“Click, I did it again” – A quesiton for you computer guys.

7 thoughts on ““Click, I did it again” – A quesiton for you computer guys.”

1. Internet?

   These PCs aren’t by any chance connected to the Internet, are they? You can’t go more than about thirty seconds with an unprotected computer connected to the Internet without one ofthe latest worms attacking it.

   Try yanking your network cable. Then create a new Windows XP install and see if it works when it’s totally disconnected from the ‘net.

   The fact that Windows 98 disk worked is telling, because only XP and 2K are vulnerable to this new breed of exploits.

   If this turns out to be the problem, dude, you really need a “hardware firewall” between you and the Internet. Find yourself an old PC, a Pentium 133 or faster, with 64+ MB of RAM. When I come out to DC, I’ll have a couple spare days, I can fix your network up for you 🙂

   Anyway, if that’s the problem, the only way to avoid it is to create some kind of readable media (CD?) with all the hotfixes to apply to the computer in isolation. Let me know if that seems to be the problem, I’ll burn you a CD and FedEx it.

   —
   Matthew P. Barnson

2. Specific Virus

   There was a virus circling the net, maybe 4 weeks ago, that was crashing unprotected computers. An infected computer couldn’t boot up and make it to desktop before crashing. Best Buy made a lot of coin at their in-store tech desks servicing infected computers the weekend the virus was unleashed. I believe there is now a free antidote available.

   So, to answer your question, it reads like it is a software problem, but that the software problem may be a virus corrupting the OS.

   Get In Groove, Sammy G

   1. My thoughts too

      I thought maybe, somehow, it might be the sasser worm at first..

      That was unlikely thought, b/c this computer was not ever hooked to the internet.. still, I updated my virusscan, slaved the drive, and scanned..

      clean..

      BTW: I finally got the HD up and running, after an fdisk and restore.. but now it freezes on th e”insert computer name” screen.

      The tech guy said it was possibly th cmos battery.

      Grr.

      1. FINALLY!

         Well, turns out my computer had a very common problem that microsoft knows about but has done little to fix. It just had a line of code in an executable basically that interfered with the bootup.

         This would be easily fixed with ta repair from a windows xp restore disk.. but I, like most computer users, have the restore disk that came with my computer in the box… and that just uses a ghost image, which is a destructive restore.. and has no repair function.

         Therefore.. my only solution was to destructive restore.. As to why I couldn’t install from a different computer (same maker).. the restore is proprietary, meaning it won’t install on any motherboard except the one that cam ewith the computer.

         Finally.. as to why it froze after the name thing.. I had taken my modem out (I don’t access the internet with this computer).. and the next screen that comes up is the networking screen. The modem needs to be in place for this software to install properly – or, basically.. the compute rneeds to be exactly as is was, out of the box, in order to setup.

         So, finally, after 3 days, I have my recording computer back.. now to reinstall cards, software, and copy the 8 gb of music from my backup drive.. fun.

         1. Linux

            And people wonder why I prefer to use GNU/Linux and UNIX systems rather than this “lock you in and don’t let you out” Microsoft crap.

            And yet, I’m using that same crap to drive my music workstation and the kids computer — because it has the software I need to do the job. Ardour on Linux is OK, but just isn’t there yet for what I use (MIDI looping, anyone?), and on the kids computer, they just run games. I should probably reformat theirs to Linux and set up all their games for them…

            —
            Matthew P. Barnson

            1. I’m Wondering

               Hey Matt,

               Why do you prefer to use GNU/Linux and UNIX systems rather than this “lock you in and don’t let you out” Microsoft crap?

               I’m also wondering how a non-techie like myself can configure a home system with Linux. Is this something you can buy in a store and load onto a bare box?

