Adding a "Malicious Software Tips, Help and Discussion" thread to the forums

[Black Panther]

I thought this would be a cool and useful idea.

Malicious software like mainly viruses and spyware are a pain... and inevitably whenever people post problems and/or their solutions they end up smothered within the General Software forum threads.

I think there'd be a useful contribution since in such a forum members would post their problems and when a solution gets known others can easily make a quick reference.

I take these threads as an example:

Dealing with Cryptne.dll (http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=48661&page=2&highlight=cryptne.dll)

Smitrem.exe for desktop background hacks and how to modify the registry to regain internet connection (http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=56255&highlight=80GB)

(My dad's a champion virus and spyware sucker, he's always getting stuff on his personal laptop and the work pc's no matter how careful I am... and no they're not from pr0n...:p)

Just today I got another awful bug, changing my desktop to a link to buy antispyware, disallowing me from accessing the Task Manager and giving me countless popups from the bottom right of my desktop. After trying numerous fixes it was only the (somewhat risky) Combofix.exe (http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix) program which solved it all. Others only removed half the stuff.

I run AVG antispyware constantly and the full version of Spyware Doctor too, but one can liken these programs to antibiotics, lol. These 2 are broad-spectrum, they attempt to catch everything but sometimes fail. In the cases where they fail one would need a specialized program like the ones I mentioned above.

That's why I thought having a separate forum in which to pool our ideas and solutions on malicious software would be a good idea. :)

The final decision is obviously that of W1zzard - he's already doing so much for this forum, by no means do I want to imply that the forum the way it is is not good enough or anything!

But who knows this could be a good idea which might have been overlooked and which would well serve its purpose?

What do you think?

[lemonadesoda]

I agree with you Panther. However this would go better under a general "Security" forum. The security forum would cover these issues as well as general security, lockdowns, antivirus, script blockers, VPN, WEP, WPA, and ACLs etc. But for some reason... such a suggestion was recently rejected by TPU powers. :-(

[Ben Clarke]

I think a security section would be an OK idea...

[King Wookie]

+1

[thoughtdisorder]

I think it's an excellent idea for many reasons, here's a few:

1> Other forums currently cover threats
2> The thread would generate more hits for this site
3> It would keep our community up to speed on what's "out there"

[[I.R.A]_FBi]

+1

[DanTheBanjoman]

I think it's an excellent idea for many reasons, here's a few:

1> Other forums currently cover threats
2> The thread would generate more hits for this site
3> It would keep our community up to speed on what's "out there"

Find me 10 threads about spyware from the past week. 10 threads a week for a section would be very low, ie pointless.

[lemonadesoda]

Ah Dan, thats a catch 22. If the forum were there... it would be used.

1./ How about trying it

2./ If after 1 month there are less than 100 posts, then close it.

BUT also remember that "quality" and "quantity" do not necessarily go together.

P.S. "Comments 6 feedback" forum = 300 threads in 4 years = less than 2 threads per week. QED.

[DanTheBanjoman]

Ah Dan, thats a catch 22. If the forum were there... it would be used.

1./ How about trying it

2./ If after 1 month there are less than 100 posts, then close it.

BUT also remember that "quality" and "quantity" do not necessarily go together.

Chicken and the egg.
According to your logic we could make 100's of forums just to "try". I never see any threads about spyware, if people have issues with it I guess they can always post in software.

Use the chat to discuss spyware, last time I checked everyone was asking for it but nearly nobody uses it. This will be the same.


Edit: in reply to your edit, comments and feedback isn't a discussion forum, it's "comment and feedback" like the title suggests. It is a requirement for any community. The fact that there aren't that many threads are that A: we don't tolerate spam there, and B: TPU is great, nobody has comments :) Though if you do, the forum is there.

[WhiteLotus]

just why did i not see such a request about new forum?

great idea, anything security based would be good -from firewalls down to wireless password settings.

[Kreij]

You could just change the "Networking" forum to "Networking and Security" and use that.
I don't think we need another seperate section either.

[DanTheBanjoman]

You could just change the "Networking" forum to "Networking and Security" and use that.
I don't think we need another seperate section either.

Sounds a lot better. Specially considering networking isn't very crowded in the first place.

[WhiteLotus]

i agree actually, it does make sense.

[Black Panther]

You could just change the "Networking" forum to "Networking and Security" and use that.
I don't think we need another seperate section either.

I don't think there are a lot of security posts just because of the reason that there is no part of the forum which caters for them! :)

However I agree with Dan and Kreij that for starters the "Networking" forum could be renamed to "Networking and Security".
Solutions to security issues could be amalgamated into a sticky thread... I'd be ready to contribute if the need arises. :)

[thoughtdisorder]

Find me 10 threads about spyware from the past week. 10 threads a week for a section would be very low, ie pointless.

Dan, I was actually going to find 10 sites, but I have more important things to do with the limited time we have on this earth. If you don't agree, here's a tip, just say so. Seriously, it might be a nice addition to the TPU website to have a section for this. I've been to other sites that have area's for this and the people aren't half as bright as the folks here. TPU may benefit from this.

[thoughtdisorder]

Sounds a lot better. Specially considering networking isn't very crowded in the first place.

That's what I'm talking about. Maybe it turns out to be a good thing, maybe not. Nothing ventured nothing gained. Networking isn't pulling a lot of hits from what I've seen Dan. What do you think?

[Polaris573]

Please do not post "+1" when responding to a thread. One word posts are not acceptable. Please re-read the forum guidelines.

[Cold Storm]

You could just change the "Networking" forum to "Networking and Security" and use that.
I don't think we need another seperate section either.

