(Tech) Probs with C4

[Phaser]

Hey guys I have had loadsa PC probs lately and have had to re-format my hard drive about 15 times (tick tock!) after doing the format & reinstalling windows & all my games & applications. I try to do updates on my Nova Games (C4 & F-22) but firstly I cannot connect to the update server via the links in the relative games, and if I go to The Nova site I Still Can't update the games 'cos the page won't open.
Can anyone Advise me on this?

And Bloody hell R~A~B
This is an order from 'GOD' (he just told me!)
You are NOT allowed to quit

[nakulak]

I hadn't heard about the udated server not working (?) but if you continue to not be able to update, all you need to do is overwrite the older files with good ones. If someone in your squad can't do that for you send me an email and I'll fix you up.

nakulak@comcast.net

[RAB]

Hey all you need to do to update your games is go to the Novalogic website and download the update you need from there. http://www.novalogic.com/updates.asp
After downloading to your PC, just run it from the desktop and it will install. If you download all the ones you need and burn them to a CD then you will always have them no mater how many times you have to reformat. Trust me I know. I had to redo my harddrive four times in one week. DONT ASK!!! I'm not exactly sure why either. Lets just say it was a bad week and leave it at that.

[nakulak]

dang, rab. you gotta get your dog to stop peeing on the computer !

[Phaser]

Hey RAB Thnx for the info....but I'd already tried that, and after logging in and going to updates, I still couldnt get it (story of my life! )
As it stands now I've done another format (God I'm learning!!!) and this time after downloading c4 the update worked straight from the game.....
I only get this particular problem when the C4GET is involved and although I reckon its a kool application and very practical to use during game play, I just cant afford to install it again.
I also know there is a site (<KA7> pitfighters info) that has all the links for c4's 'extras' in it. Can anyone let me know the address for that site?
Or if there isn't a site like that there should be.......(anyone up for it?)

PS....What the hell is happening to the c4 community? Where is everyone going.......? I know the Battlefield series is kool but I NEED to fly.....

I'm also thinking of changing my name (as yet to f nose!) 'cos the name Widowmaker [after the F4 Starfighter] is getting old And I like to keep upto date with things, anyone got any ideas?

Have A nice One

[stejoymadandlau]

Hey all! Here's what I did, all accidentally of course. I un, then re-installed my privacy program (mcafee). When I reinstalled the program, I gave the c4.exe complete ststem access, and voila! It worked! Good luck!

[RAB]

HMMMM You trust Nova with complete system access.

[Charger]

Chances are if you re-format your computer the first time and the problem still exist then the problem doesn't lie with Windows. I see this all to often that people will re-format up to six times just to fix a problem with a game. Truth is re-formatting should always be a last resort...well glad you got your problem fixed.

Just a friendly suggestion and reminder that though re-formatting won't hurt your HD, may wear it out faster, but a percentage of the time re-formatting a HD just to fix a problem with a game if your not having problems with other programs probably isn't the solution.

[Phaser]

Hey All...
I am not playing C4 for a while now as it seems that it is the source of my PC probs! If you want to check with pitfighter he can expand on the situation. I have (in the past) allowed him remote access to my PC and he is more knowledgable about the situation (quote "You have been hacked")
The situation at the moment is the US Army, the Royal Air Force and the Police are looking into the situation, although even the Airforce's Black Box Experts cannot retrieve the info.

I'll keep in touch tho....
I'm also on my way back to Bavaria, as they have asked me to go back!
Av A Nice un!
Nick - aka - Widowmaker - aka - 18 Charlie

[RAB]

I try to do updates on my Nova Games (C4 & F-22) but firstly I cannot connect to the update server via the links in the relative games, and if I go to The Nova site I Still Can't update the games 'cos the page won't open.

