A Fresh Start.

Two weeks ago I got a ransom-ware virus(Cryptowall, look it up and try to prevent it, it's nasty!)
I left it in the background because I'd seen it's kind before, Place a few dozen warnings, and fill space with junk, but never do anything.

I eventually got fed up and looked it up online, but by then It was too late.
Long story short I had to get the computer completely wiped with a fresh install of Windows 10.
I'd lost my Testing Route(a somewhat crappy route, but it was my home base, and represented the last 3 years of the game for me)
And the work in progress Colorado SouthEastern, Which I had screwed up at the core and needed a complete remake to even remotely work.

But on the bright side, I don't have 15 incomplete routes mainly used to test different techniques, or those routes that had so many deps I didn't bother to use(Cough Sherman Hill). And I know what content will be broken or not used.(No offense RRMods, Lol jk)

Anyways, Since I have almost free rein to do whatever thanks to this unexpected and uninvited restart of the last 3 years of my life, What content do you guys recommend I start with?
 
Id have a hard time recommending a good route with fewer Dependencies then Sherman Hill..... PhilSkene's stuff perhaps because he limits the size of his model Railroad's perhaps?

-Falcus
 
I use MS Security Essentials, Malwarebytes, and Glary Utilities, and I never get virus, trojan, malware, ransomeware ... etc ...

Maybe they are just not showing, or detecting it, but I go to sites that are risky, and I should have infections ... but none are showing ... I don't know why.

I have heard that an infection, that can not be easily gotten rid of, is very rare ... none of which require a complete OS re-install.

The secret is when you are notified of an infection, and that the FBI is locking your PC ... it is bogus ... and exiting the page via use of "Task Manager", "Quit Process" or a manual shutdown (PC On/Off button) gets you released from a infected webpage. Most infection notices are complete BS, coaxing you into hitting buttons on the infected webpage ... and those buttons/choices get you infected.

As well as opening E-Mail ... never open any E-Mail, ANY E-Mail, (unless you specifically know the sender), even if it is from your bank, or credit card ... as most E-Mail is total fraudulent BS, not even affiliated with you bank, or credit card. Opening the E-Mail gets you countless SPAM, and infected. Never click on a known E-Mail senders links, as it is probably a "weight loss/diet scam".

My rich uncle, who is in prison, that has 50 billion bullion in gold, if you send us you E-Mail address, UN, PW, SS#, bank account # ... is a 25 y/o scam from Ghana (which happens to be below Rhea), that no one should fall for ... as there is no one in the world with a sender name of: Mrs Marrianne MacMaoull Madenamajad
 
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Hmmm, normally that only targets docs, pictures, pdfs, spreadsheets - common files, it shouldn't have encrypted or altered your trainz route or .cdp files (although it could encrypt the image and text files in assets), which if downloaded from the DLS would just require downloading again.

It is a very destructive virus to end up with, one of the worst I have seen in many years.

I hope you have now got a decent AV programme to protect your system against that in future - and don't open .zip files period!!.

Good luck with your fresh start, you now have the experience to build something crackin' good and your new venture will be mush better than your last :)

For those that don't know, it basically uses Microsofts own built-in encryption software to encrypt your files and then tells you that in order to get your files unencrypted so you can use them, you need to hand over some money - which they are then supposed to send you an unlock code so you can have your files back (so they say anyway). Your files are rendered useless, there is no way of getting them unencrypted without the right key/code.

That's where it pays to have a good AV programme and do regular backups!!

Good luck once again.
 
I use MS Security Essentials, Malwarebytes, and Glary Utilities, and I never get virus, trojan, malware, ransomeware ... etc ...

Maybe they are just not showing, or detecting it, but I go to sites that are risky, and I should have infections ... but none are showing ... I don't know why.

I have heard that an infection, that can not be easily gotten rid of, is very rare ... none of which require a complete OS re-install.

The secret is when you are notified of an infection, and that the FBI is locking your PC ... it is bogus ... and exiting the page via use of "Task Manager", "Quit Process" or a manual shutdown (PC On/Off button) gets you released from a infected webpage. Most infection notices are complete BS, coaxing you into hitting buttons on the infected webpage ... and those buttons/choices get you infected.

