Ask The Computer Tech A Question

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #40 on:** December 31, 2009, 11:26:56 PM

Quote

Have YOU ever been hacked and if so, what was it like the first time you were hacked?

Attempts have been made many times. Some have succeeded. I make sure all my stuff is secure though and I've never lost anything important to an intruder before. A large part of my security is a virtual "vault" that I've made. Any file that's put in the "vault" cannot be accessed out of network. I put stuff that's really important in there just in case of a network-wide attack. I have a lot of security around me though so the successful attacks are few and far between.

The first time I was hacked, I noticed a few things missing from my desktop. Nothing that big. Just a few pictures I had saved. Then these icons started appearing. It took me a while to figure out that those icons were supposed to be...well....male sexual organs. I found the little f*****. He had gotten through an open port that I had forgotten to close when I removed the network device. Blocked him out then blasted his a$$ with everything I had at the time....which included a bunch of porn and three virus-infected word documents. I wasn't very experienced back then and he probably liked the porn, but at least he went away (he probably left to enjoy his new pictures). I closed the open port and never saw him again.

And about the porn...it wasn't mine. A friend of mine sent it to me and wiped it off his computer so him mom wouldn't find it. I couldn't resist though and I unzipped the archive and took a peek.

Glad I did though. Don't know if I could have unzipped the file when I was being hacked. Hell, one of the porn files probably had a virus in it anyway.

Caustizer · **Reply #41 on:** January 01, 2010, 02:56:48 PM

How do you know when someone is attempting to hack your network?

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #42 on:** January 01, 2010, 07:46:02 PM

Quote

How do you know when someone is attempting to hack your network?

I have a program that will alert me to any hacking attempts. Of course, that's not always 100% reliable so I'm always checking my network history. I know every byte of in-network traffic. If someone's fooling around in my network, I'll know about it.

Of course, most hackers are blatantly obvious. They don't hide their tracks or try to hide themselves when they punch through because they're lazy. They just want to get in, see if there's anything good, and get out.

pokeplayer984 · **Reply #43 on:** January 03, 2010, 10:13:57 PM

Tell me, is computer coding almost like a second language to you by now or is it still greatly confusing?

MrDrake · **Reply #44 on:** January 03, 2010, 10:23:05 PM

Can you teach me how to hack into the government?

Nah, serious question is this: Has your computer ever crashed on you completely? I mean to the point is that when you turn it back on, all you get is that evil blue screen of death?

Cancerian Tiger · **Reply #45 on:** January 05, 2010, 05:32:06 AM

What is it about computers that caught your interest

?

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #46 on:** January 05, 2010, 04:16:09 PM

Quote

Tell me, is computer coding almost like a second language to you by now or is it still greatly confusing?

It depends on what language you're talking about. I'm only 100% fluent in a few languages. When I want to use other languages, I look stuff up when necessary.

Quote

Has your computer ever crashed on you completely? I mean to the point is that when you turn it back on, all you get is that evil blue screen of death?

A personal computer of mine? Never. Unless you count the screwed up computers I purchase from clients that just don't want them anymore or can't afford to repair them. They're technically mine, but once a computer becomes mine, I take care of it very well and it never crashes.

Quote

What is it about computers that caught your interest smile.gif?

Let's face it. You can't do crap without them. It's even more true today then it was back when I first got into them. But they're such a large part of everyone's life, I just couldn't ignore them. The inability to pay for computer repair is what got me interested in repairing them in the first place.

pokeplayer984 · **Reply #47 on:** January 08, 2010, 02:29:08 AM

Okay, this is not a computer related question, but I hope you answer it all the same.

I know for a fact that you have watched a number of Anime Shows. Out of all you've seen, which one is your most favorite?