I was wondering how Comanche 4 has caused your web browser not to open an update page from a web site. I'm afraid I disagree with Pit on this one. I would look at your install process and see if your missing an update or something that cuases a conflict. Also after installing Windows the order of the updates and driver installs can make a difference in performance also. I keep a copy of SP1, SP2, DX9c, your video card drivers and NETFramework on disc. Installing the major portion of the updates that way will keep you off the internet untill you get to the point you can install your firewall and other protective measures. Be sure you have DX9 installed before you install your video drivers also. The drivers need the DX files. True it will installing the other way around but the drivers will use the default install files and after you get the updated DX in you could end up with dead links in your registry. Always try to put the most needed updates first. That way the drivers and files the OS uses most will be installed at the front of the drive. Makes for quicker access to the files needed to start up and can cut down boot up times. Can also help keep your drive from getting fragmented. If you use the default drivers for some hardware and install games and utilities so you can get back into the game quicker, You end up leaving small sections of fragments where the default drivers(bare minimum needed to run the hardware) are uninstalled. If they even uninstall at that point. If they don't then you have a registry bloated with unneeded entries. I have built or repaired many PCs over time. I have done my own more times than I care to admit. I tend to experiment with alot of utilities and things and expect do need to clean mine and reinstall often. But for normal gaming and web surfing an install done in the correct order will last a couple years if not longer. In the last few years of playing C4 I have never once seen the game cause any problems with the normal fuctions of the OS. I wish I could get my hands on your PC for a full day. I would have you set up and blasting helos out of the skies in no time. You would be more than welcome to stop if you would like. But if not I would try and find any and all of the latest versions of drivers and updates needed for your PC and burn them to disc. After you install XP install your chipset drivers for your motherboard then SP1 and SP2 then DX9c then your video drivers. I wouldn't use the driver CD that came with the card though. When you bought the card new there were probably already 2 or3 updates to the drivers on the disc. Go to the manufactures site and get the latest. Install NETFramework 1.01 and the update for that. Both available from the Microsoft download section. After that make sure your XP firewall is up and running and go get any of the High Priority updates from the Windows Update service. I usually have to run the update service 2 or 3 times. Some of the update are not available until others are installed. After all your updates and drivers are installed I recomend doing a defrag on the hard drive and rebooting before going on to install the rest of the programs of your choice. This process takes a little time. I can install XP in about 20-25 minutes. But then I'll spend 2 hours or more making sure I get everything loaded in correctly. Sounds like a pain in the ass doesn't it. And your right it is. But not as much of a pain as having to reformat and reinstall your OS 10 or 15 times trying to fix problems that creep up later on down the road. If you have any other questions or need help finding the files needed to download and archive let me know. I've got all kinds of driver sites bookmarked.

Take care bud,

[stejoymadandlau]

HMMMM You trust Nova with complete system access.

Nah! Just the game...c4.exe

[Phaser]

Hey RAB...
Thnx for your reply. (kool) although, The situation as it stands is:-
I woke @ 3.00 am one morning and my PC was booted & Nero Burner was running, with no discs in the drive, my opinion at the time was that someone was stealing my info. This has happened in the past, My Windows Media Player was stolen with 100 hrs of music (irreplacable!) and has continued with some US Army info going. I notified the authorities and have been given instructions not to keep any military info on my PC. To which I have complied!
So as the burner was running I decided to try & over load the thiefs with the largest application I had at the time, = C4, but it was taken as well. (bummer) ever since then I have had loadsa probs with it, IE: only 99% installing and it also seems that whenever I boot my PC there is some one running along side of me. This I have noticed because of little things, IE: my Recycle Bin icon on my desktop has changed position, from bottom right to bottom left, there are other little indicators but I won't mention them now.
I have reformatted my hard drive about 12 times but the problem continues.
Also I have reinstalled Windows XP about 15 times. but to no avail!
Do you have a handi (mobile) if you do can you text me?
My No. is +44(0)7790726131.
Much obliged for your expertise. you seem to know what your doing with the PC's. If ever you want to use my skills just let me know.
Yours Widowmaker - aka - Nick (18 Charlie)

[RAB]

