The Battle Continues (Defeating Viruses)

Well, apparently I spoke too soon. :) I was joking with a co-worker whether I'd be targeted by a hacker as a result of my previous post. I can't prove it however it's some coincidence that over the weekend I was attacked by a more virulent Trojan that seemed to trump all of the steps I outlined in the previous post. This is the ysh.exe hack virus. I may upgrade my firewall to something that monitors my ports. I used to have Zone Alarm but it was pain in the ass. Now I may need that pain in the ass:) I almost feel like this is like fighting "the Borg" which learns a little more with each battle and makes it harder to defeat. The ysh.exe plant is designed to do these things in addition to what I described previously:

1. To transplant itself at the top of the list in terms of processes. So it's running when your computer boots up windows. You can't beat it to the punch with ctl alt del early.
2. It can run in safe mode. So you still can't run your anti-virus software
3. Looks for any type of antivirus launch or install and runs its malicious fake antivirus programs instead.
4. Effectively trumps Malwarebytes because it cannot be run
5. Renaming Malwarebytes exe or install file DOESN"T work. That is often a recommended procedure
6. The malicious programs are NOT located in convenient places with C:Windows or C:Temp as I mentioned in previous post.
7. Some malicious asshole.dll files referenced in start-up process (run: asshole.dll)cannot be deleted without a special tool.

The only way to find it is to be able to know all the registry keys and delete them. If you don't know what you're looking for it's pretty hard. There is only one reasonable solution that I found. It's a dos kill process designed by a programmer that kills the virus exe load. I'm not even going to list it here for fear that the hackers might design a workaround. After that kill process Malwarebytes was able to get the rest of it.

In terms of not paying for a monitoring program. I've changed my tune. It's too difficult to prevent the virus from working once it gets in. You need a realtime virus monitoring program (or real firewall) that prevents the drop of the trojan. Avira free version is not up to that task. I'm now using Malwarebytes real-time monitoring. At $25 it was well worth it. Apparently either I had a hacker on my tail or was not fully rid of the virus. I was treading out on the Internet and all of the sudden noticed my search page was redirected from Google to MonsterBargains which is the sign of the hack, then the java6 launch started happening. Malwarebytes caught the trojan drop attempt and killed it. whew. This was after I killed all the trojans with Malwarebytes previously. After this I researched my registry thoroughly and deleted every rogue key I could find. This is not a process for the faint of heart. I think I am effectively virus free.

Round 3 I guess.

Fighting Computer Viruses and Getting the Last Laugh

Over the years I've gained some experince in how to defeat some nasty computer viruses. Some virtually prevent you from using your run command and your antivirus software. The most recent ones I've seen transplant themselves on your system tray as antivirus programs. And they often can't be shut off with the task manager. They keep running and telling you your computer has a virus.

Here are some of the most useful programs I have found. I don't use the paid for antivirus programs (they're overpriced and often ineffective):

1. Hijack This - This basically is for detecting browswer hijack but it can also tell you about registry entries designed to run at startup (autoload programs), browser helpers, toolbars, and other things. Using the "fix this" process should be done with care. Look for (unknown) entries. Don't delete programs you are unsure of. I have been somewhat fearless with my hunches about suspicious programs and have not been burned. But I don't recommend this. There are also some free log analyzers out there that can make recommendations. Be aware though that in the case of browser hijack, they can often prevent you from navigating to the known hijackthis pages. You'll need to save the log to your thumb drive and try it on an uninfected computer at hijackthis log analyzer page.

2. Killbox - This has a very specific purpose. It deletes files that seem to keep growing back because the rogue program manages to exploit Windows to regenerate it. You have to know exactly what the file is and the path. It gives you some options for killing- delete on reboot, rename, standard kill etc.

3. Avira - IMO, the best free antivirus program available. Better than AVG and Avast! it generally detects viruses the others cannot. I've run tests with several programs present. Sometimes Avira cannot get rid of the virus and keeps redetecting it. But it at least gives you a clue about what and where it is.

4. Malwarebytes - This can find and delete many viruses that others cannot including (sometimes) Avira. Generally it can get rid of anything it finds. Full scan takes a long time so be patient, because it sometimes finds viruses way towards the end. But sometimes it can't find viruses and trojans. No program is perfect.

