by these. Can somebody tell us a bit more on this and
explain on behavior of Microsoft in these matters.
If you cannot find similar posts I refered for, feel obliged to make you a
list.

Your various posts are difficult to read/follow. This is not a discussion
board; it is a newsgroup and therefore aimed at answering specific
questions. While this resource is excellent for end users getting help, if
you want a forum experience you should post to a forum. I suggest
www.computerhaven.info or one of the forums on www.aumha.net. See Section C
below for a full explanation of why you think this is a forum and it isn't.

In the meantime, here are some suggestions to help you:

A. I don't believe English is your first language. If you want to use
newsgroups, you may find it more efficient to post in a newsgroup in your
native language (French perhaps?). It is difficult enough to get/give
technical support in writing about unseen computers without adding in a
language barrier. See the link to a list of MS newsgroups in Section C
below so you can find the right one for your language.

B. As much as I can determine from reading your various posts, you don't
really know what you are looking at and are therefore having a hard time
communicating your system's details (also refer to Section A above). It
would probably be wisest for you to take your machine to a local computer
professional and have them straighten everything out for you. This will not
be your local equivalent of BigComputerStore/GeekSquad. I do not say this
to hurt your feelings in any way; I'm just being practical.

C. Newsgroups - general

Since you are using the web interface, you may not realize that this is
really a newsgroup. You will get far more out of this resource if you learn
to use a newsreader. There are many good newsreaders for Windows, but you
can use Outlook Express (XP) or Windows Mail (Vista) since you already have
it. Here are some links to information about newsgroups:

About Usenet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/ - Usenet FAQs from the Internet FAQ Archives
http://www.usenetmonster.com/infocenter/
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Usenet - a brief explanation
of newsgroups

Outlook Express/Windows Mail as Newsreader:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm
http://rickrogers.org/setupoe.htm
http://vistasupport.mvps.org/accessing_newsgrousp_with-windows_mail.htm

How to Post:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Usenet
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375 - How to Ask a Question
http://users.tpg.com.au/bzyhjr/liszt.htm - How Not to Get Technical Help on
Usenet


http://aumha.org/nntp.htm - list of MS newsgroups
microsoft.public.test.here - MS group to test if your newsreader is working
properly
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/munad.htm - how to munge email address
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossposting - crossposting
http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm - multiposting

Other Newsreaders for Windows:
http://www.forteinc.com/main/homepage.php - Forte
http://www.mozilla.org - Thunderbird
http://gravity.tbates.org/
http://www.40tude.com/dialog/
http://xnews.newsguy.com/

Malke

 

[FromTheRafters]

Hello dear members,

When I installed my computer I found the standard Windows firewall in
Vista
premium. I trusted this and did not want to slow down the system by adding
an
other firewall. Besides, this policy also was discouraged by the helpfiles
that came with the system. Virusprotection was not done by the system, so
advisable to install a virusprotection tool. I read a lot on the net on
that
item and finally installed Avast antivirus.

So far so good. Had no troubles from oktober 07 till a week ago. Than I
decided to destall Avast and to install One Live one care.

No reason to uninstall Avast! unless there is an "on-access" scanner
in 'One Live one care' - whatever that is. As a matter of choice, I
probably would have stayed with Avast!

The critics did
not take me to this. But I think it is a good policy to have the safety
issues in the same hand as the system resources are.

I disagree. I think it is better to have AV from an experienced AV company,
Anti-Malware "suites" seldom have the "best" of each malware category.
It's a matter of choice again - I also preferred "component" stereo systems
as compared to integrated systems by the same reasoning.

I'm sure Microsoft is fully capable of buying into this arena and making
good choices of what technology to buy into. Still, I would rather make
use of the many years of experience the outside vendors have and choose
from their offerings.

I take another step and
expect the safety cause covered in the system itself. Sell a new car
without
safety features!
I installed the One care, I did want to give it my support, I did not
expect
it to be bad at all.

