Lately, just about every client PC has been riddled with worms and viruses. This has been adding time to installs and makes me look bad because the install takes longer than expected.
Here is what I have run into and what I am doing to combat the problem. I know I can’t be the only one.
Once the install is up and running, the radio is peaked, and before I install the router I would check with my PPC to make sure everything is five by five. Then I would set up the router and connect the infected machine (I don’t know it’s infected yet but most are). Being infected the machine is spewing network sessions like mad and the router drowns. It took me a while to figure out what is going on, but now I’m on to them.
Now when this happens, I open the task manager on the client’s machine stop all non-essential processes. It does not get all of the worms/viruses but it definately helps. Then I restart the router and show them the difference. This might work for 5 minutes or 5 hours. Note: rebooting the PC restarts all the worms and viruses running on the machine. I then explain to the client what is going on and tell them to get the machine cleaned up or they will no get the performance they are paying for.
Personally I do not do ANY desktop support - no virus removal, no hardware service, no application installation, nada. One hosed PC can turn into a wasted day recovering the data and rebuilding the machine and it’s just not worth it. The most I do is set up the e-mail client and turn off the dialup connection.
By the way, one clue in determining if a machine is infected is if they connect via dial up and keep dropping the connection. this could also be crappy phone lines.
Good Luck
Jerry Richardson
airCloud Communications