Hijack This - What can I safely delete

[null]

But you keep on proving that you're not grasping safe hex. You refuse
to eradicate IE, right? So you continue to get nailed. When will you
learn? Never? I can't imagine the IE addiction being as severe as,
say, the smoking habit. Just as smokers cannot be said to be healthy,
IE users cannot be said to be practicing safe hex.


Art
http://www.epix.net/~artnpeg

 

[Frederic Bonroy]

I often wonder about folk that are chronically plagued with net trash.

That's probably due to their reliance on technology instead of common
sense to protect them and the fact that they place too much confidence
in marketing bullshit. Add to this unpatched software.

Do you suppose it's a cyber form of Munchausen syndrome?

Münchhausen? The lying baron who supposedly rode on a cannonball?

 

[Laura Fredericks]

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But you keep on proving that you're not grasping safe
hex. You refuse to eradicate IE, right? So you
continue to get nailed. When will you learn? Never? I
can't imagine the IE addiction being as severe as,
say, the smoking habit. Just as smokers cannot be
said to be healthy, IE users cannot be said to be
practicing safe hex.

I don't agree. As I've posted several times, I've
never had a virus, worm or trojan execute itself.

I use IE and have never had any problems -- and I've
been known to uh, OCCASIONALLY visit unscrupulous
sites. ;-) I also download A LOT of shareware and
freeware. (Note, I don't consider an occasional site
changing my homepage a "problem". I just change it
back, delete where it's coming from and POOF! Problem
gone.)

My OS (Win98) and browser (IE6) get updated, as soon
as updates and patches become available.

I use a registry cleaner (RegCleaner) every few days.

I have two AV scanners (F-Prot and NAV) -- updated as
new defs become available, but use them on-demand
only, except for incoming e-mail. I do a full scan
monthly.

I have a hardware firewall (router) and use a software
firewall (Zone Alarm Pro, with pop-up blocker ON).

I use Ad-aware, but only run it every couple of
months.

I use a HOSTS file, though it doesn't have more than a
few entries.

I use a text-only newsreader. (Agent.)

I use my ISP's spam-blocker service for select
spam-magnet accounts. (E.g. online purchases.) I have
a whitelist for each addy, and I remember to add each
new vendor I purchase from to the list BEFORE I click
"ORDER". (On the rare occasion that the vendor's
e-mail addy is different from their domain name, I
just add them to my whitelist when I get their mail,
so they're unblocked. No big deal, 'cause those e-mail
confirmations don't come from HUMANS, anyway.)

I use an e-mail notifier with filters (Magic Mail
Monitor) for personal e-mail sent to my domains. I
don't get spam because I've set several spam-magnet
accounts to use an auto-reply, which directs people to
contact me via a form on my websites. Since it's 100%
spam going to those addys, anyway, (read: not sent by
humans) I don't get crap sent to me via the form.
(Fwiw, in the past six months I've been using this
setup, TWO spammers *actually did* go to the web form
to contact me, lol!)

I use a safer e-mail program (Eudora) set to
text-only. I cannot see HTML in messages, nor
embedded graphics, sounds, pages, etc. Though most of
my friends know this, sometimes they forget -- and
then I reply with a note reminding them. ;-)

And most important, I use my BRAIN. Best protection
there is. ;-)

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--
Laura Fredericks
PGP key ID - DH/DSS 2048/1024: 0xC753039A

alt.comp.virus photo gallery:
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[Heather]

Thank you, Laura. Other than Agent and Eudora.....and the fact I use
WinME, my computer is pretty much safeguarded as yours is. I use EZ
Trust & F-Prot, Mailwasher to download mail, AdAware & Spybot, Zone
Alarm, a couple of Registry Cleaners are on hand should I need them, and
so on.

I have never felt the need to 'eradicate' IE......that is not the
answer. The answer you give re using your BRAIN is the right one. Art
and I will never agree on the IE/OE issue, so not going to bother
defending it. I too have not had a virus on here since the very early
days when I had a defective Norton. Even when my genealogy Lists were
chock full of Bugbear and Klez and so on......they got it, I didn't.
And I am in everyone's address book, particularly as I am a List
Administrator. So I must be doing something right.......or maybe I
should buy a lottery ticket, lol.

