When nothing seems to be going right, it's hard to find the root cause of it all. If you've been reading my past few posts, I've spent the better part of this past week (and note, I haven't written since) dealing with a rootkit on a client's machine. It is finally cleaned and I'm happy.
Unfortunately, along with that, comes the death of a wireless adapter or at least the ability of it maintaining a connection. It's a USB Wireless Adapter from Dynex (G) that's on my desktop . I've reinstalled the drivers but I still have a few things to try. I know the dropped connection is solely with the desktop because...my laptop is still connected and other people using the network have no problems with the connection.
That being said, it's ironic how systematic behavior of certain items can be expected in the computer world. We all just want it to work and that would be nice. Unfortunately, every system has its flaws. Every thing on a computer has an instruction to follow. What's instructing my wireless to disconnect? Not sure, but I'll find out.
I've learned that I've taken things for granted on systems. Systems follow instructions, take input and have a consequence of an action or output. At the same time, there are error systems in place to help handle those, and frankly, I'm that system.
So here is to systematic behavior: May you always be there to help out with systematic behavior.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Hanging on "loading personal settings"
Brain Date: March 7th, 2010, 6:08pm
I recently received a Windows XP Home machine that has been hanging at the log in "Loading Personal Settings" for a good ten (10) minutes. Yeah, I waited that long.
In any case, I was able to boot up to safe mode and have found out that it does NOT have an antivirus program. Hm, strange. Let's see what we can do when we upload one. My weapon of choice: AVG Free Edition. I'll be right back.
Brain Date: March 7th 2010, 6:32PM
MSVC Distributables Installation Failed error during AVG installation. Buggers. Downloading now from Microsoft.
Brain Date: March 7th 2010, 8:15pm
Despite thinking that doing a registry cleanup, or otherwise (Microsoft Cleanup Utility), I still have the same issue, no matter what I tried to install. So I went to ComboFix which uncovered TONS of problems, one of them being a rootkit.
Brain Date: March 7th 2010, 6:35PM
Downloaded and attempted to install. Error from "Windows Installer" "The system administrator has set policies to prevent this installation."
My conclusion: This baby is hijacked. On to the next one: ComboFix.
I recently received a Windows XP Home machine that has been hanging at the log in "Loading Personal Settings" for a good ten (10) minutes. Yeah, I waited that long.
In any case, I was able to boot up to safe mode and have found out that it does NOT have an antivirus program. Hm, strange. Let's see what we can do when we upload one. My weapon of choice: AVG Free Edition. I'll be right back.
Brain Date: March 7th 2010, 6:32PM
MSVC Distributables Installation Failed error during AVG installation. Buggers. Downloading now from Microsoft.
Brain Date: March 7th 2010, 8:15pm
Despite thinking that doing a registry cleanup, or otherwise (Microsoft Cleanup Utility), I still have the same issue, no matter what I tried to install. So I went to ComboFix which uncovered TONS of problems, one of them being a rootkit.
Brain Date: March 7th 2010, 6:35PM
Downloaded and attempted to install. Error from "Windows Installer" "The system administrator has set policies to prevent this installation."
My conclusion: This baby is hijacked. On to the next one: ComboFix.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Share much?
I love to share. What I try to do with my clients is work as remotely as possible. No, it's not that I don't want to be around them (trust me, I enjoy frequent social interaction, unlike a lot of people who are in IT), it's just that with today's economy, you want to travel as little as possible and use the tools available.
For instance, not too long ago, I came to help someone halfway across the country using showmypc.com. This application worked wonders in helping me get down to the bottom of an .zip issue the user was having but nobody they knew could figure out exactly what was wrong.
Another time this application helped me was when a client of mine was BSOD (blue screen of death)'ing after an uninstall of IE 8 (which was causing hang ups). I was able to clean up his registry remotely, but unfortunately, he has more problems than the symptoms surfaced so it'll be back to trying it again soon.
Sharing your desktop using this application has proven to me to be a valuable tool because I can experience the errors close up, which gives me an idea as to whether or not I need to be at the office/residence of a client to apply a fix.
On the theme of sharing, I found 4shared.com. Even though I love drop.io, 4shared.com has proven to me an easier upload of file sharing for download if all you really need to do is that. I was using drop.io for that, but it's best for collaboration. On the contrast, most of my clients still love F2F (face to face) meetings so drop.io isn't COMPLETELY practical for me, but I continue to promote and encourage it.
The cool thing about 4shared.com, you can create different folders to share with different people AND you can log in using your Google account.
So thank you for sharing your time with me to see how these items can probably work for your business. What free applications have you used to help your business along?
-eggBrain
For instance, not too long ago, I came to help someone halfway across the country using showmypc.com. This application worked wonders in helping me get down to the bottom of an .zip issue the user was having but nobody they knew could figure out exactly what was wrong.
Another time this application helped me was when a client of mine was BSOD (blue screen of death)'ing after an uninstall of IE 8 (which was causing hang ups). I was able to clean up his registry remotely, but unfortunately, he has more problems than the symptoms surfaced so it'll be back to trying it again soon.
Sharing your desktop using this application has proven to me to be a valuable tool because I can experience the errors close up, which gives me an idea as to whether or not I need to be at the office/residence of a client to apply a fix.
On the theme of sharing, I found 4shared.com. Even though I love drop.io, 4shared.com has proven to me an easier upload of file sharing for download if all you really need to do is that. I was using drop.io for that, but it's best for collaboration. On the contrast, most of my clients still love F2F (face to face) meetings so drop.io isn't COMPLETELY practical for me, but I continue to promote and encourage it.
The cool thing about 4shared.com, you can create different folders to share with different people AND you can log in using your Google account.
So thank you for sharing your time with me to see how these items can probably work for your business. What free applications have you used to help your business along?
-eggBrain
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