Final Post -Security Warning

BobJAX
BobJAX Member Posts: 12 New User

Hi Folks,

About a year ago I got a virus that locked up my computer. It was bad. I finally used safemode to get in the computer and perform virus scans by various companies. But how to get into safemode with Windows 8.1 changed, hence my post on safemode. I was running McAfee and their firewall, but that software didn't catch it so I downloaded some free standalone scanners, still nothing. Finally I had to do a recovery which bought the computer back to a previous time. I reloaded many programs and updates and it ran fine. Got rid of McAfee, however.

 

Lesson 1: Know how to do a recovery from both inside the computer  (if you can get in your computer) and from a thumb-flash drive. (See my post about the Control panel for recovery access internally and Flash Drive for external.)

 

Because XP is no longer supported I took that computer with XP offline and bought an Acer. I did all updates. Within 2 weeks I got a virus. Locked up Microsoft IE (Internet Explorer), I had to do a recovery which was very difficult to do (hence my post about the BIOS and knowing how to do a recovery from a flash drive, also my post about having two browsers.) I finally did a recovery from files inside the computer, not the flash drive, although I feel I can finally access the flash drive for recovery. I again got rid of McAfee and I replaced it temporarily with another AV until I select my final AV product.

 

Lesson2: If your AV doesn't help, research them and get one with a high lab rating which could even be free.

 

Lesson3: Always have access on your computer to multiple browsers. One could lock up with a virus, then no internet for help.

 

Lesson4: Download and save links to extra standalone free standalone scanners like Hitman and Malwarebytes and Trend Micros Housecall. You can usually run them in Safemode.

 

Lesson5: The most frustrating thing is to be a retired Computer Security Specialist, like me, with a computer that is locked up by a virus.

Good Luck

 

 

This discussion has been closed.