Off Topic PC Problems

[vahauser]

I have a virus on my PC and am going to have to re-format my hard drive.

After I re-format my hard drive I'm going to install a fresh clean version of SPWAW standard 8.4 and then the brand new Enhanced DV Mod.

Everything SPWAW related currently on my hard drive is going to be deleted when I re-format my drive. This means that Group Andrews is going to be retired/deactivated/deleted as well.

I'll have an announcement regarding something NEW as soon as I get my PC up and running again get back online. My hard drive re-format is going to take place this Saturday 27 Jan (for other real-life reasons I have to do it this Saturday).

[KG Erwin]

This is painful. Been there, done that. If you need any help in recovering any SPWaW essentials or extras, we'll be there to lend assistance.

[azraelck]

That sucks big time. Nowadays a reformat isn't as simple as back in the old days. I remember spending 15 mins to get a fresh, clean install of DOS on the old 386. And 6 hours just trying to format, not reinstall, a WinXP machine. One of the reasons I no longer work on anyone's machine but my own. Good luck with the reinstall. At least you get a clean slate to work with.

[Zap]

That does sound painful, with all the safeguards how could a virus find its way in?

[azraelck]

Unfortunately, no computer is fool or virus proof. Even with the best anti-virus, firewall, and other software to protect it, all it takes is one miscreant to ruin it all.

The only way to claim otherwise is to not ever connect to the internet, and never install anything. Even then, you'll get errors and crashes at random; on top of basically having an expensive word processor. Not since the Commodore 64/128 has an OS been "bulletproof", and no hardware ever has been .

You can use something like a Linux variant or Macintosh, as those are less commonly used and therefore fewer hackers and programmers making viruses for them as with the Win platforms, but even then, your not safe.

[tracer]

Something to 'consider' if this situation comes up:
if there's data you'd prefer not to lose, before deleting/erasing your HD, think about buying a new one instead.

My 7 year-old 'daily driver' went TU a couple weeks ago; initially it looked like the HD was failing, but it turned out the OS had become corrupted (similar to what happens from a 'viral' infection).  Since I had another (newer!) computer, I popped the HD from the 'dying' system in an external USB-enclosure and was happily surprised when I found that not only could I retrieve all of the files on the old HD, but could actually run the programs!

If you decide to attempt this, and there's any possibility that a virus is the cause, the first thing you should do after plugging in your old HD is to run a virus-scan on it (and make sure your A-V software is up to date!).

...and always remember to make back-ups. [;)]

[sabrejack]

[:@] I think the Depot has been hacked again?
 
Strange writing all over the site?
 
 

[Mau Fox]

ORIGINAL: sabrejack

[:@] I think the Depot has been hacked again?

Strange writing all over the site?

Ciao Sabre,

no, nothing so serious.
I think it's only a matter of servers migration.

[sabrejack]

Looks like it was hackers:
 
http://spwaw.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=12683
 
 

[azraelck]

In regards to Tracer's post, I had bought an off the shelf PC for internet only, to supplement the gaming PC we already had. When the gaming PC went down, I upgraded it, and while I was in there, I hooked up both HDDs and copied everything I wanted onto the new one's HDD. Then I formatted one and now I have a 80 gig acting for my documents, and the 100 gig for everything else. Of course, the gaming PC's motherboard fried like a chicken, so I knew it wasn't a virus.