wilkes

Microsoft's tech support never says to reformat. But thats because suggesting to reformat would be an admission that Windows isnt perfect.

But you get one of their techs off the record and you'll find they usually reformat their own hardware about every 6 months just to get crap off of them and keep the speed up.

Typically, especially with difficult cases or customers, a help desk agent may be allowed to test a particular caller's tolerance for extreme measures, like a re-format, in an effort to reduce the AHT. Call centers live and die on seconds, and MS is certainly no different there ....

The best defense against viruses, pop-ups, etc. is a good anti-virus, and regular software updates

although some of the free antivirus programs are good, most are not automatically updated

I have used McAfee since the introduction of the Stealth-C virus in 1984 (after Norton, PC Tools failed to correct the problem)

A lot of computer manufacturer's help desk will say reformat/reinstall software, because it gets you off the phone and is a "quick fix" ( are they rated on the number of calls the handle each day?)

My first experience with Microsoft help desk was around '83 and I have never been told to reformat the Hard Drive.

In Jason's defense, the average poster on gowilkes might browse this section just to see what its about, but not much beyond that - even if it had proper stickies, etc. There are quite a few of us that consider ourselves 'avergae or above' that check this section regularly. Half of those are people trolling for business and dollars, which I personally object to - if someone posts in the tech section, they arent actually seeking paid assistance.


But hey, it's Jasons house - his rules, as long as he doesnt have a problem with them, or the company that is serving his ads, then . Ive run sites as large as this one, and even with moderator help couldn't keep it as well run as he has.

My only suggestions - static ads only for security reasons, and PLEASE make a political forum!

Lots of views but almost no posting activity. That means people said, "Hey, lets see whats here... Oh, this is dead. good bye"

If it gets so many reviews, Jas, then why is there so little info available ... hardly any expert advice, very few reports of issue resolution, NO links, NO stickies or 'how to's' .. c'mon .. quit it Face it .. it's weak. .

Go look at my suggestion for topic rearrangement on Quacks 'dashes in the topic' thread ...

I always get a chuckle when people tell me which sections aren't popular.

Last week, Tech Talk had 1,853 pageviews. Granted, that's not as much as the Community Voice, but I wouldn't expect it to be; the CV is a free-for-all, while Tech is a pretty specific theme. But logic dictates that anyone interested in discussing technical issues will come to this section, which is where this thread might be of interest.

Gawd ... I was writing a post and got it blown out when he moved the thread ... NICE ... crap .. now I gotta start over ... why does it feel like we're hiding this topic from the people who may need to see it most, for some reason ...?? Ain't many that look back here ...

I remember that cycle between SandD and Spybot from days of old, Fins, since you mentioned it. I have been through a bunch of software and still had a few crashes .. just to name a few, there was Norton 2003, Webroot SpySweeper and AntiVirus, ... and so on. McAfee was forced on me by a former employer ...

I have bookmarked the antivirus XP 2008 removal link too .. looks like a good one. I swear I have seen the attacks by it too but, I'm certain I didn't respond. I'll be looking ... and we'll see.

I'm more concerned about the attacks on my box coming though a GW 'portal'. .. screen names crashing .. HDD files disappearing ... screen names ALL with the same password too... scary.. and I have not heard any plausible explanation either ..

No, it was my money and time saved. Reformatting was quicker than spending days trying to patch a registry back together, and maybe it would work.

btw, tech talk? seriously? This was in reply to an already going thread, but I couldnt reply there.

You don't know my history, Fins. And I'm sorry, but if a Microsoft software engineer told you that this was your only option, then he was wrong.

It doesn't bother me whether you believe it or not; it's your money and time wasted, not mine.

EARTHQUAKE!!!!

Ive found Spybot and Searchanddestroy go back and forth on which does a better job. One will be the best for a while, and then the other takes over. I think its just has to do with the cycle of how they update their search files.

Hmmmm ... I wish I knew exactly what the heck was s'posed to be in the registry in the first place ... if I did, I would look in there and delete some stuff myself? Mixed reviews (mostly bad) of registry cleaners has stopped me from trying one thusfar ... but I may consider the one by the Spy Bot folks. I like Search and Destroy ... reminds me of my Army days ...

Please don't move this Jason .. that's a dark corner over there ...

Didnt work. The creators of it were evolving it as fast as solutions were found. Also, because it corrupted the registry, even if you got the virus removed, the damage done was really only going to be fixed by reformatting.

I'm pretty sure the advice of a MS software engineer was more knowledgeable than someone running a website for Wilkes county.

Instructions on how to remove Antivirus XP 2008:

http://www.bleepingcomputer...us-xp-2008


Note that there's no mention of formatting and starting over. No self-respecting "professional" would have to resort to that.

Well Jason, if you had more than a little understanding of computers, you would know that once one has gotten on the computer and changed the registry it can be very difficult for anti-virus programs to detect and remove. While one might remove the contaminated file, on the next restart the corrupted registry will cause it to be reinstalled.

And it was Anti-Virus XP 2008. The only recourse was to reformat. That was the advice of multiple professionals in IT and computer repair

Sounds like you had an infection of go google that hit awhile back. With the right key words you could find a solution that would remove infection I can't recall exactly off hand what it was.

This would actually be more appropriate for Tech Talk, so I'll move it there shortly.

If you have more than a little understanding of computers, then you should just use HiJack This. I haven't seen a virus or spyware yet that couldn't be removed easily using that tool.

This is mainly directed to BBT, but since I'm not allowed to reply in the appropriate thread, I had to start another.

I contracted a virus once that was so severe it took control of everything. Every google search and IE page redirected to links on how to remove the virus for $49.99. It also was capable of hiding itself from spybot, searchanddestroy, and pretty much any other software that I tried. I also called a friend that is in computer repair, and almost every computer in their shop was in for the same virus.