True....but that's assuming that everyone has some working knowledge or confidence in self-repairing...
and that simply isn't the case.
Not everyone is comfortable with digging into their registry and cleaning it out...or accessing parts of their computer that come with warning signs
The better part of valor in these cases where the person lacks the skills is to direct them to those who do.
And thats one of the reasons why forums like this exist. People that do know helping people that don't know, apart from this being a very nice thing to do as people learn more they become more confident.
Telling someone that they need to get a 'professional' to do something for them (unless there personal safety is at risk, or it could have a extreme effect on there life like a court case) is counter productive, not only does it lower confidence in themselves it costs them much more than it should
For example, PC World want
£80 to send someone out to your house to setup a wireless network which is COMPLETELY ridiculous... £30 might be a reasonable amount (including transport time and a hour to do it).
Great...you're an auto mechanic...and someone comes to you for advice on how to repair his car...but lacks the skills necessary to do it himself...knowing he is unskilled do you direct him to try to fix it himself or direct him to the ' safer ' and ' less potentially dangerous alternative ' a professional?
Comparing a computer software to a car is completely ridiculous Egaladeist, If you can find a case where someone making a mistake installing windows / general software has actually caused them physical harm or killed them then please accept my apologies. Try to some up with a decent comparison next time.
If someone makes a mistake while doing something with a computer then they can ask for more help (example: i did this and this happened, what did i do wrong? or what do i do when it says this? etc).
If someone has asked for help then i will do my best to help in any way i can, they always have the option of paying someone else to do it but i would assume that as there here they want to have a go doing it themselves.
What I find on a lot of ' help forums ' is the mistaken belief that everyone has a working knowledge of their computer and wants to service it themselves...in the vast majority of cases that is a mistaken notion. The vast majority of people are not computer geeks...they're stupid users.
Yes i will agree that the vast majority of people using a computer don't know how to fix it themselves, but i think you need a major attitude change. I'm sure the "vast majority" of users would find it rather offensive being called stupid because they don't know how to do something.
Someone only counts as "stupid" if they are unable to learn, stupid literally means lacking in intelligence. Not having the time to learn is not the same thing as unable to learn (paying someone to do something for you does not mean you are stupid).
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The advice I gave him/her was sound...have it cleaned then follow what I laid out to prevent further infections. Everything I laid out was self-help but the first.
Its the "have it cleaned" out part that this all started over i believe.
This is a forum where people who do know help people that don't know, telling a member to pay someone else to do it does not help them (it gets it done, but they don't learn). Everybody already knows that they can pay someone to fix it for them.
It is clear from the OP's original post that he/she is not of any skill set to fix his/her own computer
And strangely that also seems to be the reason rebekka is here!!! what a coincidence... If everyone had the knowledge and skill to fix whatever there problem was, why would they ask for help with it?
Did you always have the skill set to fix your own computer? how many more skills do you think you will learn in your life? do you think that you should give up because you don't have the skill to do something without even trying? (unless of course you risk physical injury or death).
Quote:
Originally Posted by rebekka View Post
Can I change or hide my IP address?
I am thinking of doing this as I am still getting trojans
now and again and viruses.
His/her IP address has nothing to do with getting multiple infections. rebekka thinks by this statement that if he/she changes his/her IP it will solve the problem...
do you really think this person should be rooting through his/her registry?
If you where paying attention, I never suggested that she should, and asking rebekka to do would be like learning to swim in the deep end (you can do it, but your a lot better off learning in the shallow end).
If you really wanted to help then you should have asked rebekka to download and run hijackthis and post the log...then give him/her specific step-by-step instructions as to what he/she should remove.
Re-run hijackthis and post the new log.
Evaluate the new log and see if any problems still exist...then repeat if necessary.
That, of course, would require competence on your part to read a hijackthis log and evaluate it without seriously mucking up his/her machine...
Anyone with the slightest interest in computer security should know that you can't trust the output of any program from a suspect machine, there is no guarantee that hijackthis would find everything (never heard of a rootkit Egaladeist?). I'm sure hijackthis can be very useful, but it cant be trusted.
If it was any other operating system (Linux, BSD, or even OSX!) i might suggest having a go if there was no evidence that anything requiring root privileges had been done. But generally (as long as you know how to stop it happening again) your much better off reinstalling your OS.
which is why I never mentioned it...because I'm not competent to read a hijackthis log accurately.
Not willing or not able? and there are plenty of people who are, so if you really wanted to help I'm sure you could have asked someone else for help (I find Google very useful for finding tutorials or instructions for things i don't know anything about, or even finding people who do).
Simple rule of life...if you don't know what you're doing then let someone who does know do it.
You must have a very sad, expensive life. It looks like you don't have the skill set to deal with life if your going to give up before you even try (or at least look into how feasible it is to do yourself).
But don't worry, you can learn to do new things (assuming your able to).
If you want to continue this discussion please create another thread in the war zone to do so, or if you would rather not have your views ridiculed in public you can send me a private message.. This thread is for helping rebekka.
-Impy
