I really need some help...

[catabryna]

and, I don't need any bullshit. I am having problems with hacking on my computer. If you are willing to help me, please respond. If you aren't, don't be a buzz kill. Read my journal. I have no reason to play games like this.

[Wilms]

1. What is the computer doing/not doing?

Is it Mac or PC?

Do you have anti-virus protection on it?

I'm thinking that the DU Computer Help and Support Group Brain Trust members will show and help. And they'll likely want to know these things.

[catabryna]

2. I have a pc...

I have installed at different times, two fully licensed copies of AVG and Norton 360. Within two days, they are both rendered useless, ie... the programs do not go out and update and they do not run as they should.

When this happens, I reinstall a fully licensed copy of Win 7. I install the virus protection. I download the updates for the virus protection and download the Windows updates. That offers no protection.

My son has an HP desktop. His computer has the same difficulties. He has an external modem (provided by HP). His computer runs the same anti-virus software as I do (under license for multiple computers). He also has his own fully licensed copy of Win 7.

We have wireless internet. Both of our computers are configured to run wirelessly. I have downloaded the latest firmware and reset the password from what it was originally.

I have set both computers to run WEP 128 encryption.

In addition, because I have suspected that there might be a virus that made its way through, I have run a disk cleaner program to clean the hd and turn everything back into binary code. I then reinstalled the OS, etc. and continue to experience the same problems. I have done this to both computers.

Perhaps, there is a hardware solution that might give us a better firewall. I really have no idea at this point. We need to stick with wireless at this point because I really don't have the money to switch between internet carriers time and time again. I really can not afford to spend tons of money to fix this problem. I've tried that in the past. It has proved to be an exercise in futility. This occured even when we had dsl through Qwest.

That's it in a nutshell. I'm at my wits end.... luckily, I'm still sane :)

[catabryna]

3. And, here I am responding to my own post...

but, I get DNS poisoning like, ALL the time! And, so does my son's computer. I've asked for an explanation from my wireless provider and the answer I get is that a computer is controlling the responses I receive from certain sites (including DU), but I'm not sure if I should believe that either. This has been going on for nearly 2 years.

One other oddity... when I go to search on Google news, the years 2008-2009 are missing from search results. What I mean is that I can't do an advanced search during those periods of time.

[Wilms]

4. Are you running Ad-Aware? n/t

[catabryna]

5. No.

[BlueJazz]

6. What I would do. Partition my drive, install your operating system..

...on two drives (C: D: )
(Partition Magic is free) and very good.
Don't use C: at all, only D:
When D: gets screwed up, Go to C: do a search for all files on D: (*.*)
Check date on the files that have been changed and scan them
Also...have you reset internet Explorer to it's defaults when hacking starts?

also get Malwarebytes (.org)

Also ...take your present drive that's infected and make it a slave on your son's computer...maybe it will tell you something after scanning it with son's op.

There's more things but not knowing your ..ah...expertise, I don't want to overwhelm you or treat you like an idiot. :) :)

[catabryna]

7. bite me...

fortunately, your post was funny enough to not kill my buzz :P

duh... nice edit

[catabryna]

8. How old are you boys?

I'm asking for a bit of seriousness here. Back to my original post, please.

ETA: Are your dad's around? :)

[BlueJazz]

9. OK....In order to find a solution to your problem, you have to find the source.

IE: Exactly WHAT is screwing up your machine?
It doesn't sound like a virus.....and by the way, why do you pay for virus protection?
Microsoft Security essentials is just fine and it's free.

It sounds like a browser hijacker.
install your OP...get malware bites...spywareblaster and MSE (above).
Also...why would somebody want to hack you personally?...not that you said so...

I run Windows 7 with the above...go to 6-8 clients per day..use their wireless, cable and whatever and have
not had a virus, trojen, been hijacked or anything in 6 years...and I use NO firewall.
YOU are not doing something to protect yourself. I'm 34

PS. Don't use 2 anti-virus programs at the same time..that's silly ...they tend to fight with each other.

[catabryna]

10. Install my OP, Operating System?

spywareblaster at cnet, I assume? And then get malwarebytes at malwarebytes.org? And MSE at the Microsoft Site. Got it. If I'm wrong I'm sure you'll let me know, eh?

And trust me, I don't run two anti-virus programs at the same time. I've been using computers since you were five. :hi:

BTW: This is not going to solve my problem.

[BlueJazz]

11. Do me one favor. Use your computer for a few hours before hooking up to the web.

You can get the programs on your sons machine and transfer them via flash or CD.

I guess I'm saying...something is very wrong here.
...oh...and don't network to your son. I would make sure that the problem is outside your machine.
PS..You DO know about hidden partitions on a hard drive?
Please tell me you do?
pause...but your disk-wiper should have caught that.

You've got me wondering what the hell is going on...
I used to write assembly language but I (Probably) suck at it now...too many years ago..

[catabryna]

15. Yes, I do know what a hidden partition is...

I have scrubbed the hd and created a single partition and when I reload Win 7, it recreates a small hidden partition automatically. Usually, the only driver I have to go out and get is for my mousepad. I've had to do it so many times, I keep it on a flash drive. I think I'll do a bit of research on browser hijacking, because it most certainly appears to me to be something of that nature. At one point, I did network with my son's computer and then thought perhaps that might be the problem, so we are not currently networked, or at least we shouldn't be.

