Spyware Section [Archive] - Digital Trends

llbbl

12-23-2004, 11:18 AM

I think this thing needs to be redone. I am thinking a sub forum just for posting Hijackthis and Adaware logs too. Then limit the main section to only threads regarding how to fix certain problems.

llbbl

12-23-2004, 02:13 PM

Good start ECA on the guide . Now it needs to be edited into normal english un-ECA'd if u will. and then tailor it the Richfind Toolbar. Add in what you told the people in the past to remove as examples.

I repeat that starting new threads for each person that has a problem is a bad idea. If they keep having a problem or they haven't been helped yet than they can repost in that same thread.

As far as making the huge thread more readable, I have these two ideas.

You both edit the posts that have Hijackthis logs in it and delete the log after you have gone through it.

or

We can mandate that eveyone must attach a text file and no logs will be allowed in the content.

Another reason why I don't want you guys telling people to start new threads is because how do you think the majority of people find us? Through search engines they click on the first thing that they see. We want our thread regarding the specific spyware to be on the top of that list. That means more views = more people.

Consolidate similar topics or I will. I am all about making this easier for you guys. I want you to help less people and force more of the visitors to try what others have done. We need a central thread for each spyware that has a complied reference regarding everything that has been done to fix that particular problem.

The following should be our new rule for the spyware section. As you can see I tried to make this clear in the new announcement in that section.

Only after they have read through the reference, downloaded and installed the required software and tried to fix the problem themselves will they be allowed to post their log for us to look at it. Random people who have not done these things will not be helped.

ECA

12-23-2004, 03:09 PM

Ok,
for #1.. DELETE the LOG...
NO, EVERY COMPUTER is different, has different setups, configs, programs, virus, bots, EVERYTHING...
Show me ANY 2 that are the same... And i will show you a NEw install, on 2 of the same computers, 2 dell 1234's... Its not like that... YOU start editing these, and then you can sort them...
And its nice to know, if Im talking to Noob, illiterate, common sence person, hardware person software guru, or what.... I can do that in a thread that 10 posts long, not in a thread that 1000 posts long... That i have to sort threw "WHOSE" comp I was working on...

#2 2 guys working on 2 computer lists, in 2 threads isnt hard... sort threw 10 lists and post changes and the USERS are going to get mixed up. And WE will get mixed up..

#3 WOW, so if we have 10 threads, and we get 10 links to the Search site, wont that look MORe interesting, then 1 at the top...rather see allot from 1 site then only 1, then I know who is working on it..

ECA

12-23-2004, 03:13 PM

a section to POST Hijack is good, but then we can take them to a spacific thread to fix there comp...

llbbl

12-23-2004, 04:25 PM

1) Look i know each person who posts has a different configuration. No reason to point out the obvious. Just because they have a different setup doesn't make it less or more difficult to help them in a single thread instead of 10 different threads.

2) About getting mixed up who you are responding to. You should put the the subject line the name of the person you are responding to. That will help you see which log your responding to.

I know you guys are pratically the only two people who are working on these. I know you have become accustom to doing it a certain way. This way will be easier trust me. If we get more traffic in the Spyware section than we might get more people to help so there would be less for you guys to do.

The trick is to organize what you have done in the past so more people can readily have access to it. That would eliminate people who don't feel like reading through 10 pages of a thread to find their answer. All the relative information is in the first post.

The next thing to do is work on providing the experts with all the right information before they do their job. We can do this by making them follow rules before they submit a new thread. Don't follow the rules and your thread gets canned. If we do it this way you will be more productive and also helping more people.

One of the rules could be that they must fill out a questionaire or something so that you can figure out what they have installed. Like running Belarc Advisor but exclude all the private information that it displays. I don't know of any program like this but maybe we can just have them fill out some basic questions.

ECA

12-23-2004, 05:47 PM

The trick is to organize what you have done in the past so more people can readily have access to it. That would eliminate people who don't feel like reading through 10 pages of a thread to find their answer. All the relative information is in the first post.

