New computer Virus and how to clean MyDoom
WHAT IS IT?
W32/[email protected] spreads via e-mail. The Microsoft Product Support Services Security Team is issuing this alert to advise customers to be on the alert for this virus as it spreads in the wild. Customers are advised to review the information and take the appropriate action for their environments.
IMPACT OF ATTACK:
Mass Mailing, Denial of Service
TECHNICAL DETAILS(UPDATED):
For additional details on this worm from anti-virus software vendors participating in the Microsoft Virus Information Alliance (VIA) please visit the following links:
Network Associates:
http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_100988.htm
Trend Micro:
http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/virusencyclo/default5.asp?VName=WORM_MYD
OOM.B
Symantec
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/[email protected]
Computer Associates:
http://www3.ca.com/virusinfo/virus.aspx?ID=38114
DETECTION (UPDATED):
Most up to date Antivirus software can detect this virus. If you don't have AV software you can run some third party software to detect it:
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/
For more information on Microsoft's Virus Information Alliance please visit this link:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/secur
ity/topics/virus/via.asp
Please contact your Antivirus Vendor for additional details on this virus.
PREVENTION:
Outlook 2000 post SP2 and Outlook 2002 SP2 include the most recent updates to improve the security in Outlook and other Office programs.
To ensure you are using the latest version of Office click here:
http://office.microsoft.com/ProductUpdates/default.aspx
By default, Outlook 2000 pre SR1 and Outlook 98 did not include these updates, but it can be obtained by installing the Outlook E-mail Security Update. More information about the Outlook E-mail Security Update can be found here:
http://office.microsoft.com/Downloads/2000/Out2ksec.aspx
Outlook Express 6 can be configured to block access to potentially-damaging attachments. Information about how to configure this can be found here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q291387
Outlook Express all other versions: Previous versions of Outlook Express do not contain attachment-blocking functionality. Please exercise extreme caution when opening unsolicited e-mail messages with attachments.
Web-based e-mail programs: Use of an application-level firewall can protect you from being infected with this virus through Web-based e-mail programs.
RECOVERY (UPDATED):
If your computer has been infected with this virus, please contact your preferred antivirus vendor or Microsoft Product Support Services for assistance with removing it.
A potential symptom of infection with the MyDoom.B Virus is that you are you unable to visit your Antivirus vendors website or various Microsoft websites such as support.microsoft.com or windowsupdate.microsoft.com.
If you are experiencing these symptoms please use the following manual commands to enable access to these websites:
Go to Start Run and type cmd to get a command prompt. Within the command prompt, type the following commands:
- del /F %systemroot%system32driversetchosts [enter]
- echo # Temporary HOSTS file >%systemroot%system32driversetchosts
[enter]
- attrib +R %systemroot%system32driversetchosts [enter]
On Windows NT, you must reboot after typing these commands.
On Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows 2003, you do not need to reboot. Instead, you must type the following command:
- ipconfig /flushdns [enter]
If you have any questions regarding this alert please let me know.
Geeks Put the Unsavvy on Alert: Learn or Log Off
By AMY HARMON
Published: February 5, 2004
hen Scott Granneman, a technology instructor, heard that one of his former students had clicked on a strange e-mail attachment and infected her computer with the MyDoom Internet virus last week, empathy did not figure anywhere in his immediate response.
"You actually got infected by the virus?" he wrote in an e-mail message to the former student, Robin Woltman, a university grant administrator. "You, Robin? For shame!"
As MyDoom, the fastest-spreading virus ever, continues to clog e-mail in-boxes and disrupt business, the computer-savvy are becoming openly hostile toward the not-so-savvy who unwittingly play into the hands of virus writers.
The tension over the MyDoom virus underscores a growing friction between technophiles and what they see as a breed of technophobes who want to enjoy the benefits of digital technology without making the effort to use it responsibly.
The virus spreads when Internet users ignore a basic rule of Internet life: never click on an unknown e-mail attachment. Once someone does, MyDoom begins to send itself to the names in that person's e-mail address book. If no one opened the attachment, the virus's destructive power would never be unleashed.
