System Recovery Possibilities

   When I last published a post for Damaged From Hackers, I wanted to be sure you new the possibilities of total system failure and only if you don't have good security in place on your computers. the system does have its own internal mechanism to protect the system files even if a virus or hacker did remove parts of or corrupt your entire file system on a Windows OS. The windows install disk can recover certain parts of your corrupt files and delete the damaged ones simply by replacing your original install with a designation of ".0"  which is its way of keeping the other files untouched when the replacement install has finished.
   After the system is repaired you will notice a duplicate of your windows system files except it has been designated the ".0" attachment. This will also happen to other files such as the Documents and Settings and Administrator Files. You can simply run the computer without deleting those replaced files that seem to be duplicated but have the normal designation without the ".0" attachment, so if you know your file system you can go to those portions of the older files and access or run those files or programs. You could share the duplicate windows file that does not have the ".0" designation by simply dragging it to the Windows.0 file and be done with it, but do not delete it or problems may occur to the previous programs that you have added to the original Windows file. A very important thing to remember is DO NOT RUN A DUPLICATE FINDER and remove the files because you may have to reprogram your whole computer and system files with a total wipe and reinstall which will include any important data you have placed into your original install.
   There are more ways to restore corrupt files which may work if they can be removed and replaced with the in program System Restore and possibly return the computer back to an earlier point of time. This might work if your computer had this setting enabled. Find the System Restore feature in all programs > then system tools > then click on system restore. If your computer fails to reset those corrupt files then try to reinstall the OS with your install disk and look for the setting to show to "install leaving all files intact".
   If this task fails to do what you want you could browse to Computer System Enhancing to find a suitable program to recover the files you need and as a last resort simply replace the OS with a fresh install.
   If you are going to wipe your hard drive and install a fresh OS then maybe you should upgrade your OS to the next available version, but I recommend you to use Windows XP Pro because I trust its operation more than any other OS by Microsoft now that I know the difference between them. Windows 98 is not very recent but I have used it Windows 2000 is also older but has a few more features because it is basically like Windows NT and then we have Windows XP Home & Professional which have quite a different amount of property settings for all of its features. Windows 7 I found lacks some of the individual settings and property changes available in the XP versions now I haven't yet heard of or used the newest Microsoft creation  Windows 8 and seen or discussed any of its features. I simply like XP because of its simple adjustments and network flexibility.
  Now we will talk about the newest security software I have had the pleasure of trying which are available for free or paid and those are Zone Alarm which works very well as a free program and suits both business and home use on a Windows OS but if you want total security I must recommend Bit Defender total security 2013, which is currently available in the full version as a 30 day trial and they also have a free internet security for home use. The Bit Defender full version will operate without any need for interaction and includes the necessary updating tool and will keep you system updated and tuned to it best performance all automatically after you make your preferred settings and save them.

Computer System Enhancing and Damaged by hackers are part of Activelids Links in Kitchener / Waterloo Ontario Canada. Owner and Operations by Derrick Gray, @ activelid@gmail or Live.ca      

The Violation of hackers

My Home computer has been hacked and damaged!

This past holiday weekend has been horrific for me due to a violation of my security within my system .

Someone has accessed my computer and has damaged my operating system in an unforeseen way even with security installed .

I was away for the day with my separated wife having a coffee in Victoria Park, here in Kitchener Ontario, and even got caught in a rain storm. But found my miserable day wasn't ending soon when I found out some one impersinated me and sent emails to all of my client list. I found out because my room mate(and landlord) complained about an email he received from me requesting private information from him, that I had apparently sent him at 5:18 pm .I had no clue about such email so I asked him to show it to me on his computer and thats how I found out where it was sent from dsg1202@live.ca and the time as well as the message which included a dating center. I told him to delete it and do a security scan as well as change his passwords for his personal emails,banking ,and other sensitive files. Then as I inspected my computer I found my live mail account and hotmail accounts had been accessed to send out emails without my knowledge.

   After further system checks I was unable to access some files to post another blog and some email links to my social network system. When I couldn't access some other files I immediately did a security scan with Windows Defender, Bit Defender Quick Scan and attempted to download Microsofts Security Essentials. When this operation failed I tried to start my browsers - Google chrome(failed), Firefox(failed),IE8 (failed) but Slim Browser worked. Then I tried to access Microsoft downloads (with an authenticated OS) and retrieve Security Essentials which was refused after the authentication scan! After several attempts to get support from Microsoft I was very angry due to their service neglect. So I shut down the computer to reboot in an attempt to rectify the authentication problem and my computer went black screen! Once a computer gets a blue or black screen error that means your system boot configuration is corrupt so you need to shut down and restart in safe mode or the last working system configuration.