In addition, I have an administrator account and a standard user account. I do not use the administrator account for anything other than installing programs, and that is only if I am unable to enter the password from my standard user account. But, I can now access administrator account from the standard user account without a password. It is as if there is no longer any password protection on the Admin account.

I keep screen shots of some of the things I've encountered, just to remind myself that it's not anything that I've done or haven't done. I was not able to reply to a post in this thread last night. I get a message telling me that I have too many browser windows open (I rarely ever have more than one open at a time) or that there is something wrong with my DU cookie file or that the cookie has been corrupted. I have had this happen while trying to post in other DU threads as well. I can post, I can edit, but in some instances, though not all, I am unable to reply.

Anyway, my son is home today, so I'm not going to do anything further about it until tomorrow.

As an aside, I will tell you that I no longer use e-mail because somehow the passwords were changed and I have no idea how that happened. If I don't feel a level of privacy, what's the point? In addition, the password for my ISP account was changed and the security answer to reset the password was also changed. I had to physically go to their office to get that matter resolved. I had the same thing happen with my Verizon account, i.e. password changed. I don't do any banking on the computer, for obvious reasons.

[catabryna]

14. I want to follow up with you all

and let you know that I am not going to do all of this again. If I can't find out what might be causing the problem, or can't find a way to prevent this type of thing from happening in the future, it's just a waste of time. Thanks anyway. None of these things have worked in the past.

[struggle4progress]

12. Dunno. But it might help to know something more about your set-up

You're using Windows 7. With what browser? What browser plug-ins do you have installed?

You've got a home wireless network using WEP. Can you switch to WPA encryption? Are you using manufacturer default network names and keys or are you changing those to something more secure? If you're in a heavily-populated area, somebody could be hacking insecure wireless

What kind of downloading do you folk do? Lots of freebies and bit torrents? Do your downloads get scanned automatically for virus/malware?

How about file exchanges, (say) for work? Do drives get virus-scanned on mount? Do email attachments get scanned before you open them? Have you double checked that Microsoft mail and word product settings are set to limit attacks?

Try using a different DNS service, like openDNS.

Are you really dedicated to Windows 7? If not, try Ubuntu

[catabryna]

16. I no longer use e-mail...

see post above. I do not download anything to speak of. Flash, if needed. I had Napster, and I think that may have something to do with it, but I really think the router has been hacked. My router is manufactured by Cradlepoint. I have changed the password from the default password.

I do not know a whole lot about DNS. I've tried to do research on some of these issues, but I'm not getting valid search results. Perhaps you can enlighten me on that. No, I'm not necessarily dedicated to Windows 7, and have considered using Ubuntu, but didn't want to get into it without having access to solid research and not having anyone available to answer questions that I might have.

I don't download bit torrents or anything like that. When I first install my virus protection, it will scan automatically for virus/malware, but within a couple of days, that feature is disabled. In fact, the entire virus protection is somehow disabled.

An example of one of the stranger things... I have IE. I wanted to listen to the Stephanie Miller show, and was told I needed to download plugin. When I downloaded it, it was labeled as a Mozilla plugin. Huh? Why would Internet Explorer need a Mozilla plugin?

Anyway, it's a headache.

[struggle4progress]

18. Start trying things. I would agree with the poster upthread that you should

first isolate your computer from the network and see if it quickly develops problems after a clean install. If it does, you have problem with the machine itself or with some media you're using with the machine. All kinds of things could be happening

So

(0) Try resetting your router. The Cradlepoint router I had was easy to reset: there was a little button that had to be pushed. After resetting it to defaults, pick a hard password and use that. If you can use WPA security, use it with a new hard key; if you're stuck using WEP, change that key to a new hard key as well. If you live in a high density area, somebody nearby may indeed be hacking into your router, and you might consider turning off the wireless when you're not using it -- since that gives folk less opportunity to hack your signal. Consider buying a cable to connect your machine to the router and using it that way for a while: the wired connection will be faster than the wireless anyway

(1) Why not try ubuntu? Go here: http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download
Download and follow instructions for burning to disk. You can boot off the disk and try it without installing it. It should be very easy to try

(2) If you're using IE, switch to Firefox (say)

(3) If you're having local DNS cache poisoning problems, set your browser to delete history every time it closes. If your ISP is having DNS poisoning problems, use openDNS as your DNS with one or more of these addresses:
208.67.220.220
208.67.222.222
208.67.220.222
208.67.222.220

[catabryna]

19. Thank you...

I think I'm going to try ubuntu. Can't hurt. I already have my browser set to delete history, but it doesn't seem to completely clear it. It keeps favicons and other odd things. Therefore, the problem could be on my end of things, or it could be a problem with ISP. I will see what more I can learn about DNS... it is one of those things I have attempted to research in the past but it was a bit greek to me. er... geek?

My ISP has agreed to replace my current wireless router with one that allows for a direct cable connection at no charge. I think I'll take them up on that. My current router does not allow for a direct connection.

[Berserker]

13. try this

if you come in this computer help forum with some respect for others, maybe more people would like to help you. The attitude you project I wouldn't help you if you where laying face down on the fucking sidewalk.

[catabryna]

17. My apologies...

my frustration level was high. I'm sure you can understand that we all have our moments now and again.

[Berserker]

20. I sure do

at times I would like to post things that would swiftly get my ass tomb stoned.