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[Gunner-Chan]

Alright, out of nowhere I suddenly had a crash that told me that "The windows service host program has stopped working" or something along those lines... Followed by a refusal to boot unless it was safe mode till I had it use the last known working configuration, that was followed by the crash message twice and then it working like normal...

Anyone have any idea what could of happened? And if I should be expecting issues further down the road?

[Tahin]

Anyone have any idea what could have happened? And if I should be expecting issues further down the road?

Sorry about that. It was bugging me.

Also: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=windows+service+host+program+has+stopped+working

...I can't really help beyond that. I don't use Windows anymore and I'm getting kind of rusty.

[Gunner-Chan]

I guess thanks for looking at least, but it turned out to be a rather easily removed piece of spyware. Though I don't know how it caused a failure to boot, anyway it's fixed.

[Little]

He sent the Frogs into his computer, and they ate the bugs

[Tormy]

I guess thanks for looking at least, but it turned out to be a rather easily removed piece of spyware. Though I don't know how it caused a failure to boot, anyway it's fixed.

Spyware? I doubt that spywares would cause problems like this.

[Gunner-Chan]

Turned out it was more than spyware and stuff like that, I had to reformat. And guess what? I am still not out of this yet!



Apparently something was left behind... Sorta. But it's not working correctly. It wants to take me to that site but it's too crippled to do so, normally this would not be a problem as I don't use internet explorer...

But this error shows up when attempting to run Inform 7! This makes no sense!

[Gunner-Chan]

Alright it's better now... It was just the last gasps of an already dead virus. A few reinstalls of programs later and all is well.

[Tormy]

Some notes:
- Get a decent firewall software. [ZoneAlarm for example]
- Buy a decent AV software. [One of the best is: Kaspersky AV]
- Try not to visit warez/porn and similar sites.
Profit. 

[Puck]

Some notes:
- Get a decent firewall software. [ZoneAlarm for example]
- Buy a decent AV software. [One of the best is: Kaspersky AV]
- Try not to visit warez/porn and similar sites.
Profit. 

Don't get me wrong, the basic idea is nice, but I have some issues with this:

- ZoneAlarm isnt really all that much of a "decent" firewall. I mean, it's alright, but there have been several gripes with it, and I'd probably pick something else right now. Get some recent firewall review/ranking thingy, and go from there. If I remember correctly, the free version of "comodo" works alright and gets good reviews for quite some time now.

- Decent AV software doesnt need to be bought. Paying for AV is a bit of an "idiot tax". Seriously, go to a computer store, and look WHO is actually buying AV software. It's usually people that dont have a clue about their computer. The ONLY reason to actually pay for AV software is if you use it commercially, I believe there is no free AV software you're allowed to use on computers you use to make profitz with. Personally I have been very satisfied with http://www.avira.com/en/pages/index.php but that doesnt mean anything. Again, recent reviews are probably the best bet.

- and when you have a decent FW and AV, you can even visit warez and porn sites (SERIOUSLY!  what would I do without them?!?!) You just have to pay a little bit attention. You don't let ANY site install ANYTHING.

Really, it's kind of hardish these days to even catch something (*knocks on wood*). My computer is fucking around the net like a cheap 5 dollar hooker, and it's still doing very very fine. I think it's the longest running windows installation I ever had, and apart from those aforementioned basics, all I had to do, is not to click "Yes" when the random exe (Zango bullshit anybody?) comes creeping about.

Oh, and even more important than the already mentioned things:
keep windows up to date and patched at all times. Before you even start surfing, patch it ALL up to newest. Otherwise, you might as well keep the computer offline or throw it away.

Another thing that I found useful at times is "Windows Defender" btw. In case the microsoft site is giving you crap, lemme know, I probably can throw an older installer on rapidshare or something, even if the software isnt up for download on microsoft.com anymore (dont know) it's gonna update itself properly.

Oh, and sniperjoe, if you still get this weird script error message from jl.chura.pl... I'd really consider a proper purging. Nuke the friggin HD from orbit (i mean... just properly reinstall windows)... there IS something fishy. Take care that the data you keep isnt somehow dirty.

[Gunner-Chan]

Well, everything is clean now. Installed AVG and got rid of what was left and I have had no problems. I already know all these rules but the viruses and stuff came from a flash drive me and some other people had no idea was infected, so there was really nothing I could do about that.

