I rescued my WordPress site with a WAMP test server

What led to this:

In February of 2012, I had two wordpress sites, built with the techozoic theme, which were broken for a variety of reasons, including a backlevel of techozoic and an importbuddy done without first deleting the files.

What I decided to do about it:

I thought that a good remedy would be to set up a WAMP environment for the purposes of debugging, and so that in the future, I would have a test server (also known as a staging server.)

Because I want to ultimately have two websites in WAMP, I will run a single install of Apache, MYSQL and PHP and then I will set up two different instances of my wordpress install. This set of instructions covers mikemoran, and assumes that you will follow the same steps for biznology.

For more information:

See this website: http://sixrevisions.com/web-development/install-wordpress-on-your-computer-using-wampserver/

The specs:

(It’s important that the PHP versions be as close as possible to that of the live server, but especially the PHP version in WAMP should not be far behind that of the production server. The WordPress versions must match exactly. The Apache and Mysql should be as close as possible.)

WordPress 3.3.1 in both
PHP 5.2.17 in Production, PHP 5.3.9 in WAMP
Apache 2.2.21 in both
Mysql 5.1.56 in production, 5.5.20 in WAMP

Starting on Valentine’s Day, 2012, I set out on these steps to rebuild my mikemoran.com site in WAMP. These instructions developed and morphed over time. This post serves as documentation for myself of what I did. If it helps someone else, that’s great.

Set up WAMP

Note in advance that Secunia will probably flag elements of WAMPSERVER. It is not necessary to put the patches on unless you plan to use WAMP to support a live site.
Download and install WAMPSERVER 2.2 in the default directory C:\wamp
Point your browser at localhost http://localhost to see the default server configuration page.
Create a directory for the mikemoran website files c:\wamp\www\mikemoran
Go to localhost to see that mikemoran is listed under “projects.” Then go to http://localhost/mikemoran
Repeat the two steps above for biznolgy

Install WordPress in each folder (repeat steps below for each website)

Download the latest WordPress zip file, and extract it contents into the mikemoran subdirectory of www. so that the wordpress files land in the mikemoran root.
Visit http://localhost, then under Aliases,click on phpmyadmin to create a database. Use the same name as that on the production server.
Visit http://localhost/mikemoran/wordpress to start the WordPress install.
When it says you have no config file, then click on the button that says “Create a configuration file.” You will be able to match it to the server later.
When you get to the database screen, set the database name, set the MySQL username to root, and don’t set a password. Leave the other defaults. Click “submit.” Be careful about your database prefixes.
Click “Run the install.” Put in the site title and the same wordpress usernames and password as that on the production server.
Click “install wordpress”
Go back to phpMyAdmin to check for the presence of your database tables
Set PHP Config settings to be exactly what you have on the live production site (in php.ini). If you can’t see the contents of the php.ini file directly on the server, then you can run this php file:
```
<?php&nbsp;phpinfo();&nbsp;?>
```
Then navigate to that file in your web browser, and you will see the needed information. The instructions I found said that the most important thing is to make sure that safe_mode is set, and magic_quotes_gpc is set. I found them to be set to off on my live server, so I left them off in my WAMP installation. To compare it to the WAMP php, click on the WAMP icon, click on “localhost” and then click “phpinfo” which is under the Tools category.
If you see from the php.ini file that you have a different PHP version on the live server than you do on WAMP, then change your wampserver PHP to match the one on the server, but at worst, it really ought to be at least PHP 5 on the server! I left wampserver at 5.3.1.0, while my live site is 5.2.1.7 (for both site).
To get pretty URL’s, enable mod_rewrite: click on the WampServer icon in the taskbar, mouse over Apache and then Apache modules. Find rewrite_module in the list and click it. You will need to then click Restart all services to start using mod_rewrite.
Create a MySQL user with the same details as our live server’s WordPress MySQL user. To do this, browse to http://localhost/phpmyadmin again and click on your WordPress database to select it (you only have one database so this should be easy).Next, click on the Privileges tab at the top of the screen, and then click Add a new User. Give the new user the same name and password as your live MySQL user. Use localhost. Click the Check All option at the bottom, which grants my new MySQL user all privileges. Click “go.”
Configure the wordpress install: We will edit the WordPress config file (wp-config.php) to match the new database details.Now we have a local website that has the same configuration as your live server.

