How I Survived A "Windows XP Recovery" Attack

Let me stay first that I believe any hacker who writes hijacker programs, viruses, trojans, malware of any kind or who snoops around in my private files should be stripped naked, hog-tied and branded on his forehead and his butt with a big letter "H" by the hairiest, smelliest cowboy we can find (on who's been out on the prairie way to long and thinks the hacker has a "purty mouth".  Then he should be dipped in honey and dropped on a tiny deserted island infested with fire ants, somewhere not far from the arctic circle with lots of friendly crabs, scorpions and other assorted crustaceans - anything with pincers or stingers.

That said, I was working and doing a Google search for bananas and tomatoes and trying to find out if you could grow them together. Somebody on one likely looking site planted a trojan that opened a video file and when I tried to shut it down, it paused and installed a Trojan.

MacAfee kept deleting it to no avail.  It started giving me messages that said my SATA hard drive was failing. Well, my laptop doesn't use a SATA hard drive.  I discovered that a new "security" program icon had appeared in the lower right task bar calling itself Windows Recovery XP.  I began receiving ever more frantic messages that my computer was going to fail. I quickly saved my files I was working on. That was an early giveaway because a hard drive failure wouldn't have let me save files. To be certain, however, I saved my files to an SD disk and then rebooted.

Things got worse.  My wallpaper disappeared and a big "security" screen came up telling me I had 12 problems with my hard drive and that I should scan it with Windows XP Recovery. The program also uses several other variants of the same name. Whatever it calls itself, it is another of the fake Windows Security programs that have been so successful of late at getting past firewalls and security software.  Task manager was greyed out so I couldn't manually delete whatever process they had running.  So:

1. I went to my desktop computer and downloaded fresh versions of Norman Malware Cleaner  and Kapersky TDSSKiller Anti-Rootkit Utility onto a jump drive.

2.  I booted the infested laptop, plugged in the jump drive and started TDSSKiller right off the jumper.  It found nothing, but it's always smart to check first or the malware can reinstall itself every time you reboot.

3.  I ran Norman Malware and scaned the entire C: drive.  Norman Malware was busily deleting registry entries this nasty piece of business had installed when the computer shut down on its own.  This is something this particular malware does to protect itself. It hopes you'll give up and buy their "security software" to rid yourself of the problem.  Of course, then they'll have your credit card - I don't think so!

4.  Restarted the laptop and this time closed the "security screen" from the blue program bar. I started Norman Malware Cleaner again and checked the program bar again by right-clicking on it. This time Task Manager was operational. By now it was throwing hard drive crash notices at me again.  I opened the process tab in TM and found a bunch of copies of a program called "attrib"  - six or seven copies of it. I shut them all down quick.  Next, I found a program that I didn't recognize with a word salad name that no respectable programmer would ever use (ASduaswhIbMHgW.exe).  I shut it off.  The "notices" stopped and Norman was able to finish the scans and clean 4 malicious files.

5. Restarted the laptop and it was still there, but Task Manager still worked.  I again disabled the invading file to stop the phony "alerts" and shut off the "security window".  Went to the control panel and clicked "run" then typed "msconfig". Found the ASduaswhIbMHgW.exe file in startup so I disabled it.  I didn't try a restart it yet. Instead I ran my Advanced System Care Pro software's deep clean utility before restarting, hoping it would catch the file and eleminate it. ASC found two high risk programs and removed a bunch more malicious registry entries.

6. Restarted the laptop. and everything on my desktop and all the programs in my Start program menu were gone. Restarted the laptop and went to Save Mode with Networking by tapping F8 till the safe mode Window came up. I selected the "System Restore" option for bootup and restored from yesterday afternoon's system setting restore point. Everything looked fine till I noticed that my McAfee real time virus scan is turned off. When I try and turn it back on it won't do it. opened McAfee and ran the "check for updates" utility. Seems there's also a problem with McAfee when you do a system restore that McAfee sometimes loses any updates that happened after the restore point. Updating McAfee fixed the problem.

7. Ran Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware software. I couldn't update the malware database, but was able to run the program. Still acts like something's wrong. Malwarebytes scanned for over an hour and found 1 Malware file designed to restore the program and a tracer file.

8.  Restarted the laptop. Ran a full McAfee scan. For some reason Advanced System Care Pro self-destructed when it tried to update and I had to go to the control panel and remove all traces of it and reinstall it.

