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How I spent my day...
...running virus scans and Windows updates on computers.
The campus I work at was slammed hard on Monday by the worm going around, to the point that the library was sending people home if they couldn't do anything because the network was down. And being one of the library Systems people, I get to help out with cleanup today. We're in the process of upgrading the library to XP, and replacing half the machines (the other half was replaced last cycle). Because of new security policy meant to combat adware and spyware infestations, which have been epidemic, all the XP machines run in accounts that have no install privileges - we all have access to local admin accounts that we can use to install things we need, but we're not connected to the network drives and such when in those accounts, to minimize damage.
So none of the XP machines were hit. But that, of course, means that the machines that were hit were the slowest, gnarliest, mostest horriblest ones in the entire library and it's taking FOREVER to update, upgrade, and scan them.I spent FOUR HOURS on one woman's machine today, in order to upgrade the antivirus software (we had a schedule to go around and upgrade this on all the machines over the next few weeks that obviously is getting pushed to the front of the agenda) and to download and install the Windows updates. FOUR HOURS. Yes, I got home after 7, and I'm therefore not sure how much art I can get done tonight. *sigh*
Another machine I worked on today was almost finished - going through the last virus scan, when it overheated and I had to kill it before damage happened, and we're going to finish it up tomorrow morning. ARG. It's getting replaced this fall, too. NONE TOO SOON.
The four-hour woman? Had an IE cache of 447 megabytes that had NEVER been cleaned out. I couldn't clean it out through IE because it kept hanging and I had to kill it through the Task Manager. I managed to clean one temp folder of 600 items, but there's plenty mroe on thre somewhere - I don't know enough about how to hunt them down and kill them. But I did cut her cache size down to 50 megabytes in IE so it can't get that big again.
What really gets me is that these people are working daily on amchines that are so buggy and riddled with conflicts and spyware and such that it takes 10-15 minutes just to boot up and their programs act funny and instead of, say, TELLING US ABOUT IT, they just go "My comptuer's weird!" and go on with their job. How do you do that?!
Now on to today's lecture. And if you don't follow these rules, I will TYPE IN ALL CAPS and if you still don't do anything I WILL BE FORCED TO TYPE IN ITALICS AND YOU WILL ALL BE SORRY!!1!
So -- if you run a Windows machine of any flavor, run, do not walk, to Windows Update ASAP and get your machine updated and patched. Then run, do not walk, to your anitvirus software's website and downlaod the latest definitions. You don't have antivirus software? Get some.
And if you're on XP, do not spend the majority of your online time in an administrative account that can install stuff. Make a dumb account that can't install a thing, and get online when you're in that one. Yeah, it's annoying to have to log out and log into the admin account if you need to update Windows or your AV software or you need to install a plugin, but people: NO ADWARE, NO SPYWARE, NO VIRUSES. Worth it.
And then go download Ad-Aware and Spybot Search & Destroy, for good measure, and run those on your computer.
I think I need a good I LECTURE YOU icon.
The campus I work at was slammed hard on Monday by the worm going around, to the point that the library was sending people home if they couldn't do anything because the network was down. And being one of the library Systems people, I get to help out with cleanup today. We're in the process of upgrading the library to XP, and replacing half the machines (the other half was replaced last cycle). Because of new security policy meant to combat adware and spyware infestations, which have been epidemic, all the XP machines run in accounts that have no install privileges - we all have access to local admin accounts that we can use to install things we need, but we're not connected to the network drives and such when in those accounts, to minimize damage.
So none of the XP machines were hit. But that, of course, means that the machines that were hit were the slowest, gnarliest, mostest horriblest ones in the entire library and it's taking FOREVER to update, upgrade, and scan them.I spent FOUR HOURS on one woman's machine today, in order to upgrade the antivirus software (we had a schedule to go around and upgrade this on all the machines over the next few weeks that obviously is getting pushed to the front of the agenda) and to download and install the Windows updates. FOUR HOURS. Yes, I got home after 7, and I'm therefore not sure how much art I can get done tonight. *sigh*
Another machine I worked on today was almost finished - going through the last virus scan, when it overheated and I had to kill it before damage happened, and we're going to finish it up tomorrow morning. ARG. It's getting replaced this fall, too. NONE TOO SOON.
The four-hour woman? Had an IE cache of 447 megabytes that had NEVER been cleaned out. I couldn't clean it out through IE because it kept hanging and I had to kill it through the Task Manager. I managed to clean one temp folder of 600 items, but there's plenty mroe on thre somewhere - I don't know enough about how to hunt them down and kill them. But I did cut her cache size down to 50 megabytes in IE so it can't get that big again.
What really gets me is that these people are working daily on amchines that are so buggy and riddled with conflicts and spyware and such that it takes 10-15 minutes just to boot up and their programs act funny and instead of, say, TELLING US ABOUT IT, they just go "My comptuer's weird!" and go on with their job. How do you do that?!
Now on to today's lecture. And if you don't follow these rules, I will TYPE IN ALL CAPS and if you still don't do anything I WILL BE FORCED TO TYPE IN ITALICS AND YOU WILL ALL BE SORRY!!1!
So -- if you run a Windows machine of any flavor, run, do not walk, to Windows Update ASAP and get your machine updated and patched. Then run, do not walk, to your anitvirus software's website and downlaod the latest definitions. You don't have antivirus software? Get some.
And if you're on XP, do not spend the majority of your online time in an administrative account that can install stuff. Make a dumb account that can't install a thing, and get online when you're in that one. Yeah, it's annoying to have to log out and log into the admin account if you need to update Windows or your AV software or you need to install a plugin, but people: NO ADWARE, NO SPYWARE, NO VIRUSES. Worth it.
And then go download Ad-Aware and Spybot Search & Destroy, for good measure, and run those on your computer.
I think I need a good I LECTURE YOU icon.
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I've run fairly tight since then - I got the Symantec AV suite with firewall and it kills even most of the spyware and adware (well, that and I use Firefox for the majority of my browsing) - even though I'm not currently following my own advice and the account I'm using online has install privileges. My account at work doesn't, though, and I'm happy for that - it made it escape the troubles.
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You'll want to make sure that you can see hidden folders, to into \documents and settings\(username)\local settings\temporary internet files
That is if they are on IE. Other browsers have other places they stash their cache.
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Mainly because they're afraid the problem will be something inane and stupid, and they'll look stupid and feel bad for wasting the poor person's time, or it'll be something so complicated that they have to get a new computer. (Those are what happen to me most often . . .)
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