And HOw can they do that?? We delete there Hijack post, and DUMP all (that they THINK is RICHFIND) into 1 thread... that isnt organized, thats my bed room... A MESS.. Cant give ANSWERS ONLY listed,,, thats called Jeopardy, and is copyrighted..
Let them post there HIJACKS, and we take them to another thread to FIX them... this is called customer service, EVERY person and there computer is different. and has to be handled different.
Do you wish ALL rich find in here, or ALL those with richfind, KALV, and anything ELSE... How about sorting by the MAIN problem, as IF any of them KNOW what it is.. just because they "SEE" Richfind, dont mean thats the problem, or the ONLY problem, or EVEN the worse problem...
If we have one that has 3 virus, Kalv*, and richfind on it... WHAT??? give it to richfind???
thats like a Doctor fixing your athletes foot, when you have a burst apendix...
RIChfind is EASY...its the OTHER STUFF thats hurting the systems...
get off the horse, and DIVE into this, and help...
You go into a store and say you want a hammer, and they send you to the Plumbing supplies... do you WIAt there, or look around, and FIND, you are in the WRONG AREA... Most of these hijacks ARNT just richfind...
UNTILL you get in here and start FIXING stuff, you WONT see how to organize ANYTHING....

ECA

12-23-2004, 06:08 PM

Just drop it,
we are working this section.. OUR way... Unless you want to give ahand, you dont have any recourse..
We are doing FINE without this help... I think we have about a 80%+ success rate...DONT confuse us..

llbbl

12-24-2004, 10:18 AM

And HOw can they do that?? We delete there Hijack post, and DUMP all (that they THINK is RICHFIND) into 1 thread... that isnt organized, thats my bed room... A MESS.. Cant give ANSWERS ONLY listed,,, thats called Jeopardy, and is copyrighted..

you obviously don't understand what I am saying. I am saying that it needs more organization than what it is now. Create a guide for every major problem, a "How to fix <spayware> " thread for every major reoccuring. You need to drive everyone who has this problem to this thread instead of making a bunch of different threads.

Let them post there HIJACKS, and we take them to another thread to FIX them... this is called customer service, EVERY person and there computer is different. and has to be handled different.

You can handle everyone in one thread just as effectively as you can many threads. Your just being stubborn about it. Just because every computer is different doesn't mean they all can't be in one thread. Our guides should be good enough that they can identify one spyware that we have already posted about.

Do you wish ALL rich find in here, or ALL those with richfind, KALV, and anything ELSE... How about sorting by the MAIN problem, as IF any of them KNOW what it is.. just because they "SEE" Richfind, dont mean thats the problem, or the ONLY problem, or EVEN the worse problem..

If they have numerous problems you should be telling them to reinstall windows because its not worth your time to fix their computer if they can't maintain it.

If we have one that has 3 virus, Kalv*, and richfind on it... WHAT??? give it to richfind???
thats like a Doctor fixing your athletes foot, when you have a burst apendix...
RIChfind is EASY...its the OTHER STUFF thats hurting the systems...
get off the horse, and DIVE into this, and help...

The guide that is in the first post can keep track of what is specific for that spyware. You can reffer to the other threads regarding specific things to find. Organize and identify don't just say oh I think you should delete this this this this and this because it doesn't look familar to you. That is not a scientific way to go about it if you continue to make the same mistakes.

Just drop it,
we are working this section.. OUR way... Unless you want to give ahand, you dont have any recourse..
We are doing FINE without this help... I think we have about a 80%+ success rate...DONT confuse us..

I am not going to drop it. Things are going to change. Better guides and better information will mean less helping repeat offenders and more people helped.

ECA

12-24-2004, 10:49 AM

llbbl

12-24-2004, 11:39 AM

Ok, then HOw does a person SEE all there problems...WANT a 10 page discription???
LOOK at the sites WE posted... TRy to create a sinopsis... TRY..
And we have found OTHER versions of BOTS, and virus.. TRY to add whats NEW in that 10+ pages.
WHY do you THINK we have more then a FEW sites we goto... WE sorth threw all this stuff, so THEY dont have to.

I want a complete and comprehensive guide of what has been done regarding a particular spyware. I want general rules that they must follow before they ask for help.

All we need is 1 secions to Post HIJACK, then we post a link to a new THREAD with descriptions of there problems and HOw to fix. Anyone looking at the hijacks can link to the solutions, IF they see something familure.. ANd if we see LIKE stuff we can refer them to that thread.. LIKE a booK, and we send to a new chapter AFTEr they look at the directory...