Malte279 · **Reply #48 on:** January 16, 2010, 11:27:53 AM

Hi Austin. I have a question from the total computer idiot to the expert

My laptop came with Vista installed and the programs already installed included one scourge of mankind titled "Windows Media Center". To this day I have never found any practical use of that program which tends to freeze, is confusingly laid out, and doesn't come with a working TV application. Nor did I ever have to start it deliberately as I am using other software for the functions which I presume are supposed to be covered by that "Media Center" with the minor problem that they don't work there. Moreover the program probably takes up a great deal of free space as it comes with a lot of semitransparent and other space draining graphic elements. Apart from these "passive problems" it sometimes becomes an active pain in the... for starting randomly on its own accord sometimes causing other programs to crash as a consequence.
Long story short, I would like to get rid of the program, but I am not really sure how to get rid of it. It is not listed among the programs listed in the control panel and even searching it in the explorer will not find it. I am not sure if the makers consider it so integral a part of the "system programs" as to make it difficult to detect and remove and if therefore any special steps are necessary for the later.
I also wonder if it is somehow a basis for other programs which I may need (like the windows media player etc.). Is there any reason to keep the windows media center on the computer and if not, how to get rid of it?

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #49 on:** January 16, 2010, 04:38:10 PM

Quote

I know for a fact that you have watched a number of Anime Shows. Out of all you've seen, which one is your most favorite?

Well to be honest, I really don't like that much anime. A lot of it is just plain stupid. But as to my favorite? I'm sorry but I just can't choose. I like the anime's for different reasons. I liked Fullmetal Alchemist just because it was so epic and had such a great story behind it. I liked Inuyasha because of the great relationships that were featured in it and its close similarity to the inner workings of Japanese culture. You just have to go looking around. I recommend going and finding a list of ALL anime out there via Wikipedia and then searching for the first episode of each of 'em that catch your interest. Then you can download 'em if they don't air where you are, or buy them online.

@Malte: Like all the useless s*** that MS includes on all their OS's, WMC can't be removed. If you want my advise, download the Vista restore disk from my server and wipe out your computer. Then you won't even have one useless program on there other than the crap that MS includes. And WMC doesn't really take up much. Though I wouldn't recommend using ANY of the useless crap that MS puts on their OS's including (but not limited to):

Paint
Windows Media Player
Windows Media Center
Windows Movie Maker
Wordpad

Paint and Wordpad are okay, but with OpenOffice and Gimp both being FREE, I don't see why anyone would use them except for ignorance. WMP and WMC are take up a HUGE amount of processing power and ram....and all they do is play a frickin' movie! Get VLC or just about any other player and trash 'em. There aren't really many free alternatives to WMM, but it's just a crashing piece of s*** that can only output videos on crappy formats and in crappy quality.

But anyway, yeah just download that Vista disk from my server and wipe out your computer. Make sure to get rid of the recovery partition too. It really does no good. Even if you use the disk or recovery partition that came with your computer, it'll just load all the s*** that came with it including trails to about a trillion different programs and all this "helpful" software that HP (or whoever your manufacturer is) thinks is so great. It's just a bunch of s***. Get rid of it.

pokeplayer984 · **Reply #50 on:** February 03, 2010, 03:21:51 AM

Any tips for those who don't know squat about computers and what they should do if they suspect their computer got hacked?

The Great Valley Guardian · **Reply #51 on:** February 03, 2010, 04:50:14 AM

What would you suggest for a Macintosh user, who can't keep their room cool enough to run their computer for more than a few hours?

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #52 on:** February 03, 2010, 06:34:58 PM

Quote

Any tips for those who don't know squat about computers and what they should do if they suspect their computer got hacked?

Hijackthis is an okay program. Honestly, it's much easier to just back everything up and wipe it all out. That's what I'd personally do. Oh, and next time secure your network better so they can't get in so easily.

Quote

What would you suggest for a Macintosh user, who can't keep their room cool enough to run their computer for more than a few hours?

