The Vent and Rant Thread

[Glorfindel]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

I can't really tell, since my own internet isn't great. (Her's is non-existent.) Does "top" run on a PC; or is there a command to see what's running in the background?

Oh, good -- I did get Ccleaner to remove McAfee, which she hadn't purchased, so that it will stop asked her for money. She's got Avast freeware, at my brother's recommendation.

Task manager is control+shift+escape
You can also remove start on boot programs with it.

PUP stands for Potentially Unwanted Program

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by Glorfindel

Task manager is control+shift+escape
You can also remove start on boot programs with it.

PUP stands for Potentially Unwanted Program

I'll have to come back with the list of things on Ccleaner's startup list. I don't recognise any of them, so they may be important parts of Windoze for all I know. Though, as I say, I did manage to remove the trial (and now begging for $$) version of virus protection. (Bedtime now; manana.)

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

Thanks, y'all. I ran Ccleaner and got rid of some stuff (she really rarely used this, so there wasn't a whole lot there) and ran Malware Bytes and got rid of 5-6 PUP files (whatever they may be). Nothing else. I've put a post-it note saying "NO!" over the IE icon and another saying "mail" pointing to the Chrome icon. I also told yahoo mail to revert to the basic display, rather than the newer. *My* mail is at least viewable; we'll have to try hers.

Or you could, you know, delete the IE icon from the taskbar and from the Start Menu Screen entirely.
Then she will have no choice but to use Chrome, which will be a general relief I should think.

That's what I generally do with any Windows PC I get my hands on.

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Or you could, you know, delete the IE icon from the taskbar and from the Start Menu Screen entirely.
Then she will have no choice but to use Chrome, which will be a general relief I should think.

That's what I generally do with any Windows PC I get my hands on.

I was just waiting for somebody's permission to do so. Thank you; I will now proceed to do that.

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

I'll have to come back with the list of things on Ccleaner's startup list. I don't recognise any of them, so they may be important parts of Windoze for all I know. Though, as I say, I did manage to remove the trial (and now begging for $$) version of virus protection. (Bedtime now; manana.)

Ok - while I've got y'all helping me and before the topic changes again -- are any of these items readily removable from the startup list? I did delete the now obsolete trial antivirus software, since it was asking for money. "Avast" is on there now. Here are the screens that Ccleaner shows. [ Are these readable?? They're pretty dreadful on my screen. I can try again ... This is an iphone pic rather than a screen grab on the PC, which I no longer know how to do, on a PC.]

[CRussel]

Well, you can remove the McAfee from the context menu. Most likely you can remove the Hewlett-Packard crapware from the startup process. (but don't remove any HP specific drivers.) The rest of it looks fairly clean. If you're going to continue to use Malware Bytes in paid (and "live" mode), leave it there. OTOH, I'd remove cccleaner.

(Alt-PrintScreen should get you what you need. Then paste into something and save. I use a dedicated, multi-featured screen capture program, since I need screen captures for my writing, but I think that's how ordinary people do it. )

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

Now that I see that it *is* at 8.1 (dunno if that was true before, or not) I'll google how to put a Start Menu back on. We'll both recognize that, which may help, though it won't fix the slowness.

It almost certainly was 8.1.

8.1 does not include the Start Menu.

The simple fix to get it back is the open source Classic Shell: http://classicshell.net/

It's what I use here.
______
Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

Ok - while I've got y'all helping me and before the topic changes again -- are any of these items readily removable from the startup list? I did delete the now obsolete trial antivirus software, since it was asking for money. "Avast" is on there now. Here are the screens that Ccleaner shows. [ Are these readable?? They're pretty dreadful on my screen. I can try again ... This is an iphone pic rather than a screen grab on the PC, which I no longer know how to do, on a PC.]

Looking at the list (which required me to do Save Image As and open them in a viewer to read them)

Picture one:
Cleaner Monitoring looks like the Pro resident version. I use the freeware version and do on demand scanning. It can come out of startup.

AvastUI is likely the AV component. Leave it. (I use MS's built-in on Win10, and don't run A?V elsewhere.)

