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bunsen_hI got a new computer a week and a half ago, to replace the previous machine which died last month. I have spent most of my non-work time over the last week and a half in the incredibly tedious, frustrating process of transferring settings and files from the old machine, re-installing software, and generally setting things up to let me do what I was doing before. (Between bouts of snow shovelling, of course.)
I've been fighting with driver-installation systems that don't work properly automatically but won't let me do things manually. For example, it used to be possible to go to the HP website, specify which printer you had, and download the latest drivers for it. Now you have to work through their automated system which uses an ActiveX control which runs only under Internet Explorer (not FireFox) to scan your computer for installed printers and checks the drivers. In my case, it found and identified the LaserJet 6L printer, and spent about 20 minutes downloading updated drivers... and when I tried to print out a test page (my shopping list) I started getting page after page of garbage. Because it had replaced working (if out-of-date) drivers for my 6L printer with PostScript drivers for a 6M printer.
The support software for my digital camera had a glitch during installation. Some files weren't installed -- including the files necessary for uninstallation. So there was no way to get the software to uninstall, but when I tried to re-install in the hope of getting the remaining files, the installer told me that "This software has already been installed; it is unnecessary to install it again" and refused to proceed. I spent an evening going through the "troubleshooting" procedure, without useful progress. I ended up having to restore the machine to the previous day's state, and redo everything I'd done that day. I suppose I should be glad that the system had created a "restore point" to revert to.
I've been fighting with driver-installation systems that don't work properly automatically but won't let me do things manually. For example, it used to be possible to go to the HP website, specify which printer you had, and download the latest drivers for it. Now you have to work through their automated system which uses an ActiveX control which runs only under Internet Explorer (not FireFox) to scan your computer for installed printers and checks the drivers. In my case, it found and identified the LaserJet 6L printer, and spent about 20 minutes downloading updated drivers... and when I tried to print out a test page (my shopping list) I started getting page after page of garbage. Because it had replaced working (if out-of-date) drivers for my 6L printer with PostScript drivers for a 6M printer.
The support software for my digital camera had a glitch during installation. Some files weren't installed -- including the files necessary for uninstallation. So there was no way to get the software to uninstall, but when I tried to re-install in the hope of getting the remaining files, the installer told me that "This software has already been installed; it is unnecessary to install it again" and refused to proceed. I spent an evening going through the "troubleshooting" procedure, without useful progress. I ended up having to restore the machine to the previous day's state, and redo everything I'd done that day. I suppose I should be glad that the system had created a "restore point" to revert to.
I'd noticed a couple of times last week that when I got home from work, the computer and modem were tying up the phone line. The first time, I just thought that I'd forgotten to disconnect after I'd checked my E-mail that morning. After that I was more careful... and again found the modem on when I got home, and discovered that according to the "time connected", the system had dialed up after I'd left the house. This despite my having set the connection settings to disable auto-dialing. I found odd "FWROUTE" messages in the ZoneAlarm firewall logs which exactly matched the apparent connection times. And those odd messages went back to the first evening I'd set up the computer. Whatever-it-is was also ignoring the "disconnect after X minutes idle" settings.
Now, I didn't connect the modem until after I'd already installed anti-virus software and the software firewall. Either this was a really sneaky bit of malware which had gotten around the protections, or some damn thing that came factory-installed and was doing automatic updates, ignoring the connection settings. The firewall log only shows what it's blocked -- in this case, the odd messages that seem to be going via a Sympatico server in Montreal. The modem logs showed that about 700 kB of data were moved when those odd connections were made. But I don't know how to tell what piece of software is doing this. The AVG anti-virus and a couple of spyware/adware checkers aren't reporting any problems.
So it occurred to me yesterday: perhaps a different anti-virus package might spot something the first one missed. So I downloaded and installed the avast! system. I had to reboot the machine so it could complete its installation and do its first search for something on my machine. Good enough; and it didn't find anything.
Then I updated the package to its latest detection library, and started it on a most-thorough-possible scan of my hard drive.
Oy.