Configure the wordpress admin pages. Open http://localhost/mikemoran/wordpress/wp-login.php. In settings–>general, change the URL’s to http://localhost/mikemoran.com. Scroll down all the settings in your wamp wordpress installation, and match them to the live server.
Edit the apache config in WAMP to change the root pointer. There are two lines, one for root and one for directory.
Install the latest version of techozoic
Install all the plugins
Copy the style file from the “custom css” plugin into the techozoic custom css.
Create a zip file database backup from our current production site
Backup the existing WAMP database
Use importbuddy to import the backed up mikemoran database
If there are errors, then remove the database and restore the backed up WAMP database. Then research how to pull in only the pages and posts.

NOW SANITY CHECK THAT YOU DID ALL OF THIS:

Password Setup
1. Set a password for root/localhost in PHPMyAdmin
2. Added the following code (after the colon) right above the Servers configuration section in the config.inc.php file: $cfg['blowfish_secret'] = ”;
3. I entered a passphrase between the ” in the above added code.
4. Changed the auth_type = cookie (Actual code: $cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = ‘cookie’
5. Entered my new root password in the Password line between ”
6. Exiting and Restarting WAMP
7. Successfully logged into phpMyAdmin using new root password

Setup new Database
1. Added new User
2. Set database name = new user name
2. Able to login w/ new user and can only access/use the one database.

WordPress Install
1. Downloaded and unzipped WordPress
2. Moved the contents of the wordpress folder over to c:\wamp\www\mikemoran (since I plan on seting up multiple WP sites, I assume this is where I’ll need a separate unique folder for each WP site)
3. I type in [localhost] and I receive the Create config file message.
4. Edited wp-config-sample.php w/ notepad++
5. Rename to wp-config.php
6. Set the Database, Username, and Password all equal to the names setup above which are all the same name. NOTE: This means I am entering the new user here, not the ROOT User correct?
7. Saved file
8. Refreshed browser — WordPress installation page opened
9. Set Site Title = Domain Name
10. Set Username and Password
11. Set email
12. Set to allow in search engines
13. SUCCESS
14. Successfully logged in as admin

AND FINALLY, do this:

The Virtual Hosts setup:

1. Created the folder “logs” under c:\wamp\www\mikemoran
2. Created the folder “logs” under c:\wamp\www\biznology
3. Created the Log file folders for both of the above
4. Removed # from Include conf/extra/httpd-vhosts.conf (line 466) in httpd.conf file
5. Added code to httpd-vhosts.conf file

NameVirtualHost *:80

ServerName mikemoran.com
DocumentRoot C:/wamp/www/mikemoran
ErrorLog “C:/wamp/www/mikemoran/logs/error.log”
CustomLog “C:/wamp/www/mikemoran/logs/access.log” common

ServerName biznology.com
DocumentRoot C:/wamp/www/biznology
ErrorLog “C:/wamp/www/biznology/logs/error.log”
CustomLog “C:/wamp/www/biznology/logs/access.log” common

ServerName localhost
DocumentRoot C:/wamp/www
ErrorLog “C:/wamp/www/logs/error.log”
CustomLog “C:/wamp/www/logs/access.log” common

6. Update hosts file

127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.1 mikemoran (.com?)
127.0.0.1 biznology (.com?)

How to extract a zip file on a linux server

I did a google search but didn’t find any way to unzip a zip file on my website’s server. I do not have shell access, but I wanted to be able to see what’s inside a given zip file, and you can’t do that with FTP.

But then I found it on my own. As long as you have CPanel or some equivalent from your hosting company, such as Lunarpage’s LPCP, you’ve got a way.

It’s done with file manager.

