Journal fractaltiger's Journal: On fixing new comps: Broadband 2
Hi journal!
I've had a weird new type of issue lately: broadband troubleshooting for friends. Last weekend, first, and then today. Basically people with Cable or DSL who have wanted me to check out their connections because they can't connect or had some weird virus lately. Or a combination of both!
Cablevision and Verizon don't provide antivirus software. VZ does offer firewall software on the install CD but you to know what a firewall is to install it because it's optional. People know about viruses nowadays; they don't understand the relationship between a firewall and a fence against hackers that may result in virulent symptoms like speed loss
But back to my main point... I was unsuccessful with the Verizon computer in spite of being familiar with its setup thanks to XP. It required my disabling a running Worm that had the power to shut down the antivirus, regedit and msconfig, and relied on a respawning NT Service backing up the bot.exe process. I'm now getting the hang of XP's networking GUI.
Today, I setup up a firewall and router whose model I own at home. Also, I downloaded the Sygate firewall from download.com and realized that I'll give this a try on my own system.
I've started to see more people getting broadband. In troubleshooting and malware control, Ad-aware is becoming a must-have because everyone seems to be using pop-up inducing P2P programs. To avoid popups, lacking a better choice, my friend does this: start computer, log on to AOL 9 to use the popup "safe" version of IE. He's conscious of tech friends and system flaws, but resisted my suggestion to use a non-IE browser. Too bad. Popups!
Anyway, this was a rambling post. I'm a bit wired. Have been reading articles, listening to a newly found launch.yahoo.com "music/radio" via a friend, and rating the music on it.
You betcha (Score:3, Informative)
Re:You betcha (Score:2)