[jaws-uk] Re: Thanks and more problems



One thing which we could change to help prevent infestations of virus and
other malware is to use a limited account for our everyday work and leave
the administrator account for use only when we need full administration
privileges.

If you happen to receive a virus when working in a user with full
administration privileges, the virus has all of those permissions which you 
enjoy.

Working in a limited user environment, whilst not a watertight technique,
limits you and anything else which purports to be you from obtaining full
control of the pc.

A limited account provides the following capabilities:

With a limited account, you can:
Change or remove your password
Change your picture, theme, and other desktop settings
View files you created
View files in the Shared Documents folder
Users with limited accounts cannot always install programs. Depending on the 
program, a user
might need administrator privileges to install it.
Also, programs designed prior to Windows XP or Windows 2000 might not work
properly with
limited accounts. For best results, choose programs bearing the Designed for 
Windows XP logo,
or, to run older programs, choose the "computer administrator" account type. 

There must always be one administrator account on a pc and you can always
switch to that when you need to undertake a task which you can't do in the
limited account.

I know of very few personal machines whose owners habitually use a limited
account for their everyday use.

Regards,

Phil Medway

E-mail: philmedway@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tel: 01869 347639

Mobile: 07980 519990

Skype: philmedway
----- Original Message ----- From: "George Bell" <george@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
To: <jaws-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2008 12:22 AM
Subject: [jaws-uk] Re: Thanks and more problems


Hi Barbara,

As much for others' advice as yours, Graham raises a very
good point which we should all be aware of. The following is
a 110% true tale.

A fully sighted friend of mine acquired a laptop from a so
called PC expert work-mate. (Goodness knows where the mate
got it from!) He wasn't exactly PC illiterate having used
his employer's systems whilst on night time security to
browse the internet.

Anyway, after a short period, things started to go wrong, so
I got hold of it, only to discover that it had a cracked
copy of Windows XP on it. Lesson number one.

Total reformat, and on went a completely legal copy of
Windows XP. I got him connected to Virgin's cable system and
off he went, happy as a pig in whatnot.

Three weeks later he was back with a system which was
positively poluted with all sort of spyware, viruses,
malware and goodness knows what.  In the end I gave up and
reformatted.

But before I gave him the system back, he admitted that some
lady friends had been browsing one night after a few glasses
of the local plonk.  Nuff said. Lesson number two learned.

I basically told him that if he was EVER to let ANYONE use
his laptop without his supervising exactly what they were
looking at, I bluntly advised him that I would place said
laptop somewhere the sun doesn't shine.

It's been six months now, and much to my surprise, he's even
got himself onto e-mail.

And absolutely NOBODY is allowed to touch that system -
except me.

It has AVG and Microsoft Defender on it, and (fingers
crossed) is as clean as a whistle.

George.


________________________________

From: jaws-uk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:jaws-uk-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Graham
Page
Sent: 30 July 2008 23:33
To: jaws-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [jaws-uk] Re: Thanks and more problems

's systems
Hi Barbara.

If there is someone who can assist you, I would be tempted
to back up all important work and do a complete reformat,
particularly if an attempt at a system restore does not
solve the problem.  This does sound drastic I know but it
will probably result in a system which runs faster anyway
and you could end up spending quite a lot of time resolving
the problems.

by the way, are there other members of the household that
use the PC or is there only you?  These days, providing a
system is up to date, much of the spyware is transmitted by
people going to dodgy websites which run unwanted programs
on the PC in various ways.  This can happen easily.  One way
this can happen is if you accidentally misspell a website.

Anyway, good luck with system restore or even total
reformatting.

Regards

Graham
Graham Page
Home Phone: 0207 265 9493
Mobile: 07753 607980
Fax:  0870 706 2773
Email: gpage@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
MSN: gabriel_mcbird@xxxxxxxxxxx
Skype: gabriel_mcbird

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No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
Version: 8.0.138 / Virus Database: 270.5.8/1582 - Release Date: 30/07/2008 18:37 





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