Cpanel–>file manager–>navigate to the zip folder–>click on the zip folder–>click on extract. So simple.

File manager has some other great features too, including a drag and drop “move file.” That’s nice if your filezilla program is busy with something else. And I’ve never found a way to get coffeecup ftp to move anything.

How to restore a WordPress website

After too much googling, I found a generous and bright gal who blogged about how to restore a WordPress web site. I suggest reading it and following her recommendations BEFORE the catastrophe, if possible.

Her name is Thu Nguyen, and this is the link to her post:

http://www.bloggingfor.info/how-to-restore-your-wordpress-site-in-less-than-1-hour

And because the thought of catastrophic loss strikes fear in the hearts of even the most rational, I am also copying her post here, just in case she takes down her site or something equally unlikely.

As a final note, I’ve given her all due credit. I’ve linked to her, friended her, and subscribed to her, and, in exchange, hope she understands that I’ve duplicated her words here for posterity. So here goes, with the content of
Thu Nguyen’s post about restoring a WordPress site:

I ran into a horrible dilemma yesterday and it would have cost this whole blog it’s life but luckily using a few tools, I had a backup of the database which helped me restored everything. Strangely, everyone always preaches backing up but don’t really explain how you can put it back up online.

So today’s article will explain what I did to restore this blog back to it’s original state with a couple of exceptions. You’re going to at least lose one article, some comments or the last tweaks from several hours ago. No biggie but yet, it still hurts. Hopefully, from this lesson alone, you’re backing up your site daily if not, twice as it begins to accumulate.

Without further ado, let’s carry on.

If you’ve accidentally uninstalled WordPress

Before you reinstall, make sure you go into your web hosting dashboard and back up everything you got under your site’s folder. You can do this with a FTP (file transfer protocol) program which your host suggests or use the browser version which they provided. This will allow you to click and drag over the content to your hard drive’s preferred path.

Why? If you’re going to reinstall, the new configurations won’t overwrite the old files. Your old files kept the configurations of your old blog. So you want to back up these files which has all the uploaded media you’ve been putting up for the past couple of months or more.

Depending on how old your site is, the wait can be about 5 minutes to half an hour. It took me about 10 minutes but once that is done you can then re-install WordPress onto your domain name using your web host 1-click install.

install the same version of wordpress you had before, not update it

If updating your WordPress version is something you want to do now, you may do so but I suggest not because if your site has been using an older version, configured for it, then you might be running into some errors, namely with plugins and theme integration. That’s going to mean more down time and a whole lot of technical tweaking.

Now you’ve got WordPress installed

You’ll notice that all your original posts are gone, even your site’s design is set to a template. Tear. Tear. I feel you. If you go on over to your plugins installation you’ll noticed that they’re still all there, just not activated. OK good.

Here are two of the most important plugins you’ll need to restore the site back with all your original articles and pages. Make sure you get the latest version which will be stable enough with your WordPress version!

WP-DBmanager or your preferred database backup plugin
WP Super Cache or your preferred caching plugin

Thanks to WP-DBmanager, I already had a backup of the database of the site on my web host server. However, here’s the sad part, it was backed up from the previous day. So the current post, if you have had one will be lost. Don’t worry I’ll show you how to back those up too if you so happen to get worried. But first, let’s carry on with restoring your database files.

Activate the plugin if you haven’t already done so. Head on down towards:

Database – Manage Backup DB

You’re going to then get the latest databases you have on your server, now if you haven’t already installed a database backup plugin yet, now’s the time to do so! Don’t prolong backing up until it hits you, because when you get to this part, you’re going to be hit dead on. Let’s not make it happen.

Restore your database

Below you’ll notice I already had some past databases. This is helpful if you’ve upgraded your WordPress to a newer version and got errors and want to downgrade back. Restoring from your backup database will bring back the older version. Likewise, you want to choose the latest backup. In this case, you’ll see the newer version for today below but I had to opted for the July 19, 6:19 am file, which before the problem occurred was all I had.

