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I have a "spare" laptop that I use for comparatively wild and uncautious browsing. I never log into anyplace, ever, on it, so it pretty much can do me no evil. Occasionally, an obvious infected site has been hit - it's been forwarded to porn-site "ads" that just won't take no for an answer (well, I can kill their windows but they are persistent - and/or opened by the dozen.
The thing is, I was thinking of using it as a travel laptop - it's a small i5 and still has decent battery life after about six or seven years. So - how do I make sure it's really "clean" . . . without a low-level format and realoadimg the O/S and everything else? This latter is my normal "to be really really sure" method. I'd loose the random browsing ability (whilst on travel) but I can use a VPN so I can check my mail, pay a bill or two, and otherwise use it like a normal PC.
So - I'm looking for options. Or even description of failed options so I can avoid those.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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If you intend to use it as a travel laptop, you should use the scrape clean and reinstall method - once. After you have the system exactly as you want it for travel, make an image backup of the entire disk.
Before each trip, restore the image to the laptop, instantly getting rid of any virus and other crap that may have been installed.
This will ensure that only the most persistent of viruses (those that write themselves into the BIOS/UEFI/device firmware or some such) will remain. If you have one of those, I suggest nuking the entire state containing the laptop; nuking the county is insufficient. 
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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Alas, I don't want to go through the setup. It may even still has a clean image in the image partition (i.e., with drivers). That's always the easy part. It may not be clean.
It may be you're solution is the only solution - in which case I'll look around for some old laptop. If it weren't for a possible lack of a monitor, I'd bring my NUC (you did mean that kind of nuke, of course) and all would be well.
Still - thanks are indeed in order - there may be no solution but the long slow ![Elephant | [mastadon]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/elephant.gif) for reformatting and reloading. Then the imaging. It's just the summer and that kind of effort will take some manning-up that I'd rather save for spackling.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Daniel Pfeffer wrote: I suggest nuking the entire state containing the laptop
Ripley insisted: Nuke the entire site from orbit...it's the only way to be sure.
I'd go along with that.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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If you've used it "for comparatively wild and uncautious browsing", and you now find yourself with a need to trust what's on that laptop...wipe it. You already have the means to reinstall the OS, and have a copy of all the proprietary drivers it needs...don't you?
W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote: pay a bill or two
Definitely wipe and restart. Especially if you're going to use it to access something that is somehow connected to any form of payment method. A VPN won't help you if your system's already infected with something (and you just can't be sure about it). That's not what VPNs do.
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Per the VPN on an infected system: I realize a key logger, for example, will get the info before it's sent to the VPN (else I'd not have posted to begin with)>
As for the proprietary drivers: they system came "ready to roll" with the backup partition. This was a gift/donation after Superstorm Sandy - a "media laptop". It sucked for work but was better than what I had left, As a media PC, it has nice sound, a very wide screen, and no documentation (let alone a disk to reload the O/S). And, of course, in PC world of things, it's pretty old.
So - I suspect a lot of drivers came installed - and they're on that restore partition. It may be compromised.
Without question, if it were anything like a normal PC I'd just wipe it and do the right thing. Hunting for the drivers, one by one? That can be a very annoying and frustrating route. Possibly even ending in failure.
It may just be time a buy a "Travel Laptop" specifically configured (and imaged) for the travel "experience". A few hundred bucks buys a lot of pizza . . . .
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Most manufacturers will let you download the restore image for when the HDD goes tits-up.
Checked their website?
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Yeah - probably worth it.
On the other hand, my Hawaii-or-Bust vacation became "Bust" and I managed to get back 100% of all the money put down (hotel, super-economy air fares from two different airlines) and am feeling a bit cash-flush right now (I only just saw the $1159 from the to-Hawaii flights turn up as credit).
Should I treat myself? Having a dirty PC's not that bad a tool.
Mmmm. Spending my kids' inheritance? Sounds Like a Plan !
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote: As for the proprietary drivers: they system came "ready to roll" with the backup partition. This was a gift/donation after Superstorm Sandy - a "media laptop". It sucked for work but was better than what I had left, As a media PC, it has nice sound, a very wide screen, and no documentation (let alone a disk to reload the O/S). And, of course, in PC world of things, it's pretty old.
If it is a lappy that only for travel and wild surfing when not traveling...
why do you need specific drivers? Old hardware should be good with standard things that already come with windows.
Or am I missing something?
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Wifi drivers, I would imagine, is what matters the most. Win10 does a pretty good job generally, but there's still the odd wifi card still out there (especially with older laptops) that aren't detected out of the box.