Someone posts a new thread and they have followed most of the rules but they can't figure out what is going on. One of us goes through it and sees that it is a search miracle spyware. Then you say in a post.

"I am merging your thread with the main one regarding that topic. Please read through what other people have done and let us know if you are still having problems."

Now if we have the first post in the thread be our guide and it is a compiled list of all things that have worked for people in the past. Better information. More coherent.

YOU WANT any person with a FEW9more then 1 or 2) problems to REDO a computer setup??? THATS FOOLISH... then we would need a section on all the configurations, DELL, HP, Compaq, Homebrew(x10), recovery disks, full installs, and hardware configs. REAd my sig on that.... I'd rather fight a few Virus, then take that on.

Yes more than two spyware we should just tell them to reinstall. How many times do you run into people with 5 or more different spyware that you actually know its spyware. It could just be a variation of that same spyware or you could think that it is mutiple spyware but you are telling them to delete things that are not spyware.

I think that the majority of people will have one major problem that they can identify. All the similar major problems should be contained and archived into one thread.

Their hardware configuration isn't going to affect the solution as much as their software configuration. If you make them provide you a list of all the software they have installed you can better see what you think is spyware and what really is spyware.

How many ppl REALLy know whats on there computer, not counting there kids?
digital pics, movies, cookies, passwords they dont use or remember because a program does it, Links(I got over 2000), emails and addresses, configurations, and tweaks, and not to forget, that 99% of computers only have 1 drive setup..C:.....A 120+gig drive with EVERYTHING on it... Im not teaching these folks computer caution/prevention/setup/design structure/maintenance/precautions/ and proper Netequite.... And not to forget Network configs on highspeed access in Bangladesh.. as we have ppl here from AROUNd the world hiting the site.

You are exaggerating in order to sound like the problem you face is enormous. I am trying to make it easier for anyone who helps on it. I am trying to increase the amount of people we help. I am trying to increase the amount of traffic to the site. I am trying to increas the quality of information we provide people.

I am not asking you to teach eveyone from around the world how to operate a computer ECA, but I do want more guides/books made that we can reffer people to.

Less looking at logs and more directing people to a guide/resource where they can fix their problem, which hopefully would be on our site.

excuse me for saying this, but LOTS of computer persons, including those WHO know computers are STUPID, on HD structure, and WHY you should have more then 1-2 defined drives...
WE only work on Virus,bots, and such...in this forum... WE AINt going to take on everything ELSe they should know...

If you think it is important and would fix their problem than direct them to a resource (book, DT resource, off site resource) where they can find their answer.

Make sure that you are clear in your recommendations for hardware or software configuration. Be clear if something is recommended or required.

We can put in the annoucement at the top of the page a link to a thread describing required steps to maintaining your computer. This could be an expanded article similar to what you say in your .sig.

llbbl

12-24-2004, 11:43 AM

More using the books section.

http://designtechnica.shopping.com/xMP-Books

dang

12-24-2004, 03:22 PM

Ok, here's the deal. Organization would be great in helping people coming here just to try to solve a particular problem. We can create a generic forum for people to post their logs. If it's a common issue, then anyone who is looking at their logs can just point them to an existing solution. These solutions should be locked threads that are just that, solutions. No posting allowed to them. they should be sticky as well.

As we find new strains, spyware nastiness, create another sticky/locked thread for the solution for that particular issue. I see no problem helping people that come in lost. The shear number of posts can be overwhelming, and to be honest most people are lazy and dont want to search around for 5 min trying to find a person with the same problem. They'll just post. Thats were the mods/experts come in and inform them where to go. If it's that simple, just post a referral. If it's not that simple, dig further with them to find a solution. When solution is found, post a new thread with the original information and solution.

A FAQ should be created with what type of information someone should include when inquiring. If they make a post, just respond to them "read the faq, supply the neccessary information and then we'll take a look at" or something along those lines.

We are all hear hoping to help people out, keep people coming back to help others, and to provide a good, fun atmosphere. I know we are all passionate about how we do things. Let's try creating a more structured place and see how it goes. Hopefully we'll achieve our goal: helping people get spyware off their systems.