Notice that the files are in SQL, an extension for the common database language file in the structured query language system. You have the option to compress these files into a GZip file but because you don’t have to. Here it’s saved in it’s entirety on my web hosting server. If you want to compress yours you can do so. We’ll get to that in a moment.

Now, choose the data you want restored, the e-mail you want the backup file sent to and click on RESTORE. Give it a couple of moments and then continue on.

You’ve restored the backup database, now what?

Check your site to see if all your original posts and pages are back. You’ll notice that there’s a slight change in your theme. But that’s OK, the point is are the pages there? Click on a link and test it out. You’ll notice that you’ll get a 404 error.

OK, now’s the time to repair your database and optimize it as well. Doing both will sync your site with the restored pages so that search engines will look for the pointers you’ve restored. Thus, it won’t produce those 404 errors that will become frighteningly scary.

All you have to do is select YES to all the options and click on REPAIR. It might take a minute so be patient. Next, on top of the Repair DB option is Optimize DB. Just like repairing, you just select all the options and click on OPTIMIZE.

You’ll notice that it’s suggested to optimize your database each month. It won’t hurt to do it weekly though. Helps your site load faster and also your content organized.

From this point, you want to activate or install WP Super Cache or your preferred caching plugin. Once you’ve done so, delete the cache. This will refresh your site and actually let you see everything restored from the database backup. Click on the links and pages you got. Are they there? Are you still getting 404 errors?

Go back and repeat the process from restoration again. See if that will help.

Some minor disappointments worth changing

You’re not going to be entirely satisfied with the backup. At least I wasn’t because I still lost a post, some comments and also the theme was out of sync. In order to save myself from those miseries for the future, I did a backup and configuration of several more areas:

Thesis’s configurations
- Thesis – Manage Options – Download Options – All Options
- This will export a .dat file with the current date, great for organizing
exported WordPress content
- Tools – Export – Download Export File
- This will export a .xml file with all your wordpress content also with current date
changed the schedule of database backups to a shorter timeframe
- Database – DB Options
- Take a look at this section CAREFULLY because this will enable you to have more or less backups. You can set the maximum backup files – default is 10. Then under Automatic Scheduling, set when you want to backup and when you want to optimize. Here’s where you can set if you want your files saved as a compressed GZip or not. Then save your changes and you’re all set.

While I was on the brink of giving up in looking for that last post, I forgot, I also had a subscription to my RSS feed. Thankfully, that saved me because it syndicated the latest content and I had it in my e-mail box. So subscribe to your own feed if you haven’t already done so. It’s good recordkeeping plus a great place to restore content if all else fails.

What happened was TweetMeme also referenced to this post in a certain link. All I did was:

repost the content
set it to the correct date
set the permalinks correctly

This put me back in business and while it was a bucket of sweat, it was worth shedding!

Worst Case Scenario

Downtime is something you don’t want from your blog. One of the tools which will help you monitor your downtime is UpTimeRobot. Not only that, it will also let you know when your site goes back up.

I’ve been using it for the past couple of weeks and am surprise with the results it has given me. I’m learning more about my web host’s ability to serve me better and times which I should be aware of. The usability is really straight-forward. So it’s an analytic tool which you should keep handy to track your site’s downtime.

Best of all it’s FREE.

Another thing is ranking. Who knows how much visitors I’ve lost or even comments which are bringing in link juice. While those are just some possibilities. Losing your work is something you don’t want happen. So while the longer your site is offline, the rankings will fall off too.

Thus, I was lucky. Very lucky to have backups of the content and also approached the situation as promptly as I could.

Yours could be a matter of more difficulty. If so, ask your web host provider to do the technical stuff for you. Call them to back up what they can of your site from their backups. Don’t be happy yet, some might have it a week prior so you’re still going to miss out at least some posts, comments or changes.

Look on the bright side, better to have most of it than none.

I hope this article will help you ensure the future of your site as well as save you from any loss in profits, mental misery or even ongoing efforts.

