My borthers PC again

[greenbrucelee]

Well I got a call the other day from my brother saying his PC is taking about 20 minutes to boot as you may remmeber I got rid of one of those ccbill popups that kept showing itself and about 20 other viruses. His PC is around 5 years old.

Would it still be possible for me to upgrade it or am I better to tell him to get shot of it and use his new laptop instead?

The sate the PC was in last time I saw it it was a complete mess with registry errors, adware, greyware, and malware although I got rid of them all could all of those caused permanent damage to his PC?

As from what he has told me its completely knackered.

He has told me he doesnt mind if it needs scrapped as long as I can get some files of it to put on his laptop.

[BosonMichael]

There's only one problem with telling him to use his new laptop instead...

...within days/weeks, his laptop will be filled with malware.

The problem isn't the hardware... it's the usage of the hardware. If your brother doesn't change the behavior that caused him to get the malware in the first place, malware will continue to be a problem for him.

You'd be surprised what a clean install will do for the speed of an old system. Techies don't do a clean install on their home box every couple of years (or less) just for kicks, ya know. ;)

[greenbrucelee]

Originally Posted by BosonMichael

There's only one problem with telling him to use his new laptop instead...

...within days/weeks, his laptop will be filled with malware.

The problem isn't the hardware... it's the usage of the hardware. If your brother doesn't change the behavior that caused him to get the malware in the first place, malware will continue to be a problem for him.

You'd be surprised what a clean install will do for the speed of an old system. Techies don't do a clean install on their home box every couple of years (or less) just for kicks, ya know. ;)

I did try to explain to him how to use his PC to keep it safe from malware etc but unfortunately he has young children who I think go on all sorts of dodgy sites so trying to keep them in check may be hardest thing to do. I doubt he had any parental control software on it but when I look at it I am going to have a look at histroy logs and see what sort of sites are being looked at and see if I can find some software to filter out any of the crap.

This is probably another example of the average joe who has absolutely no idea about safe computer usage, but also the same type of people who as soon as you start explaining a good way to keep safe online etc that it goes in one ear and out the other.

I am having a look at it tommorow after work and I'll see whats what then, I just hope he does have some disks as a fresh install sounds about the best way to get it up and running again.

[Sparky]

Fresh install sounds good mate. It could probably do with a RAM upgrade as well as PCs that old could ship with 256MB when XP first came out.

Put some decent AV on it, give the kids a limited user account and perhaps get some web filtering software as well.

If you can try and get a copy of Service Pack 3 for XP, the guys at your work might get a Technet subscription, this will mean you wont have to wait for hours downloading patches for the OS after the clean install. Again as the PC is so old the media might not have any service packs on it.

[greenbrucelee]

it does have mccafee on it but when I looked at it the last time there hadn't been a definition upgrade for months plus his wireless software had no encryption on it but I sorted that out last time so I am not sure what I will find when I see it.

[Sparky]

Originally Posted by greenbrucelee

it does have mccafee on it but when I looked at it the last time there hadn't been a definition upgrade for months plus his wireless software had no encryption on it but I sorted that out last time so I am not sure what I will find when I see it.

Hopefully it isnt the original OS that shipped with the PC, it probably hasnt been updated since the free trial finished.

[Stoney]

For a quick and easy solution to block websites do the following;

a) Make a list of the URL's you want to ban.
b) On the pc navigate to %systemroot%\drivers\etc
c) Open the Hosts file using Notepad
d) For each URL create an entry pointing to 127.0.0.1 as follows

127.0.0.1 naughtysite.com #Add a comment here if you want


Now when users try to access the site it will point to the localhost on the machine and will not actually load anything.

I also find this a great way to prevent annoying advertisement windows that load when you access some web sites.

[Sparky]

Originally Posted by Stoney

For a quick and easy solution to block websites do the following;

a) Make a list of the URL's you want to ban.
b) On the pc navigate to %systemroot%\drivers\etc
c) Open the Hosts file using Notepad
d) For each URL create an entry pointing to 127.0.0.1 as follows

127.0.0.1 naughtysite.com #Add a comment here if you want


Now when users try to access the site it will point to the localhost on the machine and will not actually load anything.

I also find this a great way to prevent annoying advertisement windows that load when you access some web sites.

Quick and easy?

Surely you would have to type hundreds of URLS?

[Stoney]

Well it depends how may you have!

But as a no-cost solution it works.

[greenbrucelee]

no doubt there would be a lot to block, I 'll have a look and maybe get my brother to buy some software that does all that, cos I can't be arsed typing a million lines in notepad.

Its ok Stoney My brother earns over 50k a year he isn't short of cash.

[Stoney]

Originally Posted by greenbrucelee

no doubt there would be a lot to block, I 'll have a look and maybe get my brother to buy some software that does all that, cos I can't be arsed typing a million lines in notepad.

Its ok Stoney My brother earns over 50k a year he isn't short of cash.

Well in that case I think you should persuade him to shell out on some software to manage it for him.

[greenbrucelee]

Originally Posted by Stoney

Well in that case I think you should persuade him to shell out on some software to manage it for him.

yeah I'll have a look for some.

[BosonMichael]

Originally Posted by greenbrucelee

I did try to explain to him how to use his PC to keep it safe from malware etc but unfortunately he has young children who I think go on all sorts of dodgy sites so trying to keep them in check may be hardest thing to do. I doubt he had any parental control software on it but when I look at it I am going to have a look at histroy logs and see what sort of sites are being looked at and see if I can find some software to filter out any of the crap.

This is probably another example of the average joe who has absolutely no idea about safe computer usage, but also the same type of people who as soon as you start explaining a good way to keep safe online etc that it goes in one ear and out the other.

I am having a look at it tommorow after work and I'll see whats what then, I just hope he does have some disks as a fresh install sounds about the best way to get it up and running again.

Just as long as he knows that all your work will eventually be for naught if the behavior continues, regardless of whose behavior it is.

[kevicho]

Originally Posted by BosonMichael

Just as long as he knows that all your work will eventually be for naught if the behavior continues, regardless of whose behavior it is.

You could always advise your brother to put on a system boot password and then watch/parent his kids while they are on the net.
Then they "shouldnt" be on dodgy sites.

[kevicho]

Originally Posted by kevicho

You could always advise your brother to put on a system boot password and then watch/parent his kids while they are on the net.
Then they "shouldnt" be on dodgy sites.

or you could just install ubuntu and show them where firefox is ;)