Erik

Feel free to add it to your signature.

Especially those people. How else is he going to keep your work private?

I'll put this on my to-do list this is definitely an honor that needs recognition. Good idea.

Here's my two cents even tho you have some great suggestions already. First thing you should do for your sanity is to figure out where this "adware" is coming from. Some of the common things that people do: A) Is the adware coming from installing or installed programs, apps, or drivers? B) Is the adware coming from downloads of music or adult sites? C) Is the adware coming from a compromised file system where you have malware (silly little game someone downloaded somewhere is most common) installed which automatically launches (hidden or visible) then installs adware in the background? D) Is the adware coming from email or files shared among friends / work associates? E) Is the adware coming from inexperienced users that may be doing some of the above on your computer? (You should give them unprivileged separate accounts that they log into and use. Google how to set this up if you're unsure how to add additional users on your machine) I know this all seems simple but you'd be surprised what some people think is safe internet behavior. Once you figure out the cause the solution may vary. Of course the first step is to get back to a clean operating system. Here's my recommendation for doing this and it applies to every operating system every user. You will need another computer laptop or desktop doesn't matter and even a friend's computer works in a pinch. You'll need to order, go buy, or borrow an external adapter for the infected machine's hard drive if you don't have one. Here's one I've had for awhile and it allows you to connect current and older hardware so sata and ide and I think I paid less than $15 for it. 1) On the uninfected machine update that machines anti-virus software with most current version and data files (most software will work, there is great speculation as to which one is better) it's ultimately your choice. 2) Uninstall the hard drive from the infected computer. 3) Use the adapter or one like it pictured above to connect the infected drive to the clean system. 4) Once you do this and your uninfected computer recognizes the new drive you just attached it will appear as a volume just like a CD or thumb drive. (Start > Devices and Printers) You can right click the infected drive and choose SCAN by antivirus software. By doing this you've mounted that entire drive as a file system and not a running operating system with files on it which can allow nasty malware to hide, rewrite itself even after being deleted, you name it. When it's a file system like this it's all harmless files as long as you don't install (run a program) from that hard drive. 5) If you didn't right click the drive you can usually open the anti-virus software and tell it what to scan. In our case here you'll scan that drive from your infected machine that you just connected. You'll be surprised what you find that you can't find while the operating system on the infected drive is running. 6) When the anti-virus is done scanning you should look at what it found. Print it out if you can and use that to determine where your initial problem came from. 7) Disconnect the now clean hard drive and re-install it in your computer. 8) Verify the problems are resolved. One thing that you'll notice is how fast you can scan your entire drive when it's mounted as a file system. This in itself is the best reason to do it this way let alone all the benefits you get from your anti-virus working this way. Now back to your anti-virus. I know people have different opinions about this but I can tell from 12 years of continued use the only thing I use is the Grisoft AVG free anti-virus. It is an absolute blessing and terrific program with all the modern bells and whistles. The thing I like the most about it is that it's easy on your system resources not to mention their data files and updates are top notch. Did I mention it's free? You'll have to scour the web for the link to download the product but if you search Grisoft's site you'll find it. They also have a paid version but I've never used it so I don't know much about it. I imagine it's just as good it just doesn't nag you every couple months when it updates to become a paying customer which I think is a fair trade for good software at a good price. Good luck out there and remember not everything that looks safe is. Think of everything you download as a prostitute you never know what kind of surprises you're going to get. Oh and now that you have the drive adapter there's no reason you can't purchase a blank drive like the one in your machine and use something like GParted to clone it once it's clean. This is a great way to make a full and complete backup of your system. Get good and this and you'll never loose anything again and never have to pay for backup sites. Have fun. Erik

Is that my tax dollars hard at work watching my tax dollars working by those paid with my tax dollars reported by a guy who used to get paid with my tax dollars and lives in Russia now? I'm not sure who should feel more victimized here. I do think the NSA are some scary people just glad they aren't watching me, or are they? Stay strong Nesher we'll all come together and figure this thing out called life, at least I hope we do before it's too late. The code name for the operation is crazy. I mean who thinks up these things? Erik

