[melkor]

you talking about treating the symptoms, ive never needed the bogus hosts file, i make sure the systems dont get the parasites...

and as far as norton being used, the stated os was 98 first edition, nav2k4 doesnt run correctly on first edition... thats a fact published by norton. go run kaspersky, choose the extended def files.. do a full scan, im sure it will find something. kaspersky has 10x the virus defs that norton does and kaspersky will run the newer versions on the older windows 98.

i commonly hear this when i call a customer to tell them they are totaly infested with viruses.....

"But i have norton 2002 and ive been paying for the subscription" yes, you got new defs for an old program, they release new versions to be able to detect new types of threats....

i run studio on my system, i write small custom automation scripts and apps for administration.. works fine with sp2 the new WMI stuff is great.

theres a workaround for the sql problem... check technet

and you dont have to shell out 100$, there are used copies of windows 2000 on ebay for 10$ at least 2k is still a supported os plus you get NT security, not 9x windows over a shell.

sorry, my soapbox got steped on on this one... i guess i should shut up.. fools keep our company in business. i should see sp2 as a bad thing since it cuts down on 90% of problems

[Bush2000]

you talking about treating the symptoms, ive never needed the bogus hosts file, i make sure the systems dont get the parasites...

I'm not talking about a professional IT environment. The average FR home user doesn't have your resources. ;-p

and as far as norton being used, the stated os was 98 first edition, nav2k4 doesnt run correctly on first edition... thats a fact published by norton. go run kaspersky, choose the extended def files.. do a full scan, im sure it will find something. kaspersky has 10x the virus defs that norton does and kaspersky will run the newer versions on the older windows 98.

I've only found virus scanners to be of marginal value. Detecting intrustion AFTER infection is pretty bad timing. I just don't trust these tools to adequately restore a compromised system. They're primarily useful in letting you know when you're already screwed.

run studio on my system, i write small custom automation scripts and apps for administration.. works fine with sp2 the new WMI stuff is great. theres a workaround for the sql problem... check technet

The links in my post address these issues for non-IT folks.

and you dont have to shell out 100$, there are used copies of windows 2000 on ebay for 10$ at least 2k is still a supported os plus you get NT security, not 9x windows over a shell.

Sure, getting Win2K on eBay is a good route -- but I prefer XP SP2.

sorry, my soapbox got steped on on this one... i guess i should shut up.. fools keep our company in business. i should see sp2 as a bad thing since it cuts down on 90% of problems

No problem. You're obviously a professional and used to dealing with these sorts of issues. Everyone here can benefit from your experience.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

Just to put your mind at rest, I installed, updated and ran kaspersky A/V personal 5. It took about 1.5 hours to scan the entire system, but as expected, not a single infection.

It did however find the Eicar test strings I downloaded from eicar.org and showed them for what they are.