[AKSA]

Folks,

This evening my daughter slipped into the PC while I was in the workshop to download some live music from PJ Harvey.  Hmmm.      

After about twenty minutes of happy jiving, the PC locked, and registry became corrupted somehow.  After three attempts at booting up, it reverted to original setup, loosing all personal settings.  This wasn't so bad;  I merely hooked up to the net again and all was well.

However, on inspection, my entire Outlook, many thousands of emails (including the address book) are now kaput.  In fact, the whole of 'My Documents' has been erased.  Something this damaging can only be a virus, which might have come in via email under AVG as Outlook was running at the time.  The perverse joy of the hacker responsible might be unalloyed if only he/she could see my frustration, but we don't even know each other, so I wonder just why it was done...

I have good backup on documents and photos going back to 7th May, but have never been able to effectively backup Outlook.  Consequently, I've lost much valuable information, including a couple of weeks work on the documentation, much of it just today on the lower power AKSA amplifiers.

I've also lost my website software, so can't do anything on the website for a week or so.

I'm rather upset, as you can imagine........

Immediate customer priorities are as follows:

1.  PT912:  Philip, your 2 x power amp package was despatched today, and should be in California within about ten days.  

2.  Georg Moldskred:  Your parts were sent today, and should be in Norway by the time you return from holiday in Greece!

3.  Haron:  Fortunately, I have your email address and can talk privately, but your package will be sent by COB tomorrow (25th here).

4.  Ian Miller:  I'm sorry I have not yet replied to your long email, but was composing something of value to you.  This will wait a little while until these problems are resolved!!

5.  There was an inquiry from a man in Toowoomba, SE Queensland AUSTRALIA late afternoon today;  this is lost to me, please, Sir, would you send again?

6.  Anyone I've missed here, I apologize.  My memory is normally pretty good, but inevitably there will be some digital messages in tatters on the cutting floor after this disaster!

My apologies for any inconvenience;  please return to normal programming.....

Cheers,

Hugh

[ajit]

Hugh thats too bad, I know what it feels like when something of this kind happens.
Dont want to alarm any body here but was the CC information available on the PC at the time of attack. One never knows what these hackers   are capable of doing.

[AKSA]

Ajit,

Can't really answer that question;  I use AVG from Prague, always regularly updated, together with Sygate firewall.  I believe CC might have been protected, if only because the machine froze and presumably would have locked its ports.  The address book is completely erased;  here's hoping it didn't transmit.  Streamed music is very demanding of bandwidth;  not too much else would have got through, and I suspect that this was a worm which came in through email.

It's been about two hours, and I've reconstructed most of it;  there was an unaffected backup directory for all my documents and a very good CD backup I did two weeks back, so it's not all bad and no really high level work is lost.

However, there's still alot of inconvenience, real PITA.......

Cheers,

Hugh

[Rocket]

Hi Hugh,

I'm glad i wasn't at your home when this was discovered   .  My son is always downloading something from the internet.

My shorted out amp boards have been posted and should arrive mid week.  Good luck with your reconstruction.

regards

rod

[AKSA]

Hi Rod,

Got 'em today.......  thanks for sending them on.

I'll report back!

Hugh

[Carlman]

You mean you lost my precious, precious email about the Plus upgrade! ..oh no!   I'll resend it tonight... or tomorrow morning your time.  

I'm really sorry to hear this.  I think there is a plan to get people to pay for downloaded music in place.  I wouldn't put it past the greedy record labels to write viruses and put up sharing sites just to make it a risky thing... it's working, though.  I wouldn't load Ka-zaa or the likes if you paid me.  

Do you want me to send you a spare kid's PC?  Let me know.  Anything I can do to help.

-C

[Jens]

Hi Hugh,

I think this is a situation we all dread.

A word of advice could be not to use the Microsoft email and browser. I know a few IT people, who all recommend using Mozilla instead, as it is much, much less prone to pickup of virus, worms etc.

I've been using Netscape and now Mozilla for a number of years without any mishaps (touch wood!!!). Functionality is the same, and I don't even have a problem changing from the Microsoft products I use at work to the Mozilla products at home, it's that close.

You might want to try - it's easy to download and try out, and you can keep your Microsoft crap on the machine (oh, did I say that ..) you're using. Mozilla also has a fine import facility for your Microsoft favourites and addresses (if there are any left by now).

Just my 2 cents ....

P.S. Good luck with the restoration

Cheers,

[6l6]

Hugh,
not all might be lost!
you just might be using a "new profile"

you might find your long lost e-mails in a the original
outlook datafile located in your previous profile.

the profiles are typically under
c:\documents and settings\username
under which you will find your old my documents

the outlook datafile is typically called somthing.pst e.g. outlook.pst
and the file might have the hidden attribute on
so when you search for all files .pst under c:\documents and settings
remember to search for hidden files as well.

once you find the original pst file, just add it in outlook,
(I cant go into detail because I don't know if you are using outlook or outlook express)

hope this helps
Alex.

[Greg Erskine]

Hi Hugh,

Bloody computers!

What virus or worm did your anti-virus scanner say it was? Viruses (nearly) always leave a calling card somewhere. If your (up-to-date) AVG isn't telling you have a virus after a complete scan then you probably don't have a virus or worm.

Do you keep Windows up-to-date? If yes, then most worms are not going affect your system.

If you:

1. have good AV software and keep it up to date
2. have a good firewall installed and tested properly and kept up to date
3. keep Windows updated with the latest patches;

then you should have little problems from viruses and worms.

As 6l6 said, Outlook stores emails in pst files. These can be backed up just like any other file asuming the file isn't locked.