ECA

12-24-2004, 05:14 PM

The main problem as I stated before..
If you look at RICHFIND, then you dont see the cause of it..
And it could be any of(I'v seen 3) many causes.. 1 of which we have seen 3 variations..
THEY see rich find in there list, and dont KNOW to go look at 3 other threads.

go threw the thread, LOOk at whats been done.. In most cases we didnt START at the same locations.. We searched there WHOLE listing for the BEGINNING of the problem, and the WORST problems.
TRY to kill richfind without finding the HOST/MAIN problem... As I said, there AINT only 1 scource and there are NEW ones all the time.
Then watch it REINFECT.
Ask NightOwl, who faught it for 6 Hijack Posts, untill he found the Host/main..
ASK the posters we FAILED on...

If YOU wish to, go for it... Look at ALL that we have done, post what you SEEM to think works, let us SEE it, and ok it..
We just want to fix them...
TRYING to explain what we "DO" isnt that easy.. we talk back and forth, about subjects and problems...
YOU do the BOOK, we do the testing... But if it dont work for us, very well, we probably wont follow what you want.. This section is WAY to long.. After 3 pages I would put a link to a second secion.. to make it shorter... i REALLy wouldnt read 5+ pages on it, and I dont THINK the posters will either... they just want someone to FIX it, and NOT themselves..

Ever do Customer service in retail??
Management kept getting upset because I would take customers TO the product. they asked me not to, so I TOLD the customers where to go..
"It on Isle 31, side B, half way down, next to the pillar, on the bottom shelf."
Custmers came back, and complained.
I would show them Exactly where I had said it was, and it was there.
1 month later, NEW service for FRED MEYERS, "ask me, I'll show you where"

Its easyier to hold there hands, and lead them thru it, then to GIVE them instuctions.
REMOVe 1-2 things at a time, and EXPLAIN why... Even if its just CLUTTER, or THEY DIDNT FOLLOW THE SUGGESTIONS we made FIRST about ADD/REMOVE programs.

Excuse this BUT:
we are talking to paople that have problems with finding the OFF button, and dont know that RESET isnt it.
WE are talking about ppl who have NO idea that DELL is a BAD word.
PPl that dont KNOW that 128 meg, 16 meg video, 40gig drive for $300-500 is CRAP under 2000/XP.
PPl that cant figure OUT how to Cut and paste, and FORGET about sending an attachment in EMAIL.
AND ppl that think computer speakers are the END ALL product on the market, at $20.

nightowl

12-25-2004, 12:27 AM

I'll have to think about this. I would like it more organized. Dont think having long threads will help us cleaning logs. I dont mind it when we finish a log and their log is clean and someone else posts a new log. But sometimes we are in the middle of helping someone and someone new posts a log before we are done with the other one. Then we sometimes have to scroll way down to the bottom to find the correct log. I found myself the other day copy and pasting a bad item from one log to a different log. Luckily I found my mistake and it came out ok.

To make the section more organized I would suggest asking us for suggestions. Help it make it easier for us while helping yourselves. You are coming from Hits on the website, while we are coming from hands on with the customers. Sometimes its good to hear the workers points of view. Work together and find a solution..........Jim :vivi

ECA

12-25-2004, 12:46 AM

Still like, 1 section to post the 1st hajack, THEN a link to the section we arre FIXING it on...THIS PERSON this LOG...
And i think Night can agree, that there problems ARNT the same on MOSt machines, and to FIX them is almost different on EVERY machine..

Until you get IN here and help. You wont see the MAIN problems...

nightowl

12-25-2004, 12:54 AM

I've noticed that on Search Engine Searches when you click them they take you to page 1. What if what you are looking for is on page 14. Do you think most people would click 14 pages to find what they are looking for. Probably not, they may click 2-3 pages, If they dont find anything they will go elsewhere.

When I first found this website I was trying to get rid of the ISearch Toolbar. I typed in ISearch Toolbar and found Iomans thread. It took me to page one. But I replied back thanking him for help.the reply may have been on page 50. But thats an easy fix.

ECA is correct, on some of these newer varients(Richfind, Elite, Kalvsys) each computer is different. We cant say look at this log and see what we did. That may lead to more problems. It also may make the customer feel like we dont want to help.(Especially if it does not help).........Jim

nightowl

12-25-2004, 08:51 AM

Its Christmas morning and the Spyware Section has 62 views. Not bad for a holiday,.........Jim.

neuroking

12-30-2004, 02:21 PM

neuroking

12-30-2004, 02:23 PM

Oh, and don't like the spyware forum on the home page recent threads list. Maybe make a recent threads for admins list and include it there, though. It's better to have the most apparant threas be the ones about products, since that = money.