Some "safety features" are actually just "fluff" (perhaps nice, but not
really necessary features). Fluff becomes bloat when there's too much
of it. Not bundling it with the OS was a *good* thing IMO.

Microsoft also gave me a free trial for 90 days, fair enough, join the
army
than. Quite a difference in feel, that is because Avast alway gave me a
kind
of messenger report with a sliding window, which told me that an other
part
of the virus library was loded online, faithfully from as soon as I came
on
the internet. Beside of that it did its job silently, without a lot of
noise.
That is what we expect computers to do and specially tasks on it,
dedicated
to the system.

Until a couple of days ago, I could not install the Adobe flashplayer. The
loading routine caused the firewall problems, or the other way around. To
be
short on this, I investigated tasks, processes and services. Also
investigated the ActiveX elements in the tasktray on the ie-browser. Also
came on the installed program list on the controlpanel.

The One Care green ball suits me, but I had expected deleted programs,
realy
being deleted from now, why does Vista still leave anything there in that
list, yes it is a safety issue. Only when program does what it is asked to
do, it will be trustfull, can you come around another way?
Thought I realy had destalled the Itune software, when I found not, I
could
not trust the window tool and did some deleting and stopping on services
and
programs involved with those programs.
It did not work. Now there still are tasks that are scheduled and updates
are done, quite a world behind my computerscreen and keyboard that I
thought
was long gone. How can this be under One Care? Why isn't this cleaning
more
drasticly done. Why is this? I found this bonjour program and learned a
bit
of what it stands for, it might be no virus but it is quite stubburn to
get
lost. I deleted it several times, it still is there!

Sorry, I didn't understand a lot of the above, but it seems you missed an
important thing about these types of anti-malware programs. The simple
fact is that they don't work the way most people think they do.

They work - imperfectly! None of them will protect you - completely.
They *all* will miss something sometime.

As to the imperfect cleaning (deleting?) - that depends on many factors.

Thought I only installed a player, seems to be part of a strategy to
intrude
on my computer and to have control over it. I think safety has a lot to do
with policy.

Absolutely! Policy is very important.

Do the certification, link back to threads and threadrates on a
list, then automate to hit back on trespassing and hacking.

I came upon the site ProcessScanner and scanned my files, after I had
scanned it with the scanning tool that comes with One Care. One Care
reported
all fine. ProcessScanner gave me an allert on

wininit.exe. It thougt me in its library and with me millions others, that
it is a trojan horse, an evil virus. ProcesScanner comes under label
Uniblue,
it shows there to be a Microsoft certified partner (?)
So I again, I just scanned this file by One Care. No warnings
whatsoever!
I roled back the system (fine feature!), but wininit.exe is still there.

Sorry, you lost me again.

There are some tools
offered on that Microsoft goldcertifed board, are they to be trusted.

Don't know.

I read
a lot of registry cleaning, it is offered there aswell, do you advise me
to
use it?

No. Your "policy" should be to not try out programs you don't actually
*need* - especially if you are unsure about the source.

I like the backup and restore part, but should that be this noisy. It
is easy and should be integrated in the maintenance part. Why is this not?

Lost me again.

Enough for today, maby also for tomorrow.

Questions:
Does One Care do any virus scanning?
Does it have a frequent update on the virus library? How?

Don't know.

Is One Care right and isn't wininit.exe a trojan horse?

Probably not. Submit suspect file to many online scanners to get a feel
for the "false positive" possibility.

How come I cannot delete wininit.exe? I know, by the accounts and
ownership
on the file, but who shuts me outoff permission on that file, though I
have
administrator rights? Who is cheating here?

The system will always have more power than the user - unless it's broken.

Should I destall One Care and go back to just the common firewall with a
scanner like Avast?

If you want to - your choice.

Does the maker of One care still do what is good for the product and the
customers?

