Belated Introduction

Years ago, I received a 1.44 floppy of a game someone gave me while attending a PLC class. To my error, I forgot and left it in Drive a:\ and booted up. Next thing I know, I get this message that says I have the "Stoned" virus. I had to remove my hard-drive and take it into school to run anti-virus programs on it to clean it up. I learned a lot through that process. As I said, that was "years ago"!

Fast forward.....Last week, I get on my newer "multi-user" family computer and find that multiple pop-ups start flooding me with warnings of malware and virus detections. I'm already aware that these are malicious attempts to get me to say "OK" and allow the down-pouring of malware to enter my computer.

At the time, I happened to be in a IRC channel with a guy that repairs computers for a living so, I tell him I need help and I sure don't want to reboot at the moment. He tells me about Major Geeks and that I should visit and do some reading...man, things sure have changed! He also told me to run Anti-Malwarebytes in the meantime. I ran the program and all the pop-ups quit! But, I started noticing other problems while running programs. Eventually, when I would "switch user", I was left looking a welcome screen w/no user icons! Uh-Oh...need to reset/reboot. I was able to get logged back on to my account but, now I'm nervous.

In my haste, I came back to MG's and signed up an account and started reading some more. Things have been a bit crazy on this PC and I have been trying to keep it all together until I can get it cleaned out (in the meanwhile, I'm fighting the other users). Now that things have settled down a bit, I have more time to read and more importantly, introduce myself. First of all, I want to let you all know that I am uncomfortable with asking for assistance without FIRST making introductions. It just seems "unprofessional" to me.

I read a forum on spywarewarrior.com where a guy sees no problem with writing malware to send out on the internet. What struck me was the arguments that the people at spywarewarrior.com gave him. They pointed out his lack of intergrity, his lack of ethical and moral foundation....I haven't heard those words in a long time! This guys only concern was making money...I wanted to get in there and argue with him myself.

Point is, there are a lot of good people out there trying to do the right thing, people with a good ethical and moral foundation and, as I have been reading through the posts, I have come to a very calming conclusion....that you folks at MG's are really "good people!". From what I see and read here at MG's, you all fit that description, and now I'm thankful that I decided to place my trust in your hands!

So, with that "long-winded" preface out of the way...my name is Linuxpowers...aka, Roger, and I am very pleased to meet and be associated in some small way with you all. Please accept my apologies for not introducing myself first...it's just not my way!

Sincerely,
Linuxpowers

 

Wlecome to MG ! :wave Wow what an introduction Linuxpowers aka "Roger" usually it's just a short " hi i'm new to MG " wish i'd have introduced myself like that when i first came to MG, anyway, hope you like it here and stay longer, you will find the regulars here are really helpful and friendly, and never be afraid to ask questions thats what we're all here for, to learn from others, and to help others to learn, and also some of us "me" learn from our mistakes !

 

Welcome to Major Geeks.
Better late than never.
If you need assistance with your problem, we have the best Malware fighters right here.

 

Thanks rustyjack and hrlow2! With folks like you offering words of encouragement, what excuse could the rest of us have? :major

rustyjack, I guess I do tend to turn a simple thought into a story! Since I have such a "limited" vocabulary, I want to make sure the "emotions" are construed properly and my message is not misinterpreted. (past experiences w/emails)

hrlow2, from what I've read so far, MG is the storehouse of expertise and I think I'll learn a lot from interacting with you all.

Thank you both again for you words and I'm looking forward to my education, maybe I can help someone out when the time comes....I just hate learning by mistakes though! :-o

 

Thanks LauraR, I'm relieved to be in the company of such proficient people.

BTW, I hope you don't mind, but I visited your photography gallery. You definitely have an eye for color and symmetry in the world we live in. A lot of people take for granted the images you have captured with a camera....makes me want to stop and smell the roses all over again. Keep up the great work!

