We got virused

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny Thank god for the ignore list...

Ignore function, huh? Well, I guess that is so much easier for you than actually admitting that you may have overstated the ease and effectiveness of Windows virus protection?

- C'est la vie...

CFB seems like a bright and knowledgeable guy and often helpful, but a number of his posts just had too much of the 'I'm right, you're wrong, and you're an idiot if you disagree' in them to be helpful to anyone. Since he couldn't let this one go w/o a preemptive strike against the Apple folks, I thought I'd just hold his previous 'proclamations' up to the light of day.

I like to give people the benefit of doubt, but he really confirmed his status as a 'Dish it out but can't take it guy' with that response.


Serious question regarding the source of those virus attacks: OK, looks like Martha got the help she needed to get things cleaned up, good - but I don't think I read anywhere what the original problem was? How would she (or anyone else) protect themselves? Obviously, the virus protection didn't catch it. What went wrong? What should people be doing? How would they know (some of this stuff was told to Martha after-the-fact)?

-ERD50

[Martha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50 Serious question regarding the source of those virus attacks: OK, looks like Martha got the help she needed to get things cleaned up, good - but I don't think I read anywhere what the original problem was? How would she (or anyone else) protect themselves? Obviously, the virus protection didn't catch it. What went wrong? What should people be doing? How would they know (some of this stuff was told to Martha after-the-fact)? -ERD50

Yes, the whole thing is disturbing. Here we have two different virus programs and various spyware programs and the first time I ever get attacked by a virus, nothing catches it. And everyone seems to have their own favorite anti-virus program with no consensus on what is the best.

My computer is twitchy today. It is working fine now but took a half an hour to boot up. Another call into our IT person.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Actually ERD, I made that comment to head off the expected and thoroughly unhelpful "heh, if you had a mac, you wouldnt have a virus". Clearly the preemptive approach doesnt work when dealing with finely honed dickheads.

However, thanks for your analysis. The solution was also already given, in the form of "dont open attachments from people you dont know or arent expecting". But then you've had a problem with reading comprehension before.

Still not a single virus or even the scanner going off on any of my machines. But if you're feeling pretty good about things, give me your email and I'll send you an important attachment to look at. It wont matter much what OS you're running...


This ignore user thing is really helpful, but we need to do something about that 'view post' button...


I guess for everyone else...get a virus scanner...dont install software you dont know anything about, open emails or attachments from people you dont know, and dont count on security through obscurity.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny The solution was also already given, in the form of "dont open attachments from people you dont know or arent expecting".

Yes, that was understood (drop the insults). I was asking, quite seriously, why didn't the virus protection intercept it? It's fine to say 'don't open unsolicited attachments' ( I don't open any to avoid acknowledging spammers, I also keep image previews turned off in emails), but people do slip. I thought the AV programs were supposed to provide another level of protection against that.

Quote:

But if you're feeling pretty good about things, give me your email and I'll send you an important attachment to look at. It wont matter much what OS you're running...

I'm sure that attachment would be real 'cute' and 'family friendly'. Why don't you do something more informative for the Mac and Linux users on the forum - give us a link documenting any current, real-world email attachments that are doing damage out in the OSX world? Not the theoretical, potential, threat-type vulnerabilities - I mean real live exploits that are doing damage.

-ERD50