What do you mean by "still". )

 

[Mick Murphy]

If you are having problems getting rid of viruses, spyware, etc, when you are
scanning; reboot and use the programs in Safe Mode.
Reboot, tap F8, and then select Safe Mode using the UP and DOWN arrows when
the list comes up. Then select ENTER

The reason for this is that you can not delete a file that is being used.
Safe mode means that there is the bare, basics running in Windows

I don't know how far you got with things, so below is orig advice.



http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

Above is a link to Avast Free 4 Home Anti-Virus
It is low resource using, free and Vista 32bit and 64bit compatible.
Only have one (1) anti-virus installed; more than 1 can cause conflicts.

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

For Spyware removal, use the above link to “Spybot Search & Destroy 1.5.2â€
Download it, install it, update it, immunize your system and scan your
System with it.

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/

For a non-scanning, but running in the background, Program to STOP Spyware
being downloaded to your Computer, use SpywareBlaster 4, available at the
above link.

 

[Mick Murphy]

If you are having problems getting rid of viruses, spyware, etc, when you are
scanning; reboot and use the programs in Safe Mode.
Reboot, tap F8, and then select Safe Mode by using the UP and DOWN Arrows
when the list comes up. then select ENTER.

The reason for this is that you can not delete a file that is being used.
Safe mode means that there is the bare, basics running in Windows

I don't know how far you got with things, so below is orig advice.



http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

Above is a link to Avast Free 4 Home Anti-Virus
It is low resource using, free and Vista 32bit and 64bit compatible.
Only have one (1) anti-virus installed; more than 1 can cause conflicts.

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

For Spyware removal, use the above link to “Spybot Search & Destroy 1.5.2â€
Download it, install it, update it, immunize your system and scan your
System with it.

http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/

For a non-scanning, but running in the background, Program to STOP Spyware
being downloaded to your Computer, use SpywareBlaster 4, available at the
above link.

 

[Renee59]

--
Live gets better all the time!

Your various posts are difficult to read/follow. This is not a discussion
board; it is a newsgroup and therefore aimed at answering specific
questions. While this resource is excellent for end users getting help, if
you want a forum experience you should post to a forum. I suggest
www.computerhaven.info or one of the forums on www.aumha.net. See Section C
below for a full explanation of why you think this is a forum and it isn't.

In the meantime, here are some suggestions to help you:

A. I don't believe English is your first language. If you want to use
newsgroups, you may find it more efficient to post in a newsgroup in your
native language (French perhaps?). It is difficult enough to get/give
technical support in writing about unseen computers without adding in a
language barrier. See the link to a list of MS newsgroups in Section C
below so you can find the right one for your language.

B. As much as I can determine from reading your various posts, you don't
really know what you are looking at and are therefore having a hard time
communicating your system's details (also refer to Section A above). It
would probably be wisest for you to take your machine to a local computer
professional and have them straighten everything out for you. This will not
be your local equivalent of BigComputerStore/GeekSquad. I do not say this
to hurt your feelings in any way; I'm just being practical.

C. Newsgroups - general

Since you are using the web interface, you may not realize that this is
really a newsgroup. You will get far more out of this resource if you learn
to use a newsreader. There are many good newsreaders for Windows, but you
can use Outlook Express (XP) or Windows Mail (Vista) since you already have
it. Here are some links to information about newsgroups:

About Usenet:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/ - Usenet FAQs from the Internet FAQ Archives
http://www.usenetmonster.com/infocenter/
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Usenet - a brief explanation
of newsgroups

Outlook Express/Windows Mail as Newsreader:
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm
http://rickrogers.org/setupoe.htm
http://vistasupport.mvps.org/accessing_newsgrousp_with-windows_mail.htm

How to Post:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Usenet
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375 - How to Ask a Question
http://users.tpg.com.au/bzyhjr/liszt.htm - How Not to Get Technical Help on
Usenet


http://aumha.org/nntp.htm - list of MS newsgroups
microsoft.public.test.here - MS group to test if your newsreader is working
properly
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/munad.htm - how to munge email address
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossposting - crossposting
http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm - multiposting

Other Newsreaders for Windows:
http://www.forteinc.com/main/homepage.php - Forte
http://www.mozilla.org - Thunderbird
http://gravity.tbates.org/
http://www.40tude.com/dialog/
http://xnews.newsguy.com/

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
Don't Panic!