Ioman

12-30-2004, 02:42 PM

Just found this forum. I am down with whatever you guys agree too. Once you decide on what you want, let Dang or TecknoGeek know and they can start organizing/creating the forums.

llbbl

01-18-2005, 11:06 AM

Ugh! Comcast sucks. My internet has been down for a week, so sorry about joinign the fraw late.

I think alot of the people that will end up here, and alot that already have, are not the most tech savvy specimens in the world. It might help to have several sections that are task related, like "I think I may be infected by spyware", "I am sure I am infected by spyware", "I want to prtect against further infections", and maybe "I removed the spyware, but it returned". Then one subsection could be for each of the major offenders, like richfind, etc.

I see nothing wrong with letting people post their HJT logs, but like Broadband forums, we should have a set of steps that each person must do first. Something like: paragraph 1) symptoms, 2) system specs, 3) level of comfortablity with tech (will they edit the rgistry, or do they jsut want to install a program and run it), 4) antispyware programs installed, 5) HJT log

The 'doosies' are they ones that HJT catches, where's there's a .cab that reinstalls the crap. I have't seen ECA's guide, but make sure that's in there.

Yes This is what I am talking about. I was thinking about subforums for every particular type of spyware but then thought that it would soon spiral into many different Forum Headings. The way I choose to do it now breaks Spyware into three sections where you have all the garbage in the main section about random stuff who knows what.

I break it into two other sections. For the Spyware Logs section I was thinking this. All Logs of people who have followed the instructions or people we choose to help.

For the Spyware Reference section we have all the posts that pertain to a particular type of spyware. Only "How to's type threads will be added to this section." An important note about this is if there is a person who had a problem long ago and this turns out to be the "main" thread regarding that problem than the admin/moderators will take over the first post of this thread to add their guide or how to.

llbbl

01-18-2005, 11:08 AM

If people don't follow the rules i suggest we either...

1) reffer them back to the "rules"

http://forums.designtechnica.com/announcement.php?f=94

2) Delete the thread entirely

3) Ignore the thread

4) Merge the thread into the large thread in the Spyware Reference section.

Oh and are we happy with the rules?

Ioman

01-18-2005, 11:11 AM

Tecknogeek, are you working with Nightowl and ECA to develop the new spyware section? I want you to all agree before you do anything.

WORK TOGETHER

And be nice Tecknogeek! :P

llbbl

01-18-2005, 11:17 AM

ECA you said this in this thread:

http://forums.designtechnica.com/showthread.php?t=4230&page=6&pp=40

LOCk this one with a LINK to the main spyware section, and ask to start new thread..

ECA do you want to lock all of the How to threads?

I think if we do that we endager ourselves of loosing spyware traffic. The more information contained in one thread the higher it is going to be on the search engines.

Or perpahps the million or so links we will be posting to the How to threads will keep the How to threads at the top of the search engines.

I think having one big thread is more likely to draw people, than for us to link to specific how to guides. Linking to the "rules" is much easier and just have them search for the guide themselves.

llbbl

01-18-2005, 11:27 AM

I want you to all agree before you do anything.

Well we didn't exactly agree on the current changes, but I figured I would change it and show them what I meant instead of arguing about it and getting nothing done.

I am open to your opinions on the new section. There is still alot of work to be done in the Spyware Reference area. We can always change it back ............................ /sigh .. I can't finish that sentance

Start thinking about how we can make things it better. You have to change in order to remain competitive and if we expect to be a valueable resource for spyware reference material we need start thinking of ways to work towards that goal. Right now we help probably 1% of the people who are infected and probably 10% of the people who are infected and are looking for a solution. We can do better!

I look foward to your comments and suggestions.

