Windows XP factory taken over by spyware

2006-01-09 13:04:20 | johann | #

I didn't think it would last that long. After 4 months of smooth operation, my screenshot factory with MSIE 6 on Windows XP has been taken over by spyware. The infection was so severe that the system was rendered completely unusable.

So I restored the hard drive from a backup image that I made right after installation in September. Then I ran Windows Update to get the latest security patches. Right now I'm making a new hard drive image for next time. The factory will be back to work in a few minutes.

It must be a bad infection

posted 2006-01-12 23:15:52 by Brent Miller

The infection has to be pretty bad if the factory still isn't back up...

instant reverse karma

posted 2006-01-16 21:07:48 by jebudas

I finally make a donation and the MSIE factory shuts down! The universe makes no sense to me! :)

Sorry about the delay

posted 2006-01-17 02:08:12 by Johann C. Rocholl

In addition to the spyware infection which I fixed pretty quickly, some people added websites to the queue that crash the factory by opening large numbers of browser windows. I was snowboarding on the weekend and apologize for the delay. I have now manually removed some URLs from the queue and restarted the MSIE factory.

Complete re-install

posted 2006-01-21 17:31:00 by Johann C. Rocholl

The MSIE system kept crashing at random intervals, filling the screen with almost a hundred MSIE windows with no content. So I re-installed Windows XP from scratch and paid a little more attention to security this time. The system is now patched with Windows Update and the screenshot factory runs as an unprivileged user (should have done that before). I also installed the missing language packs that are necessary for Asian and Russian sites.

Comment

posted 2006-03-08 13:57:13 by Mathieu

Can't you disallow javascript to open new windows? Sure, it break part of the browser shot principle, but on the other hand, as long as it is possible to generate new windows via javascript, there's an open door to nuisance.

Comment

posted 2006-04-21 13:13:27 by Emil Stenström

Mathieu: That's would require some kind of addon for IE I think. In Firefox it's just a checkbox :)

You can disable Scripting in IE: Internet Options (either open in IE or Win Control panel) <Security<Custom Level <Scripting<Active Scripting : Disable