[Drabdr]

Originally Posted by tomdkat

Still, I feel a "This is how to PREVENT getting infected" kind of thread would be of great use.

Peace...

True... but there kind of is at the end of just about every fix in the malware forum.

Tony Klein's article is a good one.

[tomdkat]

... and happyness!

Peace...

[oil painter]

I'm far from expert on anything but I wonder if you had a list of free programs that inexperenced people could access on the web. Many people just don't know what is available and they might just need a simple fix that they could do themselves if they knew where to go.Many times I've read posts and seen the same things advised.

You could start a thread and have people put in what they use. If 1/4 of those asking could do this, that would leave the tough ones for the experienced people and if the programs didn't work for them don't then they could post

You might say if this and this is your problem then try this--if it doesn't work then post your problem but be patient we have a lot of posts and few volunteers

[PCcruncher]

Originally Posted by Drabdr

Mike, I am working as fast as I can through the boot camp, but it is an awfully slow process. My teachers are wonderful, but goodness knows they have other students, fighting malware themselves, and oh yea, I'm sure they have a life!

I got some stuff finished up with school, so hopefully I can speed my work up.

I see a lot of people start the boot camps, but there is so much misunderstanding, they get frustrated and leave. 1) The resources are a bit spread out. Old hands know the stuff, but for new beginners, it's daunting learning where to find answers. 2) Like every other discussion board, there is a lot of misunderstanding. The teachers are trying to teach students how to keep from making costly mistakes, and the students take it personally.

FWIW... people come here and post their issues, because they know you have one of the best sites, with the best people, around. So... you have an extraordinary demand, with little supply.

Totally agree there, I am a freshman+ at MRU, but am going slow as it is a lot of work.
I am determined to get through it though (I think I can,.........I think I can........I think....)

[TechGuy]

I'm really interested to hear the feedback from those trying to go through the training. It's not something I've ever done, so I don't have any experience with it, but I do appreciate just how difficult and time consuming it is.

If you guys have any suggestions on how we can streamline the process of trying to help folks with infected computers, let me know. No idea is too crazy.

[tomdkat]

So far, I haven't found the malware removal training to be "hard" as much as there is just a TON of information to digest. I'm going through the Malware University and they have almost too much info to digest. It appears some of it is outdated (mostly in terms of tools used) but it's all relevant and valuable.

Maybe the "difficulty" will come in once I get to the point of working on HJT logs, etc. The "real" work.

As for "streamlining" the process of assisting others, I once mentioned to Cookiegal (or maybe I asked her this) about whether malware removal volunteers are "assigned" people to assist. I believe she indicated (back then) that the volunteers pick up unresolved help requests at their own disgression, which is fine.

Maybe if someone (like Cookiegal or someone else of similar status) could screen the malware help requests and assign them to available malware removal volunteers, that might help. That way, volunteers wouldn't be "overloaded" and they would always have a "queue" of people to help as they have time, etc. This person would also reassign help requests to other volunteers as necessary. This would mean more work for the malware removal staff here but it might help keep the volume of incoming help requests more manageable.

The screening process would make sure the person requesting help posted the relevant information AND abided by the guidelines for requesting assistance before being assigned to a malware removal volunteer. This way, those who use the "bump" technique remain at the bottom of the list since they are not supposed to be doing that to get attention, per the documented policy in the malware removal forum. Then, others with longer, outstanding requests, have a better chance of getting assistance. Lastly, those with old requests that are no longer needed could have those requests closed. You get the idea.

Peace...

[jmw3]

At MRU they get about 60 -100 enrollments a month. Of those about 5 - 8 will go on to finish the course & graduate, meaning they will be qualified to post unsupervised at sites such as this.

On average it takes about 12 - 15 months to complete the course & get to Graduate level. I enrolled there in Feb '08 & graduated in Dec '08. That's reasonably quick, but I had a lot of spare time to complete the course. Depending on the amount of time you have it can take about 6 months to complete the initial training of Practice Logs to become an UnderGraduate (authourised to post under supervision), then from UnderGraduate to Graduate about another 6 months depending on time & quality of posts (meaning your teachers don't need to correct you).