P.S. I smoke too. (G)

Heather

 

[Heather]

trash.

That's probably due to their reliance on technology instead of common
sense to protect them and the fact that they place too much confidence
in marketing bullshit. Add to this unpatched software.


Münchhausen? The lying baron who supposedly rode on a cannonball?

No.....it is a medical problem. I guess it takes its name from the
lying part. It is actually rather rare, and too darn hard to explain.
But you see it used as a defence in many criminal cases. Check it out
on Google. On second thought, here is one website that explains
it...full name being "Munchhausen Syndrome by Proxy"

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Marc_Feldman_2/#MSBP

Heather

 

[null]

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I don't agree. As I've posted several times, I've
never had a virus, worm or trojan execute itself.

Since you're answering for Heather I'll point out that she posted that
she lets other people use her PC and "lower its security". I used to
have a tougue-in-cheek rule that the first commandment of safe hex is
that you never let someone else use your PC. However, I know that's
not always practical. And it's a disaster to have IE installed under
those conditions. Not so with the Moz based browsers. But even if
noone else used my PC I'd _never_ have that piece of insecure crap
called IE on my PC.

Actually, I've found it helpful in a oblique sort of way to imagine
that someone else might use my PC. That causes me to take additional
measures to "harden" it. Many "little things". WSH is banished for one
thing.

I use IE and have never had any problems -- and I've
been known to uh, OCCASIONALLY visit unscrupulous
sites. ;-) I also download A LOT of shareware and
freeware. (Note, I don't consider an occasional site
changing my homepage a "problem". I just change it
back, delete where it's coming from and POOF! Problem
gone.)

Good for you but I don't have even that.

My OS (Win98) and browser (IE6) get updated, as soon
as updates and patches become available.

Excellent except for the IE nonsense. IEradicator works well on Win
98. You should try it. You'll gain stability and better performance
all the way around. Worked great on my newer Win ME PC as well. Solid
as a rock.

I use a registry cleaner (RegCleaner) every few days.

I use a couple of registry utilities and defrag weekly. Also backup to
a cloned hard drive since I don't ever want to reinstall the OS after
putting a lot of hard work into modifying it.

I have two AV scanners (F-Prot and NAV) -- updated as
new defs become available, but use them on-demand
only, except for incoming e-mail. I do a full scan
monthly.

Not much different from what I do except I use only DOS scanners. They
never find anything and it's very boring to even use them and update
them any more.

I have a hardware firewall (router) and use a software
firewall (Zone Alarm Pro, with pop-up blocker ON).

No firewall-router needed here. I used my brains and did my network
settings/disabling services homework instead I do use Privoxy with
Mozilla for ad blocking.

I use Ad-aware, but only run it every couple of
months.

I have both AdAware and Spybot but they never find anything at all.

I use a HOSTS file, though it doesn't have more than a
few entries.

I've no need to mess with the HOSTS file. Been there and done that.

I use a text-only newsreader. (Agent.)

Excellent! I've used Free Agent for years.

I use my ISP's spam-blocker service for select
spam-magnet accounts. (E.g. online purchases.) I have
a whitelist for each addy, and I remember to add each
new vendor I purchase from to the list BEFORE I click
"ORDER". (On the rare occasion that the vendor's
e-mail addy is different from their domain name, I
just add them to my whitelist when I get their mail,
so they're unblocked. No big deal, 'cause those e-mail
confirmations don't come from HUMANS, anyway.)

I dropped my ISP's spam and virus blocking. I use no filtering at all
right now.

I use an e-mail notifier with filters (Magic Mail
Monitor) for personal e-mail sent to my domains. I
don't get spam because I've set several spam-magnet
accounts to use an auto-reply, which directs people to
contact me via a form on my websites. Since it's 100%
spam going to those addys, anyway, (read: not sent by
humans) I don't get crap sent to me via the form.
(Fwiw, in the past six months I've been using this
setup, TWO spammers *actually did* go to the web form
to contact me, lol!)