               Sammy G

            2. Why UNIX instead of Microsoft?

               Why do you prefer to use GNU/Linux and UNIX systems

               You have asked a complex question 🙂

               1. Power. Yeah, that’s the ultimate reason. In a UNIX-like environment, the power is in my hands to build a solution that works for me. In Windows, the power is with the application vendor. They have the source code. You do it their way, or you don’t do it at all.
               2. Free as in Freedom. If I have the source code to a program, if it doesn’t work the way I want it to, I can modify it. I can fix it. Admittedly, I don’t often do it when it comes to desktop applications, but I do it all the time on my web servers and other servers.
               3. Free as in free-from-cost. With FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and GNU/Linux, I get amazing, working platforms without a $300 fee to a company for the privilege. For a corporation, maybe that’s not a big deal. For a tinkerer, getting a working compiler and supporting libraries for free, vs. a $600 Microsoft Visual Studio license is a big deal.
               4. Clean process model. In UNIX, you gain the benefit of a very easy “fork” implementation. It’s kind of a technical topic, but it’s much easier to wrap your had around process forking than threading — and also much less error-prone. Windows fork() is very expensive (in CPU time) compared to UNIX.
               5. Fewer crashes. People argue about this one all the time. Given my heavy use on my UNIX boxes, they just don’t crash. My BillBox (Bill as in William… Gates, that is) crashes frequently. Purely anecdotal, not data, but there it is. I think this spawns directly from the “clean process model” entry above. It’s just easier to program more reliably on UNIX. And it shows.
               6. Security. As a home user, you cannot buy a “Trusted Windows” system. That is, a system that’s designed to be “secure by default” — no unnecessary services, no unnecessary permissions — is just not an option in the Windows world. Whereas, with about an hour of reading, and another hour of installing, I can put OpenBSD on a machine, and know that I’m using a system that has only had a single remote exploit in the default install in nearly a decade. That compares to thousands for Windows. Trusted Debian and Trusted BSD offer similar levels of security, but I’ve not tried them. And they are also free to use, but you can donate if you wish.
               7. No licensing worries. If I’m exclusively using open-source/free software, and get a letter from the Software Protection Agency telling me I need to audit my software or face stiff fines, I can tell them to go jump in a lake without fear.
               8. Non-monoculture. It’s a well-known fact in the natural world that monocultures are more susceptible to infection than genetically diverse species. This has proven true on the Internet with computing systems as well. While Windows users fight the “worm of the month”, what few worms have attacked UNIX systems have been quickly eradicated. Diversity is good — I don’t want everybody using Linux any more than I want everybody using Windows. It helps keep our virtual “environment” healthier.
               9. Versatility. There are things I can do that are simply unthinkable on Windows that are fairly trivial on an operating system where the source code is public. For instance, I recently wanted to mount a remote FTP filesystem as if it were a drive on my computer so that I could do some pretty complex programmatic stuff to it. Not a chance of doing that on Windows. In Linux, I installed a kernel driver, issued a well-documented command, and the FTP directory miraculously appeared at /home/mbarnson/remote_ftp/. I could do anything to the files there that I could do on a local filesystem.

               There are many, many more reasons that I’ve failed to think of here. The number one problem, though, for someone migrating from Windows: there’s a learning curve of about a year to get really proficient in a UNIX environment. If you think about it, how long did it take you to get proficient at Windows, MacOS, or whatever it is you use? Quite a while, I’ll wager.

               I took the plunge by nuking Windows off my home computers entirely, and doing everything in GNU/Linux only. After about two years of doing this, I found my music suffered, because at the time, good composition tools for UNIX didn’t exist. So I installed Windows on my composition PC. Then the kids wanted some games, and I wanted them off my computer… and the rest is history. I still think I could easily have all their games run under Linux on their PC, but it’s just a matter of finding enough hours in the day to get it done.

               At this point, I’m much faster computing on UNIX than Windows. I zip through about 100-300 emails a day in about twenty minutes using a program called “Mutt”, with a bunch of custom macros to handle mail in batches. I only started using it about 4 months ago, and already the thought of going back to a less-efficient mail program is nearly unthinkable. I can easily sign my messages using PGP to help recipients ensure that the message is from me. I’m virtually immune to virusses, because A) they don’t target FreeBSD, and B) my mail program never automatically executes any kinds of attachments. I can run Neverwinter Nights and Unreal Tournament/2003/2004, and, at least on my PC, I get better frame rates playing these games under Gentoo Linux than in Windows (other people’s results vary).

               As far as getting into Linux yourself, you can go to CompUSA and buy Redhat for about $60, or you can download ISO images from various places and use your own CD burner to create install sets. For ease-of-use, I’d suggest SuSE, Mandrake, or Redhat. Ideally, install them on a spare PC so you don’t risk important data on your main PC.

               The funny thing is, as much as I like having the source code, I like having a powerful system that just works more. In that vein, I’m really wanting to go to Mac OSX. Completely UNIX under the hood, with a very functional and beautiful graphical user interface, and hardware/software that “just runs” without tweaking. Plus I can install and use all the free software tools that make me so productive. Just a matter of money, there 🙂 I can afford a couple of hundred bucks to upgrade my PC, but not a couple of thousand for a new PowerBook.

               —
               Matthew P. Barnson

               EDIT by matthew: There’s another reason to migrate to Linux, and that is a lower total cost of ownership. For small to mid-sized businesses, converting to Linux can result in significant long-term cost savings. For large, fortune-500-ish companies, for non-“green field” applications (applications where there’s no implementation yet), it would be prohibitively expensive to jump platforms. However, those reasons don’t really apply to me, unless you consider me a “small business” 🙂

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