Spyware/ Viruses, Fixing someone's computer and Grrr!!!

So one of my mom's coworkers said her computer was messed up and wanted me to have a look at it.

So when I brought it home the first thing I noticed was the dust balls all over the place. Since it was a Dell Dimension, the case opened up as easy as could be without tools. The intake vent into the Power supply and the intake air going into the CPU heat sink were caked with dust. Amazingly Even though it was a Spaceheater 4 Pentium 4, the CPU was still getting adequate cooling and wasn't overheating. The rest of the case was quite dusty.

Lesson 1: Clean your computer case of dust, especially vents and fans, once in a while. I'd say every 1-2 years. Closer to the 1 year side of things if you have pets.

Next I started it up. Random popup errors. Hmm, spyware / viruses methinks. I open up task manager and I see 2 tasks that scream out "I am not a legitimate process" Especially "%^^^^%%%%%%%%%%^^^^^^^^^%%%%%%^^^^^^^^%%.EXE"

Spyware generally gets on your computer by a combination of being an idiot which is made worse by using Internet Explorer

Lesson 2: Use Firefox, and stop being an idiot.

So I notice Adaware is in the start menu. "Your updates are 796 days old" Hmm, that's no good. So I install Spyware search and destroy. Found 30 "problem" apps. I delete what I could with S&D.

Lesson 3: Searchbot S&D is a good free anti-spyware program, but it will be useless if it isn't updated

Then I think of Anti virus, so I look down at the handful of CDs I was given and AHHH!!!!!!! NORTON INTERNET SECURITY!!!!!!! I immediately toss the disc to the ground, and take a five minute breather. Since they bought NIS 2008 recently, but it was taken out of the box, I find the URL to Norton's return policy There were also discs for previous Norton versions. Obviously they proved useless.

I installed Avast, and ran a boot time scan. Found loads of stuff their supposed Norton protected computer missed.

Lesson 4: Norton products are the worst programs that have ever been sold. I recommend Avast free for cheap users, and Nod32 for those who are willing to pay. Any antivirus program will be useless if it isn't updated

I gave the information on returning Norton to my mother to pass along. My mother seems offended. Someone brought their computer to me because I'm an "expert". I can't ethically install Norton on someone's computer. Especially when much better freebies exist.

Since this machine has obviously had a rough life, I'm now going to proceed to back up all their precious memories (Photos, documents, Tax files, etc) and then reinstall Windows.

Dell being the good company they are, included a real Windows XP home SP2 installation CD, and not a restore disc. Over 100 updates have been released since SP2, so what better way to give a fresh start to this old computer than install Windows with SP3 already included! I used nLite to slipstream SP3 and burned a new installation disc.

Lesson 5: nLite is great for Slipstreaming SP3 among other things.