Oh Crap!
Sorry Guys 
.. I guess I should have elaborated on Jack's problem .. please forgive me .. I'm a Kanadian :d
Shessi identified the problem & cure correctly at the get-go. :salute:
:salute:
A quick System Restore fixed him up. But Jack had never used it before so was a bit unsure of what to do. The Main Menu was also not functioning; so this made it a bit more difficult. Because we've been talking on Skype in the past; it was easier just to "talk him through it".
Plus using Skype's generic: "screen-sharing", I was able to
see what he was doing and better assess the situation. After the repair was completed I gave him some advice on how to tighten his security as I strongly suspect
(but cannot prove) that "Windows Live Messenger"
(WLM - formerly called MSN Messenger) was most likely to blame.
My personal experience has shown WLM to have so many security issues
(and limitations compared to Skype) that I stopped using it more than two years ago. WLM seems to be full of Trojan Downloaders/Droppers and Rootkits ... the "Sharing folder" function being the worst offender as it acts as a pipeline that allows all these nasties direct and unhindered access to your system. Therefore I recommend
(IMHO) to everyone to cease using WLM and switch to Skype ... I promise you won't be sorry.
- text messaging
(if you have no mic or webcam you will still receive sound & vid from others)
- wider bandwidth
- better audio quality
-
WAY BETTER video!!!
- "screen sharing"
(between 2 people only)
- "conference calls"
(audio only with up to 23 people at once)
- Secure file transfer
(of unlimited size - my personal record is: 1.49 GB!!!)
- diagnostic tools
(mic, webcam, connection speed etc.)
- works on Win2000 - Win7
- MAC & Linux compliant versions are available
.... did I mention that all this is ....
FREE????
View attachment 6036
Jack runs VISTA and uses AVAST Free A/V. I too have been testing this for the past month
(on an 800MH P3) and am pleased with it's performance - so far...
I'm still a big fan of AVG; but I've been looking for an A/V app. that was less "resource heavy". AVG generally has several processes running at the same time which tend to significantly slow down older PC's
(P3 & early P4's) and small Netbooks. AVAST Free is working very well by reducing the running processes by 5 with a clearly noticeable increase in speed.
Jack now uses the "Outpost Firewall Free" in place of the generic Windows app. My most recent testing
(last week) has shown it's protection to be identical to that of the AVG 8.5
(payware) firewall ... fully stealthed & virtually invisible while on-line.
AVAST Free A/V 5.0.507
(Windows 2000 / XP / 2003 / Vista / Windows7 / XP64 / Vista64 / Windows7 64)
http://www.filehippo.com/download_avast_antivirus/
Outpost Firewall Free 6.51
(Windows 2000 / XP / 2003 / Vista / Windows7)
http://www.filehippo.com/download_outpost_firewall/
Skype 4.2.0.163
(Windows 2000 / XP / 2003 / Vista / Windows7 / XP64 / Vista64 / Windows7 64)
http://www.filehippo.com/download_skype/tech/
.
.
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...... View attachment 6037