I think you should check your BIOS settings during the boot up sequence. Make sure the "Wake on LAN" option is turned off. If you shut your PC down and and someone is remotely accessing it, That should cut them off. You can also password your BIOS settings so no one else can get into them. Also check your Windows Services and check the status of your Remote Access and Remote Procedure Call settings. Also got to your Control Panel then System Properties. From there check under the Remote tab. Make sure both the Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop are both unchecked.
Even if you have had some one remotely steal information from your PC it shouldn't effect any future installs. Just be sure you do a complete format during the install process to complely remove any information from the past install. If your hard drive has been completely wiped clean and your still haveing issues right after an install you might try using somebody elses CD to install from. As long as you use the same version of Windows it will except your product code. Its possible that your copy as been scratched in a way that some part of the install process is corrupted. Try holding the install disc up to a light and see if there are any spot where the light shines through. You can actually do more damage to a CD by scratching the lable side of it then the side you read the information from. The lable side is closer to where the information is actually burned into the disc. If installing from another disc works, I would recomend making two copies of it. One to use for normal everyday use and one to store in a safe place just in case the first one gets scratched in the future.
As for using your Comanche game to flood someone else with information. Well first off Comanche isnt really all that large of an application really. But even if someone read the information from the CD, That would be all they could do. No way to physicly remove any information from it. And your product code isnt stored on the CD anywhere either.
I still belive you can get a good working OS, As long as the install disc isnt scratched, By taking the time to install and update everything in proper order. If you still think your at risk after all that you can always pull the ethernet cable off the machine when your not using it. Would be kind a hard to remote access a machine thats not hooked to the internet.

Much obliged for your expertise. you seem to know what your doing with the PC's.

LOL As for my expertise. Keep in mind your listening to a high school drop out that sits at home with way to much time on his hands. Everything I know concerning PCs I have taught myself.

[nakulak]

(read the whole note before you start, cause you should have your antivirus and firewall install programs available before you start, and there are a couple very important notes at the bottom)

to secure a pc you must have at least a few things done properly:
A) physical security (someone who has access to your computer is screwing with it)
B) updated os & software (continually)
C) somekind of software security (firewall + antivirus )
D) some kind of user security (anti-spyware, user who doesn't download trojans from email or web pages knowingly or unknowingly)


if you want to try installing your os from scratch:
1)physically disconnect your computer from internet
2) install os with oem disk
3)install all driver disks (oem disks) mobo, vgart, video, sound, etc.
(* note, if you do not have cdrom oem disks, you run the risk of installing
a virus here from bad disks/copied disks etc*)
3) install a firewall (like outpost for free by agnitum)
4) install an antivirus program (like avg for free)
5) depending on windows version, go to control panel or admin , then to services, and shut down and disable alerter, and messenger. also make sure
that file sharing is off on all drives. somewhere on the c4league web site I
have a couple pages and links to all the services you might want to turn off.
(in your case I would start out by turning all you can off, you can turn them
back on if needed)

now you can physically reconnect to the internet, then:
6) update os until it is completely updated (may take several reboots)
7) update drivers from oem source websites
8)update the virus definitions from internet
9)if you have winxp, make a restore point now

now at this point, if you have a firewall that gives you the kind of info that outpost provides, you can learn to use the thing and check exactly every connection that is running on your machine - this will enable you to quickly determine if someone else is running a remote trojan by seeing their connection to your machine in the status window. there should be no connections other than normal ones, or one of your install/oem disks has a virus on it.(most of the commonly used trojans will show up, there may be a couple of rare ones that know how to bypass this) you should also learn to use the built in windows task manager so that you can see all processes that are running when your system is "normal". trojans will try to hide their processes by giving themselves names that look like windows programs, but aren't, so familiarizing yourself with the processes that normally run, and even making a list of them manually that you can check would be a very good thing. then when you see a new process that shouldn't be there, and you haven't installed anything new (knowingly), you can isolate the process quickly and shut it down by simply killing it. This is also very useful in finding the actual executable on your hard drive and deleting it as well as finding out where in the registry the thing was installed, and deleting that too.