There are some 1 time applications and programs I have used called CC Cleaner and Spybot but generally the programs above in concert are generally enough to defeat the problem.

Some horse sense methods:

Sometimes you can beat the virus before it starts up. If you invoke the task manager early (ctl alt del) you sometimes can catch the program loading and stop it by looking at the PC activity. This can buy you time and ability to defeat the program before it defeats you. However be aware that it may not be listed there. This step can be helpful if the rogue program is designed to defeat the run: program: msconfig.

Make sure to disable your Internet connection. You don't want your computer connecting to the Internet if you have a real hijack happening that is communicating with your computer. Check your Tools/Internet Options Homepage. In particularly nasty cases it can be redirected to a specific IP. In extreme cases (after you have defeated the rogue processes), you may have to use "reset" on your browser to get it to navigate properly again.

Presuming the rogue program hasn't disabled it. The run commands, msconfig and regedit. msconfig can show you what programs are designed to run at startup. You can uncheck any suspicious entries in the startup panel. Look for wierd names that are unsigned. Regedit is direct registry edit. Most people would advise extreme caution with monkeying around with this. If possible back up the registry before changing anything there. You can find and delete an entry that was found by Antivirus programs or from your hijack this log.

Explorer/Search. As Windows O/S systems upgrade it seems like they let you see and find files less and less (don't get me started on Vista). If you're trying to find files in Temp or Windows (often places were rogue programs are hidden) but somehow the path doesn't show them after you navigate to my documents/all users etc then make sure your that your view/folders options is set to show hidden folders and files. Look for files that were created within the last week or few days. Or look for *.exe. If you know your activity you can often find programs that you didn't have a hand in downloading and delete them.

Be careful with deep searches on lesser known webpages. I often have found I get a quick virus attack just by navigating to a search result or someone's blog page that turns out to be fake(sometimes in a foreign language page that is translated). These places can be hornet's nests. A recent problem seems to be a Java 6 pop up exploit that transplants itsef in the registry processes immediately. This is often a prelude to the phony Antivirus transplant on your system tray. Deletion of this entry via Hijack this/fix this (look for the java6 entry) is usually enough to start the process of getting control of your computer back. It's not everything. you have to find the program it's referencing as well (usually somewhere in your .tmp internet or mydocuments/`/temp directory).

Make sure to get a good thumb drive. Sometimes you need to find programs on the Internet on another computer and load them on the infected computer with the Internet connection disabled. In worse case you have to use all of your available options and work quickly before the trojans take hold of your processes. I've literally restarted dozens of times and used each time as a learning process to figure out which programs to invoke. I ran into a trojan that disables some popular antivirus programs and hijack this. If you run in safe mode sometimes this can prevent the rogue program from running which may require full blown Windows to do it's dirty work.

Good luck! (you're gonna need it)

Good 'ol Snail Mail Issues

In the wake of all the telemarketing and Internet spam complaints we hear about lately, I think we've lost sight of one good old fashioned pain in the ass: junk mail. Lately I've been drowning in it.

Recently, Asurion (the phone insurance partner of T-Mobile) has ass-uredly crossed into the realm of the ultimate boneheaded company. Aside from the T-Mobile rep signing my daughter's phone up without her permission, Asurion has been stuffing our mailbox with a steady torrent of welcome letter packages. Not just 1 but 6-10 DAILY for over a month. I contacted them after the Thanksgiving holiday about this problem. After 3 transfers and redial to the ultimate responsible dept, I complained to a representative who assured me the problem would be fixed. It wasn't. With the holiday mailing season, Asurion's collective brainfart, our mail carrier's devil-may care delivery schedule (she's like Newman, she doesn't believe in creeds) and the recent snow problem, all my mail has been backed up. I'm now fortunate to receive all the backed up mail from December a day at a time. A few days ago I called and gave them an earful and they obviously knew about the problem and said the "glitch" was fixed just last week (that would be the first week of January). Given that I have received 6-10 pieces daily up until Dec 22. I may have as much as 6-10x6x2=72-120 pieces of mail coming before the paperworks shuts off. Fun.