9.  Finished up about 2:30 am.  The laptop is working again and I am in a state where, if I met the hacker who came up with the Windows XP Recovery Malware, I fear I might have a great deal of difficulty obeying the golden rule. I would likely obey it, but the only comfort would be the thought that the lake of fire awaits evil people as their reward for their labors in this life. 

I figure it cost me $45 to $60 in lost time working at the pittance my lowest paying writing job pays.

 If it's still loggy in the morning, I'll run TDSSKiller and Norman Malware Cleaner again. For now I'm taking a shower and hitting the sack. I hope the anti-virus/anti-malware/anti-spam people figure out how to block this. After all we pay them quite enough protection money thank you.

ONE MORE PROBLEM:  When I opened Internet Explorer I discovered my Favorites (bookmarks) folder was empty.  Five years of bookmarks gone.  My Firefox browser still had its bookmarks, but IE's were missing in action - a serious PIA for someone who does research and writing for a living.

HOW I FIXED IT:  I found the favorites folder in my files under C:\Documents and Settings\Tom King\Favorites .  But every file was greyed out. They had all been marked "hidden".  I had to go to the favorites file, right click, select properties, left click on it to open "properties" and uncheck "hidden" as the attributes. Fortunately, it lets you unhide all the files in the folder at once, so I selected "all subfolders" when it gave me the options. In about 30 seconds it unhid my bookmarks.  I opened Internet Explorer and all my Fav's are back. 

WARNING:  The vicious little punks who created the "Windows XP Recovery" malware program likely hid a lot more key files.  I'll be cleaning that up for weeks, but at least I know what they did.

Hiding files is an easy way to mimic a hard drive break-down.  Their phoney security software probably doesn't do anything except unhide the files that have supposedly "gone missing" on your computer. It's a fraud. Their software is what hid the files in the first place. I hope someone sends these pipsqueaks to prison for it. In the meantime.......

I BEAT THEM!

 Tom

P.S.  If anyone out there is like a super computer geek who wants to be a superhero, let me suggest something.  Track people that do this down and post their home addresses on-line. You could support your super-hero work by selling baseball bats on-line to people who have had hours and hours of their lives robbed from them by these villains. Or even more fun, track down every virus, malware program, trojan and herbal viagra spammer you can find, every Nigerian e-mailer, every phony lottery and create a database of their creator's names and the homes or basements they live in.  Put a "donation" link on your website. You'll make a killing.

If you'll do it, let me know. I'll buy you a genuine superhero cape!  Flame retardant.

Talking to Your Doctor About Medication Side Effects

Anyone who's ever taken meds has experienced a side effect from that medication. If you took aspirin and your headache went away, that was a side effect of the aspirin. Meds all have good side effects (those you want) and bad side effects (those you don't). Physical side effects are obvious, but not so with psychological side effects.

So what can you do if you suddenly start having episodes of dark depression, rage or anxiety?

Step 1: Identify the culprit

It could be you're just responding to something stressful that is going on in your life. Just as likely, something could be causing you to feel the way you do and your mind is looking to find a reason to latch onto to explain the feeling. Ask yourself these questions:

1. Have I changed medications lately. If yes, suspect the med as the culprit
2. Have I experienced severe stress, trauma or a strong emotion (wedding, for instance, though joyous occasions are among the more stressful things anyone can endure). If yes, suspect a stress reaction. Some people get hives when stressed, for instance).
3. Did I eat something new that I've never had before. If yes, suspect allergies.
4. Have I been exposed to something I could be allergic to? If so, suspect the symptoms may be caused by a reaction to a toxin or allergen.

Step 2: Talk to your doctor

If, for instance, you have a sudden episode of unexplained rage, call your doctor. A friend with bipolar had those. We discussed it with her psychiatrist who suggested taking 12.5 to 25 mg. of Seroquel a day (an almost miniscule dose) along with her anti-depressant / anti-anxiety meds she took for her panic attacks. Small doses of Seroquel helped stabilize the rage episodes for her and she's had virtually no other side effects, except for the elimination of the anger. Fortunately, we had a good relationship with her doctor and the doctor was a whiz with medications.

This doctor believed in starting with low doses and increasing them slowly till you get a therapeutic effect. Many start with the full dose and only back off if you start doing the Thorazine shuffle. This isn't the best way, but docs don't like to take the minimalist approach unless the patient has a really good support system of family and trusted friends around him to observe the patient's behavior. You can thank lawyers for this practice. Unless the patient demonstrates that he or she will trust their support group, the doc will go for the full dose right off the bat to reduce the chance of the patient losing it or committing suicide and suing the doctor for not giving them enough meds. It's a problem.