 

[Renee59]

Member Malke,

Thank you very much for all your advice, it is quite clear. I have a lot to
do now on my computer study, to be more selfsupporting in this case. Maybe I
also underestimated more systematicly writing down my questions. I will pay
more attention to this. It also took me to many words to say what I mean, I
will take also more control of that from now on.

As you may expect, I only partly agree to the language problem. I thank you
for carefuly saying so. There may be minor faults, but reading this board, I
see pretty worse examples. My style is somewhat wide spread, that is more a
matter of working around missing words. You might come onto this also, in one
way or another, with your natives. If you take some more time to read, you
can hardly miss the common issue of my problem. By exemple: Mister Mick
Murphy from Australia did not miss it, he came with usefull answers too.

Thanks also for the links to (other) discussion boards, I realy appriciate
your effort, they may be usefull. But I do not agree that this is not a
discussionboard. You say this is for newsgroups, you did not convince me and
you want ever, because this board is titled to be on Windows Vista Discussion
Groups. If you do not believe me, please go there and search for your posts,
you will find them all. I went there and searched for my items and found them
all. If this is not what you expect, complaint on that to the managers on
this board please. I also made a selection on your posts and found some badly
written questions and nice patient answers there, also from you!

I suggest you to be specific to my questions and tell me what you do not
understand. We can go on then and come to a better discussion. You are used
to hacker style answers, so you will take this with a smile and you will
understand that I already started to carefully follow your advised links.

 

[Paul Adare]

Live gets better all the time!

Just to help you out with the language issue, unless you're talking about
the Windows Live services with your .sig, the word you want is Life, not
Live.

 

[Renee59]

Thank you FromTheRafters,

Thanks for your comments in genarally. You said I cannot delete the program
because it is in use. But that is not the case, I searched for that in the
taskcontrol program. I happened to have that on an other program, but the
error message then makes clear that the file is in use. However when your not
allowed to delete the program because of the account settings, it says so.
But more on the account issue is in my third post.

 

[Renee59]

Just to help you out with the language issue, unless you're talking about
the Windows Live services with your .sig, the word you want is Life, not
Live.

Answer from Renee59:
I talk about the services there, but thanks anyway. I changed it.
To difficcult a joke. And that is worse!

 

[FromTheRafters]

Thank you FromTheRafters,

Thanks for your comments in genarally. You said I cannot delete the
program
because it is in use.

No, I was much more vague than that. )

"The system will always have more power than the user - unless it's broken."

The system is capable of hiding things from the user and automatically
restoring some deteted items as a means of protecting the system from
the user's actions. Yes, the OS also protects files whos image is in
use, but I can't assume the file you mention is in use or is a system file.

The capability to do these things falls in the hands of the system
usurper - hence the "unless it's broken" comment. Sticky malware
can use and abuse this capability - hiding even from admin tools.

But that is not the case, I searched for that in the
taskcontrol program. I happened to have that on an other program, but the
error message then makes clear that the file is in use. However when your
not
allowed to delete the program because of the account settings, it says so.

I understand, and it sounds like a permissions problem.

 

[Renee59]

Thanks Mick, in fact I already answered your advise.
I only have this to ad: I read about javacoolsoftware and found there the
newest filescanner from april 2002... Though these are blackboxes, the latest
one from OneCare seems more trustfull to me. Maybe you will adjust your
advise on that.
Last but not least, please read my third post on this item about lost map
permissions. I don't realy know yet what to do about it.