Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Serenity on August 17, 2009, 04:04:55 AM
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I have a question. Im trying to update my ATI Radeon 3850 drivers, but when I try to do it, even direct from the ATI website, it makes me download this thing called Download Robot in order to install my drivers. All well and good. Until Download Robot says I have to pay $30 for my drivers! Is there any FREE way to UPDATE the drivers on a card I paid over $100 for already?
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I have a question. Im trying to update my ATI Radeon 3850 drivers, but when I try to do it, even direct from the ATI website, it makes me download this thing called Download Robot in order to install my drivers. All well and good. Until Download Robot says I have to pay $30 for my drivers! Is there any FREE way to UPDATE the drivers on a card I paid over $100 for already?
Heh you have an infection on your computer or you went to a totally wrong site. Probably if you didn't have infection, you now have if you downloaded something.
The official site is http://www.amd.com/se/Pages/AMDHomePage.aspx and the driver download is free.
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That is definitely malware at work.
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Sorry, but I've been laughing since I saw this post this morning...(it's not funny for Serenity of course)...I just finished reloading a system that had this "download robot" on it along with 10 other malware apps and various trojans...I don't usually charge very much for a system reload but this occurred after a week long argument with the putz that the problems weren't from his hardware (after 3 other people told him he needed parts replaced)...so I charged him double and took another week to finish it after he finally submitted. What was really funny was he had Norton 360 on it and it didn't catch any of it (I looked in the log files).
Sorry Serenity, I hope you don't have to go through a system reload.
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Norton and McAfee are just malware/spyware/virus programs looking for another computer to infect.
A little hijack, but not so much.
People often ask me what OEM computer I would buy if I were to buy one. My first response is, "I would not consider any computer from an OEM who loads Norton or McAfee on those computers".
Any OEM who does that simply lacks the technical expertise to be building computers. Or they are only loading it for marketing reasons and could care less about the poor end user who gets stuck with those programs.
At any rate, it is good enough of a reason to immediately ignore them as a potential candidate for purchase.
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Norton and McAfee are just malware/spyware/virus programs looking for another computer to infect.
A little hijack, but not so much.
People often ask me what OEM computer I would buy if I were to buy one. My first response is, "I would not consider any computer from an OEM who loads Norton or McAfee on those computers".
Any OEM who does that simply lacks the technical expertise to be building computers. Or they are only loading it for marketing reasons and could care less about the poor end user who gets stuck with those programs.
At any rate, it is good enough of a reason to immediately ignore them as a potential candidate for purchase.
I use McAfee. I have for years and have it installed on all three of my machines. I mostly use it now because it's free from Comcast otherwise I'd probably go with Nod32.
The newest versions allow you to completely shut down everything from the UI. I leave it shut down on my gaming machine and only update manually twice a week and let it run a pre-scheduled scan once a week. On the other two machines I just let everything but the auto-updater run continuously and manually update them.
I've never had a problem with it and have never had a virus but, the way I take care of my machines I doubt I ever would even without it.
I will say that McAfee can be very intrusive but there are many settings that you can adjust to lower or reduce the intrusiveness. Tweaking out a new install can be quite a chore because of this but once it's set it's set.
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Yikes!
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Awe ****... My car broke down two days ago, now I might lose the computer too?!? Crap... My AV (Avast!) didn't pick up on any malware or trojans, but I will run a full system scan today.
Edit: So others will know which site to AVOID, here is the URL I got sent to: the domain is atidriver.org
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Never post a URL to a site known to plant malware/spyware on computers!!
Unless you rally want to be banned from this board!!
I cannot believe I had to say that! Common sense anyone?
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Awe ****... My car broke down two days ago, now I might lose the computer too?!? Crap... My AV (Avast!) didn't pick up on any malware or trojans, but I will run a full system scan today.
Edit: So others will know which site to AVOID, here is the URL I got sent to: the domain is atidriver.org
I just did a google on that website and it didn't pop up on the first 2 pages...if you're using Internet Explorer and you don't have the WOT add-on WOT for I.E (http://www.mywot.com)...get it...it will keep you from stumbling on bad sites.
Don't sweat the malware...Avast is more effective than McAffee or Norton but like everything else it's not perfect...I use it all the time. You might not have to do a reload of you system but I would recommend getting Malwarebytes, Asquared and Spybot Search and Destroy...not only to detect and remove stuff you might not be aware of... but each has some resident tools to help protect against most known malware infections...(probably the reason for my 400+mb paging file).
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The .org should have screamed bloody murder......
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I just did a google on that website and it didn't pop up on the first 2 pages...if you're using Internet Explorer and you don't have the WOT add-on WOT for I.E (http://www.mywot.com)...get it...it will keep you from stumbling on bad sites.
Don't sweat the malware...Avast is more effective than McAffee or Norton but like everything else it's not perfect...I use it all the time. You might not have to do a reload of you system but I would recommend getting Malwarebytes, Asquared and Spybot Search and Destroy...not only to detect and remove stuff you might not be aware of... but each has some resident tools to help protect against most known malware infections...(probably the reason for my 400+mb paging file).
It was on the first google page for me, I use Firefox. I've got Spybot Search And Destroy, and so far nothing has been found on my scan.
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Malware authors know just as well as you do what programs are used to protect computers. So they write their software to co-opt the malware detectors, redirect attempts to install them, prevent attempts to update them, etc etc. So just because you have Search and Destroy or any other malware detector / remover, it isn't a guarantee of anything if you're already infected. If things don't seem right, they probably aren't.