Any other suggestions for backing up? What’s your backup nightmare story?

How to use WordPress as a CMS

I learned from ugly experience that to use WordPress as a CMS, it needs to be installed in the root. Maybe there’s a way around that, but I don’t know what it is. So install in the root.

Then, google “create a static front page in wordpress” and follow the instructions.

I use the Ashford theme, which is built for CMS, and has good support.

Drupal 7 How to replace a module with dependencies

Today I had to replace ctools, as I was using an alpha version that was generating ajax errors. Instead I wanted the more stable dev module.

But I found the task a bit daunting, as ctools has many dependencies. Happily I found some instruction, which of course can be applied to other modules as well:

REMOVE the ctools folder from sites/all/modules. Keep a copy. (What I did was move it up a directory.)
Go to Drupal admin/modules and DISABLE every contributed module. DO NOT UNINSTALL.
REPLACE the ctools folder on the server. (Unzip on my hard drive, then upload to sites/all/modules.)
Go to Drupal admin/modules. Hopefully it will now display, since you’ve removed the overhead of other modules. ENABLE each of the modules you disabled in step 2.
Remove the old ctools folder that you moved up a directory.
Run the Drupal update script
Run Drupal Reports to make sure all is well.

How to register Lunarpages private nameservers at Network Solutions

I recently upgraded my shared hosting plan to VPS Xen Cloud. My domain is registered with Network Solutions. Here are the instructions for updating the nameservers on Network Solutions. (Lunarpages offers instructions, but I’ve slightly improved them here.)

To create or update your name servers:

Log in to Account Manager
Go to Manage Name Servers and add your private nameservers with your ip address there
Go to Find All Your Products Below and choose your domain and click “go”
Click on the Edit link to the right of Designated DNS
Type the name of the first new name server in the Name Server 1 text box, or select an existing name server from the drop down menu
Type the name of the second new name server in the Name Server 2 text box, or select an existing name server from the drop down menu
Type in the IP address
Carefully review the DNS changes and if correct, click on the Save DNS button

Your name server(s) has been created or updated.

Making heads or tails of postbin

Mailchimp and Postbin

So Mailchimp recommends Postbin as a means of experimenting with their webhook. Sounded great.

At first, it was one of those “wrong pew wrong church” experiences. But once I untangled it, it was a big help.

How to Use Postbin

1. Type postbin.org into the address bar
2. Click on “make a postbin”
3. The resulting url in the address bar becomes your webhook. Swipe it. Keep it.
4. Use mailchimp’s webhook form to send this webhook to them.
5. Make a change, such as a subscribe or unsubscribe
6. View the webhook URL again
7. You will see the array contents

Then write some code

After seeing the results in postbin, I was then ready to write some PHP code that does nothing more than emails myself so I can see that I received all the webhook data from Mailchimp.

Lunarpages Control Panel Access

I’ve used Lunarpages as my hosting service for a while now, and have had no issues. But I did run into a gotcha when I discovered that the version of the control panel that I was using, the one that I pay for, is not as good as the free one.

I discovered this discrepancy when I wanted to install Drupal, and found that CPANEL doesn’t offer a Drupal install script, while LPCP does.

I’ve learned that Lunarpages offers the third-party “CPANEL” for a small fee. Or, you can use the Lunarpage Home grown control panel, known as “LPCP.”

On further research, I found that LPCP offers far more function. I personally didn’t find anything lacking in LPCP that Cpanel offers, but I didn’t do a complete side by side comparison, and lunarpages didn’t offer one.

So I’m switching to the free LPCP.

The redirect virus was in my router

Solved! The redirect virus was in my router

Does your redirect virus keep coming back, after appearing to be solved by conventional means? It could be in your router. Here’s a possible explanation for what’s happening out there in cyberspace.

Perhaps this virus attacks routers first, and then finds its way onto your computers. If that’s true, it would explain why it keeps coming back. You must get rid of it in your router.