"It takes affirmative action on the part of the clueless user to become infected," wrote Scott Bowling, president of the World Wide Web Artists Consortium, expressing frustration on the group's discussion forum. "How to beat this into these people's heads?"
Many of the million or so people who have so far infected their computers with MyDoom say it is not their fault. The virus often comes in a message that appears to be from someone they know, with an innocuous subject line like "test" or "error." It is human nature, they say, to open the mail and attachments.
But computer sophisticates say it reflects a willful ignorance of basic computer skills that goes well beyond virus etiquette. At a time when more than two-thirds of American adults use the Internet, they say, such carelessness is no longer excusable, particularly when it messes things up for everyone else.
For years, many self-described computer geeks seemed eager to usher outsiders onto their electronic frontier. Everyone, it seemed, had a friend or family member in the geek elite who could be summoned — often frequently — in times of computer crisis.
But as those same friends and family members are called upon again and again to save the computer incompetents from themselves, the geeks' patience is growing thin. As it does, a new kind of digital divide is opening up between populations of computer users who must coexist in the same digital world.
"Viruses are just the tip of the iceberg," said Bill Melcher, who runs his own technical support business in San Francisco. "When it comes to computers, a lot of intelligent people and fast learners just decide that they don't know."
Many of the computationally confused say they suffer from genuine intimidation and even panic over how to handle the mysterious machines they have come to rely on for so much of daily life. Virus writers, spammers and scammers, they say, are the ones who should be held accountable for the chaos they cause.
But as the same people equip themselves with fancy computers and take advantage of the Internet for things like shopping and banking, critics say that their perpetual state of confusion has begun to get tiresome. And while the Internet's traditional villains remain elusive, those inadvertently helping them tend to be friends and neighbors.
Some in the technocamp imagine requiring a license to operate a computer, just like the one required to drive a car. Others are calling for a punishment that fits a careless crime. People who click on virus attachments, for instance, could be cut off by their Internet service providers until they proved that their machines had been disinfected.
And some, tired of being treated like free help lines, are beginning to rebel. They are telling friends, relatives and random acquaintances to figure it out on their own.
"Go out, get a book," suggests Zack Rubenstein, 28, who has for years provided free technical support for his extended social network. "You went to college and you got a degree, you obviously can learn something. Play around with it; it's not going to kill you."
Mr. Rubenstein, a member of the technical support staff at a New York City law school he thought it best not to identify, is not at liberty to dispense such advice at work. Instead, he answers endless calls about malfunctioning monitors that turn out not to be plugged in, and broken printers that start working again as soon as he removes the single piece of paper obviously jamming them.
"Especially dealing with academics," Mr. Rubenstein added, "you'd think they'd have some ability to deduce or think problems through for a minute."
Not so long ago, he took pleasure in showing people around the brave new digital world that he moved in with such ease. Now that everyone has a technical question, he says, being a tour guide has lost its charm.
But his girlfriend, Miriam Tauber, 24, makes no apologies for her lack of computer knowledge. To her, computers are like "moody people" who behave illogically. If people like Mr. Rubenstein expect her to understand them, she suggests, perhaps they should learn to speak in a language she can understand, rather than ridiculous acronyms and suffixes.
"There are these MP3's and PDF's and a million other things that you don't even know what they are," Ms. Tauber said. "I don't feel like I need to figure out computers, because my instinct is there's just no way."
Still, if there is any evidence that the antagonism of the technical elite is having an effect, it may be in the mounting degree of shame among those who make obvious mistakes, or ask obvious questions too often.
When Julie Dillon, 33, had trouble installing a wireless card in her Macintosh laptop last weekend, for instance, she stopped herself from calling a friend three blocks away who works for Apple Computer because she knows he is besieged.
"There's this whole complicated interchange — are you calling them as a friend or are you calling them as tech support — and I definitely feel a little bit guilty," said Ms. Dillon, a musician in San Francisco. "It's a fine line that has changed because I remember a few years ago it was no big deal."
Instead, Ms. Dillon called Mr. Melcher, who has built his technical support business in part on referrals from friends who no longer wanted to handle the demands of other friends.
