STUPID $%^***(

Man I have been so careful and thought I had never opened anything whatever. Well If you are installing something and you hit the agree button this may show up. I load everything to the external hard drive but this crap made me loose several cards of photos. My repair guy said the pictures are already gone. No matter if you send the money or not you are screwed! Man I wish I could send a couple of 45 ACP rounds down the cable!!!! He said even Microsoft is trying to crack this so... of an idiot! Watch out folks!

Looks like the fingers moved faster than your thinking. It happens.

What really ticks you off is that there are idiots out there that get their jollies bustin peoples stuff and there is almost no way in the world to catch them. All you can hope is someone will invent a real good fixit program that will send a miny nuke right up their wahoo!!!

I think your so-called repair guy is mistaken. If you pay the ransom, the hackers will almost certainly give you the key. It's bad business for them to do otherwise; once word gets out that they aren't making good on their promise, nobody will pay ransom and their scam will come to an end. Whether or not those pictures you lost are worth the extortion money is up to you.

It's good that you're regularly backing everything up. If you insist on running Microsoft Windows, it's going to happen again. Soon.

What ticks me off is that Microsoft is continuously spending money to come up with the next version of Windows, and opening up new doors for these guys to come in through every day. What they need to be doing is spending the same money to make whatevee the current version of Windows they have completely bullet proof and then LEAVE IT THE HECK ALONE.....except for continually refining the security protocols.

Seriously, Windows will already do everything but wipe your butt for you, and it can probably be made to do that if paired with the right robot.....so why keep adding useless features that only 1 in a billion people will ever use, much less even be able to find?

It's time for Windows version "We Got It Right And Are Leaving It Alone" and to heck with 7, 10, 11.100000000, or whatever nonsensical name they come up with for the next completely new incarnation.

Now you've gone and done it NC!!! You have spoken sense! Good grief! We can't be having that now! I suspect it won't be long before we hear on the news that the Micrcosoft bully boys have hunted you down, stripped you nekid, coated you with bacon grease and tied you to a tree in bear country................................................

I had the same thing happen. My pay off to retrieve all my information mostly pictures, was around $500.00. I lost all my pictures. I have no idea how my computer got infected, but I must have done something wrong. The computer guy gave me a device to keep all my information stored if this should happen again. As the economy gets worse we will see more of this. Stan

I am a firm believer in Draconian methods in dealing with this trash. No second chances. They cause too much damage world wide in lost man/people hours, job loss etc.

I don't know if it would work for your instance but I got around that type of thing before. I took the hard drive out of my computer and put it into an external hard drive enclosure. Hooked it up to my old computer that I didn't care about and was able to get into to it and retrieve my info, pics, docs, and such. Then put the hard drive back in the original computer and do a complete wipe and reinstall.

Doing this doesn't use the infected operating system of the infected hard drive.

I would think that a computer repair shop could do the same if he does not have a relative, neighbor, or 10 year old with a computer to do it. Great idea.

Happens to all of us.

Every since our isp has changed to a different email system/source I have been getting a lot more spam than I used to. I recently found several email header trackers that tell the origin of most of this spam so at least I know where it is coming from. Hanoi, Uruguay, Italy, Singapore.

In the mean time backup, backup, backup. The price of flash drives is so cheap now the price of a 32 gigabyte unit is paltry. I guess the problem is setting a pattern of either backing it up on a thumb drive before you even put it on the hard drive or at the same time you add it.
Or add an external drive that automatically backs up everything every day or so. I don't know if this ransomware messes with external units like this, but you can always unplug it or turn it off when not in use.

I’ve been playing with Linux Operating Systems for a while now. No anti-virus needed. Probably a little faster system. It is different than windows but once you use it a little it is great I think. And it is free. I use Ubuntu. There are many different ones you can use. I have 2 computers using it now. Mozilla fire fox is the browser that it uses. Slowly leaving windows.

>I am a firm believer in Draconian methods in dealing with this trash. No second chances. They cause too much damage world wide in lost man/people hours, job loss etc.

So what do you propose to do, Deutz? Send the FBI over to Moscow to arrest the Russian PhDs who write the malware and their Russian mafia bosses? I don't think Vlad is going to let that happen.