[Tormy]

Some notes:
- Get a decent firewall software. [ZoneAlarm for example]
- Buy a decent AV software. [One of the best is: Kaspersky AV]
- Try not to visit warez/porn and similar sites.
Profit. 

Don't get me wrong, the basic idea is nice, but I have some issues with this:

- ZoneAlarm isnt really all that much of a "decent" firewall. I mean, it's alright, but there have been several gripes with it, and I'd probably pick something else right now. Get some recent firewall review/ranking thingy, and go from there. If I remember correctly, the free version of "comodo" works alright and gets good reviews for quite some time now.

- Decent AV software doesnt need to be bought. Paying for AV is a bit of an "idiot tax". Seriously, go to a computer store, and look WHO is actually buying AV software. It's usually people that dont have a clue about their computer. The ONLY reason to actually pay for AV software is if you use it commercially, I believe there is no free AV software you're allowed to use on computers you use to make profitz with. Personally I have been very satisfied with http://www.avira.com/en/pages/index.php but that doesnt mean anything. Again, recent reviews are probably the best bet.

- What is the problem with ZA? I think that it's pretty decent.
- Huh? I don't really understand your explanation about the AV softwares. You don't need to buy it? If you don't buy it, it won't work after a period.
Also I've mentioned Kaspersky, because that is the best AV software probably.

[Puck]

There are so many good free AV packages on the market, you only need to buy AV software for commercially used machines. Kaspersky, while nice, is still a waste of money for a home computer. The one I linked is (or has been so far) reliable and free. I dont see ANY reason to choose kaspersky over that one, apart from the nifty green packaging (I ahve to admit kasperksky makes some nice cardboard boxes)

And ZA is a chapter on its own. I dont want to go into all the details, get all the citations and whatnot. They had numerous (and sometimes very very stupid) problems along the way. People that make those kind of mistakes are not the kind of people I want to program security software.

[Gunner-Chan]

Ugh... I guess it's not clean... The damn thing is still screwing up files and causing problems. But At leas I know what it is now. http://free.avg.com/66558

Apparently it's so damn hard to remove because it's buggy, so it's not actually infecting things correctly at all and corrupting them instead. Apparently it can also end up becoming impossible to remove due to it looking much different due to it's bugs.

Looks like I'm going to have to format again... It seemed to have infected something I backed up so I guess I can't back certain things up...

[G-Flex]

- and when you have a decent FW and AV, you can even visit warez and porn sites (SERIOUSLY!  what would I do without them?!?!) You just have to pay a little bit attention. You don't let ANY site install ANYTHING.

Careful there. I've got realtime protection going on my computer, use the latest version of firefox, and generally don't do anything stupid, but I've still gotten really bad spyware infections from places like anonib. Don't ask me how. So I'm just saying, nothing is foolproof.

[Yanlin]

- and when you have a decent FW and AV, you can even visit warez and porn sites (SERIOUSLY!  what would I do without them?!?!) You just have to pay a little bit attention. You don't let ANY site install ANYTHING.

Careful there. I've got realtime protection going on my computer, use the latest version of firefox, and generally don't do anything stupid, but I've still gotten really bad spyware infections from places like anonib. Don't ask me how. So I'm just saying, nothing is foolproof.

AV software and other such security is designed to stop any leaks a guy-who-knows-what-he's-doing might have. Something that sneaks by the radar. The only malware I've had so far was a flash tracking cookie. Which I easily removed with a Firefox extension. It's the only thing Spybot S&D ever detects. Not to mention the last time I heard the evil Avast! alarm was over a year ago. I just use NoScript, WOT, Flashblocker, Adblocker and BetterPrivacy. All Firefox extensions that work great. On top of that I got the Avast! Home edition and Spybot S&D. That's all the security I have. Plus my knowledge of course.

Of course, I don't download piracy. The only music I get is downloaded off Youtube. Which is basically legal. Since to play it on my computer, it has to download to my temporary folder. If it can do that, I can ask it to download elsewhere. Like my desktop. Where I can convert the FLV file to an MP3 file. Alternatively, just download a second copy and convert that to MP3. This is legal because I am not distributing them. If it can be hosted on Youtube, it can be legally downloaded.

But the main point, it is safer than using Limewire or whatever.

As for games and videos, I don't. Just don't. I buy my games and give my money to games that deserve them.