[geeks] Advertising status bar in I.E.

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

On Wed, May 09, 2007 at 04:58:54PM -0500, Micah R Ledbetter wrote:

> What do you mean? If this was a virus, wouldn't it be fixed sooner?

If it were a virus AND the anti-virus tool they use would catch it,
and remove it, then they would be forced to do something about it.

So the answer is yes. Since it's NOT a virus, (by the above definition),
it's not a problem. 


> Also, I hate to suggest it, but can they just re-image her machine?


That would not be a good idea. The machine unlike the others in the school
runs a proprietary library application that is in the process of being
implemented. It's supposed to be on the server, but I would not bet on it.
If they re-image the machine, it's very likely they'll have to re-install
the program.

With the skill level of the people they are currently sending, I doubt
that they have backups of the data and if they did, they could restore
them. But I will suggest it to my wife to make sure she has a backup
of her data. I really appreciate the reminder.

> My suggestion is to download something like BartPE or LEGALLY PURCHASE 
> (ahem) Winternals Administrator Pack. From there, I believe you can run 
> Spybot and such.

That sounds good to me, but her budget for such things is ZERO. Computer
stuff froms from the computer department which no longer exists. It
was subcontracted to this company, which is doing so bad a job they are
not getting renewed. They know it and don't really care.


> The Right Thing (tm) may be to just take the opportunity to switch her 
> to FireFox, depending on how you feel about that. That's my advice, FWIW.

Been there, done that. She wants I.E. 

> Of course, this would only be in addition to smashing the spyware that's 
> on her computer presently.

That's the real problem. 

> Insert "Malware authors should {die,have their gonads removed,be forced 
> to rewrite the Linux kernel in object-oriented Cobol}" comment.

How about being sentenced to community service at {Dell/Microsoft/whatever}
phone support. If you ever get a chance, go look at the "Star Wars Help Desk"
video on YouTube. :-)

Thanks for you suggestions, I can keep trying and may be able to convince
their new computer teacher/support person who starts in late August.

Geoff.

-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm at mendelson.com  N3OWJ/4X1GM
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