Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Sky Aisling

Well, Puppy did it again.
My friends M$OS was *compromised* by the *xp-internet-security-2012* virus.
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-xp-internet-security-2012
Puppy saved their personal data and settings from their compromised MS system.

I used this tutorial to *restore* the M$OS to a date prior to when my friends think they got the virus.
http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/bc/bcs4p14.html

My friends now have a restored M$OS system on their HDD (ho hum) and were also saved from a pricey bill from the local M$ repair store.
The best news is that they also have Puppy-Linux-520 available as Live CD with save-file(s) on HDD with backup save-file(s) on a flash drive.

Pretty good work for a little renegade OS from Australia, I'd say, eh?

greengeek · Joined: 20 Jul 2010 Posts: 1184 Location: New Zealand

Awesome. I really love watching peoples faces when you manage to save all the files they thought they had lost.

I keep a credit card CD in my wallet for this purpose. I used to use DamnSmallLinux but now I use a couple of 50Mb versions of puppy. Nothing fancy, and I wouldn't be able to rebuild the system to a restore point, but it's a buzz being able to save their files.

It's a nice touch to leave them with a Live Puppy CD

Smile

sc0ttman · Joined: 16 Sep 2009 Posts: 2174 Location: UK

In one of my jobs, the standard 'solution' for (even slightly) broken Windows installs is to simply wipe the whole thing and re-install Xp/Vista/Win7/etc... Then install all the drivers again... Then all the updates.. Then charge £60...

I only do a few days a week there around my other job, but when I'm in, I use Puppy to boot up and back up files, remove the virus, update the registry manually...

No need to re-install anything... Only takes about 30 mins usually..
Instead of the 2 to 3 days the other guys take...
But will they keep a Puppy (or any Linux) live CD handy?? No!!

...even though I showed them how I do it, and told them why they're wasting soooo much time!
And one of them is actually a MASSIVE ubuntu fanboy....
The others are older, know-nothing, "I've been computing since the 80s!" types...
LOL... Just can't get the staff these days...

technosaurus · Joined: 18 May 2008 Posts: 3843

Yeah, I would use puppy to make a cd/dvd of their cleaned files and still do a wipe/reinstall because of all the gunk that builds up over time in the registry and elsewhere, their computer will respond better and appear to run much faster - you end up looking like a genius. (XP and prior needed this done about every 6 months to a year ... if you don't like to have a cup-a-joe while you wait for the PC to respond to your mouse clicks ... and the registry cleaners all invariably break stuff )

minesadorada · Joined: 11 Sep 2011 Posts: 67

A golfing friend of mine is in his 70's. He mentioned that his laptop was taking over 10 minutes to boot up, and asked me if I could 'fix Windows'

Once I established he only used the Internet and Email, I offered to install Puppy to replace Windows and he agreed.

A few minutes later (that's all it took to backup a few photos, format out Windows and install Slacko) , we timed the bootup from button-press to full desktop at 45 seconds. Needless to say he was delighted.

Fast-forward a month...

I get a call "my laptop won't run" Sure enough, the boot sequence was complaining about numerous hard disk errors.

Slacko live CD in; Gparted told to fix the ext2 filesystem, and reboot from the hard disk to a flawless desktop.

He thinks I'm a computer wizard Smile