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dandy72 wrote: but there's still the odd wifi card still out there (especially with older laptops) that aren't detected out of the box.
Still worth to give a try 
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Someone has been stealing t-shirts in order of size.
Apparently, he's still at large.
Social Media - A platform that makes it easier for the crazies to find each other.
Everyone is born right handed. Only the strongest overcome it.
Fight for left-handed rights and hand equality.
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A local archery business had to close its doors. They were not able to hit their targets.
A local sauna business had to close. It just ran out of steam.
My accountant friend had to borrow some books since the stores are closed. He has not given any of them back. I think he might be a professional bookkeeper.
A movie theater posted a sign, "Now Playing Everywhere - Home Alone"
On a positive note, a friend of mine has gone into business fixing car ignitions. It's a startup.
Social Media - A platform that makes it easier for the crazies to find each other.
Everyone is born right handed. Only the strongest overcome it.
Fight for left-handed rights and hand equality.
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ZurdoDev wrote: On a positive note, a friend of mine has gone into business fixing car ignitions. It's a startup.
On a more serious note: My dad's 73 and he's still the go-to guy for a local business that sells, among other things, remote car starters.
Until all cars come with them, there'll always be serious demand. My dad's retired, but he could be employed full-time doing just that if he wanted to. Dealers just cannot find the people to install them.
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I know, don't give out my email address to strangers.
But apparently, I'm past that point.
Fact is, since about two months I receive daily spam messages.
"H i m y n a m e i s C h r i s t o p h e r"
"Sander Rossel, your bol.com gift card is ready!" (I get this one daily, from [probably randomly generated]@[same randomly generated].us)
"Petlove - [Spanish(?)]"
How can I find out where they come from and how can I stop them, if this is at all possible?
These mails have "unsubscribe?" links, which I'm obviously not going to click 
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Get a new email address.
That's the only proactive way to stop spam. Everything else is reactive and has to learn what spam is before it can filter it out.
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That's not really an option.
Besides, it'll only be a matter of time before I get spam on the new address too
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Yep! My work email address gets spam and the only place that address has ever been used is on some vendor websites.
So, at least one of them has been selling their customer/address list.
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Sue them all, just in case 
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Could be an inside job, too. A few weeks after a merger which gave me a brand new email address I never used anywhere, I started receiving spam on the unused address. I figure that one of the thousands of third party contractors scraped the whole address book and sold it for a few dollars.
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Sander Rossel wrote:
Besides, it'll only be a matter of time before I get spam on the new address too
So then you're hosed either way. Case closed.
"One man's wage rise is another man's price increase." - Harold Wilson
"Fireproof doesn't mean the fire will never come. It means when the fire comes that you will be able to withstand it." - Michael Simmons
"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." - James D. Miles
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The solution of last resort, IMO. You're seriously inconveniencing all your contacts more than anything else.
And it's not much of a long-term solution either - the reality is, you don't have to give out a new email address to anyone for the spammers to start sending junk to it. It'll be discovered sooner or later, and then they all start sharing the address with their buddies.
I've registered accounts with variations of my name on a few of the more popular free email systems, and I can guarantee some of these have never been shared with anyone. That includes systems that have been put together by people who (you'd think) have a pretty good grip by now on how to handle spam (Gmail and Outlook among others). Yet spam still makes it in. That means there'd be plenty more coming in on systems that aren't as good at identifying spam.
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dandy72 wrote: And it's not much of a long-term solution either - the reality is, you don't have to give out a new email address to anyone for the spammers to start sending junk to it.
Yep, and that's the point. There really isn't any way to stop getting spam, either short-term or long-term.
You can create a new address. You'll stop getting spam, but only for the short-term.
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Speaking as someone who has run Exchange since 1994, i can tell you it is a pretty complex subject. It's a whole science. The technology is always changing, the criminals are finding new ways to try and exploit people. It's a war.
It's a war I mean to win.
But you have to keep on top of your edge firewalls, examine logs daily. DKIM and SPF are critical. Careful configuration of DNS based blacklists are critical.
99.99% of spam is dropped by simply blocking non-conforming inbound messages. I then have my firewall block their subnets for a year to cut the noise traffic.
Right this minute I have over 1/2 million subnets blocked on an edge firewall... All of that is totally automated but I have to keep on top of it to make sure nothing gets through.
On our entire infrastructure, I can remember getting 1 spam email in the last 2 months. (the firewall drops about 1 a second).
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This is my GMail account, don't think I have all those options (or want to get that deep into it)
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