I use a safer e-mail program (Eudora) set to
text-only. I cannot see HTML in messages, nor
embedded graphics, sounds, pages, etc. Though most of
my friends know this, sometimes they forget -- and
then I reply with a note reminding them. ;-)

I've taken to using Mozilla's email. It's been great. Version 1.6 is
now available!

And most important, I use my BRAIN. Best protection
there is. ;-)

Knowledge. Naive users aren't necessarily stupid.


Art
http://www.epix.net/~artnpeg

 

[Gabriele Neukam]

On that special day, Frederic Bonroy, ([email protected]) said...

Münchhausen? The lying baron who supposedly rode on a cannonball?

I think Bart was referring to the Muenchhausen-in-lieu-syndrome (does it
translate like this?). The typical case is a mother that wants to
attract attention by making her children sick and then bringing them to
hospital, where all would commiserate with her.

Bart, do you imply the Heather has a "child" called "Internet Explorer"?
That's not nice.

But maybe this explains why Microsoft does so little for the IE
security, they are trapped in this mental state...


Gabriele Neukam

(e-mail address removed)

 

[Bart Bailey]

In
Message-ID:<[email protected]>

I hesitate to touch much of anything in there until I understand
it better.

Start RegEdit and under [Registry] [Export Registry File] navigate to
some easy to find location, give it a name (just use an X if you like)
then Save. Get used to doing this before anything else.
If you want to practice, once you have exported your file, open any
folder and up at the top [View] and uncheck Toolbar and/or Status Bar.
Close and open another folder to see that they are gone, then start
RegEdit and import your saved registry file. Check that folder again to
see that it's like before.
Don't get too carried away, some settings aren't in the registry. <g>

 

[Bart Bailey]

In Message-ID:<[email protected]> posted on

That's probably due to their reliance on technology instead of common
sense to protect them and the fact that they place too much confidence
in marketing bullshit. Add to this unpatched software.


Münchhausen? The lying baron who supposedly rode on a cannonball?

Using the umlaut gives only Deutsch sites in google, and I suppose since
it is a human psychological trait, Germans would share it as well, but
as I'm not a Deutschsprachiger, I have to rely on the English ones:
http://www.whonamedit.com/synd.cfm/1102.html


(anecdotal mode)
Having done institutional electronic telemetry (cardiac monitor) repair,
I'm quite familiar with the syndrome from my association with nurses.
There was one small town hospital where certain people (mostly elderly
women) would check in for their "annual hospitalization", sort of like a
vacation spa with pampering attention at the expense of the insurance
company. There wasn't anything wrong with them but the craving for
attention, in fact, I used to sit and chat with them to kill time, and
even had one show me how to do the Charleston, after I closed the door
so the nurses wouldn't see. ;-)
(/anecdotal mode)

 

[Gate]

full name being "Munchhausen Syndrome by Proxy"<

No. Munchausen by proxy is a special case of Munchausen, one
where the person making facetious reports of illness is making them
about some one else (their proxy). Oftentimes the person exhibiting
Munchausen by proxy actually goes further, deliberately causing
illness in their proxy, in an attempt to bolster their claims.
If someone has Munchausen's, they will tell doctors that they
_themselves_ have medical symptoms that they do not, or which they
have deliberately caused in themselves. The reward is believed to be
the attention thus gained.
If someone has Munchausen's by proxy, they tell the doctors that
their proxy (who may be their child, or a dependant elder) has
medical symptoms which either are not present, or have been caused by
the reporting person. The reward is believed to be the indirect
attention gained. For example, a mother with Munchausen's by proxy
might say their child vomits all the time, and if they do not get
sufficient attention with this claim, they might go on to feed the
child food which they knew to be spoiled.

Gate

Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have
others. - Groucho Marx

 

[Bart Bailey]

In Message-ID:<[email protected]> posted on Sun, 18 Jan

Bart, do you imply the Heather has a "child" called "Internet Explorer"?
That's not nice.

No, I wasn't even referring to Heather in particular, just some of the
folk that show up now and then soliciting help, yet presenting such
oblique descriptions of their malady as to obviate any meaningful help,
but instead satisfy their real need for attention.