In our case, we think our computers never actually had the virus, because we did a good job at securing them. But it was in our router, so we saw the symptoms. That’s why no amount of extra anti-anything ever made a difference in the symptoms we were seeing.

Our configuration

We have a mix of Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Home, and XP computers. Some of them are Lenovo, but not all. Some are laptops. We have both an ethernet connection and a wireless connection. We were using the Linksys WRT350N router. We use a mix of Firefox and Internet Explorer, but mostly Firefox.

Our Security

We always keep our computers clean and secure with:

Avast Free
Malwarebytes Anti-malware
Spybot
Secunia (on the advanced level)
Windows Defender
Ccleaner
Windows cleanup!
Disk cleanup
Process Explorer
Passworded hard drives on the laptops
Windows update
Lenovo Toolbox tests and updates on our Lenovo computers (equivalent on the others)
Crashplan

Google Redirect Virus and its alternative names

The virus is often referred to as the Google Redirect Virus. It also goes by “search redirect,” “browser redirect,” “tdss rootkit” and probably some others I can’t remember now. It infected all of our computers. These could actually be separate viruses. Remember that once you’re infected with a virus, the door opens for other infections.

More still seems unknown than known about this virus. Generally, you go to a web page, either by means of search or directly, and you see the web page, but then it redirects somewhere else, or to a blank page. Sometimes you see a message about google analytics loading. Other times you might see an inappropriate site or an advertising site.

Curiously, the web is rife with a variety of solutions which only work for some people. It seems like a lot of people find an answer that works for them, which appears to eradicate the virus from their computer.

Our test cases

Three web pages that failed on my computer and which became my test cases:

1. Open www.lenovo.com, look for the support section of links at the bottom of the page, then click on the warranty link. You either get redirected now, or if you successfully reach the warranty page, click on the link for “detect” (if it’s there.) It then fails.

2. Type into google “ehow fix google redirect virus” and then click on the ehow article that comes up at the top of your search results. Give the page some time to load. Either it will eventually redirect, or will do so after you touch your keyboard.

3. Open www.filehippo.com and click on “view more” at the bottom of the right-hand box. It will eventually fail.

We tried

We tried everything we could find pertaining to this virus on one’s computer. In fact, we worked on it for about fourteen people-hours total. Our idea of a good time. The list includes but is not limited to (we can’t remember it all):

Superantivirus
Unhackme
Clear cache, cookies, and history
Remove all browser plug-ins
A TDSS removal procedure
Avast Pro (trial version)
Trojan remover
Some gnarly instructions for mucking with the registry
Combofix (not for the faint of heart)
Unique wep key for the router
Check for bad hard drive sectors

Still no joy.

Time to reinstall?

Then we tried reinstalling Windows 7 on one of our computers, and the virus was back. Exhausted, we concluded (wrongly, it turns out) that this was a hack on the web sites we were visiting, and not in our home.

New Theory — maybe it’s the router

Then we theorized that the virus could be in the router’s operating system. So we tried this suggestion we found on the web for our router: Update the firmware on the router. (The firmware is the router’s operating system.)

Still no joy. We concluded that it must be that the web sites were hacked into — in other words, there’s nothing wrong with the patient.

Then we learned that a router can be hacked, probably by the following means:

The hacker creates a false DNS (domain name server) out on the web, and then stuffs the IP of their fake DNS into your router.

Well, if this is true, then HOW DID THE HACKER GET INTO OUR ROUTER? Probably they got in there because we didn’t change the default password of the router when we got it. This is a lame excuse for sure, but looking back, the reason we never changed our password is because we couldn’t figure out how. (The router password is for changing router settings. It’s not the same as the WEP key.)

So we looked at the IP address in our router, and looked it up on the web. We learned that it’s a Russian IP address, and that it’s malware. Bang.

Fixing the Router — Part One

We followed this procedure to update the password in our router:

1. Fix the IP address. We did this by looking up a good DNS server IP address. A place to google is “opendns” where you can find IP addresses that are well known to be safe

2. Open your browser

3. Type in http://192.168.1.1 which will bring up the administration panel of your router

4. Then follow the instructions for your particular router to find the bad IP address and replace it with a safe one.

So we tried that.