 

Hello and welcome to the forum! :wave I may be a little late to get in here to greet you. But I am here And like the others have said this has to be the best Forum Ive seen and thats why I stuck around. I am tring to learn things but I will never equal to what most of these people already know or continue to know. The software, hardware, malware and all the sections below are filled with great knowledge of people willing to help. :grouphug

 

Welcome to MG,linuxpowers/Roger,:wave Great intro, and we all started out the same way, believe it or not.I think you will enjoy yourself here. Glad to have ya

 

Thanks silas and TeeCee, I appreciate your comments.

I have heard that when adversity comes along, it opens other doors of opportunity that otherwise might have not been available. It appears I have opened a door of opportunity through my adversity.

Thank you so much!

 

Hello,linuxpowers/Roger, you are very welcome. You are correct on the doors.. I also believe that too.. One must believe You are only limited by your imagination. You can learn as little or as much as you like. Enjoy!

 

Thank you very much Kestrel13!, I'm glad to be here. You all definitely have knack for making newcomers feels right at home!

 

Also welcome to MG. Spend an hour a day here and you'll be surprised how much you'll learn!

Be careful though, knowledge can be addictive.

 

Hey brandypeppy, we meet again! It's funny you should say that, "Spend an hour a day here..." because ever since I signed on 4 days ago, I haven't signed off yet and, I have spent at least 12hrs a day sitting right here in front of my computer!

Now, I know what your thinking, I should get a life! But, with all the cold weather everyone's having, there's not much for me to do. Besides, I'm on a holiday time-off from work and don't go back till next week so, I have all this free time right now and I really need to spend as much of it as I can getting this computer cleaned up before I go back to work.

Anyway, thanks for poking your head in and saying hi. I appreciate the welcome mat!

 

12 hours a day!

Okay, I guess we can use you for the poster boy of the perils of the Major Geeks site!

 

Might as well make that poster a template while your at it cause when I'm not at work, this is about all I do anymore, just sit at the computer and read! I usually have about 40 tabs open at a time in my browser...my daughter gets a kick out of that!

I also keep IRC open with about 4-5 channels going at once...gets kinda hard at times remembering what the topic of conversation is and where.

There was a time when I even got bored with all that and started building websites...that was before the days of dreamweaver/drupal (cms)/blogger/wordpress....wrote all the pages raw with notepad!

My kids always wake up and see me still sitting here and ask, "Dad, did you ever go to bed and get some sleep?" Well, you know what I tell them...

 

Hmm, OK. Now I see why this thread has grown legs. Nice intro Roger.

 

Hey augiedoggie, I've seen a lot of your postings in here...you get around quite a bit! Over the past few days of reading, I come to the realization that all of you here at MG have your hands full, more so than I can imagine. I never realized just how much malware/virus/trojans/maliciousness is propagating on the internet.

So thanks for taking time out to just stop by and say hi, I really appreciate everyone's encouraging words.

 

Yeah, it definitely remains the wild west, just the way I like it.

You will not find a better, more expertly helpful forum than this. I direct all of my students here as well.

 

Thanks Halo! And your exactly right...I should have run away! But, I'm too old and my legs don't move as good anymore so, I guess I'm stuck here! Suppose I'll just have to adjust somehow!

As far as the forums are concerned, I'll let you know when I get finished reading them all! :tired

 

Not gonna happen,Halo.:-D
MG is stuck with you.:cry

 

Awww shucks(augie kicks can)!:-o:-D I have the luxury of time as I'm retired and would love to learn everything but there's just too much. I just answer to what I know about or at least have an educated guess as to the issue. Have a good time here Rog.:major

 

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for a such warm welcome.

I especially find it appropriate to pay a special thanks to Kestrel13!, for patiently walking me through the process of cleaning the malware out of my computer. I'm up and running smoothly again with newly updated drivers, an active anti-virus program, firewall and many more tweaks to my system.

Also want to mention chaslang for all the concise and informative instructions that has been written. I have learned more about my computer in the past 2 weeks than I have in the past 5-7 years! Thanks chaslang!

I've also found a wealth of information by reading the threads posted here at MG. This site is truly a resource that any computer...ehem "geek"...would need!

So thanks MG for all you do, I will continue to be a member for years to come!