I've just spent two days cleaning msblaster out and reinstalling XP in a friends PC. He has an ADSL connection and the damned msblaster/lovesan got in. I got the patch, removed the worm and in about one minute it was back in. I unplugged the ADSL line and patched Windows. Used the Symantec cleaner to remove the virus and went back on line -- less than a minute later the virus was back and Outlook express stopped working completely. I backed up his data files onto CD and formatted the hard drive. After reinstalling XP (Home edition) we got the patch (Finnish version - English didn't work) downloaded AVG and Zonealarm. After going on line again it was a minute before AVG found Lovesan and removed it. The Symantec routine had failed. In two minutes Zonealarm had blocked access from an address that seemed unfamiliar. All together this was a frustrating, marathon effort, complicated by the fact that I can't stand Finnish versions of Windows and have a terrible time navigating the menus. Not to mention the awful XP user interface which I changed as soon as possible. I think his PC is clear now. But I wouldn't bet on it. The thing comes back any number of times from different PCs all over the place and only a firewall helps. I have two: a SpeedStream ADSL modem which is also a firewall and Zonealarm. I have also found AVG to be better than any other AV program to date.
Don _______________ Dr E D F Williams http://personal.inet.fi/cool/don.williams Author's Web Site and Photo Gallery Updated: July 31, 2003 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Boris Liberman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2003 11:54 AM Subject: Re: OT Virus warning (no hoax beleive me) :-( > Hi! > > On Thu, 14 Aug 2003 18:30:48 +1000 > Paul Ewins <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >I stopped doing that when one of those XP updates disabled my cable > >modem. > >The general rule of thumb at work for our *home* machines is to > >install > >service packs only. For the machines at work, mostly Win2000, we do a > >couple > >of days testing before applying each of the patches. > > > >Paul Ewins > >Melbourne, Australia > > I tend to second that opinion. My brother, whom I trust to be an > excellent sys admin for all Windoze OSes, warned me of essentially the > same possibility. Even more, after yet another update Win2000 (and > probably WinXP too) could potentially stop booting all together. > > It is a matter of company policy and agility of sys admin, I suppose. > > At home I have Win98 machine and it seems to me that at least on the > advantages of yestertech <grin> is that nowadays it makes relatively > little interest for virus writers and others of that kind... > > Boris > > P.S. Here we are, Pentax photographers <grin> having very intense talk > about viruses and Windoze OSes <grin>. >