Step 3: Engage the Scientist in Your Doctor.

Don't let your doctor overdose you just to make you stop complaining. There's good clinical evidence, for instance, for the efficacy of using Seroquel in tiny doses along with other bipolar meds to control anger. Because the doc trusted my friend's family support system, she started her on a very tiny dose of the new med. We had to get a pill chopper and cut the smallest pill they made in half to get the proper dose. Seroquel doesn't come in a pill as small as the one she takes.

So if you are having distress, you should:

1.  Educate yourself before you go to see the doctor. Go on-line and read up on the side effects of that med first so the doc or his nurse can't B.S. you or blow you off. If necessary take the side effects list for your med with you and hilight where it says your symptoms can be caused by the medication you're taking.
2. Visit your doctor and calmly discuss adjusting your meds. Don't be adversarial. Have your facts at hand, in writing if possible, but always ask the doctor his opinion about what you've found. Some older docs will think you're a hypochondriac – that's a hazard of knowing too much about what's going on in your own body. On the other hand, the newly minted doctors coming out of today's med schools are being trained to listen to patients and will appreciate your non-adversarial approach and the information you give them about your symptoms. If this is a new symptom, and you report how it's connected with the timing of a new med or a med increase, the doctor will suspect it's an artifact of a new med or med change. If you ask the doctor if the new med could be causing the symptoms you're feeling, he'll likely take the time to educate you about the medication and will often be more receptive to making an adjustment. Get in his face and the doctor may decide you're “non-compliant” with your meds and be more reluctant to change anything.

A Cautionary Tale:

My grandmother took a med called Oxyfloxin, a powerful anti-biotic. She had a brutal panic attack a few days after she started taking it. I didn't have Internet back then, so I went to the pharmacist with the name of the med and asked for a copy of the side effects for that med. The pharmacist gave me the list and when I read it, sure enough one of the reported side effects was "panic attack". I called the doc, but he didn't give me much response, only that the med couldn't be causing it. I finally went down to his office and caught him after his patients were gone and he was getting ready to leave. I explained my grandmother's problem and handed him the handout I'd got from the druggist on Oxyfloxin with "panic attack" highlighted in bright yellow. He had already given her an anti-anxiety med to try and stop the attacks, but it wasn't working. I had pulled a couple of studies on the treatment of panic attack off Med-line at the university (you can get it off the Internet now). I gave him the names of the studies and suggested that maybe a new anti-biotic and adding a small dose of anti-depressant along with the anti-anxiety med might also work for my grandmother's panic attacks. Then (and this is important), I respectfully asked him what he thought.

He said he'd check it out, went home that night and called me in the morning to tell me I was absolutely right and changed my grandmother's meds. After she started taking the new med, the panic attacks stopped immediately and after taking the meds for two weeks, she stopped and never had another panic attack.

One thing I particularly remembered was that the doctor talked to me about how solving this problem had been a scientific puzzle for him and that he had really enjoyed the challenge of working together with us to figure out how to solve it.

 The trick is to appeal to the doctor's scientific curiosity.

• Educate yourself, but don't get oppositional with the doc. Tell him what you've discovered and ask him to take a look at it and tell you if he also thinks this might be the problem (whatever new med or med change you suspect could be causing the outbreak of rage you're experiencing).  
• Enlist the doc as your mentor and fellow traveler on the quest to find the med that works for you. If he's willing to listen to you, then you've got a real gem. Don't dump your doc just because he got the meds wrong the first time.
• Keep your expectations reasonable. Finding the right medications or treatment can be an arduous process and for many conditions the process is hit and miss. Be patient and work with the doc. The doctor is really trying to help you so don't get mad at him. 

Psychotropic meds are very much an experimental process and the chances of hitting the right combination for your condition the very first time are not good. It's particularly rough for folks with mental disorders. Though mental disorders mostly have a physical basis in the form of altered brain chemistry, there's no blood test or X-ray, MRI or CAT Scan that can identify an illness like bipolar or schizophrenia or anxiety disorder. You can only tell by outward symptoms and by how the meds effect you. With ADD for instance, the stimulant meds like Cylert or Ritalin work remarkably well – the Ritalin effect is one of the most striking in psycho-pharmacology. If Ritalin works, then you've got ADHD. If these meds don't work, you may be dealing with juvenile onset bipolar, major depression, Tourette's or something else that mimics ADHD. With mental illness in particular, you can't figure out whether you have it, how to treat it or even what specific meds will affect your brand of mental disorder except by hit and miss experimentation.