I'd leave the HP stuff.

StartCCC is the Catalyst Control Center app for the AMD-ATI graphics card. It gives you a GUI to adjust graphics card parameters. It is not the actual graphics driver - just an interface to it. I have an AMD-ATI graphics card in the desktop. Win10 said CCC was incompatible with it when I upgraded, but it was still there and apparently worked. I never actually used it to fiddle with the card, so I removed it from Add/Remove Programs.

Picture 2:
CCleaner SkipUAC also looks like a Pro version component. I have no idea what the Sweet Labs app platform is, and I'd want to find out. The other stuff should probably stay.

Picture 3:
I am mystified at what 7-zip is doing in Startup. I have it here as my standard archive utility, and it's associated as the app to open all that archive types it understands. (It replaces Windows built-in Zip folder functionality). But it's not a startup app and has no reason to be.

I also note entries for both Avast and McAfee. I'll guess that Avast is the resident A/V, so what is the McAfee entry for? In general, you don't want to run more than one Z/V app at the same time. They tend to get in each other's way and step on each other's toes.

Malware Bytes also seems to have a resident component. This is another Pro feature. (I run the freeware version once in a while as on-demand scanning, but haven't configured it to be resident. If you installed it, it looks like you selected the "Try Pro features for 30 days free" option in the install. If you ran it and deleted what it found, it can go away using the standard Windows Add/Remove Programs facility.
______
Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

I did delete the now obsolete trial antivirus software, since it was asking for money. "Avast" is on there now.

I'm contrary on this.

I had an epiphany on my old XP machine. I was running Symantec Corporate A/V, courtesy of a corporate site license. The version I was running reached EOL and was no longer getting virus signature updates. I no longer worked for that employer, so a new version I would be on my dime. I asked myself "Do I need to run A/V?" and concluded I didn't. A/V came off the machine.

Viruses and malware are infections. Infections have vectors by which they enter the host body. Ward the vector, and block the infection.

The primary vector for viruses is email. I use Gmail as my primary email account, and it polls a couple of others, so all mail appears in my Gmail Inbox. I read and reply in my browser, and Google has viewers for common attachment types, so there's generally no need to actually download anything to my machine. My mail can live on Google's servers, thank you.

Since I don't download mail with potentially malicious payloads, my need for A/V goes away. (Downloads all come from known-good sites that scan on their end.)

The vector for malware is the browser. Most targets IE. I don't use IE. I run Firefox as my production browser, with the NoScript and uBlock Origin add-ons. (I run Malware Bytes scanner occasionally, and it never finds anything.)

On Win7, I ran Microsoft's Microsoft Security Essentials, which includes A/V and anti-malware, mostly to keep Windows from complaining. On Win10, that has become Microsoft Defender. To keep Windows happy, I leave it configured and get automatic updates.

I don't run third-party A/V or "active" anti-malware defenses. I've warded the vectors.
______
Dennis

[Blossom]

Being the person who owns the PC is a novice when it comes to security methods. my opinion is keep the a/v and install Ad Block on Chrome.

I use Avira Free and Comodo Firewall which has saved me many times from infection due to a hubby that in the past seemed virus prone. The ad blocker is a must specially if they play Facebook games. It's real easy to get infected that way without using an ad blocker.

Most of his infections came from ads and clicking on links that had malware.

I've got him trained now. If he sees any pop-up or anything weird he freaks and calls me to come here. Now he uses only my PC it's important I stay on top of this matter.

I myself use sites like Swagbucks which can be riddle with all sorts of bad malware, viruses, trojans.....etc. you're not allowed to use a ad blocker on them but I have other security measures in place.


Sent from my XT1528 using Tapatalk

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

It almost certainly was 8.1.

8.1 does not include the Start Menu.

The simple fix to get it back is the open source Classic Shell: http://classicshell.net/

It's what I use here.
______
Dennis

Ooooo -- I *like* that. If I had a PC, I'd install that. I think. I'm not sure if I should do that on my neighbor's, or not, though. Because she'll have to know how to find basic things like LOGOFF and the one or two tools she uses, on the modern Windows at any workplace she's at. I've finally found logoff myself under her Win8.1, and that took some searching. I don't want to only know how to do things on Win7, much though I would prefer that if I sat in front of my own PC. But for occasional PC usage .... which includes visits to my mother .... I need to recognize the current systems too. So I guess I'd better suffer, and learn.