Macs are frickin' expensive. If you have a Mac, you shouldn't be too cheap to run the air conditioner. If you have an air conditioner and it's not enough, get a better one or move. Unfortunately, there's not much you can do in this situation except cool the room down. I really hurt my server when I first came to Minnesota because I put it in such hot conditions. I make sure to keep the air on 24/7 in the summertime here.

pokeplayer984 · **Reply #53 on:** February 26, 2010, 12:28:49 AM

Okay, here's one that I've been trying to rack my brain into figuring out with zero luck.

I've seen on many sites that when you do a download that you have to put in a randomly generated code to prove you're a real person and not a bot.

What's the coding for that anyways? Seriously, that's such a great and necessary feature for a site that offers downloads of files.

Amaranthine · **Reply #54 on:** May 06, 2010, 10:59:14 PM

This might be an odd question, but do you believe in the term "guilty pleasure" as in having "LBT as a guilty pleasure" due to certain circumstances of what seems to be socially acceptable in society, or do you kick out the labels and just like what you like even if other people would call them guilty pleasures?

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #55 on:** July 24, 2010, 02:04:04 AM

How could I find out if a website named cellsea.com is safe? I want to download a ringtone from there, but I don't know if I can trust it.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #56 on:** July 24, 2010, 04:58:29 PM

Quote

I've seen on many sites that when you do a download that you have to put in a randomly generated code to prove you're a real person and not a bot.

That requires PHP and (preferrably) MySql. You can do it without a MySql database, but having a database would be more secure and protect better against the more sophisticated bots.

Quote

This might be an odd question, but do you believe in the term "guilty pleasure" as in having "LBT as a guilty pleasure" due to certain circumstances of what seems to be socially acceptable in society, or do you kick out the labels and just like what you like even if other people would call them guilty pleasures?[/quote}

I'm not sure what you mean, but I'll try to answer as best I can. I wouldn't tell anyone I like LBT unless specifically asked, but I'm not ashamed of it. I don't care what other people deem as abnormal. Despite this, I am a business owner and giving that sort of information to a client would NOT be a good idea as I'm supposed to know what I'm doing. From what I've seen through the years, people tend to think that computer technicians are a thousand times smarter than they are and if the technician is watching LBT, they're not really living up to the God-like standard the people seem to compare them to. That's one thing I dislike about being a technician. I'm smart but I'm not exceptional or anything....much less a thousand times smarter than my clients.

Quote
How could I find out if a website named cellsea.com is safe? I want to download a ringtone from there, but I don't know if I can trust it.

First off, get AVG. If you don't have it, get it. Do all updates and download the latest version. AVG has a feature that will tell you if a website is safe to visit. Simply Google the website in question and look for the green shield with a check mark on it. If that's there, then the website is probably safe. Even so, do another Google search. Search "driveby cellsea.com" and see if anyone has been talking about driveby downloads from that website. If they have, don't go to it.

But if you want my recommendation with cell phone ring tones, you should make your own. Ring tones are in a special format that can you can easily convert an MP3 or other sound file in to.

Malte279 · **Reply #57 on:** September 01, 2010, 07:02:45 AM

Hi Austin,
I have one question about the windows explorer. Whenever I open it the default setting is that the folder "documents" will be opened from where I then have to navigate to the folder where I really want to get (which hardly ever is the default document folder). Can you tell me how to change the setting so that opening the windows explorer would open a different folder rather than "documents"?

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #58 on:** September 01, 2010, 10:11:55 AM

This fix should work on all versions of Windows (XP and newer):

1. Click Start, point to Programs, then Accessories, then right–click Windows Explorer, and click Properties.

2. Under Target field, which reads %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe, add to make the line read %SystemRoot%\explorer.exe /n, /e, /select, C:\

3. Click OK.

The Windows explorer should be set to the start menu by default or will open the My Computer window if you use the keyboard shortcut (Win Key + E). It shouldn't be set to My Documents unless you changed the setting. :unsure:

Malte279 · **Reply #59 on:** September 01, 2010, 10:25:16 AM

Awesome

Thanks a lot Austin!