Replies

http://update.microsoft.com/windowsupdate/v6/vistaprivacy.aspx?ln=en-us

Scroll down to Required Updates and read the part about:

Update Services are “turned on” if you choose one of the following settings:
(i) install updates automatically, (ii) download updates automatically and
choose whether to install them, or (iii) receive notifications about updates and
choose whether to download and install them. Windows Update service is “turned
on” and set to “install updates automatically” when you choose the recommended
option during Windows Out Of Box Experience (OOBE) setup.

If you turn on the Update Services, regardless of which “turned on” setting
you have chosen, required updates to some components of the service will be
downloaded and installed automatically without further notice to you. If you
would prefer not to receive required updates, turn off the Update Services.

To summarize:

1. No anti-malware product will be 100% effective 100% of the time.
2. A product rated as #1 today maybe #3 or #7 tomorrow, depending on who does the review.
3. User education (IMHO) is more important than blindly trusting installed security products.
4. Once infected, you can never be 100% sure that all traces of the infection have been removed.
5. The only way to know all traces (of the infection) have been removed is to install a known clean OS, programs, etc.

If someone has a choice between:

(a) reformatting a HD, reinstalling everything, and then tweaking the computer to get it back to where it was just before the infection (a process that can take many hours if not days), or
(b) using a known clean system image from say, a week ago, updating the OS and installed programs and apps, and being back up and running in about an hour or less,

why would anyone NOT use the system image option? Many stores and internet sites are selling 2TB external USB hard drives for about $100. Too much money or storage space? How about a 500GB external for around $50? Can’t afford the imaging software, you say? Windows 7 provides a free imaging tool that does a more than adequate job. Want some extra bells and whistles not provided by 7? Use Macrium Reflect (free) or Paragon Backup & Recovery 2011 (free).

Stop blaming the anti-malware products and take ownership for your own computer safety. :;):

Have you tried viewing the web page(s) in Compatibility Mode and then try printing?

Bump. Anybody else have any ideas? Since even a format/reinstall hasn’t cured the sleep problem, I’m beginning to think it a hardware issue rather than software. My last diagnostic was with HWMonitor by CPUID. Any other suggestions on what else can I try?

Thank you for replying, CLiNT. I have two power plans on this laptop. One is the default Dell power plan and the other is labeled Power Saver. Both plans show “put computer to sleep” for for battery and plugged in = Never.

27296-Dell-default 27297-power-saver

Hibernate is also disabled. Verified by not appearing as an option in shut down button.

27298-hibernate

Last change to BIOS was March 2010. Also previously tried entering Setup (F2 key) and clicked on Load Setup Defaults upon exiting BIOS. Didn’t help either. Entering sleep mode all the time isn’t so much of a problem when plugged in to a/c. But it’s a hassle on battery power. I have to unplug battery to stop power button from blinking and draining the battery. My fear is the more I have to unplug the battery the more likely that something will wear out or break.

Mr. Leonhard states, “I recommend that you set Windows to Notify but don’t download, using these steps:…”

I would respectfully have to disagree with Mr. Leonhard’s recommendation. According to Microsoft’s own information:

“If you turn on the Update Services, in order for them to properly function some software components on your system that make up or are directly related to the Update Services will need to be updated from time to time. These updates must be performed before the service can check for, download, or install other updates. These required updates fix errors, provide ongoing improvements, and maintain compatibility with the Microsoft servers that support the service. If the Update Services are turned off, you will not receive these updates.

“Update Services are “turned on” if you choose one of the following settings: (i) install updates automatically, (ii) download updates automatically and choose whether to install them, or (iii) receive notifications about updates and choose whether to download and install them. Windows Update service is “turned on” and set to “install updates automatically” when you choose the recommended option during Windows Out Of Box Experience (OOBE) setup.

“If you turn on the Update Services, regardless of which “turned on” setting you have chosen, required updates to some components of the service will be downloaded and installed automatically without further notice to you. If you would prefer not to receive required updates, turn off the Update Services.”

