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New, increasing popular virus...
- Thread starter Kwiksigns
- Start date
In your control panel, find user accounts, click on manage user account, make sure the account your on has a password. Then find the option to create a new account, might have to click manage another user account first, don't remember off the top of my head, create a new user account, and make sure its set as standard user, not Administrator. Log off your current account, and log into the new standard user account.
When you do this, you will notice all of your documents, desktop, video's, favorites, email settings, and a few other folders are not there, you will have to copy your files over to the new user directory to use them like normal (You have to do this from the Admin account), you will also have to backup your email (depending what client your using), and re-setup your email account on the new user account. This should really be done at the time of a fresh install.
Sandboxie looks like an interesting program, in theory it should prevent ransomware from doing it's dirty deeds, but that's assuming the ransomeware hasn't found a hole in sandboxie. At the very least, it will help deter, again assuming Sandboxie isn't filled with a bunch of bugs, causing even more headaches for the everyday use.
If need be, i can give a step by step, if the above isn't specific enough.
WildWestDesigns
Active Member
Where there is a will, there is a way.
This just puts an extra layer of security more then anything else. Yes, there are ways around things, but this is just one of those things that makes a little harder, not quite as low hanging fruit if you will.
I know there have been some malware for Linux that doesn't require to be run as root in order for it to do some type of damage, I would imagine the same would hold true for Windows.
WildWestDesigns
Active Member
This is where another area that I like Linux (and probably comes from the fact that these still maintain their server like focus) is that you can set it up to where you can either use sudo or su and you can add users that aren't apart of the root group to where they can't sudo in their account to anything.
I used to be a fluent Linux user, and i agree its a better os, but it has its limitations, or did when i was into it... I started using linux before they came up w/ the idea of apt, and the like installers. It was brutal to use Linux back in the day. For example, lets assume the base os is installed already, and say you wanted to install just one application. You would have to cure all of its dependencies first, it would probably have 10-15 of them, but once you started in on those, you would have to solve their dependencies and theirs, and theirs, etc etc etc.... just brutal. In the end you had a great running server, but it wasn't very practical in the everyday work environment, because the software you needed only came coded for windows or a few of them, mac.
I was ok with this tho, because i did hosting and web design at that time. I still do to a degree, but its more economical to rent servers offsite then it is to run your own on location.
Windows has a lot of flaws, user accounts, registry (the fact it has one), file structure, etc etc etc. However, its how i make my living, and in my experience, people don't like change, so for me to go in and recommend these changes would be for nothing, they just wouldn't put up with it. People now a days just want it to work, like they know, and want to get on to the next project. The last thing they want is to relearn an operating system every couple months. It took me forever to get my business clients away from xp. 90% of them are still on windows 7, and most likely will be 2 years from now, a handful of them have upgraded to windows 8 or 10, and i have been out to put them back to windows 7, because again, it was to much of a change.
So are you using Linux to design, print, and cut ? and hows that work out for you ?
WildWestDesigns
Active Member
Oh no, that's been done away with now as long as you use their software manager.
Now, if you had to install something out of kernel, in my case the Wacom driver, that could get hinky if you tried to compile it yourself. If you used a pre-compiled driver that was kosher with your version of the kernel, then you were golden. I had to do that with the Wacom driver for Zorin LTS as it wouldn't recognize my 27QHD. Recognized the others (12WX and 21UX, but not the behemoth).
It isn't like it was in the late 90s.
In all honesty too, Windows is doing things that Linux has had for years (virtual windows etc). You even have a couple of partnerships going on (Red Hat with Azure and Canonical with bringing BASH to Windows).
Now, I wouldn't suggest using Fedora (even though that is one of the two that I use for variety of reasons) for your average end customer as the process of even getting the Nvidia drivers is tedious. Now in Zorin, it's select and apply and wait a minute or two (depending on your resources) and good to go.
Even Fedora's EOL cycle isn't that aggressive (13 months on average per release). If you use an LTS nowadays you have 5 yrs of support on an OS. Two rigs I use Zorin LTS and one I use Fedora. They have different flavors that come out with the regular releases, so if you have a look that you like and don't want to have to customize extensively or change to something else, you don't really have to totally relearn a new OS, even when one goes EOL.
I like Zorin, based off Ubuntu, It comes already looking like Win 7. XP, or Gnome 2 in the free version. If you pay, it has looks for Mac, Win 2000 and Unity (yes contrary to popular opinion open source doesn't necessarily mean free in terms of cost, but free(dom) in what you can do with it). RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux (paid version of Fedora(testing OS for RHEL))) is also a paid (support) OS. Also can apply to Ubuntu. Zorin appears to be one of the more polished Ubuntu flavors out there. In my opinion.
