Carbonite
 

Does anyone here have it? I have had it for probably three or four years
now. No problems at first. But then I noticed that sometimes when I had to
reboot, it would need to be reinstalled. I do have to reboot frequently due
to a game that I play on Facebook. It locks up my computer if I play it for
too long. Yeah, I know I should stop using it. But...

More recently I have been having trouble with the reinstall. Sometimes I
get a message telling me that there is an error but most of the time I do
not. Most of the time I have to reboot in the middle of the night. I am a
night owl. It almost seems like you simply can not get the download during
the night. But once in a while it will work.

What is frustrating me is that sometimes I have to spend a good 2 hours just
trying to reinstall it. Makes me dread having to reboot.

It does say on their website that AV can mess this up. Actually once I went
to their live chat and the person there took Malwarebytes off of my computer
as he said it was causing the problem. I watched in horror as he did this
and soon after I got a virus that would have been caught by that. It
apparently disabled my Norton which is why I didn't notice it. Had to take
the computer in to the shop to get that taken care of.

On the website it shows screen shots of Malwarebytes and my version of
Norton and tells you what to do so that Carbonite can access your computer.
But... The screen shots in no way resemble what *my* screens look like in
those AVs. So I am super frustrated.

This always seems to happen when no one is there to ask. But I am also kind
of afraid to ask them for help after they took off my Malwarebytes. They
shouldn't have done that. Grrr...

Re: Carbonite
 

Julie Bove wrote:
> Does anyone here have it? I have had it for probably three or four years
> now. No problems at first. But then I noticed that sometimes when I had to
> reboot, it would need to be reinstalled. I do have to reboot frequently due
> to a game that I play on Facebook. It locks up my computer if I play it for
> too long. Yeah, I know I should stop using it. But...
>
> More recently I have been having trouble with the reinstall. Sometimes I
> get a message telling me that there is an error but most of the time I do
> not. Most of the time I have to reboot in the middle of the night. I am a
> night owl. It almost seems like you simply can not get the download during
> the night. But once in a while it will work.
>
> What is frustrating me is that sometimes I have to spend a good 2 hours just
> trying to reinstall it. Makes me dread having to reboot.
>
> It does say on their website that AV can mess this up. Actually once I went
> to their live chat and the person there took Malwarebytes off of my computer
> as he said it was causing the problem. I watched in horror as he did this
> and soon after I got a virus that would have been caught by that. It
> apparently disabled my Norton which is why I didn't notice it. Had to take
> the computer in to the shop to get that taken care of.
>
> On the website it shows screen shots of Malwarebytes and my version of
> Norton and tells you what to do so that Carbonite can access your computer.
> But... The screen shots in no way resemble what *my* screens look like in
> those AVs. So I am super frustrated.
>
> This always seems to happen when no one is there to ask. But I am also kind
> of afraid to ask them for help after they took off my Malwarebytes. They
> shouldn't have done that. Grrr...
>
>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonite_(online_backup)

"Carbonite Online Backup installs a client software program
on the user’s computer that operates continuously in the background.

This client software automatically seeks out new and changed files
on the user’s computer and backs them up using incremental backup.
Each file is compressed and encrypted before it is sent to
remote servers at the company's data centers via the Internet.
Data is transmitted to the servers using a secure SSL link.

The program is designed to automatically back up user-generated content
including text documents, spreadsheets, financial documents, photos, music,
etc. Specifically, on a Windows PC, Carbonite backs up everything in the
Documents and Settings folder, including the desktop, favorites, and all
other files except for temporary, log and video files.

Any file or folder can be added to the default backup if it is on a local
(internal) drive formatted with the FAT32 or NTFS file systems. The backup
software integrates with Windows Explorer, adding green dots to the file icons
of any backed up file. Adding or removing files from the backup is done using
the right mouse button and the Windows context menus.
"

So right there, that tells you the software is pretty invasive.

What you'd want to do, is ask Carbonite tech support, what they recommend
for AV software. Then see, whether the recommended protection methods,
are horrible or not. (If they recommend an AV which isn't good at
detecting problems, you would not want to switch to it.)

I don't know the AV products by heart, but if I had to guess, the payware
version of Malwarebytes probably does a lot of its detection via heuristic
behavior. That means, it watches software, and what that software attempts
to interfere with. It could be watching the Carbonite, and conclude it is
up to no good. And that's why you have a problem. Maybe it quarantines all
the carbonite install files, which is why you have to reinstall it ? Check
the quarantine screens on your AV software, and see what it's catching.
Maybe the missing files are in a quarantine folder. Something similar could
be happening with your Facebook game - AV product took a dislike to the
game, and froze the computer.