Unfortunately!!

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Looking at the list (which required me to do Save Image As and open them in a viewer to read them)

Picture one:
Cleaner Monitoring looks like the Pro resident version. I use the freeware version and do on demand scanning. It can come out of startup.

AvastUI is likely the AV component. Leave it. (I use MS's built-in on Win10, and don't run A?V elsewhere.)

I'd leave the HP stuff.

StartCCC is the Catalyst Control Center app for the AMD-ATI graphics card. It gives you a GUI to adjust graphics card parameters. It is not the actual graphics driver - just an interface to it. I have an AMD-ATI graphics card in the desktop. Win10 said CCC was incompatible with it when I upgraded, but it was still there and apparently worked. I never actually used it to fiddle with the card, so I removed it from Add/Remove Programs.

Picture 2:
CCleaner SkipUAC also looks like a Pro version component. I have no idea what the Sweet Labs app platform is, and I'd want to find out. The other stuff should probably stay.

Picture 3:
I am mystified at what 7-zip is doing in Startup. I have it here as my standard archive utility, and it's associated as the app to open all that archive types it understands. (It replaces Windows built-in Zip folder functionality). But it's not a startup app and has no reason to be.

I also note entries for both Avast and McAfee. I'll guess that Avast is the resident A/V, so what is the McAfee entry for? In general, you don't want to run more than one Z/V app at the same time. They tend to get in each other's way and step on each other's toes.

Malware Bytes also seems to have a resident component. This is another Pro feature. (I run the freeware version once in a while as on-demand scanning, but haven't configured it to be resident. If you installed it, it looks like you selected the "Try Pro features for 30 days free" option in the install. If you ran it and deleted what it found, it can go away using the standard Windows Add/Remove Programs facility.
______
Dennis

Thanks -- gave all these a go. We'll see what happens! It's already become at least a *usable* machine, which is a huge improvement. She spent an hour or more using it for job hunting (at my place, on my internet, since that's a necessary component.) Thanks you guys!!

[Glorfindel]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

[...]
Picture 3:
I am mystified at what 7-zip is doing in Startup. I have it here as my standard archive utility, and it's associated as the app to open all that archive types it understands. (It replaces Windows built-in Zip folder functionality). But it's not a startup app and has no reason to be.[...]
______
Dennis

Image number 3 is showing all applications in the right click context window. Not startup programs.

As such, 7z is fine there.

[Rumpelteazer]

I discovered a new to me horror author. When looking at her website I see that she and an other author are in the process of writing two serialized series. The second series has just one instalment/episode/part, but the first one has a bunch of instalments and one volume bundling the first I don't know how many instalments.

When I discover a new author I like to make a list in Google Drive to keep track of which books he/she/they have released, which I own and which I've read. I don't mind serialization, though I usually wait until all or several are bundled together. At least give a list in the description which instalments can be found in the bundle.

[Katsunami]

I've said this before, but today I had one of those moments again. Sometimes the one thing I regret most is having studied computer science.

- Everybody is of the opinion that a device/machine has to be designed.
- Everybody agrees that this costs a lot of time and thus money, to get it right.
- Everybody knows that designing something to do a new task is not easy.

Then why is it expected, by the very same people, that...
- Software doesn't need to be designed. You can just start typing.
- A software engineer can create a program in like 25% or less of the time needed to design and manufacture the device that needs to be programmed?
- Assume creating said program is 'easy', as you can 'download code and plugins everywhere'?
- Are of the opinion that anybody can program, because they wrote a Visual Basic script 10 years ago? Building a dog house doesn't make you a skyscraper architect. Everybody knows that. They why do those same everybodies think that writing a script makes you a programmer or even a software engineer?

Sometimes I think people writing software aren't taken seriously, despite the fact that the world would burn if all software engineers went on strike for a week or so.