Posted verbatim from my latest journal: This morning, while browsing after work, I found that I had inadvertently downloaded a self-replicating Trojan virus, which my McAfee security suite did not detect until it was too late. As soon as I noticed that it was authorizing outside connections automatically, I immediately pulled the plug on my internet, locked the system down, ran further virus scans and backed up my personal onto my Dell DJ (A very nice capability for such an old MP3 player). After many failed attempts to destroy the file, I decided to nuke my HD, reformat it, and reinstall the OS. I am typing this journal from my recently resurrected machine.
Now that all this has been accomplished, a couple of problems have arisen. I have certain critical pieces of hardware that are not installed, as it seems my computer did not come with individual disks for my graphics controller or my ethernet adapter. I've skirted that issue temporarily and gotten back online with the help of my old USB wireless adapter, but now I'm stuck.
I'm currently in the process of installing the latest updates for my OS, but until I get that hardware reinstalled somehow, my computer will not function as it has in the past.
My machine is a 3 year old Dell Dimension 3000 with an Intel Integrated Graphics card (crappy, I know, but it has served my purposes well enough). I'm not sure which controller my ethernet adapter was using, and now I'm regretting not having both written down for reference.
Computer savvy individuals/CTAs, do you have any bright ideas?
support.dell.com click on drivers and downloads. Plug in the service tag from your system and that should narrow down your choices. Dimension 3000s didn't come with much in the way of options so you shouldn't have trouble picking the right driver.
Finished the process a few minutes ago with a little help from a friend. My problems are now officially solved, and I'll be saving the necessary drivers to a CD just in case I have to reinstall my OS again in the future.
For Dell (and the like) systems, I always stick the downloaded drives in something like "c:\drivers" for reference or emergency. It has come in handy more than once.
