# One Hundred and Fifty Seven
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hundred-and-fifty-seven/243822
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [May 6, 2004, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hundred-and-fifty-seven/243822 "2004-05-06T14:18:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hundred-and-fifty-seven/243822/1 "2004-05-06T14:18:15Z")
I got a call the other day to come and straighten out a computer - the sound card hasn’t worked since some self proclaimed “expert” reinstalled Windows on it back in January, and now it is acting funny besides.
OK. No sweat.
I show up, dig the drivers out of the CD that came with the computer, install and reboot. Ten minutes we’re happy.
Now for the “acting funny” part. Word sometimes starts, sometimes doesn’t, sometimes every thing runs slow. Could be a whole lot of stuff, but considering she’s got no anti-virus software and no firewall it’s probably a virus.
First comes Zone-Alarm. Gotta keep the shit out as far as possible.
I keep a copy of a free (for home use) anti virus program at hand at all times (just in case a customer needs one) - in this case it was a damned good thing I had it along.
Install the software and let run. The pre-install scan finds two virus programs in RAM and removes them. Reboot and run a full scan. At first I had the scanner set to ask permission before deleting an infected file. After 35, I got tired of clicking on “Yes, delete” and “Yes, really delete,” so I stopped the scan and set it to full automatic.
After an eternity, the scan stops. There before me stands the most incredible number I have ever seen:
157 Infected files deleted.
This thing has been running since January with a clean install - reboot and install from what I was told. 157 Virus infected programs since January.
Holy fuck! That’s almost forty a month!
Christ. It feels so good to sit down in front of my well behaved virus and worm free Linux system and vent my frustrations here on the SDMB.
1. Shit. Unreal.
---
### Author:  [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hundred-and-fifty-seven/243822/2 "2004-05-06T14:22:02Z")
> [@Mort Furd](#):
>
> This thing has been running since January with a clean install - reboot and install from what I was told. 157 Virus infected programs since January.
You’re right. That’s unreal. What the hell has this person been doing, besides their job, that would get them so many viruses?
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### Author:  [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hundred-and-fifty-seven/243822/3 "2004-05-06T14:26:19Z")
Probably going outside with their hair wet.
tsk tsk tsk
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### Author:  [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hundred-and-fifty-seven/243822/4 "2004-05-06T14:38:31Z")
> [@Lord Ashtar](#):
>
> You’re right. That’s unreal. What the hell has this person been doing, besides their job, that would get them so many viruses?
No work. It was a home PC.
Damifino how you get that much shit that fast.
Teenaged girl as the main user. DSL flat rate connected automatically on boot. AIM and a couple of other message programs start on boot.
Hell if I know. Weirdest thing I ever saw.
1. Shit.
I still can’t believe it. It’s been two days, and my wife still laughs when I shake my head and mutter “157.”
Damn. 157.
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hundred-and-fifty-seven/243822/5 "2004-05-06T15:02:11Z")
Wait, are you saying 157 different viruses, 157 files infected with the same virus, or somewhere in-between?
> [@Mort Furd](#):
>
> AIM
Gaaah! Adware!
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### Author:  [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hundred-and-fifty-seven/243822/6 "2004-05-06T15:10:45Z")
> [@Mort Furd](#):
>
> Damifino how you get that much shit that fast.
>
> Teenaged girl as the main user. DSL flat rate connected automatically on boot. AIM and a couple of other message programs start on boot.
You probably answered your own question. Teenage girl means 1) pictures sent through email (DSL for the pics, and for this next one), 2) DLing music and other such things off programs that need no mention, and 3) probably no firewall or other security device. Doesn’t scan attachments, most likely. 157 in a year isn’t all that much. A friend of mine got a Trojan some years ago and had 43 in a day. He bought Mcafee or somesuch and kept finding files (so we found out later). It kept finding an infected file every tenth of a second and each one required action. We figured the virus scan was broken.
Nope. It found a lot of infected files in a very small area.
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### Author:  [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hundred-and-fifty-seven/243822/7 "2004-05-06T15:17:08Z")
> [@Jeff Olsen](#):
>
> Wait, are you saying 157 different viruses, 157 files infected with the same virus, or somewhere in-between?Gaaah! Adware!
157 Files with different virus (virii?? can’t stand that word - German “Viren” is cooler somehow.)
> [@iampunha](#):
>
> Doesn’t scan attachments, most likely. 157 in a year isn’t all that much.
157 in FOUR MONTHS. No anti virus software at all - until I installed one.
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### Author:  [@badmana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badmana)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hundred-and-fifty-seven/243822/8 "2004-05-06T16:17:37Z")
157 _different_ viruses? Damn!
Did you see any sort of file sharing program? How the hell do you even find 157 viruses? She needs to learn safe computing.
Did you run a heuristics scan? Might have found a lot of questionable stuff maybe she likes to use?
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hundred-and-fifty-seven/243822/9 "2004-05-06T17:21:54Z")
I blame the schools. Or the parents. Hasn’t anyone taught this girl about engaging in “safe computing?” No firewall - no surfing. This rule above all. Unprotected Internet is just asking for trouble, as she has now found out…too late. Another young life ruined because of peer pressure to engage in dangerous acts without protection. 😃
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### Author:  [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hundred-and-fifty-seven/243822/10 "2004-05-06T18:53:35Z")
I should get her a job at my company. That’s some serious talent.
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### Author:  [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hundred-and-fifty-seven/243822/11 "2004-05-06T19:03:41Z")
She may have pissed off my psychopathic brother, the techno geek from hell (that’s his real job title). He’s been collecting virusesesssess for maybe 10 years now. For posterity, he says. I have all kinds of reasons to get the creeps when he sends me an e-mail.
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### Author:  [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hundred-and-fifty-seven/243822/12 "2004-05-06T19:13:57Z")
> [@Mort Furd](#):
>
> 157 in FOUR MONTHS. No anti virus software at all - until I installed one.
The other thing you (or she) need to do is to install Ad-Aware and/or Spybot. I bet that computer’s full of spyware, too.
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### Author:  [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2004, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hundred-and-fifty-seven/243822/13 "2004-05-06T19:20:16Z")
> [@Earthling](#):
>
> The other thing you (or she) need to do is to install Ad-Aware and/or Spybot. I bet that computer’s full of spyware, too.
Amazingly enough she already had Ad-Aware.
She thought it was an anti-virus program
:rolleyes: