hey everybody, looks like I may be out of commision for a little while. My computer has contracted a virus that wont let me download any knid of security updates. My brother came over and looked at it last night and said whatever it was it must be buried pretty deep. Most likely has attached itself to the registry and the only cure is going to be to back up and personal files and wipe the hard drive, then reinstall the operating system. I have a firewall on my box but evidently the "hackers" have found ways around that. A word of advice to all those out there with cable connections (LAN) or DSL...if this makes your computer a node on a larger network and you generally dont shut your box down when you arent using it, then make sure you at least log off before you leave...that way your operating system is not active and cannot be accessed without administator priviledge...hope to be back up and running soon...will be able to post some from work but thats about it...no paintshopping for while.

Good luck.

Dont worry that caught me good last month. First thing it cleared was my XP recovery system. I contracted it through Internet explorer. My main function is Aol now, a lil more secure, Mozilla firfox is good. Instead of a firewall i use Avast. Excellent constant running blocker that works excellent. It notifies you automaticly when a file is corrupted and wont allow it to install itself. I suggest giving it try. If you want to give it a spin get it at Cnet.com under downloads. Cnet uses its advanced scanner so each file is safe to download. I highly recomend it. Hell to tell you the truth, try to download a virus. It just wont let you. ( My mistake of installing it on my girlfreinds comp. When we broke up i tryed everything to get around it but avast is too damn good ) hehe.

Hope all goes well and doesn't cost you much T-Bat.

These days it might be cheaper to buy a new computer.

That's a thought.....

AOL is just a notch above IE. Fire Fox is good. But their is a downside. More and more people are switching to Firefox so more hackers are starting to key into it. I use Avant and for firewall and virus protection I use Zone Alarm.

For free downloads and computer support check out my buddies website
www.limpsworld.com

I agree. And a decent router will help. I love my wireless router.

Recommend just getting a router.

Wireless is bad. They are easy to tap into and have bandwidth stolen. Just food for thought.

Apparently if you have enough skill, you can hack a wireless router with a laptop if you're near enough to receive the signal. But only if you have the skill and a laptop and you don't get caught.

Other than that, I think wireless is fine. We haven't had any problems.

meh. I have 128 bit encryption and I don't broadcast my SSID.

I'm sure it's possible to hack into, but I'd notice the doofus sitting in a car outside my house.

Any PC can be hacked into, it's just a matter of how badly someone wants your data. Personally, I don't have much data worth hacking.

EDIT: By the way, I have my old router for sale if anyone is interested let me know.

T-bat, easy fix, just back it up and reformat... Problem solved. Yes, if you leave your wireless connection open, "wardrivers" can use your connection if they're close enough with their laptop. AOL isn't a notch above anything, AOL is shit, and don't use IE either, it's got too many leaks. I recommend Firefox with XP. Firewall programs are helpful, but still don't block everything. Buying a router/firewall is the best way to keep out hackers.

I already have the ZoneAlarm firewall, but I had a short subscription lapse and I think thats when it happened, either that or it came in on one of those bad mp3 files I've downloaded...at anyrate, reformat was actually the first choice but I think now I'm going to pop for the hard drive...I can get a 120G for about $80-$90 after rebate (even an 80G would be twice the size of my present drive)...since I've already upgraded the RAM, this seems like the next choice...plus doing the install will give a chance to clean out the box adn installing the opsystem on a blank drive leaves little chance anything will get carried over...good thing I've got access here at work! thanx for all the input fellas!

Good luck