ECA

01-18-2005, 11:42 AM

the long threads, should be locked, and refer them to a newer one.
Many have to OLd versions of many spybots, at the beginning, and newer ones of the same, at the end.

the RULES should be locked, so they cant post in that area, and only the Mods can add to it.

solutions/fixes (general) should be locked, and to add a hijack should be in other sections if the FIX didnt work. That way, there isnt 10 pages of STUFF to read and follow.
REFERNCE section that we can post connections to for OUR reference, as well as theres.
and a NICE section on WHERE not to go, if they dont want this stuff to be applied to there system, such as HACK sites with popups..

ALSO a section on HOW to read, Hijackthis, and what to look for, to decide on the correct course. The problem we are MANLY havineing is reloaders, and killing them FIRST.
We have 1, that changes it name, has different versions, and takes 2-4 tries just to kill.
Another HIDES itself, in KNOWN files names.

And Nighowl, KNOWs that i will remove ALOT of excess 'STUFF' just to make sure it dont come back. Scheduelers, Internet connections, online games, registering reminders, and other things.. and i see he is starting to do this also, on some machines.

ECA

01-18-2005, 01:47 PM

The main problem is Diagnosing WHATS wrong and having them KNOW where to put the thread.
90% of what we have seen, ISNT Isearch, search miracle, and SUCH...Its the loaders and hiders, that we have to find...After we kill THEM, removing most of it, is easy.
So far we have seen 3 hiders, and 1 is malicious.. If not removed properly, it kills your net access. LOB.COM(?) but they have a removal tool on there site.

llbbl

01-20-2005, 07:25 AM

Holy cow we get a lot of spyware traffic ... I clicked new posts and like 90% of it was in Spyware section .. eheh

Then again it seems that like 40+ people always browsing around in that section.

dang

01-20-2005, 08:31 AM

just my 2 cents. Just like Ioman, I really want you three to come down with a decision on how to do this.

Rules/how-to's should be locked. You dont want users diluting that content. You dont want those threads to have a ton of posts because people then dont know where in the thread to look for the info they need.

locking solutions/fixes is a tough call. If you are providing a solution/fix to someones particular thread, then they need to be able to respond to say it worked/didnt work. If you are going to make generic threads for fixes, then it should follow the above how-to/rule's threads.

I think I said before, but I really believe people will come in on a search from google, browse one or two threads to see if it addresses their issue, and if not then they'll post. Most often this will be some type of duplicate problem. That's OK. Remember to put yourself in their shoes:
1) they may not know too much about computers.
2) they may be frustrated/sick and tired of their machine running slow and just want it off
3) it's easier to post a new thread then search through a bunch when you have the symptoms of #1 and #2 points above.
4) it's easier for them to track their issue by posting a new thread, especially if they are not someone who posts in forums regularly and know about forum features (like thread tracking.)

I'm happy people are registering and becoming active forum members. If there is a simple, pre-posted how-to/fix, just point em to that thread. Easy as that. If not, now you got a new thread/example to use in a new fix/how-to thread if you want.

ECA

01-20-2005, 09:21 AM

Suggestion:
The spyware section is CLEARING the front page of any new topics posted in other sections.
Anyway to Have a SECOND section, on the front page ONLY for the spyware section, so it dont Overrun the other sections??

Other things have been posted, but WIPED off the front page, before anyone got to see them.

llbbl

01-20-2005, 11:06 AM

Your talking about the "Latest Forum Posts" on the main http://www.designtechnica.com/ page?

nightowl

01-20-2005, 11:29 AM

Need to do something with those long threads, Lock them seems like a good Idea. Maybe at the beginning and the end of each of those threads telling them to post their logs in the Logs section........Jim

dang

01-20-2005, 12:14 PM

if you do a log section, then users may have trouble finding the thread to respond to.

ECA: that is something easy to do, but with the new site design we may not have to worry about it.

llbbl

01-20-2005, 01:07 PM

I think we should let them get as long as they want, just make it your policy not to help anyone who doesn't follow the rules and make a new post with their log. We can make it clear in the first post of each of those threads that if they want help they must follow the rules.

Locking the thread reduces the traffic to the thread, reduces the "popularity" of the thread on the search engines, decreases our traffic and decreases how much Ioman makes a month.