assuming you now have a clean install, you need to carefully scrutinize any
items you now are going to install (software, games, whatever) You must assume that every floppy and every writable disk you have is infected, and scan them before using or installing anything. In fact, there is something you should do at this point that may save you a lot of trouble if you have win2k or winxp:
i) you may or may not know it, but you are currently running in administrator mode. you should now create a regular user.
ii) switch to regular user any time you need to check out a floppy or read/write disk, and scan it using the regular user. this should prevent an infected disk from installing mal-ware on your machine. once the disks are scanned, and you want to install the software, change back to power user or sysadmin status and install. if you scan the disks as a sysadmin, the virus or trojan can freely install itself without your knowledge.



10) before installing anything at all, scan the install disk for viruses. you may have a game or software disk that installs a trojan every time you are reinstalling the software.
11) never download any "search bars" or free "add ons" to your machine from any web site at all, most contain spyware and some contain viruses
12) install a spyware remover and run it once a week, if you are having the kind of problems that you are it is likely that you are either a) visiting a web site regularly that is installing viruses/trojans on your machine, or b) getting email from one or more people that is infected and regularly getting infected that way

13) if all of the above fails, then it is likely that someone who has physical access to your computer is infecting it. Install a keylogger (a safe one) that will spy on your machine, and you can view logs to see who is using your machine and getting it infected (wife/kid, coworker using your machine to go to porn sites, etc, could be anyone - cleaning lady, etc)


a couple of notes:

I) if you are on the inside of a network, and you have file sharing on, it would be trivial for a coworker to take control of your machine.
II) it is trivial for members of your subnet to grab anything that you send out or receive on your machine that is not encrypted, by the use of a simple program called a sniffer. If you regularly send out or receive passwords that provide access to your machine, then anyone on your subnet could grab that information. If you need to send encrypted emails, learn about email encryption, buy a key, and use it. Spy agencies will be able to read your email, but most people won't. Also, if you keep any files on your computer with passwords in them, make an encrypted drive or folder to keep them in.


lastly: when you are not at your computer, keep it in locked mode and make it require a password to log on. If someone else needs to use it, create a standard user, or guest account, so that they can't install their own key logger to grab your passwords etc.

hope this helps

nak

one last note: there are a few viruses that install themselves in the master boot record, and a standard reformat does not kill them. in this case I believe that you need a decent virus program to detect it (so that you will know if you have deleted it when you rescan), then you may have to do a low level format, and then run the scanner again to see if it was sucessfully removed. The problem with the master boot record virus would explain why you could be reformatting and still getting your virus back. low level formatting is (usually) simple, most drives come with a floppy that contains the instructions and the format utility. just make sure that you have the correct track/sector/disksize by first using the correct manufacturer's disk utility to analyze the disk prior to formatting. Also, before you ever even start to reformat the drive, use a couple of utilities to get the drive information as it is now so you can make it the same (run fdisk and get the drive info and disk size, and also run a disk utility (preferably the manufacturer's) and get the current track/sector/disk size as it is now. Also you might want to check the label on the disk and see if that agrees too)

[RAB]

one last note: there are a few viruses that install themselves in the master boot record, and a standard reformat does not kill them. in this case I believe that you need a decent virus program to detect it (so that you will know if you have deleted it when you rescan), then you may have to do a low level format, and then run the scanner again to see if it was sucessfully removed. The problem with the master boot record virus would explain why you could be reformatting and still getting your virus back. low level formatting is simple, most drives come with a floppy that contains the instructions and the format utility.

BCWipe is one that i would recomend. It will do a sector by sector wipe of your hard drive. Plus it free.(BONUS EXTRA)
Another thing you might look into for when you do get a good clean install is Norton Ghost. Once you have everything up and running like it should be you can use Ghost to do a secter by secter image of your hard drive. If you have problems later on down the line the you can use the Ghost copy of your hard drive to restore your PC to the point Ghost image was made. If you make the image after a new install and you have all your updates drivers already installed you can use that in the future in place of having to reinstalling from scratch.