2nd hand pc, what programs to keep and what not?

Lady_K

How can I check for keyloggers n things I understand adaware and spybot dont always pick them up if they are in stealth mode?

Zagu

Lady_K wrote:

How can I check for keyloggers n things I understand adaware and spybot dont always pick them up if they are in stealth mode?

I find that Housecall works well.

Personally, Id agree with blisteringblue. If you cant reinstall XP, go for a Linux distro, or even get a copy of Windows 2000 off Ebay. Its got low system requirements, and does all the basics. I really wouldnt want to run a PC that someone else has put all their junk on.

callmelinda

There's no saying anything at all is on the PC, put there deliberately or unknowingly by the previous owner. However, I wouldn't want to take any risk and think that by just deleting their programs and running some anti-virus etc on it, that it must therefore be clean and perfectly safe to use.

I don't have a wide knowledge of viruses, keyloggers and all that kind of thing, but sometimes antivirus programs etc do miss things. Plus sometimes things can be on a computer which stop antivirus programs from performing properly. Have you tried doing some sort of online scan at symantec, don't know if this could be of use?

I'd want a full re-install before putting passwords and card numbers in if I bought second hand and that's why he should really have supplied you with the product key and disk since I believe they're supposed to pass on with the PC when he sells it. Did you know he couldn't provide the key and disc when you bought it? I don't really know how he could never have had a disc since if you buy OEM or retail, you get a disc - if it's a legal copy, I presume he got it off someone else that didn't give him a disc or something along those lines.

If you can't discover the key and create a disc yourself, maybe get hold of a genuine copy of whatever OS you want as suggested, you can buy an OEM version of XP with a small piece of hardware and just get your own disc and key so you'll be able to reinstall down the line (although this will cost £65 or thereabouts I imagine).

ormus

as been said, i wouldnt bother with xp for it. its gonna struggle wif it.
just reinstall win2k on it.

TheFaqqer

Virus scanning and adaware should get rid of most nasties, but there could be others that it doesn't get rid of - cookies, images, temporary internet files, other temporary files etc.

I'd rebuild it if it were me.

Lady_K

I installed this snoopfree privacy shield and its put up an alert saying this

Unauthorized Keyboard Hook
EXTREME PRIVACY RISK -- Use Extreme Caution

Program Name: "Messenger"
Program Path : "C:\Program Files\MSN Messenger\msnmsgr.exe"

The program named above is trying to hook your keyboard. If you allow this, the program will be able to watch every key you press. If you want to allow this program to watch every key you press, you should click the 'Allow Access' button below.

If you're not sure that you want to allow this program to watch your keyboard, you can get more information by clicking the 'More Information' button below.

Is that anything to worry about because would it be as I left the computer and it would show me as away or something or something to do with the way it shows when you are typing. havent pressed deny yet just in case it needs to have that access to run properly

callmelinda

Lady_K wrote:

I installed this snoopfree privacy shield and its put up an alert saying this

Unauthorized Keyboard Hook
EXTREME PRIVACY RISK -- Use Extreme Caution

Program Name: "Messenger"
Program Path : "C:\Program Files\MSN Messenger\msnmsgr.exe"

The program named above is trying to hook your keyboard. If you allow this, the program will be able to watch every key you press. If you want to allow this program to watch every key you press, you should click the 'Allow Access' button below.

If you're not sure that you want to allow this program to watch your keyboard, you can get more information by clicking the 'More Information' button below.

Is that anything to worry about because would it be as I left the computer and it would show me as away or something or something to do with the way it shows when you are typing. havent pressed deny yet just in case it needs to have that access to run properly

I've never used snoopfree but looking at their site in regards to that warning, it goes on to say: "Some programs that provide hot-key support will install a keyboard hook to detect when you press a special combination of keys. A hot-key is a special combination of key presses that cause a program to do something. If you know that the program described above provides hot-key support then it may be safe to allow it to watch your keyboard. However, only give it access to your keyboard if you actually use the hot-keys."

MSN Messenger uses hotkeys/keyboard shortcuts. Again, I can't say what is or isn't on your PC, but that could be a reason for the alert. According to their advice, if you don't use the hotkeys anyway, you could do what they say and not allow them.

If you're not going to go down the route of a reinstall, what else can we suggest as further precaution I wonder?

Maybe someone more experienced than me can advise as to whether these would at least be a help in checking the security of the system...

* A Registry Cleaner/Checker - would this be able to repair the registry so that if there's a trojan horse for instance, it would be disabled?

* More online virus/trojan scans - might pick up something that your current ones on the system can't (if there's anything to pick up)

housecall.trendmicro.com
security.symantec.com
pandasoftware.com/products/ActiveScan.htm

* Check what is running in the background on your computer when it's on - might be able to see something from that? Control/alt/delete and look at applications and processes to see what's running.

Lady_K

I would definitely reinstal if I knew how to, its what I would prefer too. I've never reinstalled before only on an old win98 pre done cd (is that oem or somthing I dont know.)

I do want to keep this as a win xp as but its that its set up as RAID and that confuses me I dont know if that will effect a reinstal. I have little experience of xp too but I do know this is set up a bit different to the xp comps I've used. And as I said before I dont have a power DVD disc or the dvd,cd rew software which wouldnt be on if I reinstalled so I'd need to sort that out.

Also cant get any sound out of it but that might be as its attached to an old monitor (sound works on the old pc with it) with inbuilt speakers. If winamp is on I can see the thingy going up and down and when I put the green and grey sound wires into the back of the tower there is a crackle sound but it lasts a millisecond, changed loads of settings but its still not working but anyway I've left that for now.

Can I reinstal when its set to RAID? Can I save the dvd/dc rw sostware and the power dvd sostware?

Theres so much stuff on it that I dont understand and dont know if it should be deleted or not besides what I put in the first post. The settings on it must have been changed for things coz I cant even find program files in windows explorer and the fonts, window sizes and web page sizes are all so small its hard to read and yet I've changed them back in systems so many times and they just will not save once its rebooted. Could this be because he used a bigger screen would it look normal on a bigger screen?

callmelinda

I'm really sorry Lady K, but I just don't have sufficient knowledge on how to go about remedying the problems in the above post. I'm replying to get it back to the top in the hopes that someone with more experience can help you. If no-one can help here, I can only suggest posting on the forums at techguy.org - it's an American site I think, but whenever I've had PC issues, there have been plenty of people there who could help.