ECA

01-20-2005, 01:15 PM

yep, the front page..
We are running off any other posts, with the sypware section..

dang

01-20-2005, 02:47 PM

Locking the thread reduces the traffic to the thread, reduces the "popularity" of the thread on the search engines

I actually disagree. Locking the thread just keeps people from replying to it, not from viewing it. The traffic will still be there. It wont negate our google rank either. In fact if we get more posts for new problems, those new threads will show up in google giving us more traffic.

nightowl

01-20-2005, 03:11 PM

Need to keep it Sticky and it should generate the same amount of traffic........Jim :vivi

ECA

01-20-2005, 06:24 PM

The LASt post in a locked section, should be a link to a NEW section to continue the thread, and add new solutions.
If they go threw 3-4 pages and cant figure it out:
Its either a different problem.
Or a NEW version of the problem.

Having 5 pages on 1 problem, with ALOT of solutions to different versions, is a PAIN to read.
Iv seen 5 versions of some of these Bots. And new ones every month. They look the same, and cause the same problems, but you have to REMOVE something ELSE, before you can TOUCH whats happening. Stupid reloaders, or hidden stuff is killing us.

llbbl

01-21-2005, 06:16 AM

I actually disagree. Locking the thread just keeps people from replying to it, not from viewing it. The traffic will still be there. It wont negate our google rank either. In fact if we get more posts for new problems, those new threads will show up in google giving us more traffic.

Wrong. If there a thousands of single posts with only a couple views who is going to want to wade through that mess when they can just read a single thread even though it may be 20 pages long it doesn't matter because all the useful information SHOULD BE in the first post of a particular how-to. So locking the thread makes it more difficult to 1) complie the relevant information 2) read through everything that has been tried.

Also in regards to traffic there are also two things that will make the thread higher on the search engines, depending on their technology because how google ranks things is different than yahoo. 1) how many other pages link to that page. 2) how many times a particular word is mentioned.

I am not so sure how many page views on forums translates to page ranking on a search engine, but you would think that more page views should translate to a higher ranking. If you lock the thread you will discourage people from visiting multiple times because if you remember how the forums work, if they enter a valid email and select email me of new posts than they will get an email everytime someone posts something in that thread. Locking the thread eliminates any traffic the thread could have gotten through email methods.

If we want our how-to's to be the highest ranked thread on the search engines. We can do this two ways.

1) Link directly to a how to's thread instead of to the how to section, from other thread's that appear to have a similar problem.

2) Compile information on the particular problem into the first post of every How-To.

llbbl

01-21-2005, 06:26 AM

Let me reiterate that first paragraph.

Having 5 pages on 1 problem, with ALOT of solutions to different versions, is a PAIN to read.
Iv seen 5 versions of some of these Bots. And new ones every month. They look the same, and cause the same problems, but you have to REMOVE something ELSE, before you can TOUCH whats happening. Stupid reloaders, or hidden stuff is killing us.

Is 5 page thread easier than 5 different threads .... that aren't possibly aren't labeled correctly and appear at totally different times in the spyware section. Before you say no think of when there are 3 times the number of threads, so the same amount as off topic, so now you have to browse through 37 pages of spyware threads and try to complie a coherent How-To on the topic.

I can just imagine a thousand different threads with these titles:

"res://C:\WINDOWS\System32\shdoclc.dll/navcancl.htm - Would greatly appreciate help w" or "Hijacked".

How are you going to tell where the valueable information is? Better hope the search feature works damn good.

ECA

01-21-2005, 09:37 AM

The problem comes down to NEW versions of the same problem..
It cant be posted in the FIRST FIX..

How do you FIX the problem, when its a NEW one/new design...A NEW THREAD??
What do we call it...
It has the SAME easy to find CRAP in R0 and R1, that looks just like the others, but they changed how it LOADS into the computer and where the loaders are..
I do not expect people to be able to follow a FLOW chart on 5 differetn ways to KILL something. Its a NEET idea, but it really dont float.. a good 70+% of these ppl, believe there NEW DELL is top of the line, and couldnt find "WORDPAD" without directions.. and if we showed them "REGEDIT" Most would throw there computer out the window..Then work with it..
find me a DECENT REGFIX program..

llbbl

01-21-2005, 11:23 AM

I'm notsaying you shouldn't start new threads for each person after you are sure they have tried to fix the problem and asked their stupid questions about the How-To like where is wordpad or regedit, in the how to thread.

I am saying that locking the main thread regarding the topic is a stuipid idea for the reasons I gave above.

I am saying that you should be able to help most of the people in the How-to thread.