The criminals behind the extortion schemes reside in foreign countries where they've paid plenty of money to government officials for protection. Your best bet is to protect yourself by running a secure computing environment. For starters, that means using something other than Microsoft Windows.

(quoted from post at 00:55:24 09/16/15) I’ve been playing with Linux Operating Systems for a while now. No anti-virus needed. Probably a little faster system. It is different than windows but once you use it a little it is great I think. And it is free. I use Ubuntu. There are many different ones you can use. I have 2 computers using it now. Mozilla fire fox is the browser that it uses. Slowly leaving windows.

Click to expand...

Linux is all I use. I'd suggest Mint Cinnamon, user friendly, more familiar looking than plain Ubuntu but same base, access to the same software. Also, Chrome is easy to install. Dropbox, Google Picasa is easy to get on, etc. And you can try most any of them without actually installing or changing your computer at all, and if you install you can keep Windows as it is and choose which to use at boot.

As is said, these bad guys do usually give back your files if you pay. Best to backup multiple ways, at home on devices not connected all the time, optical media, and online services (Dropbox, Flickr, Google products etc.).

Also, although they are limited, Chromebooks or Chromeboxes are cheap and use a decent customized Linux distribution. Pretty much idiot proof for the basics like web, email, streaming, light photo editing, typing, etc. No viruses or malware to worry about (at this time).

Yep, Ubuntu is free and there are a lot of free applications that work with it. I have a real old version on a HD, no longer supported. It came on a refurbished lap top that I purchased. I didn't know what the heck it was when I fired it up. The desk top looked like Windows a 180 degrees out of phase. I played with it some, but put it away and never pursued it. The reason that its so good as far as no need for anti-virus, like Linux, there aren't a lot of them out there. MAC used to be like that, but see what popularity did to MAC? Getting hacked and virused left and right now. Something else that I found out about Ubuntu is that its written out of south Africa. I don't know who, but it is or was.

Mark

The company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canonical_(company)

The product
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_(operating_system)

What it's based on/they rework the files from this, add their own, etc.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debian

MarkB_Mi
No just hire the Mossad to go in and take them out. They seem to be good at this and the Israelis appear to have a heavy investment in tracking these. Most are not in Russia but there is a pattern of origins in Asia, some places in South America, some former Eastern block countries. Mostly just venting like the op. They may not catch many, but those they do are not repeat offenders.

The best alternative is a Linux based operating system lilke Ubuntu.

Unfortunately my Canon Printers don't speak Linux and the cure is a hodgepodge of fixes that I have not had the patience to work through. Otherwise Ubuntu works pretty well for most applications including photos.

What model Canon? Mine is 4-5 years old and works fine, wireless too (takes easy work for that).

Insist on running Windows?

A bold statement if I say so myself.
A few of my own observations:

Windows is a STANDARD. It is nearly universally accepted and used. By business and consumer alike.

Linux is coming along, but is really not quite ready for prime time. Setup is (in many cases) complicated. Support for many peripherals is limited. Much recent hardware is simply incompatible with it. Granted, it is getting better, but still a bit behind the curve so to speak.

Apple is an alternative system, BUT - to those that smugly sit back and claim to not have been attacked by malware or viruses, just wait. Your turn is coming. Apple has only been (mostly) left alone because of their incredibly tiny market share. With the emergence of all of the new Apple devices, they will soon be hacked and attacked.

I also do not defend Microsoft. Gates is a complete idiot if the lecture of his that I saw was any indication. He was lucky, bold, and in the right place at the right time to make a quick fortune. He then surrounded himself with genius programmers. I don't think he could write a simple BASIC loop. He filled in what was at the time a niche market. Like the internet, who knew that it would grow to this extent?

All in all, it simply is not fair to blame MS for security problems. Any lock that can be locked can also be unlocked. When you are the biggest in the industry, you wear a big bullseye on your back. Hackers and authors of malware attack MS because that is where they can do the most damage.

Also, it is simply not acceptable to criticize others for the system that they choose to operate. The key word here is BACKUPS! I keep most of my stuff in terms of data, pictures, and the like on a spare drive. The last time I had a problem (failed hard drive), I had my system restored and continued from where I left off within 24 hours. I also keep an operational second system as a standby in case of problems.