All AVs will have some heuristic detection capability (or otherwise, they'd
be "tipped over" too easily). Some are better than others. And some, will
have a "hair trigger". I know in the past, I've had trouble with this,
with dialog boxes galore that didn't belong on screen. But an AV product
isn't going to get a good reputation for being thorough, if it doesn't
question everything it sees. This is in the "necessary evil" category.

I was tempted to answer this question, by suggesting you boot with a second
OS, and do the backup from there. But once I read the description of
Carbonite on Wikipedia, I see that such a suggestion would be inappropriate.
Carbonite is designed to back up live content, and trying to achieve the
backups from a second boot OS, would not take advantage of the Carbonite
approach.

*******

If you switch to a local backup method, the disadvantage is no disaster
recovery (if your house burns down, the backup drive could be burned with it).
There are many products, which base backups on VSS, so that when you need to
back up the C: drive, there is no need to reboot (it's no longer like using
"Ghost" from the old days). For example, if I need to make a "System Image"
on my Windows 7 laptop, that can be made while I'm still working. And that
ends up stored on an external USB drive. So the only limitation with a lot
of other backup approaches, is how to handle the USB external drive, in a
way that is disaster proof. And I guess your adherence to Carbonite, is the answer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrium_Reflect

Macrium, or a similar tool, is less likely to trigger an AV response.
In that, the VSS service does the dirty work, and the VSS service is "trusted".

Paul

Re: Carbonite
 

"Paul" <nospam@needed.com> wrote in message
news:jv5lge$u4e$1@dont-email.me...
> Julie Bove wrote:
>> Does anyone here have it? I have had it for probably three or four years
>> now. No problems at first. But then I noticed that sometimes when I had
>> to reboot, it would need to be reinstalled. I do have to reboot
>> frequently due to a game that I play on Facebook. It locks up my
>> computer if I play it for too long. Yeah, I know I should stop using it.
>> But...
>>
>> More recently I have been having trouble with the reinstall. Sometimes I
>> get a message telling me that there is an error but most of the time I do
>> not. Most of the time I have to reboot in the middle of the night. I am
>> a night owl. It almost seems like you simply can not get the download
>> during the night. But once in a while it will work.
>>
>> What is frustrating me is that sometimes I have to spend a good 2 hours
>> just trying to reinstall it. Makes me dread having to reboot.
>>
>> It does say on their website that AV can mess this up. Actually once I
>> went to their live chat and the person there took Malwarebytes off of my
>> computer as he said it was causing the problem. I watched in horror as
>> he did this and soon after I got a virus that would have been caught by
>> that. It apparently disabled my Norton which is why I didn't notice it.
>> Had to take the computer in to the shop to get that taken care of.
>>
>> On the website it shows screen shots of Malwarebytes and my version of
>> Norton and tells you what to do so that Carbonite can access your
>> computer. But... The screen shots in no way resemble what *my* screens
>> look like in those AVs. So I am super frustrated.
>>
>> This always seems to happen when no one is there to ask. But I am also
>> kind of afraid to ask them for help after they took off my Malwarebytes.
>> They shouldn't have done that. Grrr...
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonite_(online_backup)
>
> "Carbonite Online Backup installs a client software program
> on the user’s computer that operates continuously in the background.
>
> This client software automatically seeks out new and changed files
> on the user’s computer and backs them up using incremental backup.
> Each file is compressed and encrypted before it is sent to
> remote servers at the company's data centers via the Internet.
> Data is transmitted to the servers using a secure SSL link.
>
> The program is designed to automatically back up user-generated
> content
> including text documents, spreadsheets, financial documents, photos,
> music,
> etc. Specifically, on a Windows PC, Carbonite backs up everything in
> the
> Documents and Settings folder, including the desktop, favorites, and
> all
> other files except for temporary, log and video files.
>
> Any file or folder can be added to the default backup if it is on a
> local
> (internal) drive formatted with the FAT32 or NTFS file systems. The
> backup
> software integrates with Windows Explorer, adding green dots to the
> file icons
> of any backed up file. Adding or removing files from the backup is
> done using
> the right mouse button and the Windows context menus.
> "
>
> So right there, that tells you the software is pretty invasive.
>
> What you'd want to do, is ask Carbonite tech support, what they recommend
> for AV software. Then see, whether the recommended protection methods,
> are horrible or not. (If they recommend an AV which isn't good at
> detecting problems, you would not want to switch to it.)
>
> I don't know the AV products by heart, but if I had to guess, the payware
> version of Malwarebytes probably does a lot of its detection via heuristic
> behavior. That means, it watches software, and what that software attempts
> to interfere with. It could be watching the Carbonite, and conclude it is
> up to no good. And that's why you have a problem. Maybe it quarantines all
> the carbonite install files, which is why you have to reinstall it ? Check
> the quarantine screens on your AV software, and see what it's catching.
> Maybe the missing files are in a quarantine folder. Something similar
> could
> be happening with your Facebook game - AV product took a dislike to the
> game, and froze the computer.
>
> All AVs will have some heuristic detection capability (or otherwise,
> they'd
> be "tipped over" too easily). Some are better than others. And some, will
> have a "hair trigger". I know in the past, I've had trouble with this,
> with dialog boxes galore that didn't belong on screen. But an AV product
> isn't going to get a good reputation for being thorough, if it doesn't
> question everything it sees. This is in the "necessary evil" category.
>
> I was tempted to answer this question, by suggesting you boot with a
> second
> OS, and do the backup from there. But once I read the description of
> Carbonite on Wikipedia, I see that such a suggestion would be
> inappropriate.
> Carbonite is designed to back up live content, and trying to achieve the
> backups from a second boot OS, would not take advantage of the Carbonite
> approach.
>
> *******
>
> If you switch to a local backup method, the disadvantage is no disaster
> recovery (if your house burns down, the backup drive could be burned with
> it).
> There are many products, which base backups on VSS, so that when you need
> to
> back up the C: drive, there is no need to reboot (it's no longer like
> using
> "Ghost" from the old days). For example, if I need to make a "System
> Image"
> on my Windows 7 laptop, that can be made while I'm still working. And that
> ends up stored on an external USB drive. So the only limitation with a lot
> of other backup approaches, is how to handle the USB external drive, in a
> way that is disaster proof. And I guess your adherence to Carbonite, is
> the answer.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrium_Reflect
>
> Macrium, or a similar tool, is less likely to trigger an AV response.
> In that, the VSS service does the dirty work, and the VSS service is
> "trusted".
>
> Paul