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This shouldn't affect anyone but in the off chance you notice some slower (sluggish) response times over the next week here's the why. CombatACE is in the process of moving our port 80 machine (the one that handles the website pages) to a new machine. This is in preparation for a major site upgrade that's coming soon that will bring us into 2016 with guns blazing. So standby and I'll keep this post updated as necessary and be sure to let you know when we're all moved then what to to expect for the site upgrade. For now carry on as normal and pardon us if we seem a bit busy in the background because we definitely will be. Erik

Back up and running all services green. Thank you.

Apologies I have to take the new machine down for 20 minutes to add some new hardware. The server will be offline momentarily. Thank you. Erik

Must mean the new machine is working well for everyone. Sounds like hungry people at the dinner table around here. :) E

Saw your response Wrench though I think you removed it. I assume you got it all sorted out? Was it something silly? E

Things I have provided in the past are collaboration space basically an ftp space where you can store and share files with a team, forum space (private or otherwise) for keeping records, files, sharing ideas, planning, etc. In general whatever we can help with or we can offer we'll do, that's why we're here. E

If you guys need anything please let me know. I have been known to help with collaboration work space (ie ftp space) and other needs you may have that I can help with. Don't hesitate to reach out and have fun with whatever you decide to do. E

Just tested and I have no problems using either of those buttons. This might be browser related. Can you switch browsers and try again or at the very least reload your current browser? Nothing about the site changed software wise the only thing that changed is the hardware. I know a lot of people are upgrading to the latest IE, that's not going to work on this work until I have updated our software. Thanks for the report. E

Specifically that has to do with our forum software which I'll be updating soon. Once updated that will resolve your issue with the editor feature. Thanks.

SERVER MOVE UPDATE - 8, January 2015: All systems moved and online 100%. Have fun and thanks for understanding during our downtime. I'll be posting again when we upgrade our site software which should be sometime soon. Erik

The downloads, gallery, and blog are now offline. The final backup and move is starting and the main site may see some downtime. This is planned and we will be back as soon as possible. Thank you.

UPDATE JAN 7, 2015 - Our files have all been synced to the new machine and we are ready to move. Tomorrow morning there will be some downtime where all our sites will be offline. The site will need to be shut down so I can get an accurate snapshot of current files and update the new machine. This process may take up to an hour but should only be a few minutes. I'll post back in this topic 1 hour prior to shutting us down. Thanks in advance for understanding our downtime tomorrow. Erik

UPDATE JAN 05: New server online and partially migrated. Data continues to move today. The actual transfer may happen as early as tomorrow. I'll keep this post updated as we get further along.

Happy New Year All !!! Praying for all the displaced families by mother nature during the holiday season. You're all strong people and my heart goes out to you all. May each of your first day in the new year be filled with relaxation, good friends, and family. Cheers!

GParted or Gnome Partition Manager I don't know if you're using it but if you're not you should. The latest release is free and you can download the ISO and burn a bootable CD in a matter of minutes. Boot with the CD and move entire partitions with a simple copy / paste and it only takes minutes. This is the best backup you can have of your all your files and operating system. Want to move to a bigger drive no problem GParted does this just as easy. I just can't imagine a better tool and I've had to use it quite a bit lately. I highly recommend you get a new second drive and mirror your current drive then if anything happens pull the drive out of your desk and slap it in and it will boot just like your current machine and you'd never know you were using a new hard drive. Do this weekly to keep your files up to date on your drive copy and you'll never loose anything again. I sound like a pitch man but serious it's FREE as part of the Linux community. Disk management made easy, get GParted. Erik

To all our friends and family, The holidays are upon us and I wonder to myself where this year went. It's the season to wish one another joy, love, and peace. Our wishes for you are to have the happiest of holidays no matter how you celebrate the season, may you give and receive love throughout this time of year, and may you all find warmth and celebration with family and friends. We'll see you in 2016! Be well and happy holidays, From all of us at CombatACE

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