Source: http://update.microsoft.com/windowsupdate/v6/vistaprivacy.aspx?ln=en-us (See paragraph labeled: Required Updates)

If memory serves me correctly, sometime in 2007 or 2008 Microsoft began using what many have called “stealth updates”. Even if a user selected “Download updates but let me choose whether to install them” or “Check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them”, updates would still be installed without any other user input. Microsoft did this to facilitate updating Windows Update itself. Users found out that this practice interfered with automatic backups, etc because computers would re-boot in the middle of a task without any warnings. If this is still the case, and I believe it is, then the only safe option for Updates is to select “Never check for updates (not recommended)”. The user would then have to remember to manually check for updates on a regular basis.

I’ve been using CCleaner for years and I didn’t recall seeing any specific settings for clearing out LSOs. On the CCleaner dashboard, when I go to Cleaner > Applications tab, by default there is a check mark for Multimedia > Adobe Flash Player (as well as Windows Media Player.) After running CCleaner I can go back into the Adobe Settings Manager and none of the LSOs appear to have been deleted. So I went to the CCleaner forums and found this thread:

http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=29175&st=0&p=174431&hl=cleaning%20adobe%20flash%20LSO&fromsearch=1&#entry174431

Towards the bottom one of the moderators (DennisD) offers a solution for eliminating LSOs by using the CCleaner “Include” routine. You have to add the specific folders containing the LSOs to the cleaning routine and CCleaner will then (supposedly) remove the Flash cookies. I would have thought that CCleaner would include them automatically without the user having to manually add the folder(s). And the moderator’s instructions apply to XP because that’s what the original question pertained to. I have no idea if there are any other folders involved that the moderator might have missed. So for that reason I decided to bookmark Adobe Settings Manager and run it whenever I shut down my computer.

If adjusting on screen display, video adapter software, display applet, and any other manual adjustments has no effect on the background, and if it hasn’t been too long since this problem surfaced, try using an earlier system restore point and see if the problem is resolved.

Adding my 2 cents worth, Microsoft’s Security Essentials is free and has been receiving some good reviews from the folks at PC Magazine, Maximum PC magazine, and even our own Fred Langa and Woody Leonhard. Of all the suites I’ve tried, MSE has by far the smallest footprint on my machine. Other suites used anywhere from 70 – 150MB. MSE uses just under 12MB. I supplement MSE with Malwarebytes, Superantispyware, and Trend Micro’s Rootkit Buster. All are free and are used as on demand scanners only. Windows default firewall has also served me well.

I remember what a much more experienced user once told me: “No anti-malware product will ever be 100% effective 100% of the time. Depending on what day of the week it is and the positioning of the sun, moon and stars, whatever anti-malware product is rated #1 today will not necessarily be #1 tomorrow. Use whatever feels right because using something is better than not using anything at all.”

Many legitimate companies offer password recovery tools. If it’s a tool that can be used by the bad guys, many anti-malware vendors will classify it as a Trojan or Virus, even though most of us might need it someday and will use it for good and honest purposes. I’ve used NirSoft products before and they are legitimate. Never caused any issues on any of my computers. You can temporarily turn off your MSE by clicking Settings tab > Real-time protection > uncheck the “turn on” box. You may have to turn off your SmartScreen Filter, too. To see if you’re using SmartScreen Filter, click Tools (in the menu bar, upper left of screen next to File, Edit, View, etc.) and follow the prompts to temporarily disable it. Even if you turn off your MSE the SmartScreen filter will block the NirSoft download. Don’t forget to turn MSE and SmartScreen Filter back on when finished.

Joe ..lol ..I forgot to upload the screen shot,, forgive me plz.
Thank you..

The Search Enhancement Pack is part of the Live toolbar.
You can try removing the Pack itself by clicking Start > Run
then entering the following:
msiexec /x {299CF645-48C7-4FA1-8BCD-5CE200CF180D}
and then click OK.