However, in her case, it might have some metaphorical significance to
refer to IE as a redheaded stepchild. ;-)

 

[Bart Bailey]

In Message-ID:<[email protected]> posted on

If someone has Munchausen's by proxy, they tell the doctors that
their proxy (who may be their child, or a dependant elder)

or computer

has
medical symptoms which either are not present, or have been caused by
the reporting person. The reward is believed to be the indirect
attention gained. For example, a mother with Munchausen's by proxy
might say their child vomits all the time,

computer goes weird all the time

and if they do not get
sufficient attention with this claim, they might go on to feed the
child food which they knew to be spoiled.

who knows what someone will click to infect their computer

 

[optikl]

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I don't agree. As I've posted several times, I've
never had a virus, worm or trojan execute itself.

I use IE and have never had any problems -- and I've
been known to uh, OCCASIONALLY visit unscrupulous
sites. ;-) I also download A LOT of shareware and
freeware. (Note, I don't consider an occasional site
changing my homepage a "problem". I just change it
back, delete where it's coming from and POOF! Problem
gone.)

Laura, you might want to consider SpywareBlaster. It's one of the best
insurance policies you can have if you use IE. It's free for Wilders site.

 

[Laura Fredericks]

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I dropped my ISP's spam and virus blocking. I use no
filtering at all right now.

That's because nobody ever e-mails you, Art. Not even
the spammers. ;-) (j/k)

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--
Laura Fredericks
PGP key ID - DH/DSS 2048/1024: 0xC753039A

alt.comp.virus photo gallery:
http://www.queenofcyberspace.com/acvgallery/

usenet flamewars:
http://www.queenofcyberspace.com/usenet/

Remove CLOTHES to reply.

 

[Heather]

Laura, you might want to consider SpywareBlaster. It's one of the best
insurance policies you can have if you use IE. It's free for Wilders

site.

I agree....I believe it was you who suggested using it and I had it
downloaded but not opened up yet......thanks again. That and
MRU-Blaster......I think one of the MS guys recommended that....or I
could have it backwards.....grin.

Heather

 

[Heather]

Thanks Bartman....I will play with what you say and also get back to
that website. Appreciate the lessons......Heather

 

[Frederic Bonroy]

Gabriele Neukam a écrit :

I think Bart was referring to the Muenchhausen-in-lieu-syndrome (does it
translate like this?). The typical case is a mother that wants to
attract attention by making her children sick and then bringing them to
hospital, where all would commiserate with her.

Actually I did a search on Google before posting that. I think it's
probable that the syndrome was named after the baron.

 

[null]

That's because nobody ever e-mails you, Art. Not even
the spammers. ;-) (j/k)

Ha Ha miss silly Laura. Actually it's because I found legit emails in
my ISP's Web mail trash folder. With DSL service I find that right now
the spams, while quite numerous, are easy enough to just d/l and
delete. Takes just seconds a day.


Art
http://www.epix.net/~artnpeg

 

[joke0]

Salut,

Frederic Bonroy:
Nope: Münchhausen's syndrome by proxy.

Actually I did a search on Google before posting that. I think
it's probable that the syndrome was named after the baron.

That's right:
http://www.whonamedit.com/synd.cfm/1105.html

« The condition was named after Polle, the son of baron
Hieronymus Karl Friedrich von Münchhausen and his second wife,
Bernhardine Brun, who was born in 1795 and died 1 year later.
The syndrome is considered to be a form of the battered child
syndrome. »

 

[Buffalo]

"Heather"

[snip]
Laura, you might want to consider SpywareBlaster. It's one of the best
insurance policies you can have if you use IE. It's free for Wilders

site.

I agree....I believe it was you who suggested using it and I had it
downloaded but not opened up yet......thanks again. That and
MRU-Blaster......I think one of the MS guys recommended that....or I
could have it backwards.....grin.

Heather

Heather, just in case you didn't happen to see the 'extras' in
SpywareBlaster, click on the Tools tab and you have the option to 'lock'
your Home page, change the title in IE to your own (such as "Internet
Explorer by Heather") and also another to provent MacroMedia Flash from
working.(plus more)
It is a GREAT program that really doesn't use any resources and I recommend
it to all.