I'm not offended, Linda. The 2 reasons I write so much is that 1. people sometimes get in trouble when they assume that you're starting from the same point they are, so I generally start from the beginning. I do this not to insult people, but to insure we're on the same page. 2. "especially since everyone likes what they're using and it is a *personal experience/opinion*." That's why I always give my reasoning when I give a recommendation, so if the explanation doesn't make sense, then you might want to think again about following my recommendations. (Also, that's why, in this case, I recommended a review site to make your reseach easier and more trustworthy.) But these 2 practices make the posts a lot longer. "Sorry about that, Chief". - Maxwell Smart.
So how bout this. Here are, hopefully, my short answers to every question I could find you asked in this thread.
Question: If I do a full re-install of Windows 2000 with the disk will this remove whatever it is that's screwed up my computer?
Not an ideal solution but necessary in extreme circumstances and the short answer is "yes".
There are many software 'protectors' for viruses, malware, and spyware. Is there any ONE software that handles all of these things? If not, what would you consider the BEST virus protector because apparently the one I was using did not work.
Understand that you hardly need to limit yourself to one. Some people will say that they fight, but that's mainly their online protection monitors. If you have only one or two of those turned on 24/7, you shouldn't have a problem. You can run as many different scans and scanners as you can stand. Avira's considered a top 10, and it didn't catch everything. Malwarebytes should be of significant help, especially if used with something like Avira, instead of just by itself. As I say, safe surfing practices are the real key, and since this may be your first infection, it doesn't sound like you should be worried too much. :)
The gentleman yesterday installed the free Malwarebytes software but am not certain what exactly it does.
I could explain - it's partially in my other post - but it would probably take more than a paragraph.
Somewhere I heard that just opening a website could infect a computer. Is this true?
Yes. The primary danger is from what are called worms. But worms are rare and hard to write, so they're not common. The type of problems you originally described are more likely, as you've already discovered, from Trojans. They're infinitely more common than worms, and happen not when you open a website, but when you download something or click on something that says it will add a neat little "feature" to your browsing.
ISO, doscsi, SCSI support, c/p, BIOS
As Wizzard said, an ISO is one method of making a quick carbon copy of a data (not audio or video, in this case) CD or DVD. Sometimes, you want programs to run from a CD or DVD. If the layout is fairly complex, like a CD that can run your computer in place of Windows, the developer can include an installer that lays out a CD or DVD so that it will do that complex function. Or they can simply allow you to make a carbon copy of a CD or DVD already designed to do that. ISO is one of those carbon copy techniques.
SCSI is one way of connecting a storage disk - like your hard disk - to your computer. Many, and definitely most older machines , use an older way to connect your hard disk called IDE, so you probably wouldn't need to use that. I believe Archangel was just using that as an example of the simple yes/no, on/off features of the Kaspersky disk.
I'm not sure what he meant by C/P, it's an abbreviation I'm unfamiliar with, but it was obviously just some condensed and useful instructions.
BIOS are internal settings used by the basic hardware of your computer, stored on a small chip that it accesses before it even accesses Windows on your hard disk. If you've ever seen "Press F11 (del, esc, or whatever) to enter setup", when your computer first boots up before it goes into Windows, those are your BIOS settings. Even back in the days of Windows 2K, these are probably not worth you worrying about.
Archangel wrote to me: "You'll need to be hooked up to the internet for updates."
As you know, any anti-virus/anti-malware scanner has to be regularly updated to be effective. The problem with some of the old emergency rescue disks is that they couldn't fetch the latest updates from the internet. So, if Windows crashed and you had to use one to fix it, it might not catch the virus because the rescue disk was out of date. The new ones will automatically connect to the internet and access the latest definitions before they scan. With always on DSL or cable you won't have a problem with that.
"I have a landline phone because I'm told I need a landline in order to have internet.'
What you need is some conduit to connect to the internet. If you don't have a telephone line or cable, the other way is that a company can put up a small sattelite dish for you. I think this is sometimes offered by providers who also offer DirectTV or DishNetwork, too. You need two things, a physical way to access the internet - line or dish - and a way to interact with that connection - landline modem, DSL modem, cable modem, sattelite modem or whatever else there might be.
As for "communicating ports",
Every time your computer accesses anything outside itself, even a printer, it's through a port. Even though there's only one set of wires that connects to the internet, Windows can multi-task by essentially opening pseudo virtual ports to more than one place on the internet, even though there's only one physical port, i.e, set of wires. Sometimes these virtual ports are open when they don't need to be, and something bad can sneak in. This is one of the main things a firewall protects you from - unwanted stuff getting through ANY of your internet ports.
Don't worry about "sandboxing". All that means is isolating your browser somewhat from the rest of your computer to help keep the bad things from getting past the browser. They didn't used to be normally isolated very much. It's basically giving us kids a safer place to play. Like a sandbox.
There. Hope that saves you some research.