Running Windows is a choice. Well, maybe not at work but certainly at home. My employer, a Fortune 500 company with over a hundred thousand users worldwide, runs Windows on the desktop but the back-end servers are almost exclusively Linux. For the home user, arguments for using Windows versus Linux become weaker every day.

No operating system is immune to malware, and it's true that Windows market share makes it a big target. But the real problem with Windows security is and has been Microsoft's philosophy, which has always favored ease of use over security. They've become much better in recent years, but it is still far too easy to infect a Windows PC with malware. Cyber criminals don't target Linux partly because of its smaller market share, but also because it is far more difficult to attack a Linux system. The same is true of Apple's OS/X.

I guess it is called open source where anybody can add to it. I sure do like to install it by burning the ISO file to a flash drive and select the flash drive in boot order and boot up to it to install. So much easier.

rview,
They are ip4200. akaIXMA 4200 printers.
I can get it/them to print partially, but not completely like the software that comes on the disc. If I recall correctly it has to do with printing photos, but I am not sure. It got the European drivers, but I am not competent enough to go through the hurdles.

Note: As I wrote this I did an online search and there appears to be a new source of Ubuntu drives for Canon. This did not exist two years ago. Maybe things have changed since this lists separate drivers for each of the Canon printers. I might try these after I make sure the site is safe.

Computers are so cheap nowadays, there really is no reason just to have one.
A dedicated online only computer solves a lot of headaches.
Backups/copies of important stuff can be kept in multiple locations, including one machine that is always....off, or physically dis-connected from your network.

Whatever OS you use, online/computer security is a myth.
(don't panic the sheep kind of thing)
For every security expert or Whitehat, there is an equally talented Blackhat.
multiple computers, drive images in a secure location
for a fast re-do, and a slow to click index finger is about all you can do.
USB sticks are handy, but are open if they are plugged in during an infection/attack.
Very important stuff, go old school. Copy it to a writeable disk, 'close' the disk, put it in your safe.

(quoted from post at 11:52:17 09/16/15) rview,
They are ip4200. akaIXMA 4200 printers.
I can get it/them to print partially, but not completely like the software that comes on the disc. If I recall correctly it has to do with printing photos, but I am not sure. It got the European drivers, but I am not competent enough to go through the hurdles.

Note: As I wrote this I did an online search and there appears to be a new source of Ubuntu drives for Canon. This did not exist two years ago. Maybe things have changed since this lists separate drivers for each of the Canon printers. I might try these after I make sure the site is safe.

Click to expand...

I don't have time to look now, moving cows soon. Without looking up that model, can't say if yours is supported this way, not all are. But if memory serves I'd start with looking into the Michael Gruz PPA. That is safe. On the tablet so I can't check if it's in there. By the way, it's an Android tablet, which is Linux based.

Agree with most of what you say, but one big glaring problem comes to mind....
Linux for the most part is open source. To me, that means that the ones writing and distributing malware, viruses, and the like can simply look at the source code to find the weaknesses. And, ANY significant piece of software WILL have weaknesses. The sad truth is that in order for it to be functional and usable, it must have those weaknesses in it.

(quoted from post at 00:55:24 09/16/15) I’ve been playing with Linux Operating Systems for a while now. No anti-virus needed. Probably a little faster system. It is different than windows but once you use it a little it is great I think. And it is free. I use Ubuntu. There are many different ones you can use. I have 2 computers using it now. Mozilla fire fox is the browser that it uses. Slowly leaving windows.

Click to expand...

Great operating system, wish I could use it for everything. Lots of open source software available for it too. That is pretty much all we use at home but at work I need to use a lot of programs that will only run in Windows which sucks!

There are two opposing philosophies regarding security. The MS philosophy is security through obfuscation and secrecy. We have seen and continue to see how well that works, although MS has gotten better about fixing exploits when they're discovered. The open source philosophy is security through peer review. This does of course mean attackers can look for vulnerabilities in the source, but in practice it has been the case that vulnerabilities are discovered and fixed before attackers have a chance to exploit them.

Yes, there is a tradeoff between security and usability. MS almost always chooses the latter over the former. And there are certain aspects of Windows that are simply unacceptable from a security standpoint. For example an unprivileged user can modify system executable code; that's simply not allowed in most Linux distributions.