linux.gotfoo.org

A few weeks back my Mother-In-Law (MIL) became the owner of an eMachine Desktop (AMD 1Ghz / 512 RAM) with Windows XP Home Edition that was very virus laden, spy-ware riddled, porn infested and unstable system. Of course she wants to use the computer “to find a man” as she put it and wants me to help her. As Ray Romano’s farther put it “What contest in hell did I win?!”

The first thing I noticed was the PC was connected directly to the Cable Modem with out a Switch or Firewall. Once all of the spy-ware infested download managers, PC gadgets and chat programs finished loading I was able to start accessing the system. That when I found that the System was running Norton Anti-Virus 2004 with Auto-Update turned off and the last virus definition date being early 2005. Along with that Windows Auto Update was turned off as well!

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