As well as opening E-Mail ... never open any E-Mail, ANY E-Mail, even if it is from your bank, or credit card ... as most E-Mail is total fraudulent BS, not even affiliated with you bank, or credit card.
You could possibly have infections that your AV software isn't picking up, but you can generally tell when your computer has a virus of some description anyway. There are many indicators to look for such as higher than usual internet usage, hard drive working more, computer running slower etc etc.

There some very deep rooted viruses that in order to get rid of them will require you to do a fresh install, but they are rear. Viruses that infect the memory or worse still, the BIOS are out there but don't target domestic computers much. FBI virus which once again is ransomware just puts a splash screen over everything and tells you to pay up to remove it, it doesn't actually infect any files, there are some variants of that which are harder to get rid of, but yeah, its fairly easy to tackle. Most malware such as those you suggest that coax you into buying their product or clicking through to a webpage etc etc often have payloads in the background that execute when you click on a button or something, they are just a pain and are mostly easy to remove.

More people should play Trainz, then they wouldn't have the idle time to create viruses out of bordom LOL :)
 
Where can I find an antivirus that is not "All Show", and "No Go" ... Avast, Firewire, AVG all like to obliterate any program that it suspects is infected ... like automatically deleting the Trainz program, without you even authorizing the deletion.

Most AV programs are just animated GIF's, and the AV program actually does nothing ... ie: Webroot, Norton, Macafee ... etc ... total BS AV programs, that never even pick up the infections.
 
Add Trend Micro and Kaspersky to that list in my opinion. AVG is just about worse than a virus, I have seen it screw up so many computers in recent years and its just as annoying to remove as a virus.

Last week I cleaned 3 computers with infections. One computer had McAfee which was running so slow it wasn't funny, I removed it and installed the AV software I use and it picked up 278 threats, second one was a Sony laptop with Trend Micro, once again removed it and installed my one and found 193 threats, third was a laptop with Nortons, it was a business laptop that did next to nothing and it picked up 3 when I left them running it.

Threats are not only viruses, but can also include potentially unwanted programmes, browser toolbars, adware, etc.

Nortons and these other programmes seem to stack up well in lab tests and base their results on those lab tests, but IMO they just don't preform well enough in the real world at detection or cleaning. Ive been dealing with viruses and such for about 20 years and the effectiveness of AV programmes come and go. 10 years ago, I would have said AVG was a good free AV programme to use, 5 years ago, I would have said MS Security Essentials, now IMO if you want a decent free AV software (based on its ability to detect and correctly remove infections) then I would recommend one called 360safe - google it. Although go and turn off 2 settings - 1. that reports bootup time after each start and 2. automatically log onto facebook on start or some such setting, apart from that, its pretty good and gives you "ok" security across the board. If you want to pay for an AV package, in my opinion ESET Smart Security (for their complete package or ESET NOD32 for just their basic antivirus, antispyware package) or if you're Mac, ESET Cyber Security.
I have over 100 licences out on client computers, and it stops anything in its tracks (to date anyway). It doesn't give false positives, works well detecting and cleaning, has good support, user friendly and not as resource greedy as some of the others. For me and my clients, it works really well anyway.

IMO, if you are happy to cough up a few dollars for ESET for a 12 month subscription (which is about 1/2 the price of Nortons and the others but twice as effective - and is a hell of a lot cheaper than getting a techy out if your computer gets screwed over). At least download their 30 day trial and try it. If not, then try 360safe for a freebie.

I must stress, this is what I have found in the line of work I do and is based on my results in the real world.
 
Ian, you beat me to it. ESET and I also run SpyBot Search and destroy

https://www.safer-networking.org/
 
My grain of salt: I use IObit Uninstaller. Those viruses that cover your screen with all kinds of garbage asking you to phone someone in Pakistan to "clean" your computer, load a program in the plug-in of your browser, are in the add-on area of your IE. You can't uninstall it because they are greyed out! And even if you get to see it in the Windows program uninstall, they stay there! If you install the free version of the IObit, you can access your programs and the add-on area of the IE bowser, Choose uninstall and after, access the registry to wipe any traces of the malware in the HK Keys and all that. It solves 100% of my problems fast and easy. Mind you: The problem can enter your computer even if you are just reading news of MSN! Don't uninstall Trainz just because of this; It would be tantamount to cutting your head because it hurts. Do what I suggest and report back to us.
 
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