Identifying the "bad" update

RonAshman said:

...on my day off I visited my parents.

Consider installing TeamViewer. (But still visit in person from time to time

Cool!

I used to use VNC some years ago. My mom is the type of person who just goes to Google.com to find ANY website. Completely computer illiterate. The other day I was 18 (yes eighteen) minutes on the phone with her and a girlfriend to explain how to attach a picture in an e-mail.

Like I said some years ago I had VNC and since they have adsl (ip changes every 3 days approximately) I also used no-ip.

Anyway, Teamviewer looks cool. Gonna give it a try, thanks!

Since TeamViewer locks up at times - I install multiple methods of remotely connecting.

1) LogMeIn's Hamachi provides me with a static IP address on the remote computers as well as a VPN for file transfers and a secure chat client. Combine that static IP with one of the VNC tools and you have another way to connect. I also use Hamachi to automate backups between computers at night - using Cobian Backup.

[There are plenty of automated tools probing around the internet looking for IPs that respond to the ports that VNC uses. If you have forwarded ports - or worse - if the computer is directly connected to the internet (not behind a NAT) then these tools can bang away at the password several times per second. Only a few of the VNC tools that I've seen handle this well. Most allow as many password guesses per second that the bot can send. My preference is to limit VNC connections to the VPN IPs using the OS firewall.]

2) If you use the wrong password with TeamViewer, you have a wait a bit before you can try again. Each wrong guess increases the wait time exponentially. After 24 wrong guesses, the wait time is about 17hrs. So an automated guessing tool would have to be very lucky and guess the password right away... assuming that the guessing tool knew the TV ID to start with. Sadly, this can also be used as a form a Denial of Service attack. As in, I could keep hitting your computer with bad password guesses - never hoping to get in, just preventing you from getting in too. That is why TeamViewer has blacklists... and why you don't want to publicize your TV ID on a forum.

BTW, TeamViewer has a free smartphone app - as long as I can get a 4G connection (so that I can do data and voice at the same time) I can use speakerphone mode and control the remote computer or just watch as I instruct them.

3) "LogMeIn Free" - no static IP needed. Control via a web browser - better than VNC in a browser.

4) And then there is Microsoft's Remote Desktop Connection if the remote OS supports that.

Both TeamViewer and LogMeIn Free let you reboot the remote computer into the safe mode and still connect. This is of course good for cleaning up infections.


Hmmm, 18 minutes - does that mean that they are bad pupils or does that mean you're a bad teacher Sorry, I could not resist. I went thru the same e-mail attachment thing with some people that I help out - only they kept forgetting the steps every few weeks, so I must really be a bad teacher. I ended up remoting into their computer and doing all of the steps while recording the session on my end using CamStudio. Then I put the video on their desktop... and no more calls about that topic.


As far as MS OS updates go, I guess that I've been lucky. I let it apply all that it wants to. Some usually fail, but I expect that. I just repeat the process and they go in. For stubborn ones that won't install, I remove the software distribution folder and let the process start fresh. The only updates that still would not go in were MSE's virus definitions updates. It turns out that MSE wants a folder named temp in the system folder (usually C:\Windows) even if the OS temp folder has been correctly moved to another path.

Have fun.

(pasted from another post of mine)

So...
My mother complained about other issues with her PC now that I had installed Win7x64. Like random BSOD and other stuff.

Anyway I came home yesterday and decided to finally solve this sh*t. So I borrowed a floppy drive and did a bios update. I must say -and I don't mean to offend anyone- that it took like 10'' longer than I thought it would and my balls jumped back inside my body, but it worked.

Now: the monitor is recognized with its name; the optimum resolution is recommended and available to be chosen; new audio drivers were installed; it can sleep or hibernate; I could install the update from Windows I couldn't before.

Guess it was just the bios update all it needed.


Thanks a lot! :)