Roxio Go Back is the devil
So...as usual, I'm working on a computer for somebody trying to remove some spyware and virus's. Well I have this machine that sits under my desk called "the clean machine". It's only reason for being is to clean other computers. It's not that fast (P3 500, 384mb ram) cause it's basically spare parts but it does the job well. Basically run XP, have antivirus, all updates and patches and every spyware I can install. The best thing about it is if a virus get's on it I don't have to worry. Just wipe and reinstall XP. Also, I have a removable drive tray installed so I can slap hard drives in without removing the case or having to change the jumpers from primary to secondary on the HD.
*sigh*...anyways, so I'm working on this computer (it's a gateway) and for the life of me I can't get the drive to recognize XP. The BIOS sees it....windows device driver sees it...but it doesn't mount and assign a drive letter. So I wiggle under the desk and remove the cover thinking the CD rom on the secondary IDE port might be affecting it...no joy.
So I start undertaking the laborious process of trying to edit the registry on the actual host machine and trying to fix the spyware on the actual machine. Which is never a smart idea....never try to fix a comprimised system using the same OS you think is infected.
Anyways, long story short. After some exstenive googling I figured out why XP couldn't mount it. Roxio Go Back.....I ended up having to disable it (by pressing the space bar, and selecting disable) and sure enough now I can magically access it on my clean machine.
Summary: Windows will not see your secondary hard drive if you have Roxio Go back installed. Sure, it'll be in the BIOS and device manager, but it will not get a letter.
Moral: There's always something new to learn, even on old computers.
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I agree. GoBack is complete crap. Im working on a customers machine and it completely messed it up. Its stuck in a loop. It wont boot to windows. It wont let me disable it because it keeps crashing the machine when I try to disable, and it wont restore from any old points. I cant even go into safe mode without this POS program rebooting the pc. Complete crap.
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Posted by: Anonymous | May 18, 2006 11:49 AM
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just to devil's advocate a little...I've often found it useful to do some of the cleaning ON the affected machine..cause then you're privy to running processes and bho's that all your removal tools might miss...and then you can whack them in Mrs. Dos... I've seen more than one coolware variant completely avoid detection by all the big boys...spyware is so fun...isn't it..... fufilling..cause I know you have many skills above and beyond cleaning pc's but the people you're cleaning them for are clueless..so don't you sometimes kind of feel like a nascar pit mechanic changing oil for your fried/relative's ford escort just cause they don't even know what oil is for?...what a maddening road we walk down just cause we're good people.
Posted by: Anonymous | May 18, 2006 11:49 AM
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Actually, you nailed it right on the head. i feel like i'm doing computer oil changes every time. The sad part is it still ends up taking me a whole day per computer because i always end up doing everything I can ....just can't walk away. Hell the update patches alone take up a good couple of hours depending on the PC.
I usually run them through my clean machine first to get virus's off, then scan for spyware...then i put them back and install antispyware on them to catch running process's. After of course I manually clean out the registry from all unnecessary run entries.
I've seen them register clean, reboot once, and then get reinfected....sneaky bastards that's for sure...
Posted by: Dennis Judd | May 18, 2006 11:49 AM
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Actually I run multiple browsers, each one has various strength's.
Posted by: Dennis Judd | May 18, 2006 11:49 AM
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I decided to try Firefox instead of IE. Great browser, doesn't seem to have any of the holes that IE does. (It helps it doesn't use ActiveX). Give it a try........
Posted by: Anonymous | May 18, 2006 11:49 AM