Mailing lists. Remember them? They are much harder to prevent and get off of. Plus getting your post office not to deliver is a bit more involved then a click on your spam filter. By some inexplicable means, my wife has gotten on an expectant mother mailing list. (FYI - we are both about 50 with a college student daughter). It started with Babies-R-Us discount postcards. Then various mail with the baby-centric theme. Then Baby-Talk magazine. After the second came, I sent them an email to stop the unwanted magazines. I think the effort just initiated a form of junkmail virus cell division as we then started receiving American Baby magazine - 2 at a time. The next day, a UPS package of Similac formula. 2 16 oz jugs.

With all the fighting I have done over the years to fight & right dumbassed wrongs over customer service issues, I'm really losing my oomph for engaging in new mindless battles. I have enough to worry about.

What do you think?

*update Thu, 1/13/11 6pm.

8 Assurion letters received today. All dated Dec 13th

The letters



The pamphlets



So perty. Can't wait til tomorrow...

Knowing Love

To know someone
is to love someone
to love someone
can be easy
but not so easy
to know someone
as to love someone
(as far as you know)
some of the time

As to loving someone
all of the time
it's easy to know
you want them
to love you
as much as you
want to love yourself
both of you knowing
still does little
to change what is:
love is somewhat unknown
most of the time

Is There a Cure for Herniated Disc?

In short, probably not. But in reality there are few very serious illnesses that are truly eradicated as much as controlled. And every case is different. Everyone reacts differently to different treatments. In my case I was fortunate. My problem turned around. I think basically everything was thrown at my problem at once (besides surgery): anti-inflammatories, painkillers, Lyrica, sleeping pills, natural vitamin supplements and finally the epidural. Conventional wisdom would suggest that some measure of healing of the herniation took place as result of the epidural as predicted by the doctors performing the procedure. Three shots were scheduled. I only needed two. My case is actually the minority.

Honestly I think my body and mind went into shock after all this and I sunk about as far as I could go and I came out of it, realizing after the smoke cleared that I no longer had pain or parasthesia in my right arm. It could also be that I ceased all aggravating activities such as playing music for about 2 months. I also got a new ergonomic chair and laptop at work. The one thing I did gain was an appreciation for the delicacy of the human body. I had always sort of prided myself on never needing to visit the doctor, having few illnesses looking pretty good for my age and generally carrying on my life with little attention to the typical common sense lifestyle restrictions in terms of diet, exercise and sleep. I felt like I could do it all and that my body would recover. I learned my lesson.

I still have issues. For example I still have these killer knots in my neck. And I've developed the somewhat unseemly habit of futzing with them all the time. It has become somewhat of an unconscious habit, despite my rational knowledge that my efforts to reduce the knots by massage have zero success. In my quest to solve my problem I've run across several things so in the interest of sharing my knowledge I will list them here:

1. Surgery

I have yet to see a definitive figure on what the success rate of surgery. As mentioned in prior quotes, some as low as 16%(Dr. Ron Daulton quoting back issues of the medical journal, Spine). Others as high as 95%. Probably the issue is defining "success" is the problem, including the duration of the benefit. Anecdotally, I have come across the opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of opinion as well. A comment poster to my blog mentioned having gone thru the procedure 10 years ago and is still is thankful of having done it. On the other end, one of the doctors on the epidural team was giving me counsultation prior to the injection, and told me that the likelihood is that the epidural shot's benefit would likely be temporary and that all treatments, including surgery eventually give way to a recurrence of disc trouble and related issues. For a look some of the surgery options view my prior blog entry

2. Dr. Ron Daulton, Jr.

Most people will encounter Dr. Daulton through the Internet in a video, Heal Your Bulging Disc. As mentioned he is not a big fan of the surgery option. I paid for his $79 pdf course. Not to denigrate the knowledge he offers, but there is quite a bit of cross selling and even a bit of Dr. Ron PR requests that take place very early in the process. There are two things at the core of his method: multi faceted approach and that essentially the disc heals slowly on its own (in theory). Let me explain the latter part. Essentially, this means that the disc like other parts does have the capacity to mend itself but given the blood flow to this area is less than other typical parts of the body, the rate of healing is so slow that no one could possibly recommend doing nothing for years. Throw in the contribution of daily stress and the detrimental habits and physical activities, the ability to solve this is about as promising as paying your credit card off with a minimum payment. In terms of the method, he uses daily routines that include swelling reduction using ice(as opposed to heat),specific exercise with a medicine ball, stretches, strengthening, dietary changes, specific natural medicines and various treatment recommendations including: chiropractic, massage therapy, acupuncture, inversion table therapy and cold laser surgery to name a few. There is also an interesting section on the physical manifestations of emotional health captured by a special photographic technique (I believe it's based on Kirlian aura photography but I will double check that). Essentially this is throwing everything at the problem. I personally was not able to follow all the recommendations and commitments(including a few financial ones - if your were to follow them to the letter).