Ms. Dillon, who considers her laptop "a blessing" that helps her promote her music, said she was happy to pay for the help. She has also frequently received technical support in exchange for dinner, and, once, for a song.
Even parents are being left to fend for themselves as their children tire of dispensing advice.
David Hale, 25, a lawyer in St. Louis, said he had rebuilt his parents' virus-ridden computer from scratch several times in recent months before he learned that his father, Dale, was replying to every piece of his spam e-mail, asking to be taken off the spammers' mailing lists. Dale Hale, 47, also frequently clicked on pop-up ads that appeared to be messages from Microsoft telling him to upgrade his computer.
"It would cause fights between my parents because they would argue about whether a particular one was legitimate and I'm like, `It is NEVER legitimate,' " said Mr. Hale, who explained as patiently as he could that answering spam and clicking on pop-ups only invite more of the same.
After that, Dale Hale said, his son would sometimes become frustrated by his and his wife's questions. They in turn would get frustrated with their son's instructions, especially over the phone. Eventually they bought antivirus software.
"We've learned by the lumps and bumps," the father said.
(People who had installed the major antivirus software programs from companies like McAfee were largely protected from the MyDoom virus after downloading updates available a few hours after the virus's appearance on Jan. 26.)
Perhaps the one thing that technophobes and technophiles can agree on is that software companies like Microsoft should make things easier and more secure for all kinds of computer users. But Microsoft, whose Web site has so far withstood a continuing attack by the MyDoom virus, had a reminder for users, too.
"Responsibility is shared," said Scott Charney, Microsoft's chief security strategist. "With some of these viruses that require user action, people have a responsibility to be careful and protect themselves."
Calendaring Options
At work one of the things I'm researching is alternatives to Meeting Maker. There is alot I could put in this about why I'm looking at it, but this isn't my Project Proposal. Mostly I wanted to keep some key links to other products.
One of the key factors is the rising need for mobility. Getting calendar to my Blackberry, Pocket PC, or a Palm is an easy thing on Lotus Notes or Exchange. But its a bit of a challenge from Meeting Maker. It supports Palm, and IntelliSync... but its a Sync to Outlook, then a since to your device.
Meeting Maker Intellisync - An additional product you buy per user
Exchange Resource Manager - If you do use Exchange, you will want to have improved conference room management utilizing this tool. I still want to find a way to get drinks and projector requests working through the same interface.
Sumatra - Will migrate your Meeting Maker databases to other products. Mostly Oracle Collaboration Suite and Exchange.
Manual Migration from Meeting Maker to Outlook - There is no way to import data into Meeting maker, but you can definately export your Meeting Maker calendar, and massage the data, then import it into Outlook. Outlook is very flexible for importing and exporting data in and out of.
Connecting to Exchange from other OS’s
In my search for calendaring solutions for QUALCOMM, I have found that even though Microsofts view of "running on multiple OS's" means Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, and XP. The rest of the world thinks that means, Unix and Macintosh. There are some good products for accessing Exchange data from these machines. I think the ability to access a single contact list, calendar, and tasks from one program is very useful.
Macintosh - Entourage X for OS X Office.
Introducing Exchange Update for Entourage X
Entourage X is a powerful e-mail and personal information manager (PIM) that helps you stay in touch with others, manage personal information, and keep track of your schedule. In Entourage X, your e-mail, calendar, address book, and task list are seamlessly integrated in one easy-to-use program. The Exchange Update adds features designed especially for people who work in organizations running Microsoft Exchange Server.
Comes as part of Office v X, or available stand alone for $99. This is not quiet as good as having a REAL Outlook client on the macintosh. What it does is use a combination of LDAP and IMAP to connect to exchange. Here are some links on setting it up. It took a while, and you do need the help of your exchange staff, or someone with a PC.
Using Exchange server with Entourage
Entourage Update - on microsofts site
Working with Exchange from a Macintosh - Several options for you. The best seems to run Office 2001 in compatibility mode (ie OS 9.x). 🙁 Its the last native Exchange client.