I recommend you use "Shields up" from this site to check your firewall configuration http://grc.com/default.htm

[AKSA]

Thanks for all the condolences, folks, much appreciated!

This is all tiresome stuff, yes, so I won't bore you with housekeeping nonsense.

Carl, many thanks for your offer, I think I have an old PC out there, but I'd need to network it to run of the cable and we'd be almost back to square one!!  And yes, please resend your message.  

Jens, thanks for the advice about moving to Mozilla, or Netscape.  You are, of course, quite right.  Only dead fish go with the flow, and I'm dead in the water......

Alex, interesting.  I think you are right;  my profile vanished, appeared under a different name, with My Documents stripped out except the Sygate setup information.  I have found the Explorer favourites, all in html format, can't seem to import them into Explorer, and I have found the wab (address book), but can't seem to import this one either.  I did find a 154M .pst file on a second HDD but can't seem to import it into Outlook.    I have to say Outlook is a complete dog's breakfast when it comes to logical storage and import/export.  I don't use OE because most of my folders are over a thousand messages.  

Greg, I do use AVG/Sygate, and regularly use Steve Gibson's site to check out my connection.  It was always clear, so this sort of thing could happen to anybody...  a real bummer!  

Cheers,

Hugh

[Larry]

I have found the Explorer favourites, all in html format, can't seem to import them into Explorer, and I have found the wab (address book), but can't seem to import this one either. I did find a 154M .pst file on a second HDD but can't seem to import it into Outlook.  I have to say Outlook is a complete dog's breakfast when it comes to logical storage and import/export.

Copy every thing under each directory to the same directory under your new profile, for Favorites, outlook, address book ect. Overwrite the files in your new profile, which I believe you have not gotten much there. Open your IE, outlook etc and they will be there.

[Malcolm Fear]

Haven't you been down this road before?
Keep children off your computer.
Buy Nortons Internet Security.

[AKSA]

Larry,

Your advice worked with Favorites;  many thanks.  But Outlook is not so simple......

Mal, this is the only cable connection in the home, both my daughters are studying hard at school/Uni, and I really can't stop them can I?  One has her own machine, but no net connection.  She is not the problem;  the younger one, who has evaded death by mere microns, appears unrepentant.  What to do?

Cheers,

Hugh

[kyrill]

I choose AV Kaspersky too as it  discovers 30% more "disguised" viruses  than Norton or McAfee according to various tests on the internet.
But childeren (especially girls? Not all of them of course) plus Daddy's computer plus email attachments or a more clever virus who exploits weaknesses of windows, not yet patched, is not by definition a safe combination, but often an unavoidable one. But hey, who wants to have a perfect safe life...?

I hope you could comfort yr daughter as she will feel burdened or guilty.

I will resend my email Hugh, I need 4 more Aspen gear
And 6L6 may be right. You may find everything back

[Larry]

Your advice worked with Favorites;  many thanks.  But Outlook is not so simple......

It should work for Outlook too. Don't copy the coded directory (for your old identity) under outlook, just files in the directory. Under your new profile, you have new identity.

[6l6]

Hugh,

In outlook choose file -> open -> outlook datafile...
open the pst file
you will find your old folders in the folder list
(open the folder list)

Alex.

[AKSA]

Thanks Alex,

I will try this, but I have my doubts.  This Outlook has to be one of the most byzantine programs I've ever used........

Thanks for your advice,

Cheers,

Hugh

[Occam]

I hope you could comfort yr daughter as she will feel burdened or guilty.

Surely you jest? Rather, I would expect -
.... or tell her father he is an incredible dumbass, as he is barely competent to live. And he was incredibly boorish for putting her in the position of mucking up the computer and thereby disrupting her life....

I too have spawn (2 boys), between the ages of 14 and 22.
Its all part of their maturation process, as their brains really aren't formed at those ages. Regardless, the first time you hear it, you're dumbfounded.

[kyrill]

Hi Occam

No seriously. These are the steps when the disaster is fully realized and anger and shock fills your body (the father)
1) Standing: you swear, you get red, you show angryness, you show deep shock (this all in front of the daughter who did it) you use words, you really let yourself go BECAUSE you direct the angryness with a pointing finger to the virus, somewhere on the desktop. NOT to her
2a) Then you whisper "Oh my God  "X" (name of daughter) what have you let in.
2b) You sit behind the computer like a broken man, you fight against your tears (hmm, watch overkill)
3) Then silence. Let the "awe" like God's grace fall upon on her.
4) In the corner of yr eye you watch her, Sometimes occasionally you look at her why fondling with the computer.
5) until you notice a faint shadow of feelings of sorrow or guilt appears on her face
6) Let it ripe a minute or two
7) Go to her show your love, comfort her, buy her an icecream

See?

With grown up boys it is different but similar somehowe.

[Lost81]

Another machine for the daughter, and a router with a 4 port switch will solve the problem. That way, everyone can have an internet connection.

Routers really have dropped down low in price these days.
I see them on sale for as little as US$49.99.
They used to go for over US$250.

Of course, preventing unauthorized access to the business machine with a password will help greatly as well.

A caveat: Not too sure about the anti-piracy laws in Australia, but over here RIAA has taken to suing parents for their kid's downloading and swapping of music. I think the registered customer of the cable/DSL is the one who ultimately takes the rap.

I would have recommended OS X if not for the fact that Hugh is using his computer as a business machine. There are precious few programs for the Mac OS with regards to running a business. (I know. A good friend, who's a mac devotee, tried that, and ultimately bought a Windoze machine just for business. He still uses his mac for everything else though).

-Lost81