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Am I allowed to have a freaking vacation???

GTaudiophile

GTaudiophile

Lifer
Long story short, I have lots of vacation days left to take before the year ends, so I took the entire week off for Thanksgiving. I'm not even home (dad's house) for two hours when he calls me into his office to complain that Outlook won't start properly. Keep in mind, I JUST reformatted/reinstalled his machine no more than 10 days ago!!! So, I see that Outlook isn't running. Then I notice that MS AntiSpyWare and Norton AV are also NOT running. So, I try to run both manually via START>Programs. Nope! I got a strange Windows error on both attempts.

I'm like, "Dad, WTF did you do???"
He says, "Well, I was on the phone, chatting with a friend, when I absent-mindedly decided to check my e-mail through EarthLink Webmail [something he NEVER does]. I then saw this e-mail from FBI.GOV, asking me to download this attachment, so I clicked on it."
Me: "NO!!! What were you thinking!?! Don't you think if the FBI wanted to contact you, they would appear at your door or something?"
Dad: No response. Begins tirade wondering why all virus authors haven't been found and executed. Tempers flare!
Me: Well, ******, there goes my first evening of vacation! Thanks, dad!

I googled "FBI.GOV virus" and found that he had been infected by a variant of the SOBER virus, something that would likely not have happened had he simply downloaded his e-mail normally and let the EarthLink Spam filters and Norton AV do their job. Anyway, after about two hours I got to the root of the situation, deleted some files, made some changes via regedit and msconfig, and for good measure, installed AVG Free, and deleted a few more infected files.

So, I just wrapped up another computer fix-it job for dad!

This whole IT thing is getting old...fast! I am starting to hate computers!!!
 
So did you charge him a case of beer and some food for your work?
I hope you got something out of it.
 
As an IT worker you will be cursed to know all thing about all things that plug in. Family computers are the least of your problems.
 
well if people listen, such as 2 of my friends, i set up there computers and locked them down as tight as i could, i showed them how to run scans and what programs they should use in favor of others (like firefox) i also added online virus scanners to their favorites (such as trend micro, panda scan, and bit defender) i also showed them how to run them

i hardly ever have to fix anything on their computers

but then again they actually listened to me instead of thinking i can wait on them hand and foot and disregarding everything i said 😉
 
So what do I hear on the news this morning when I turn on the radio?

That this "FBI" virus is pretty widespread, and this was no fluke.

So, besides AVG Free, Norton and McAfee, what other free anti-virus programs can you all recommend?
 
I'm really half worried that my dad is going to manage to download that file on his computer at home or worse yet on his computer at his office, and he's going to neeed me to fix it.
 
Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
So what do I hear on the news this morning when I turn on the radio?

That this "FBI" virus is pretty widespread, and this was no fluke.

So, besides AVG Free, Norton and McAfee, what other free anti-virus programs can you all recommend?
Click to expand...

Intelligence
 
Originally posted by: jewno
next time, tell your dad to call you if he sees something fishy.
Click to expand...

No, next time tell him to find the local repair shops number in the phone book and call them.
 
Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
So what do I hear on the news this morning when I turn on the radio?

That this "FBI" virus is pretty widespread, and this was no fluke.

So, besides AVG Free, Norton and McAfee, what other free anti-virus programs can you all recommend?
Click to expand...

Norton = teh suck
McAffee = teh suck

AVG is good.

Symantec Corporate is good (It's what I run...but not free unless company provided like mine is).
 
That sucks. It's why I got out of IT, I don't have the patience to deal with people who ignore explicit warnings and instructions on how to avoid viruses & spyware. Unfortunately, like you, I still have to deal with it from family 🙁
 
I'm not in IT, but luckily have a family with a little common sense. When they all started buying pc's in the 90's, I told 'em all what to watch out for, to make certain they had antivirus that was updated, and not to open any attachment unless they know what it is, and who it came from.

The best advice to give folks is to tell them to be suspicious of any attachment, no matter who it comes from. And if they're not sure, it only takes a minute to e-mail someone back, and ask them if they sent you something. You might consider adding your dad's own e-mail address to his address book. Then if he starts noticing that he's getting e-mails from himself, it's likely he has an e-mail spreading virus. 🙂
 
I solved the problem by telling my parents that they should never, ever click on a link or open an attachment in email unless they personally know who sent it. And if they ever do, it will probably screw up their computer and I won't fix it.

They know I'll help with hardware problems but not with self-inflicted wounds.
 
See the problem is that you're being too nice! Just point dear old Dad to the instructions on how to remove the virus, and let him have at it!

Once he finds out what a pain in the ass it is to disinfect a computer, he'll be more careful next time. And, who knows... He might learn enough to know how to clean it himself next time.
 
Originally posted by: RGN
As an IT worker you will be cursed to know all thing about all things that plug in. Family computers are the least of your problems.
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lol, how true is that!!

I've been working with computers for about 11 or so years now. 5 of those years have actually been working with them as part of my job. tech support for rite aid for 4 and now as a network admin for 1 year so far.

my parents aren't very computer literate. my mom is better than my dad because she actually tries to do stuff and explores (which is usually the best way to learn). my dad just wants to do what he needs to do and thats it.

i'm constantly answering questions about their computers.

then you get the, hey why isn't the DVD player working? how do i do this with the TV? How do I add people to my new cell phone. and it just goes on and on. and its not just them. i get people at work or other family members that think that because i know something about computers, i know everything about them. like my uncle has some kind of photo software and he asked me how to do something in it. i'm just thinking, how the hell should i know? i never heard of the program, lol.

the worst part is when you tell someone you don't know about a piece of hardware or software, they're like, "but i thought you were the computer guy?" drives me nuts!!

lately i keep wondering why i ever got into the computer field...
 
Fix it one last time - do a clean windows install, along with all of the apps he likes to use, then make a ghost image. Write down the instructions on how to boot from the ghost CD, and then whenever he has a problem, refer to the ghost instructions.
 
Originally posted by: kranky
I solved the problem by telling my parents that they should never, ever click on a link or open an attachment in email unless they personally know who sent it. And if they ever do, it will probably screw up their computer and I won't fix it.

They know I'll help with hardware problems but not with self-inflicted wounds.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately that's not good enough any more. A lot of the more recent worms harvest email addresses out of your contact list or other emails in your inbox and send things out using the names of people you know.

So you do get emails from people you know and depending on the virus, it might actually have an attachment that doesn't look suspicious.

One worm a few years ago grabbed random word docs out of "My Docments" and added a .scr or .pif to the end of the document. Someone at work got infected, the virus harvested other people in the offices email addresses, and sent out a file from infected persons "My Documents" folder that other people just happened to be expecting to receive at that particular time.

Bam. Several people hit. It was a day zero hit that wasn't picked up by the antivirus programs. And it was before I was approved the funds to install a gateway level antivirus product on the Exchange box. I got my approval after that one 🙂
 
I get probably 10 of those stupid messages every day starting on Monday. I know I shoudl get back to the FBI but I'm sure they want to not have too much work to do for the holidays as well so I'm going to be sure to get back to them next week. 😉
 
Originally posted by: RGN
As an IT worker you will be cursed to know all thing about all things that plug in. Family computers are the least of your problems.
Click to expand...

And as a male IT worker, you will be expected to move any and all furniture as well.
 
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