Linux / UNIX - Ximian Evolution & Connector
Integrated Workgroup and Personal Information Management for Linux and UNIX
Ximian Evolution® is the award-winning personal and workgroup information management solution for Linux and UNIX-based systems. The software seamlessly integrates email, calendaring, meeting scheduling, contact management, and task lists, in one powerful, fast, and easy-to-use application. Ximian Evolution is also powerful collaboration software that connects to popular corporate communications architectures like Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes, and other messaging systems. Ximian Evolution supports a broad range of leading Linux distributions and UNIX variants.
With the additional purchase of Ximian Connector, Ximian Evolution functions as a Microsoft Exchange 2000 or 2003 client, with access to scheduling, mail, and global address book features.
Ximian is now owned by Novell, which also just bought SuSE linux. Making this an interesting future for Novell.
Backing up your home system
I am not sure if I have talked about backups before. But I recommend 2 solutions to people. None of them involve, Floppies, CD's, or Tapes. Because all of those require some sort of routine.
Connected - Connected is an online backup solution. Anyone reading this site most likely has broadband cable. And this solution works even over dialup. The idea is it sits on your computer and automatically once a day looks at what files have changed, and sends them to a secure server over the internet. The data is encrypted with your password, so only you can retreive it. And is sent over the internet in a secure encrypted channel... so its encrypted twice during its travels over the internet. They have a perfect plan that just backs up the "My Documents" folder, and QUICKEN! So many people call me asking for "Disk Rescue" services because their hard drive crashed.
Maxtor OneTouch - This is an external hard drive, that plugs in via USB 2.0 or FireWire. It is VERY quiet, and has a little blue button on the front of it. After you install the software. All you do to backup the system is push the button.
Trust me. A Hard Disk is the way to go to backup versus Zip Disks, and CD's. If you want Archives... then use CD's and Zips. But for the day to day, month to month safety net. Connected provides the most robust solution. But your data isn't in your hands. And some people really want that.
Internet Wayback Machine
If you want to take a look at what companies web sites looked like in the past. Take a look at a project that mirrored web sites. For example, I worked at Wireless Knowledge which is now no longer. I am not sure that the web site is up still, but you can find a copy of it.
Razors for shaving
When I started shaving my head, the first thing that went through it (my head) was how would I do it without cutting myself. I researched several blades, and found several good options.
Head Blade - This is the razor I use every day. Its unique handle makes shaving a breeze.
Panasonic ES8023SC - This Panasonic electric razor came highly rated by several web sites for guys that shave their head. I don't use one, but my brother does.
Mach 3 Turbo - This new blade razor, has sonic pulses to improve closeness of your shave.
Cool Case Mods
With the advent of micro motherboards. There has been a wave of "Mod" PC cases. When I say Moding, I mean people that have taken an Atari 2600 from the 80's, and turned it into a fully functioning PC. Some of my favorite ideas was the guy that hand crafted a VW Bug computer. Being a fan of the SGI Onyx One I had to save this link.
From this guys site I think you can find more people that have made custom systems. Search for Mini-ATX on Google.
Custom Checks
Its time to order new checks, I don't use many of them since I pay for mosts things through my online banking. But in hunting around there are some real cool checks!
http://www.classicimpressions.com/
4Checks.com
http://secure.checksinthemail.com/line.aspx?lineid=7
http://www.checkworks.com/
http://www.checksunlimited.com/
http://www.deluxe.com/
http://www.designerchecks.com/
Simpsons
Message Products - Green Peace / Animal Rights
Whelan Dragons
Leopard Print
Curious George
50th Anniversary Corvette
Sponge Bob Square Pants
Riding the Train
Well, I'm going to jump in and ride the train's in the US for the first time. Yes, riden them in other countries, and now its time to find out how well they work in the US.
I am going to be taking Amtrak which is not what I typed in the first time... check for yourself at AmTrack... It was hard to figure out what places in LA the train stops at, so I finally found that the "Surfliner" is the train I want, and that map shows you the names of all the stations it stops at. 🙂 Pretty darn nice. Once you figure that out, you are able to use their online ticket selection. Looks to be about $27.00 round trip to get up and back from Irvine.