Well, malware like the program you describe can usually only harm you if a) you aren't running an antivirus program, and b) you actually install the malicious program. So first, you need to install some sort of antivirus software (I use AVG). But even beyond that, unless you tell whoever is using the computer not to just run random executable files, nothing is going to stop this from happening again.
People bust on Windows because of it's sad record of past security (though it is far better now) and the range of virus threats due to its dominant market share. But the reality is that simply not installing unknown software will prevent virtually all these problems, even without antivirus. I've had Windows systems for 20 years and I have never had a virus. I've never even had my antivirus program intercept a virus. Ever. It's really not difficult. So I don't say this to make you feel bad, but just to point out that with a small amount of precaution the next time, you can make this an extremely unlikely scenario. Brian On Wed, Sep 7, 2011 at 9:28 PM, Peter Donahue <pdonah...@satx.rr.com> wrote: > > Good evening everyone, > > This past week must have been computer-workstation die-off or something. My > wife's computer became infected with the PC Performance Virus. This thing > is > a nasty as it locked her out of many of her programs, caused a black screen > to appear when the monitor was turned on and the computer booted in to > Windows, messages from Twitter and God only knows where else to be > displayed > and wouldn't allow her to see any of her data files. > > The tech we took it to said that this is a very malicious virus and is > difficult to clean. You might as well say that the computer was "Dead on > arrival" at the shop with no chance of being revived. We have one HP and > two > Dell machines here. The machine that was infected was a Dell desktop. This > HP I use is rock solid. Mary has had a Gateway and a Dell both of which > died > an early death. The Gateway was fried several years ago due to an > over-loaded surge protector. The virus killed the Dell. Here's hoping the > next machine we get will withstand anything thrown at it and will last her > for many years. Surge protectors and viruses aside both of these brands are > great and we'll get a new desktop that's one of them. Here's hoping > everyone > is able to resolve their computer and workstation woes in the coming weeks. > > Peter Donahue > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Dan Crouch" <stario...@yahoo.com> > To: "cf-talk" <cf-talk@houseoffusion.com> > Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2011 6:41 PM > Subject: Re: Workstation recommendations > > > > I got an Asus laptop last year. It was RMAed back to them 4 times before > they finally sent me an exchange. The exchange arrived with a broken > screen. > So it had to be RMAed back. It was the worst customer service I have ever > dealt with. You will probably get a lot of different opinions on brands, > but > I will never buy another Asus product. > > Dan > > >For workstations, I have always been happy with Dell. > > > >If you go the laptop route, either Dell or Toshiba (high end model.. not > >the > >satellite). > > > > > >My HP desktop at work died last night. This morning we took the hard drive > >out and put it into another box whose drive had died a couple months ago. > >It > >worked at first, but after about 20 minutes it croaked too. > > > >Anyway, I'll be shopping for a new desktop and just wondered what brands > >people recommend these days. I'll probably stay away from HP and plan to > >stay with a Windows machine. I run CF Developer, SQL Server Mgt Studio, CF > >Builder, Adobe Creative Suite (primarily DW and PS), MS Office, and > various > >browsers and other tools. > > > >Dell? > >Lenovo? > >Asus (seems to be mostly gaming oriented)? > >Acer? > >Gateway? > >Others? > > > >Thanks, > > > >-Matt > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-talk/message.cfm/messageid:347301 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-talk/unsubscribe.cfm