    Once I tried the last configuration it booted up and still did not work properly with files missing so I shut down again and tried my XP Boot Cd which is a legal copy and authenticated. But wouldn't you know that failed to work as well due to missing files, so another shut down and restart in safe mode this time. After I went through my system trying to find out what files were missing I tried a registry scan and no errors were found. Then since I knew something was wrong I rescanned for security, but nothing showed. What the hell is going on I said to Sam my room mate, and he piped up and said he found 2 infections with his scan for security, so I again tried to reboot and my system would only work in safe mode. Well I tried to contact Microsoft support and found a charge of $59 was their only offering of help so I sat and thought. So since Microsoft own Windows Live Mail and they don't offer security help for free anymore I decided since I couldn't fix my system and couldn't acces my complete system or reset my Live Mail account I would just eliminate microsoft altogether and replace it with Ubuntu operating system(Free Open Source Linux System). 

    The decision to switch to Linux was easy for me since I had previous experience with Kubuntu 9.4? , and Ubuntu 10.04 as well as the Ubuntu Server OS. The ease of install is amazing plus the newest version (Ubuntu 11.04) will run beside a Windows XP Pro or replace Windows altogether! I will now tell you how that went and the procedure to make it happen. On a damaged system of Windows Xp Pro sometimes you need to reinstall that OS but something that was missing was a DOS file and I would never be able to get my Xp Boot Disk to work so the decision was due to a need to get my system up and running as quick as possible just because I run a Business with about 600 emails per day and 17 websites with more on some social networks and forums. I also could not trust a complete wipe and reinstall of xp because this was the fourth time since April 2010 on the same machine due to similar problems. Now Below Is how I actually changed my complete operating system from Microsoft's Windows XP PRO SP3 to Ubuntu 11.04 :

Since the system had internal damage from some hacker, I was forced to run diagnostics, security,registry and browsers with my Hpnc8000 notebook in SAFEMODE.

Once everything was closed I reopened the only browser I had working

(slim browser)

and went straight to http://www.ubuntu.com/download then I looked for the latest information of this particular OS and found a column that claimed I could replace a windows OS but I was also faced with which one to download. 

Since Ubuntu is a Linux/Unix Open Source Product and they also have Kubuntu, Xbuntu, and several Business downloads I chose Ubuntu due to the stability of the release. Now Kubuntu tended to crash when I used it before but it was in BETA format and so was the Ubuntu I had previously used, however the Ubuntu is always released in its last stage of beta and is much more stable to use. 

After choosing Ubuntu 11.04 I simply downloaded the ISO to my program files and then chose to download it to my Pendrive or 4gb external Memory Stick. Downloading to my Pendrive allowed me to create a boot drive for Ubuntu since my hard drive had Windows Xp still installed but damaged it could only accept certain functions and I wanted to be sure it would boot up the Ubuntu OS.

This task took about 35 minutes to download to the hard drive and about 15 minutes after installing a Pendrive Installer from the Ubuntu site onto the Pendrive Which allowed me to set the Pendrive Installer to actually boot up and install the Ubuntu Os Onto my computers harddrive after it wiped the 30gb hard drive. Once the system was ready another 40 minutes I was asked to restart my computer and voila! No more Microsoft Problems!

The Ubuntu system generally runs faster than any Windows OS but is slow with updates and new installs, however this OS is very stable and has a security which is better than Microsoft or Bitdefender (my previous best free or paid security program choices). The Ubuntu 11.04 OS has all your basic needs but does not handle windows programs without certain additions of programming nor does it have a music player that accepts windows media player codecs without additional programming . Ubuntu does have an office program that is broken down to 3 separate components on your dashboard as well as separate icons for other file storage.

The difference with Microsoft's windows programs and os is they operate with the NTFS file system whereas the Linux programming and OS use the Fat File system which accepts compressed files and keeps them compressed during operation. An ntfs file needs to be downloaded without compression but will be compressed during storage on your hard drive which causes slower operation because it is always being converted to be used or stored. This is the reason Microsoft and Windows programs always have registry errors and need to be secured with high quality security programs and regularily checked for registry errors, something Linux doesn't need.

When You decide to change from Windows to a Linux OS be sure to research your information starting with http://www.ubuntu.com/ and please note wireless applications are difficult with any Linux OS also certain programs that are found on Windows OS systems are already converted and ready to use when installing Ubuntu, just like the Firefox browser, office applications, and music players which can be programmed for certain music streams contained in the windows media Guide but do not contain the same CODECS.

Please note I have been struggling with my online presence and have learned a lot about computers and ways to make an online income, but this last tie in with Hackers has really given me something to think about due to theft of information and jealousy of success and stealing my ideas of presentation as well as my commissions from possible sales from my sites.

PLEASE BE AWARE OF YOUR SECURITY MEASURES!

ALSO MAINTAIN A VIGILANT SECRECY OF YOUR LINKS AND LOGIN INFORMATION ESPECIALLY ANY PASSWORD PROTECTED ACCOUNTS.

BE SURE TO ALSO USE LARGE SECURITY CODES AND PASSWORDS.

STAY SAFE AND PROTECT YOUR WORK WHILE ONLINE!

Hate Failure and Enjoy Success!

Derrick Gray

activelid@gmail.com