You might get a message that says it only works with
products that have been installed… Instead, do:
msiexec /x {9C9CEB9D-53FD-49A7-85D2-FE674F72F24E}

ABC is best. No, XYZ is best. But what about QRS? Blah-blah-blah-blah-blah. No anti-virus, or anti-spyware, or anti-anything is 100% effective 100% of the time. Whatever tests are run today by whatever testing company you care to name, will not give the same results a month from now. Virus Bulletin might list ABC as best of show in their April 2010 tests and then list XYZ as best of show two months later. Does anyone on this forum really care if their anti-malware has a 96.4% success rate and mine gets a higher 96.7%? Are you really going to switch based on that test? How about if my choice always scores 0.3% higher than your choice? Will you switch then? Most of us will never be able to tell a difference in EFFECTIVENESS because there are too many variables involved. If your computer is not running the same OS as mine, the same programs, apps, if you don’t visit the same web sites, etc. etc. etc, we will never be able to get an objective test score. What we CAN determine is if ABC makes your computer run slower than XYZ. Or if you get more false positives with XYZ vs. QRS. Or if one is more expensive than another. Or which product your favorite tech writer recommends. That’s how most of decide which anti-whatever we’re going to use. Bottom line is running some kind of anti-malware is better than running nothing at all.

When a user clicks on these links from these fraudulent sites, there is not much any AV app can do. It usually takes a fair amount of work to clean up. There are numerous posts for removal of this particularly virulant nasty. Check these posts:

Bleeping Computer

How To Geek

Ted:
Your first reference takes you to a site that has you download and install Spyware Docter. If you do so, you run a scan. It finds a cookie or two; calls them a threat; and if you want to have these “threats” removed, you have to register and buy the product. No joy. The next time you recommend something like this, I think you ought to put a disclaimer that it’s for a product you have to pay for. This “cure” is almost as bad as the problem people are trying to get rid of, in my opinion.
Dick

In case anyone else missed it, the stuff about Spyware Doctor is an advertisement within the bleepingcomputer.com website. It is NOT a part of the fix. You need to scroll down a bit to find the reference to Malwarebytes scan/removal tool. And Malwarebytes does work as claimed. Sorry, not trying to morph this thread away from original post. But “how many firewalls” segued into a brief discussion about removing malware. Just wanted to clear up any misunderstandings about bleepingcomputer.com being a legitimate site and having decent information, if one scrolls down to find the information.

Fred –

Clarification please.

From your article, “Full-time AV apps don’t work well together…” and “It’s also important to reiterate that, in most cases, running two or more full-time AV tools is bad idea…” and “Disabling an AV tool’s top-level, user-controllable elements is not enough. Its low-level components remain in place — in some cases, still active and still able to interfere with other AV software you might install.”

I’ve always thought there’s a distinct difference between “full-time” and “real-time” as in real-time monitoring. Having an AV tool installed on a computer full-time doesn’t necessarily mean it’s scanning or monitoring the system full-time. In fact, most AV programs have the ability to turn off real-time monitoring for that very reason… avoiding conflicts between two or more AV programs running real-time monitoring. In Microsoft Security Essentials, for example, one can go to Settings tab > Real-time protection and uncheck the box to turn real-time monitoring off. Similar setting controls exist in every AV program I’ve ever used.

Am I really heading for trouble if I have two or more AV programs installed on my machine but have the real-time monitoring turned off on all but one?

Agree with Copernic Desktop Search, free for home users.

http://www.copernic.com/en/products/desktop-search/home/index.html

Been using this for a few years with great results. Call me paranoid but I don’t fully trust Google. Not since it was disclosed how much personal info they store and how willingly they give it out. Google has something called a Web History feature. For a while Google enabled this by default for new accounts. It’s possible a user missed the notice when creating accounts for Gmail, Google Reader, and Google Analytics, to name a few. In a nutshell Google Web History remembers where you’ve been on the web when you’re logged into your Google account. It grabs the URL of pages you’ve visited along with a timestamp. It also records your Google searches. This article gives a lot more info about Google Web History as well as the steps you need to take to view any history that might be stored and how to erase it.

http://www.timeatlas.com/Reviews/Reviews/Google_Web_History_is_a_Personal_Choice

I just don’t feel comfortable giving Google access to even more personal info stored on my hard drive when they already have their own history of storing and divulging web search data. As I said, it’s perfectly OK if you want to call me paranoid.

Mary