I will continue more with this on my next blog.

The pRoBLeM With a romantic

A romantic is moved
but is a bit removed
a romantic is loving
but is often longing
a romantic pursues
but often peruses

A romantic likes happy endings
but doesn't like them, depending...
a romantic like things close at hand
but becomes distant at the wave of a wand

Cynicism, (the romantic's alterego)
may take the throne
but then is soon overthrown
the romantic blooms again
but a bit overblown
and shrinks back to earth
and is once again alone

The seeds are always there
and the cycle continues
with blindness to the past
and unrestrained hopefulness
about a future much less hopeless

To Hell and Back

With 2009 being a bust musically because of my disc problem, I was determined to get back into gigging again in 2010. I took a job at Sofia's after New Year's with Eliot Zigmund and Ed Fuqua and it went really well. I felt very little, if any pain. But by the middle of February, my situation went from bad to worse. On a follow up gig with my old friend, Sylvia Cuenca, I needed to stretch out my arm every 10 min to avoid having my arm lock up. With top flight pianist Jill McCarron in the audience, I pressed myself to the limit and the problem probably escalated from there. Thankfully Jill sat in for two tunes, buying my aching arm a little recovery time.

My tricep, forearm and shoulder constantly throbbed when walking. Oddly, just having my hand in my pocket induced the worst paresthesia. One evening I suddenly couldn’t raise my arm at all. And in the morning it was the same. I couldn’t brush my teeth. I called the neurologist immediately who prescribed a pain killer and an oral steroid. The MRI taken put me through one of my most painful experiences ever. I couldn’t lie on my back without intense shoulder and arm pain and being locked in the claustrophobic MRI tube for 20 min only tested my will to bear the pain even further. After the MRI confirmed that spinal impingment was not the cause of the arm weakness, I started physical therapy. Thankfully, the strength came back to my arm. I started doing cervical traction and using my new cervical pillow. The idea behind traction is to stretch the vertebrae and relieve pressure off the nerve. Unfortunately, I think traction was a fatal mistake in my condition. My mind drifted back to one of the accupuncturists at the clinic who advised strongly against traction for herniated disc. (Damn! was he right? I thought). I woke up in the middle of the night and felt pain across my neck and shoulder with hot patches of edemic swelling down the spine, across the shoulder, down the ribcage, triceps, forearm and fingers. In the nights following, I was waking up in pain and swelling, making trips to the couch, but still not able to sleep. I tried sleeping semi-upright, on my back and on my side. But nothing worked. Everything felt so tender, soft pillows felt painful, like they were denting the back of my neck and head. The inside of my body felt like it was boiling and swelling.

At this point I was sleeping maybe 2 hours a night and getting really run down. At work I sat on the toilet just reflecting on my throbbing pain. It was almost to the point where I could faint but in a meditative state I tried to imagine pain as another sensation, like heat, trying to blot out the pain. That day I found a book online, Fix Your Own Pain Without Drugs or Surgery written by researcher and clinician, Dr. Jolie Bookspan. Her opinion is that correcting forward shoulder and forward head often solves the disc and pain problem; many of the medical conditions described in a typical MRI analysis such as herniation, cervical lordosis, and spondylosis can be irrelevant, once you learn to balance the weight of your head and square your shoulders properly underneath it. However I probably should've held off on these posture and stretch exercises until I was in a little less pain.

