Can linux help?

jewels

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Submitted by jewels on December 15, 2007 - 10:19am.

Ok I still have persistent buggers on my pc that I can't find. Still can't complete scans in safemode w/o the pc shutting down. There are no warning boxes, just poof it's off! It's not an overheating issue as I have set the laptop up on stilts and have a fan blowing underneath it for extra cooling.

So here's my question--I'm grasping at straws here. If I set the pc up to dualboot with linux, can I scan the windows partition from linux? And if so, does this sound like a plausible way to find what's ailing my pc?

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BillInDetroit

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Re: Can linux help?

May 6, 2008 - 8:12am

Do you have any programs that you absolutely MUST run that do NOT have a Linux analog or will not run under WINE or equivalent Windows emulator? If you are not synching a PDA that uses the keyboard for input, you probably don't have this issue. Try Sourceforge.net for a bazillion Linux programs that are analogs of the Windows programs you now use. Also, check out the Codeweavers web site for lists of Windows software that runs under their emulator. I'm waiting for someone to figure out how to synch from Outlook and PhatNotes to my PDA and then I'm SO GONE from Windows. I'll even settle for analogs to Outlook and PhatNotes so long as I can synch to them.

You can also run a complete session of Windows (complete with viruses and all, if you wish) using any of a handful of virtual machine software. In that case, you simply run Linux except for when you MUST run Windows. Printers and so on still work. If you are on a laptop, you'll probably lose audio in Linux but everything else will work as well or even, in the case of some printers, better than with Windows.

To recover your data, have someone mount your drive remotely (not boot from it, but treat it as a non-booting drive) or use a Linux live CD to do the same. Copy ONLY the data YOU have created ... no programs, no downloaded photos etc. to a CD or DVD disk. Then clobber the Windows disk. Then, if you must, reinstall Windows.

Then think, long and hard, about how that key logger got on your computer to start with. Make CERTAIN that it never happens again.

I know that this is a lot of aggravation, but somewhen, somehow, someone with access to your computer let their guard down.

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jewels

GuGee Since: 21-Nov-2006
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Re: Can linux help? -------guess NOT!! Grrrrrrrrr

December 17, 2007 - 6:22am

Well I found a live CD called Dr Web built on linux for the purpose of scanning windows partitions. It has a reg mode and a safe mode. In either mode I get the same shutdown crap. Scans the d partition just fine, but 2-3 minutes into the c scan the pc shuts down on me.

How is this happening if windows isn't even loading???????????

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Ashton

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Re: Can linux help? -------guess NOT!! Grrrrrrrrr

December 17, 2007 - 11:05am

Hi Jewels.

What are the viruses/worms names?

Please feel free to email a HJT log and a copy of your quarantine log and I'll take a quick look into it.

"So where's the data?" "The data? The data is in the freezer."

Conversation with a co-worker after a failed hard drive had been placed in the freezer to stiffen the bearings for one last run.

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jewels

GuGee Since: 21-Nov-2006
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Re: Can linux help?

December 16, 2007 - 10:06am

Well I'll try anything before having to reinstall windows as I don't have a way to backup all my stuff aside from burning dvd's and that would take foooooorever!

Although I realize that trying the dual boot could possibly make that occur anyway-but there's a possiblity it would actually go smoothly-LOL So this will be my 2nd to last resort.

So far I have found a few trojans and an email worm. But now as I try to get deeper into the scanning, the pc is now shutting down in regular mode. Adaware, spybot, and avg anti-spy ran all the way through w/o finding anything. A-squared found the trojans and worm. I stopped the scan at that point and quarantined them (was afraid of a shutdown before I could do it) But now I'm getting the shutdown when trying to finish the scan. I'm thinking it's a virus that's causing the shutdown. So now I'm wondering..........

Could I run scans from a usb stick or a live cd to try to circumvent the shutdown? And if so, any suggestions? I have clam a/v so I think I'll give that a try. But what others would you recommend?

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jgraves000

GuGee Since: 21-Jun-2007
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Re: Can linux help?

December 15, 2007 - 12:10pm

You should be able to scan your windows partition from Linux. Not sure what program you should use. I'm not very familiar with Linux. If you can get into windows go to run and type msconfig and see whats under the startup tab and services tab. If there are anyones that look suspicious, disable them. If all else fails, the best thing you could do is reinstall windows.

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