JOY! Yay!

Fixing the Router — Part Two

But we had to do more. Just as we suspected, not all our test cases passed the test. The google analytics test still failed, while the others passed.

Then we looked up that particular problem, and found a suggestion to “hardware reset” the router to factory settings, followed by a change in password. That’s the paper clip procedure. Not sure if it’s the same on your router, but here’s what we did on ours:

1. With the router turned on, shove a paper clip into the reset button and hold it for a few seconds.
2. Then run your test case again.

JOY JOY JOY. All three test cases passed after we did the paper clip trick.

Fixing the Router — Part Three

You might not need to do part three, but here’s what happened to us: We lost access to our wireless network after the hardware reset. We’ve heard that “hardware resetting” your router can burn it out, so maybe that’s what happened. Probably the card in the router that controls the wireless connection got fried during the reset. That’s a guess.

So we figured we’d just go out and buy a new wireless router, as a way of seeing if this was so. We could always return it, as we use Best Buy, and they have no restocking fee on small electronics like a router. In the store, we discovered a new kind of router. It’s the Linksys E3000.

Why our new router is better

What’s good about this new router:

1. It has an automated setup for all your computers
2. It comes already uniquely passworded, and with an easier user interface to update the password if you so choose
3. It has a higher level of encryption than our old router (it’s using WPA2 instead of WEP).

However, buying a new router is perhaps not necessary. We only did it because we fried our wireless.

All problems solved

So we set up our newly bought router, and now our wireless works.

The order in which to try and solve the problem

If you think you may have the redirect virus, try these steps in this order, based on what we’ve learned:

1. Get rid of it in your router first, by following what we did for ours.

2. Then, with only one computer on, and not connected to the router, follow all the conventional suggestions for getting rid of it (except combofix). Now connect that computer to the router and test.

3. Turn on the next computer, and repeat step 2. Continue until you have treated all your computers. We suggest only using combofix as a last resort, and only with the help of the folks at bleepingcomputer.com. See if you can get rid of the virus without it. We think your chances are pretty good.

4. Reinstalling your OS is a last resort, and probably wouldn’t solve the problem. If you had what we had, you really have to attack this both on your computers and in your router.

Our new Linksys router acknowledges the hacker vulnerability

Yes indeed folks. There was a label covering the CD drive on our new router. It says it all.

In case it’s hard to read here, this is what it says:

“FOR YOUR SAFETY. During the setup process your Linksys router will be assigned a unique password to help protect its wireless signal from unauthorized access. If you wish to change this password, please follow the instructions in the User Guide at linksys.com/support.”

Our grand conclusions

1. Our computer security had been fine all along. It’s still true that you can fully protect your computer with free stuff. I’ve even become brand-loyal about it. I’ll stick with my list.
2. Routers need protection too. They’ve been woefully ignored (well, at least by us!)

Those pesky IP addresses we found on our router

Here is the post we found about the Russian malware sites with the exact IP addresses we found on our router. The IP addresses are:

213.109.65.40
and
213.109.75.90.

Power Optical cares about its customers

I bought a USB CD/DVD player from Amazon.com recently, which I had to return. Generally, Amazon’s affiliates come through, and so was the case here.

The company through which I had actually bought the product is called “Power Optical.”

Here is their about blurb:

“Power Optical – We are a wholesale distributor/dealer of electronic products. We specialize in computer hardware. We pride ourselves in top notch customer support – streamline shipping for efficient and quick delivery of your order. You can normally expect to receive your order in 2-3 days.”

I had some special circumstances that led me to request that they pay my return shipping, even though I would not be replacing it with a like product from their company.

Their response was immediate and positive. Yes! They will pay my shipping.

May this blog entry, serving as free advertising for them, further reinforce their good behavior. I recommend checking out Power Optical when you’re buying electronics from Amazon.com.

tidystorm

random techno-gab

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