Still Got Problems

Lut's computer was being hacked, by some script kiddie, we guess. He found a file labeled "webdav.exe" planted on his machine, along with various other permissions being messed up, to prevent him from undoing the damage. We downloaded a patch from Microsoft that's supposed to fix the security hole that allowed it in. Lut used the command-prompt safemode to get the permissions he needed back, and thinks he's got his computer back under control.

But whatever this was, it's not apparently connected to the problems plaguing my computer. Mine doesn't have any of the signs of attack that his machine did. He doesn't think anyone's been after it; I'm not so sure. I noticed this morning I was getting a lot of harddrive activity when I wasn't doing anything. WHich went away after I unplugged the cablemodem and rebooted. But I still don't know. Maybe I'm just paranoid.

Upshot: I'm still basically unable to "talk" from home, and I'm not counting on my continued ability to use my machine to scan the net, either. I talked to Lut about possibly re-formatting my harddrive and reinstalling Windoze, but there's no guarantee that'll work, either, since we've no idea what the problem is. At least I've got all my email and writings backed up to CD, as of Sunday evening.

We'll see.

(Gosh, Linux sounds so attractive right now ....)

Computer problems, part two

Thank you to everyone who offered suggestions! I seem to be doing ... better? tonight. I'm not sure, really. It's almost as though there are certain Forbidden Documents. The same thing that I couldn't email Monday, I still can't email now. But I can send other emails. The same file I couldn't FTP Monday? Can't FTP it now, either. Entry I couldn't post Monday? Can't post it.

But I can post this. I've posted other large blocks of texts, and then deleted them, several times. I've sent other emails. I've FTP'd other files. Bleah. I give up. I'm just going to pretend that everything works fine, and whatever I can't send/post from home, I'm going to put on disk and send from work.

Lut and I tried swapping net cards, which doesn't seem to have made much, if any, difference.

We installed Kerio Personal Firewall, which does seem to be helping things overall. If nothing else, it's told "GO AWAY" to several unrecognizable IP addresses that were trying to get to Lut's machine or mine. And the mysterious grinding of my harddrive has cleared up with its installation.

So, I'm happier. I'm not sure if I'm actually happier because things are better, or if it's just because I'm sick of being bummed about this mess. Or because it's Wednesday and not Monday anymore.

Well, I won't look a gift happiness in the mouth.