Linux is mainly used for internet, networking and communication. Design, embroidery digitizing etc are done in programs in VMs (much prefer VMs when it comes to Windows then having it directly installed on the computers for a few reasons). You do have programs like Caldera that have native Linux version for this industry.
Like I said, I'm not one of the Linux diehards that say "Linux or death", I use what efficiently gets things done.
In the end, however, I agree with you, that initial learning curve is going to get some people not making the change. Computers aren't that interesting to them and have no desire, they just want to turn it on and go. I do blame Windows in part for that approach (even Mac as well, wasn't it Jobs that said "customers don't know what they want until you show them."?). I just do not like where Win 10 is taking us, but I digress with the tin foil hat talk.
Attachments
I like it much better then where windows 8 was taking us, just didn't make sense.... a touch screen operating system, on a non touch screen system. Removing the start button lol wow were my customers lost, luckily i was able to find a 3rd party start button system, that worked just like windows 7.
The relearning a new os every couple months was a bit of an over exaggeration, but that's what it feels like to them.
So in your work environment, do you train your employees to work with Linux and windows in VM ? I find that impressive if you can get them to learn that.
sorry, im sure we are way off topic from the original poster...
WildWestDesigns
Active Member
gabagoo
New Member
How does one get the infection? Is it from simply going to a site or is it something you download such as files? I don't like the sound of this. I almost want to keep my main computer completely off the internet and bring file in manually...but then who is to say the virus has not attached itself to any given file.....ugggg...would a simple scan of any files needed to work with catch the virus?
WildWestDesigns
Active Member
It depends on the vector of the malware. It can be embedded in a flash video, it can be embedded in a PDF file that is read within a web browser or it would need to be executed by user.
Going offline would help through most vectors. You are right though, if it embedded in a file that you bring into an offline computer, that offline computer could get infected as well.
Scans may or may not catch the malware. It's better to scan files then not to, but if malware isn't in the database of whatever program you use to scan with, it may slip through.
striper14
New Member
Several of my customers got infected from official looking emails from Highway departments from another state that said they'd been done for speeding or something, click on this link for a copy of the notice, photos etc..
I got one from the Federal Police last week, inviting me to court (lol), just click on the link etc. They try to use legitimate looking emails to get you to click on link & then ur knackered....
I got so suspicious of one email i loaded sandboxie and opened the pdf attached but it was just an invoice for filling up my gas bottles...http://www.signs101.com/forums/images/smilies/ROFLMAO.gif
As far as I know, I don't think I downloaded anything from the website. I do watch movies from a few websites and a lot of the bootlegs are russian and i may have opened a file on one of them. It deleted the shadow files. Although I would have liked to test it a little more with different software, I only had a week before they would have charged me double.
When I meant leave my backup offline, I mean literally offline and not connected to anything... Off in a closet. You are correct, it will infect anything over a network. From the research I did about the ransomware, and talking to people, I didn't have a choice if I wanted to get my files back. It will delete backups that are saved on the computer as well. I wiped my computer clean with a bunch of different software/cleaners and regedit, but Once I move all my files onto my external drive (backup), I am wiping the computer. Which is why I have been reading up on linux and playing with it from a bootable USB.
So actually, reading your guys back n forth about linux was interesting.
When I meant leave my backup offline, I mean literally offline and not connected to anything... Off in a closet. You are correct, it will infect anything over a network. From the research I did about the ransomware, and talking to people, I didn't have a choice if I wanted to get my files back. It will delete backups that are saved on the computer as well. I wiped my computer clean with a bunch of different software/cleaners and regedit, but Once I move all my files onto my external drive (backup), I am wiping the computer. Which is why I have been reading up on linux and playing with it from a bootable USB.
So actually, reading your guys back n forth about linux was interesting.
BIG EASY DOES IT
New Member
Just be careful with printers and such. There are many ways to run just about any program on a linux OS. But you may have to play around with it. Wine is one of the best for running different windows based programs that won't run on a solely linux system. Wine also has a Version of Flexi8 for free.
WildWestDesigns
Active Member
You know, the same can be said for a lot of the Linux distros as well.
How many times do we have threads on here about the wonders of Windows updates? These updates on Win 10 are hard to opt out (within the OS itself), you might be able to trick it on a wireless connection, but even that seems to be hit or miss. Even Mac has a trouble time with updates now and again and they have far more control over hardware then Windows does.
That isn't even getting into the telemetry aspect of it.
In of itself, may not be a good thing for a "mission critical" environment.
Never really had an issue with printers, atleast not the regular desktop printers.
WINE has it's pros and cons. Some things you can get to run great within WINE, others need a VM. I just use a VM because I know that works.
"You" have to remember, Linux is actually just the kernel, not an OS in of itself. When choose a Linux distro, look at the philosophy of the project. Some are more limiting then others (in one way or the other).
I like Fedora, but it has it's pros and cons. Same thing with Ubuntu.