The training is tough - a bit of computer nouse will definitely help - & is, as you say very time consuming.

Maybe the "difficulty" will come in once I get to the point of working on HJT logs, etc. The "real" work

Wait 'til you reach the last few practice logs tomdkat. I think you'll find them quite 'demanding'

Unfortunately at time the students can be in the same predicament as a lot of the victims waiting for help, meaning that the teachers are few & far between & also tutor at other Anti-Malware Schools. Plus they are also taking on logs of their own. So at times the students do have to wait for up to a week for the practice logs to be looked at.

Not sure I like the idea of having logs 'assigned', after all this is voluntary. I take logs here when I can & would love to take more, but can't at the moment due to family commitments. I also work three other forums.

As for streamlining the process. I know other boards have users run certain tools/programs prior to posting a HJT log. This can at times be enough to get some people clean & send them on their way. Personally I don't like that approach as I like to see exactly what's going on before any tools are run. But it's something worth considering.

[Jason08]

There are actually a few topics going all the way back to November 13th that do not have help. Check this one out for example, and there are many others, probably even before then. I know it can't be easy responding to all the malware topics, but still, over 3 months is a long time to wait, and of course, the topic ends up being closed long before 3 months.

[PCcruncher]

One thing I think is nice was at Castle cops, they had first responders, who would pre-screen the logs, and maybe offer some advise before the actual helper got there.

One thing that gets me is the searching of the lines, I wish there was a database of complete hjt lines showing whether they where legit or not, you could run the whole log through in a few seconds..........

[Support4U]

Hi grtatn,

wanted to know if u tried the steps i suggested

Originally Posted by Hello? Anybody out there?
Unfortunately, my latest experience has not been a good one:

[url

http://forums.techguy.org/site-comments-suggestions/site-comments-suggestions/malware-re...-run-line.html[/url]

A quick scan of the first 10 pages in the HJT forum shows my experience is, unfortunately, typical. In the first 10 pages (300 posts) 202 are still marked "new". 2/3 of posters got no answers. .

And Guys i see the discussion on this thread is turning away from grtatn's issue.

[Drabdr]

Originally Posted by Support4U

And Guys i see the discussion on this thread is turning away from grtatn's issue.

Well, you are correct. But... this forum is not the place to ask (or give) specific help or advice. That needs to remain in the Malware forum, and the experts in that forum should be addressing those issues.

However... it has become a bit of an effort to determine Root Cause to the issue. Hopefully, the original poster won't mind too much if we use this opportunity to discuss a bit more.

[Drabdr]

NOTE:

In private discussions with one of the administrators, she gave some well-heeded advice to me. We should keep the discussions about the boot camps as general and non-specific. So let's discuss, but not get into details regarding the specifics.

[Drabdr]

Originally Posted by PCcruncher

One thing I think is nice was at Castle cops, they had first responders, who would pre-screen the logs, and maybe offer some advise before the actual helper got there.

That is a good idea.

Originally Posted by PCcruncher

One thing that gets me is the searching of the lines, I wish there was a database of complete hjt lines showing whether they where legit or not, you could run the whole log through in a few seconds..........

Exactly. The time-consuming thing is that all the resources are spread out so much/ so far, and not connected, really.

[Support4U]

Hi Drabdr,
I appreciate your reply and no offence meant, however i found no one attending to the posters issue, therefore wanted others also to suggest a solution for the posters issue as well. There is a posibility it could be a malware issue as u mentioned however as i suggested it could be the posters use of several security and cleanup utilities on the same computer causing the issue too.

[Jason08]

Originally Posted by TechGuy

If anyone has any suggestions on how to attract more helpers, I'm all ears! It is definitely a problem around the web, but I would love to find a way to attract what talent there is out there...

I guess perhaps if we all told 10 people in our every day lives.