Format...the VIRUS??

[beavereater]

I love a clean computer...l hate the process, but in the end it feels good. Last night, after all the connectivity problems I have been having with my cable internet, I decided to format. AS SOON as windows installed, I figured I would connect to the net and just get all the new drivers right away (except for my MB since thats got my LAN card and I need that to connect)

NOT 30 SECONDS I get a message "Your computer will be shutting down in 1 minute...yadayayada...!" Was I just the unluckiest bastard in the unluckiest place and the utter most unluckiest time!? OR...should I have not connected and used all my drivers from CD first, along with installing Norton and Zone Alarm...??

EDIT: The title was suppose to read "FORMAT...then a VIRUS!?"

[hech54]

I'm no computer expert but I have read warnings on several anti-virus/spyware info sites concerning your exact scenario. I always thought I(or most people) would have enough time to go and get the security patches from Microsoft BEFORE the viruses that exploit those security holes....but after reading your post....Hmmm.
I hope you get it straightened out.

[beavereater]

Well...I dealt with the SASSER virus. It looked the same, but was some like RCP was not working...not sure what that is. Anyway, I just set my time back on the PC and it went from 1 minute left, to 150 days left...giving me enough time to save the stuff I was doing. I rebooted...and when I came back, no problems. I went on and got the fixes...hope thats solved things. Nothing wierd yet, but I won't know for sure until I get home and work on it for a while.

[Craig Tucker]

That is a major problem with the rpc shutdown. The same thing has happened to me with pc's on broadband and dialup. You cant download the security patches unless your on-line, and if your online you get the virus. Bit of a catch 22 situation. The best solution is to download all the patches onto a CD before doing a format and reinstall of a fresh OS. You can then apply all the security patches off line. There is a CD that MS will send you or you can find it on P2P (which is what I did). Or you can go to MS website and download the patches individually.

[DVD_Ripper]

Since you really have not installed any apps and are only a few hours into a fresh install can you do another quick format / install of the OS and install Kerio / Zone Alarm and Norton and then hit the net for the rest of your drivers / files / etc. You should then be pretty protected against whatever may be out there.

[Faustus]

Blaster worm, yup I get this all the time, Customer runs restore, hooks up DSL/Cable modem withing just a min they have it.

5min on a modem with an unpretected computer will give it to ya also many times. Its still out there and will continue to be for many many years.

[thecoalman]

Same thing happened to me. I just reinstalled again but the first thing I did was install Zonealarm before going online, then all the MS patches.

When you go to he windows update on the left there's menu, select windows update catalog, you can save them as files on a disk.

[rallynavvie]

You can disable the RPC service before connecting to the net to get the update. Just go into your Services and disable the "Remote Procedure Call". I would just leave it disabled afterward too.

[bdf24]

Your best bet though is a firewall. Or even a router running NAT. I ran for a while without any security updates behind a router and never got msblaster. But everyone I knew that ran there systems unprotected got it. Then I had to get rid of it for them I guess that's the price you pay when your one of the only people you know that are computer knowledgable.
Even still to this day now I have the service packs downloaded and certain sercurity fixes downloaded and I install them immediatly after a reinstall or after a fresh install on a PC I've built for someone. Just to be safe!

[gitreel]

That is why you right click network neighborhood and turn the firewall on before you ever connect to the internet. I have done this on numerous computers and never got blaster, welchia or sasser.

[pyrate83]

Dude, when I was on dial-up a year ago, I formatted my hard drive and the second I connected to the internet to download updates from microsoft i got the same exact message and my computer rebooted. Took a few trys to get the updates dld and installed before i could bypass that rebooting shit.

Thanks Microsoft, we love ya!

[gitreel]

Microsoft is not to blame for people not using common sense. Download the patches, save them to cd. When you do a new install, before you connect to the internet, turn the firewall on, install the patches from the cd. You should be all set.

[bdf24]

Microsoft is not to blame for people not using common sense. Download the patches, save them to cd. When you do a new install, before you connect to the internet, turn the firewall on, install the patches from the cd. You should be all set.

I could'nt agree more! Although I prefer to keep them on one of my drives. Actually I keep all my programs I've downloaded on one of my drives. I hate putting CD's in to install if I don't have to. Guess I'm just lazy

[DVD_Ripper]

gitreel wrote:
Microsoft is not to blame for people not using common sense. Download the patches, save them to cd. When you do a new install, before you connect to the internet, turn the firewall on, install the patches from the cd. You should be all set.

At home I have a dial up connection (its free and I'm too damn cheap)... well here a the office a T1 line... When I go up to MS XP update page on microsquash site it looks at my local machine and determines what items I need for this work machine.

Is there a location on the MS site where I can download all xp updates to cd and when I do a fresh install I can install only those patches I desire.

Thanks

[thecoalman]

When you go to the automatic update page look on the menu on the left. At the bottom is download catalog link which will take you to a file download page.

[gitreel]

Either that or goto www.microsoft.com and click on downloads.

[johns0]

If you do get the shutdown rpc notice then type "shutdown.exe -a" in your run command.

[DVD_Ripper]

When you go to the automatic update page look on the menu on the left. At the bottom is download catalog link which will take you to a file download page.

Thanks... initially when I went up there... nothing was denoted on the update page until I selected 'show catalog' on a subsequent page. Thus when returned to the update page it then denoted the catalog option. Not incredibly obvious.... thanks for the direction