The next day I had an ache in the small of my back from Bookspan's recommended exercises. I had the uncomfortable feeling of being unable to support the weight of my own head! Eventually I ended up in the E/R at St. Luke’s Roosevelt. The hope was to get the pain injection recommended by the neurologist, but they wouldn’t do it. And I was still several days away from my pain management appointment. Instead the E/R doctor prescribed the painkiller, percocet. Percocet allowed me maybe an extra few hours of sleep but I would always awake at 3am with swelling and pain. This went on for several more days. On Monday I had the day off and strolled around the city on a sunny day. I was trying to stay positive, take vitamins (my friend Charles recommended magnesium malate and Vitamin D3) and got some exercise.

I was beginning to get confused. I was thinking in circles and losing the ability to make decisions: where to eat, where to buy water, whether to stay in the city or go back to Queens. I drank a lot of water but had no appetite whatsoever. I realized I had might've dropped 5 lbs that week. On the train people started looking at me funny. I probably looked like I was on drugs. When I got to Queens I ran into Duane Reade and bought myself a 6-pack of Ensure. Outside my fingers were fumbling as I broke open the pack and guzzled a bottle down. I thought maybe I should just sit and find a place outside to relax in the sun. But I realized I didn’t have the strength to carry the six pack to the park, so I got on the bus. I couldn’t get a seat so I stood. Somewhere in the middle of the bus ride, I found myself falling asleep standing. Finally I said to myself “Enough! Stop feeling sorry for yourself! Get a grip!” This actually stimulated my system a bit. I was happy I had that in me. When I got home I started exercising and doing stretches with renewed vigor. I felt really good with this new energized attitude. I lay myself down for a short nap late in the afternoon. But an hour later, I woke up with my armpit completely swollen up along with my neck, ribcage, arm and fingers. There were these little arthritic knots down my fingers. (So much for positive attitude). Later on in the evening I started developing this burning feeling on my left side. I never felt like this. As I researched the Internet I realized that the percocet was probably giving me an ulcer. All the previous nights I starting getting the feeling that my body was turning acidic. I couldn’t eat the meal cooked for me. I stuffed my face with lettuce and some simple pasta with some broccoli but I ate it without any feeling for appetite.

The night before pain management appointment a friend recommended that I go to the clinic crying in pain and go cold turkey on my meds so that they would give me the injection right away. Given percocet was killing me internally, I went ahead. That night I suffered incredibly. Hour after hour in pain. It felt like I was in drug withdrawal. Getting up and pacing, sitting on the couch, I was unable to relieve the pain or find a comfortable way to sit or lie down, stacking pillows everywhere. At around 5am I sat upright on the smaller couch, stacking pillows to my left and my right, behind my head and my feet. I was dying for sleep and was willing to try sleeping while sitting upright, but as I would doze off I could feel my head falling to the left, the right or in front of me, like a drug addict with the nods. The head nods were pulling on the disc, further irritating it which would wake me up in spasm. I was trapped in my own body! This is probably one of the most frightening experiences ever. Suicidal thoughts gripped me for the first time in my life. Because if you can’t walk, stand, sit or sleep, what else is there?

Miraculously, at 6am I suddenly fell into a deep sleep. I woke up (missed my physical therapy appt) and suddenly felt refreshed, and without pain. As if I had gone thru drug withdrawal and gotten to the other side. Now ironically I was pissed off, because the goal was to show up to the pain management clinic in pain so I’d get my shot! In the pain management office I was stretching myself out to induce some of the pain I had been feeling all these nights. When you fill out the chart you are supposed to rate your pain on a sliding scale. Me, I’m always trying to be honest about these things, but my wife looked at me with daggers. "Tell them you're in pain! They’ll never treat you!" She was right. As it turned out they scheduled my epidural steroid shot at the end of the week. The Saturday following it was miracle. Zero pain. However it was short lived. The pain returned in about a day. But not to the level it had been. More like how it was at different points last year - a somewhat annoying discomfort, but not life debilitating. Recently I got my second epidural and the effect was about 2 days. The one mistake you can make is pressing yourself too hard in the wake of the benefit from the shot.

In terms of the benefit, I had heard that epidural steroid shots are for the most part ineffective for the treatment of long-term pain. However, one of the doctors taking part in the injection procedure told me that in addition to calming down the nerve root, there is also the possibility (depending on the state of the herniation) that the herniation can resorb itself over time with the aid of the shot. That was new. I will be following up with this in a later blog.

Next Time: So IS There a Cure for Herniated Disc?