I understand this point you have made about a hundred times about each person having a different set of problems. My plan takes this into account. Stop repeating the same thing over and over please.

dang

01-21-2005, 12:12 PM

and i agree we dont have to lock a persons thread, but i think the how-to/rules/etc threads need to be locked. they can be added to by a moderator.

This is really going nowhere. I want you all to make some compromises and work out an agreement on how to handle this.

nightowl

01-21-2005, 01:38 PM

I think we should lock the threads, Just the long ones,

Edit the first post with a link to the Log section and also have a link on the very last post after its locked to the Log section.

example below

Hello everyone, This thread is locked. If you would like to post your log, post it here.

http://forums.designtechnica.com/forumdisplay.php?f=127

ECA

01-21-2005, 03:48 PM

Locking the Solutions, fixes, explanations, versions, and howto's, is fine..
after 3+ pages I would think, that if they couldnt figure it out... They should start another thread.

Yea, and we need to gather our fixes..
Also, post that we ARNT liable, for what others have done to these machines, and we are only TRYING to find/fix there machines. We have asked a few to REDO the whole thing, and referred a few (under warrenties) to contact the MAKER to fix it, or redo there computers.

nightowl

01-21-2005, 03:58 PM

Maybe we should start a Poll here :thumb

llbbl

01-21-2005, 04:19 PM

Fine go ahead and lock them ...

Make sure to link the how to's in every thread where you think that they have a certain spyware like.

For Instance:
"Hey have you tried to remove isearch yet? Here is a link to the How to:
<link>"

I think that if they ask a valid question that relates to the How To that it be added to the document as well as your response. Try to keep the documents up to date.

Also, post that we ARNT liable, for what others have done to these machines, and we are only TRYING to find/fix there machines. We have asked a few to REDO the whole thing, and referred a few (under warrenties) to contact the MAKER to fix it, or redo there computers.

We can add this to the annoucement.

llbbl

01-21-2005, 04:23 PM

Also I can make the How To into an HTML document in case it gets too long.

dang

01-21-2005, 07:14 PM

Here's an idea. If you one of you wants to try, write a Guide on how to detect and remove spyware. If it's good we can post it on the guide section of DT.

nightowl

01-23-2005, 01:14 AM

I just updated the first thread for ISearch, Go ahead and lock this one. I'll try to do some more when I get some time. I'll let you know when I get more done. I also made a thread for KALVSYS which may be useful. May want to lock it also. If you lock them I will edit the last post for a place to put the logs............Jim

http://forums.designtechnica.com/showthread.php?t=4055&page=1

http://forums.designtechnica.com/showthread.php?t=6657

llbbl

01-24-2005, 03:39 PM

which one of you got rid of the annoucement?

ECA

01-24-2005, 06:37 PM

I no touch nothing...
I may ADD to a section/thread/posted listing...
I WONT delete unless its SPAM.

dang

01-24-2005, 06:42 PM

what announcement?

llbbl

01-24-2005, 07:00 PM

i had announcement in spyware section . its gone now

nightowl

01-25-2005, 08:56 PM

Wasn't Me, Moderators cant change or delete those threads. Must have been an Administrator or Super Moderator.........Jim

ECA

01-25-2005, 09:22 PM

Pssst:
I think he did it while he was drunk, and dont remember..
shhh, dont tell him i told you..

nightowl

01-25-2005, 09:32 PM

OK I wont say a word.......Jim :vivi

llbbl

01-28-2005, 07:20 AM

last thing I want to do is moderate the forums when i'm drunk :)

ECA

01-28-2005, 10:28 AM

well,
it took ya 2 days to read this..
BUSY, are ya..

llbbl

01-28-2005, 10:30 AM

i don't want to hear it. this week has been hell.

llbbl

01-28-2005, 10:31 AM

I want to know if you two liked the annoucement. I think that it was a very important thing to have and would like to post another, but don't want it to get deleted again.

ECA

01-28-2005, 07:47 PM

I saw an email notice, adn went HERE, and there was nothing..
Didnt see it..

nightowl

01-28-2005, 08:53 PM

I liked most of it, The only part I did not like was posting on the same long thread. That can drive me nuts. I like the new log section. Directing them to the log section after closing the long threads should work fine..........Jim