| Guys, meet my new BF. His name is Murphy... |
[Jul. 8th, 2008|01:53 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | computer | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  exhausted | ] |
| [ | music |
| | hum of the system | ] |
frackingdammedfoolpainintheassweek...
Murphy once said "If something can go wrong, it will fracking GO wrong..."
and boy was he not kidding.
About a month ago, I was given a computer by someone who said that it was acting "weird" Well my suspections was well founded. Loaded with malware. Because (sigh) They took off all the protections, cause it was inconvenient That's fine I love taking $50 from you.
Well this was one of those REALLY bad cases, not only did it had about every type of malware on the market, but also it was infected with 3 root kits. A week later, with they're permission I wiped and reinstalled Windows from scratch. Thanks to MS's insanity or stupidity they gave rootkits the perfect environment to stay in for good. NOTHING I did got rid of it. It either mutated, or moved, or frankly gave me the finger. But nothing software can survive a wipe and re-install.
yet...
Well last week I was doing a routine maintainer and full system scan of malware, and yep, you guessed it. SOMEHOW a root kit was put on my system. No idea how but anymore I'm not a bit surprised. Even with the best security somehow they can sneak in. So after the experience with the system above, I thought. Just wipe the system and reinstall.
So I wiped the system and reinstalled.
BIG MISTAKE!!!
#1 I tried Terabyte disk imager once again. It works finally with the SATA drives, But I restored it wrong, and destroyed the partition table on my 1st HD. ARRRGGGGG!!! There went all my work directory, all the files I'd been meaning to burn and archive...everything wiped CLEAN. Thankfully I did back up the work drive, and the storage drive was already backed up. It'll take days to rebuild the work drive. I'm not even going to rebuild the storage drive until I get the storage server built.
#2 Since I had the time I DLed updates for all programs that I use, that needed such. Always a good idea. (probably the ONLY good idea) So I thought I'd try to make a nLITE version of Win2k. I incorporated Win2k SP4 into it. That didn't work right. It had settings wrong and it was a mess. So I reinstalled a fresh copy of Win2k - the factory type.
Because SP4 was on the work partition, and I didn't back it up, I had to DL SP4 again - 2+ hour DL. Got it installed. Then found my startup disk was missing. All the stuff I use to install Windows gone. Dissipated, kaput... Another 3 hours of DLing to get all the stuff I need, auto patcher, searching around for the daylight savings time patch for Win2k. You name it. Finally after 2 days the system is working, with the critical stuff installed and configured.
Thunderbird is the royal class ASS in setting up.
Now I find that ketnar.org's mail system is completely down. ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) frosttalon sent me a story they're working on for me. I'll post it in it's entirety on my web site once I get permission and it's fully in.
Anyway, I managed to putty into ketnar, tried 4 different e-mail programs till I found they use MUTT. Figured out how to save the attachment, and got it on the HD. (I've left it on the server just in case something else screws up...) and loved it! :) Quite a blessing from the shitass week I've had.
But now I'm totally worn out, needing a long break from the systems. So the next week I'll get caught up on replies, and stay off the system as much as I can.
This did have some benefits. I always try to see the reason for something bad happening. In this case, the system was getting long in the tooth. (See srain? I can keep a Windows system running a long time!) It was over a year since I re-installed it last, and even with the maintenance, it was running into problems. But I found that the imager works with the SATA drives finally, and nLITE works too (It's just I don't work right at times :). So I'll use my laptop as an experiment to get both of these things working. Once I get them working, then I'll re-install zeus again so I can make that virginal copy, and the installed copy. Then I can wipe and reinstall every 6 months or if I get malware, and not have to do all this shit over again. Especially since I have more important things to do, than do something MS should have made a fracking lot easier!
For ones who came into my LJ late: Virginal copy means a copy of Windows installed; All service packs, fully updated (via autopatcher one of the BEST programs available), fully malware scanned and cleaned, plus amour installed (Zonealarm, BOClean, Spyware guard, a memory manager), drivers, etc. A copy ready for programs. Then a installed copy - The virtual copy + programs I normally used and ready to go. Installed is where I'm at now.
30 - 60 minutes after a wipe and the system is back on line. That's what I'm looking for. Not 18h like it takes now.
So anyway, I'm thinking of kicking Murphy out. But don't want him to go on the street, anyone want to give him a home?
- Shado |
|
|
curious
amused
blank
Reachelle Marie Smith