Stick with Your Doctor!

Don't doctor hop just because the med didn't work the first time. Finding the proper medication regimen, diet, exercise and therapy routine that works for you may take years. Be patient. The doctors usually use a set triage approach. They start with medicine A and if that doesn't work they try medicine B and then C and so on. If you go to a new doctor, he's likely to start the same routine all over again. Don't get mad at your doctor, especially if you find one who will actually listen to you without assuming that simply because you clearly document your symptoms, you're not a hypochondriac.

Information About Symptoms is Critical.

I had a kid I worked with at a residential treatment center. This kid would take a swing at my head, completely without warning, every day at 5:25 pm. Like clockwork! I wrote down all the symptoms I was observing and got a note directly to the psychiatrist that was prescribing his meds. The doc immediately caught that it was happening 25 minutes after his 5 o'clock meds. He changed one medication that had aggression listed side effect. The attacks we discovered had begun the same day he started this particular medication. After we changed the med, the kid stopped attacking me. We had another girl at the center who would wreck the cafeteria a couple of times a week. Turned out it only happened on days we had oranges or orange juice on the menu. She tested violently allergic to citrus. We stopped the OJ and she stopped wrecking the dining room.

Summary:

1. Find a good doctor. Be respectful. Stick with him. Give him time to track down a treatment for your condition, but make sure he listens to you.
2. Appeal to his scientific curiosity. Have studies to cite and documentation of the side effects of the meds your on when you come to the office.
3. Don't threaten your doctor. Try to make the doctor not feel like you're challenging him or trying to tell him his job. Ask questions, don't make demands.. Get him to invite your input as you search for a solution.
4. Trust your support system. You know what you are feeling, but that feeling may be the result of hormone or neuro-transmitters misfiring in your body and brain and have no real basis in fact. You can be angry for no reason other than you've got too much of one brain chemical and not enough of another in your brain.
5. Track your symptoms. If you experience an unusual symptom or you started feeling emotional suddenly, take a look at your life and try to figure out what changed before you started having the new symptoms.
6. Educate yourself. Information is your best ally in getting your condition under your own control so you use the meds to control your condition. Don't let them arbitrarily controlled you. If a med doesn't do what you want, talk with the doc about changing the dose or changing the med. If your doctor or psychiatrist sees you as a reliable reporter of your own symptoms, they'll respect you and listen and finding the proper treatment for you will take far less time.

Tom

© 2011 by Tom King

Georgeburgers!

(c) 2011 by Tom King

This recipe is the long kept, secret recipe that made Mrs. George the top vege-burger maker for some 50 years in my hometown. Keene, Texas is an Adventist College Town and everybody there was either a vegetarian or semi-vegetarian. Vegeburgers were to Adventist kids, what Big Macs were to everybody else. I used to save up two or three days' paper route money to buy one of these imminently delicious things at the grill at Blair's Store across from the college. Mrs. George made them by hand and, man, those things were good. When Blair's closed, Mrs. George went on to work at the Railhead and other cafes and burger joints around Keene. She never gave away her recipe, till she told it to Melba Bruce, March 09, 2004 as she sat in Mrs. George's living room. Thanks to Stanley Bruce who collected a copy of the recipe and shared it on Facebook, bless him. - Tom King

At last - the secret is revealed:

Ingredients

1.One 16 oz can Loma Linda Vegeburger
2.Three eggs
3.Two medium sized onions finely grated
4.One tablespoon garlic powder
5.One teaspoon sage
6.Salt to taste
7.½ cup quick oats
8.Flour
9.Oil

Instructions:

1.Open vegeburger, add to mixing bowl with grated onion, eggs, garlic powder, sage and salt and stir.
2.Add half cup of oats
3.If the mixture is still too thin, add a little flour. The vegeburger mix should not be runny nor should it be too dry and thick.
4. Fry the patties in a small anount of oil. Never bake them.

Making the Actual Burger:

1. Heat the buns in the oven or on the grill
2. Add still sizzling patty and pile on the fixings.
3. Eat while making soft sounds like “Ooooooh” and “Aaaaaah” and “Mmmmmmmmm”