I think that would work out sweet. I mean it would put both things that we need on here but don't have a lot of traffic to use...

@Polaris, what do you mean by your post? There hasn't been any of those types of things in this thread?? Is it a basic general statement?? If so, I understand and I'm with you 100% on it.

[DanTheBanjoman]

If you don't agree, here's a tip, just say so.

I disagree.





Well that was a pointless response of me. Saying I disagree doesn't get any point across, disagreeing or agreeing has little value without an argument or a valid point added. My point is there are no current issues about it so it would be pointless to make a forum. I figured that point would be quite clear once you tried finding 10 threads from the past week, they simply don't exist.

[oily_17]

While I agree that it would be handy to have somewhere to post,on TPU, for help in malware removal.
I have some reservations,for starters are there any ASAP (http://www.malwareremoval.com/a-sap.php) members or others trained in the removal of malware here on TPU.I know that some will be able to give excellent help,other than the standard "REFORMAT", in the event of your PC getting infected.But unless done correctly it can lead to more trouble than what you started with.
Secondly would they be willing to give up their time to help everyone out.I dont mean this wrongly,as I am sure all are willing to help,but it can be very time consuming helping a bunch of people fix virus infections.And the more popular it gets the more time they will have to give up.

Although I like the idea of Networking & Security I think it would be best suited to prevention of infection and a different forum for the removal of infections.

Just my 2d.

[btarunr]

Chicken and the egg.
According to your logic we could make 100's of forums just to "try". I never see any threads about spyware, if people have issues with it I guess they can always post in software.

Use the chat to discuss spyware, last time I checked everyone was asking for it but nearly nobody uses it. This will be the same.


Edit: in reply to your edit, comments and feedback isn't a discussion forum, it's "comment and feedback" like the title suggests. It is a requirement for any community. The fact that there aren't that many threads are that A: we don't tolerate spam there, and B: TPU is great, nobody has comments :) Though if you do, the forum is there.

Yup, agree. Classic example, TPU chat.

Append: Agree with Kreij. The Networking forum could be renamed to Networking & Security. The two go hand in hand.

[thoughtdisorder]

I disagree.





Well that was a pointless response of me. Saying I disagree doesn't get any point across, disagreeing or agreeing has little value without an argument or a valid point added. My point is there are no current issues about it so it would be pointless to make a forum. I figured that point would be quite clear once you tried finding 10 threads from the past week, they simply don't exist.

While I do see your point, and appreciate the explanation, there were 19 new threads (within the last 24 hrs) on 1 site alone, here (http://forums.majorgeeks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=35).

However, excellent idea regarding "Network and Security" which would encompass the topic and the thread already exists. One thing I did notice after reading through some of the threads out there is that it might be more trouble than it's worth for the site and the community.

Also, another consideration I hadn't thought of is, what are the implications of bringing potentially infected computers to our site? Dan and some of you other guys would be far better than I to answer that. Could it put TPU at risk? Thoughts?

[DanTheBanjoman]

So because another site has threads about it we need a section about it? I know sites that have the same amount of topics about Britney Spears each day (actually I don't, just trying to make a point) should we have a forum just for Britney now? We are separate from any other site, we do things our way. Our userbase has no use for a forum about spyware as far as I can tell.

As for brining infected people here, it won't be a issue.

[OrbitzXT]

I voted no here, one of the reasons I like TPU is the simplicity. On the AVS forum they have tons and tons of sub-forums for everything, and a lot of posts don't get the attention they might have if they were lumped together with the general catagory.

[erocker]

Leave Britney ALONE!!!!!:cry:










*Sorry, perfect set-up.

[Exavier]

Append: Agree with Kreij. The Networking forum could be renamed to Networking & Security. The two go hand in hand.

Granted, Dan has a point, but then as a trial, appending this forum to encompass more topical threads such as security means that you have less clutter in different sections..

Additionally, I hadn't realised how bad at catching things AVG must be; I've run NOD32 for two years now, and I've had absolutely no trouble since, whereas my previous McAfee bloatware was inept. :shadedshu

EDIT:

haha, that was perfect, erocker ;D

[GJSNeptune]

No.

Nothing a sticky thread couldn't handle.

[Polaris573]

@Polaris, what do you mean by your post? There hasn't been any of those types of things in this thread?? Is it a basic general statement?? If so, I understand and I'm with you 100% on it.

I deleted the "+1" posts, but there were two of them. Maybe I should restore them so it is less confusing.

[btarunr]

Granted, Dan has a point, but then as a trial, appending this forum to encompass more topical threads such as security means that you have less clutter in different sections..

Well, those wanting to start discussions on security can talk about a whole lot of things from basic software to even network security, so it all fits into one sub-forum which is now one of the most inactive forums, Networking. The other being Programming & Webmastering.

So, it sort of eliminates creating a new sub-forum that again would stay empty and we end up having three inactive sub-forums. Security associates closely to networking and so we could club them.

So I say, if the staff finds a real need for a security sub-forum, it could just rename Networking to Networking & Security

[Cold Storm]

I deleted the "+1" posts, but there were two of them. Maybe I should restore them so it is less confusing.

oh no, its all good. Just when I went in to see It I didn't see any traces of that. In the comment & Feedback section there should never be a +1 post. I see doing +1 then stating the reason for it, but not just to post that...


I for one am with Bta, and Kreij on this. There aren't that many of topics that start on here to make a sub-forum. But why don't we change a section that could use the same thing?!? Networking & Security would be a great idea to have. One place that doesn't have a lot of traffic and also works for Security of your Home/ Business Network. Whatever the case maybe...