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I have a question. Im trying to update my ATI Radeon 3850 drivers, but when I try to do it, even direct from the ATI website, it makes me download this thing called Download Robot in order to install my drivers. All well and good. Until Download Robot says I have to pay $30 for my drivers! Is there any FREE way to UPDATE the drivers on a card I paid over $100 for already?
I'm sorry for laughing but that is pretty funny.
Bookmark this site, this is the official download site for ATI drivers. Official ATI Driver download (http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx)
ack-ack
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No kiddin... If I saw the words "download robot"?? My first thought would be :uhoh...
I'd start looking elsewhere for more info, before lettin that have a go at my machine...
RC
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Malware authors know just as well as you do what programs are used to protect computers. So they write their software to co-opt the malware detectors, redirect attempts to install them, prevent attempts to update them, etc etc. So just because you have Search and Destroy or any other malware detector / remover, it isn't a guarantee of anything if you're already infected. If things don't seem right, they probably aren't.
I think I might have escaped free and clear. So far, nothing unusual with my computer. No pop ups, no program errors, nothing.
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So, it has gone into hibernate mode to attack later on. Congratulations on your computer becoming one of millions infected with remote botnet software! You win a cookie!
There is no such thing as malware programs just "going away".
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I would be concerned if that software went into hibernate mode. The only malicious software I have ever encountered which hibernated after infection were rootkits. Three days later hell arrived on my desktop.
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Ok Serenity, you can breath a little bit easy this time...LOL...been digging around (at the office...hehehe) and what I found is that it's not "download robot" it's "driver robot"...and driver robot is licensed software that costs money to use...it's not malware...atidriver.org isn't infected with any type of trojan or other malicious files (yet)...
If you did install driver robot...uninstall it unless you want to pay for the license...then go get IOBit system optimizer and let it run a full set of diagnostics/repairs on your system...it will clean out your registry among other things.
Good luck.
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Alright, well lets just say you don't have malware in hibernate mode, and nothing co-opting detection programs. Because if you do, you're fraked and have to re-install anyways. Get "Hijackthis" and see what it detects. Also get Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware. If both give you a clean bill of health, then you can have some hope that you're ok. But just remember, you might not be.
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Alright, well lets just say you don't have malware in hibernate mode, and nothing co-opting detection programs. Because if you do, you're fraked and have to re-install anyways. Get "Hijackthis" and see what it detects. Also get Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware. If both give you a clean bill of health, then you can have some hope that you're ok. But just remember, you might not be.
Good call sir.
Incidently...that IOBit System optimizer found some stuff on my system that even Malwarebytes, Asquared, Avast and Spybot Search and Destroy didn't even pop on...which really surprised me. :confused:
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Good call sir.
Incidently...that IOBit System optimizer found some stuff on my system that even Malwarebytes, Asquared, Avast and Spybot Search and Destroy didn't even pop on...which really surprised me. :confused:
2 things:
Scanners always give some false positives i.e. alarms for nothing
Most spyware scanners cry wolf about regular things like cookies - fooling non savvy users into thinking they just saved their hide
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Thanks for all the advice everyone! I really appreciate the suggestions as i cannot afford to lose this computer! I've run all of the scans you've suggested (That I can figure out) and everything gives me a clean bill of health :)
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check Nod32...i've never had a major problem yet, sometimes it's too good an AV, won't let me on certain sites. with Norton, i had a trojan that could not come off my puter, had some guy in India go through it and remove the stupid thing. Got Nod, no problems yet, except for times i need to download things.
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LMFAO this has been the funniest post i have read all year sorry about your luck
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LMFAO this has been the funniest post i have read all year sorry about your luck
Actually, it went quite fine. I've gone over the computer myself, sent it to Geek Squad to have them take a look, no viruses, nothing. And I just bought a new computer anyway, so... lol.
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Ive had good luck with Trend Micro and the Iobit software.
<S>
Grind
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Actually, it went quite fine. I've gone over the computer myself, sent it to Geek Squad to have them take a look, no viruses, nothing. And I just bought a new computer anyway, so... lol.
geek squad i hate them idiots. i would take it to a small computer store next time.
when it comes to my computer and i have to take it in i look up all the places around town and go to each of them and ask them simple questions and hard questions which ever gives me the best answers i goto them. i have found a great computer tech place here that dont want to rape you when you walk thru the door and know how to make things work and not have to use the most pricey parts
so what kind of computer did you buy?
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geek squad i hate them idiots. i would take it to a small computer store next time.
when it comes to my computer and i have to take it in i look up all the places around town and go to each of them and ask them simple questions and hard questions which ever gives me the best answers i goto them. i have found a great computer tech place here that dont want to rape you when you walk thru the door and know how to make things work and not have to use the most pricey parts
so what kind of computer did you buy?
HP Pavillion Dv6 Artist Edition (More RAM, better card, larger HD) laptop.
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The first downer was the HP logo stamped on the case.... :D
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The first downer was the HP logo stamped on the case.... :D
lol. Yeah, it's getting on my nerves with all of it's HP-iness, but honestly, the stats aren't half bad especially when considering the price.
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lol. Yeah, it's getting on my nerves with all of it's HP-iness, but honestly, the stats aren't half bad especially when considering the price.
If you use it on wireless, make sure you disable everything but ipv4 from networking. Or if you need to use lan, at least disable ipv6 support. Leaving it on will make your connection drop periodically in dv6 and probably in many other computer models.