First it detected a dozen or so viruses in the "Sent" message folders of old Netscape profiles. Well, I did occasionally forward newsgroup messages with viruses back to the abuse addresses of the relevant ISPs, though I don't think I attached the infected files, but I suppose it's possible. Those messages were moved/quarantined by the anti-virus.
Then it claimed that a couple of my E-mail mailboxes were infected. That's simply impossible; the mailboxes are text-only and the attachments, if any, are stored elsewhere. But I investigated, and as far as I can tell, the anti-virus was triggering on the text line which described a former attachment which had been an infected document. But on that basis, the stupid thing wanted to move/delete/quarantine the entire mailbox, for my protection. That's not excessively cautious, that's paranoid.
Then it found a file that it couldn't figure out... of all things, an installation file for a Bible e-text. It knew there was compressed information there, but didn't recognize the compression method. But instead of flagging the file as a potential problem and moving on, it kept trying. I noticed that it seemed to be stuck, and after about ten minutes, I halted it. When I checked the anti-virus log, I found that it had tried and failed to analyze that file about 480,000 times.
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” The comment is variously attributed to Albert Einstein and Rita Mae Brown. When that's combined with an absolute conviction that there's secret information hidden in the Bible..? And when this results in behaviour that is non-functional and destructive..?
I don't need anti-virus software that's paranoid, obsessive-compulsive, into nut-case conspiracy theories, and unable to simply get on with looking for malware on my computer. Thanks all the same.
Now, I didn't connect the modem until after I'd already installed anti-virus software and the software firewall. Either this was a really sneaky bit of malware which had gotten around the protections, or some damn thing that came factory-installed and was doing automatic updates, ignoring the connection settings. The firewall log only shows what it's blocked -- in this case, the odd messages that seem to be going via a Sympatico server in Montreal. The modem logs showed that about 700 kB of data were moved when those odd connections were made. But I don't know how to tell what piece of software is doing this. The AVG anti-virus and a couple of spyware/adware checkers aren't reporting any problems.
So it occurred to me yesterday: perhaps a different anti-virus package might spot something the first one missed. So I downloaded and installed the avast! system. I had to reboot the machine so it could complete its installation and do its first search for something on my machine. Good enough; and it didn't find anything.
Then I updated the package to its latest detection library, and started it on a most-thorough-possible scan of my hard drive.
Oy.
First it detected a dozen or so viruses in the "Sent" message folders of old Netscape profiles. Well, I did occasionally forward newsgroup messages with viruses back to the abuse addresses of the relevant ISPs, though I don't think I attached the infected files, but I suppose it's possible. Those messages were moved/quarantined by the anti-virus.
Then it claimed that a couple of my E-mail mailboxes were infected. That's simply impossible; the mailboxes are text-only and the attachments, if any, are stored elsewhere. But I investigated, and as far as I can tell, the anti-virus was triggering on the text line which described a former attachment which had been an infected document. But on that basis, the stupid thing wanted to move/delete/quarantine the entire mailbox, for my protection. That's not excessively cautious, that's paranoid.
Then it found a file that it couldn't figure out... of all things, an installation file for a Bible e-text. It knew there was compressed information there, but didn't recognize the compression method. But instead of flagging the file as a potential problem and moving on, it kept trying. I noticed that it seemed to be stuck, and after about ten minutes, I halted it. When I checked the anti-virus log, I found that it had tried and failed to analyze that file about 480,000 times.
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” The comment is variously attributed to Albert Einstein and Rita Mae Brown. When that's combined with an absolute conviction that there's secret information hidden in the Bible..? And when this results in behaviour that is non-functional and destructive..?
I don't need anti-virus software that's paranoid, obsessive-compulsive, into nut-case conspiracy theories, and unable to simply get on with looking for malware on my computer. Thanks all the same.
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Avast! Ye swabs ...
Date: 2007-12-20 06:13 am (UTC)Some poor programmer obviously did not (or was not allowed to) apply a sanity check for problems like this to the file checker. The irony is that someone in the 'open-source' community would have supplied a patch fixing this in a day or two ... but I gather that Avast's code is proprietary. [I have since Googled and confirmed this.]
Sigh.
Re: Avast! Ye swabs ...
Date: 2007-12-23 05:32 pm (UTC)