Thanks! I just don't understand why I never used to have a problem and now
all of a sudden that is all I have. But I will look into the AV's/

Re: Carbonite
 

"Julie Bove" <juliebove@frontier.com> wrote in message
news:jv5lr1$vsc$1@dont-email.me...
>
> "Paul" <nospam@needed.com> wrote in message
> news:jv5lge$u4e$1@dont-email.me...
>> Julie Bove wrote:
>>> Does anyone here have it? I have had it for probably three or four
>>> years now. No problems at first. But then I noticed that sometimes
>>> when I had to reboot, it would need to be reinstalled. I do have to
>>> reboot frequently due to a game that I play on Facebook. It locks up my
>>> computer if I play it for too long. Yeah, I know I should stop using
>>> it. But...
>>>
>>> More recently I have been having trouble with the reinstall. Sometimes
>>> I get a message telling me that there is an error but most of the time I
>>> do not. Most of the time I have to reboot in the middle of the night.
>>> I am a night owl. It almost seems like you simply can not get the
>>> download during the night. But once in a while it will work.
>>>
>>> What is frustrating me is that sometimes I have to spend a good 2 hours
>>> just trying to reinstall it. Makes me dread having to reboot.
>>>
>>> It does say on their website that AV can mess this up. Actually once I
>>> went to their live chat and the person there took Malwarebytes off of my
>>> computer as he said it was causing the problem. I watched in horror as
>>> he did this and soon after I got a virus that would have been caught by
>>> that. It apparently disabled my Norton which is why I didn't notice it.
>>> Had to take the computer in to the shop to get that taken care of.
>>>
>>> On the website it shows screen shots of Malwarebytes and my version of
>>> Norton and tells you what to do so that Carbonite can access your
>>> computer. But... The screen shots in no way resemble what *my* screens
>>> look like in those AVs. So I am super frustrated.
>>>
>>> This always seems to happen when no one is there to ask. But I am also
>>> kind of afraid to ask them for help after they took off my Malwarebytes.
>>> They shouldn't have done that. Grrr...
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonite_(online_backup)
>>
>> "Carbonite Online Backup installs a client software program
>> on the user's computer that operates continuously in the background.
>>
>> This client software automatically seeks out new and changed files
>> on the user's computer and backs them up using incremental backup.
>> Each file is compressed and encrypted before it is sent to
>> remote servers at the company's data centers via the Internet.
>> Data is transmitted to the servers using a secure SSL link.
>>
>> The program is designed to automatically back up user-generated
>> content
>> including text documents, spreadsheets, financial documents, photos,
>> music,
>> etc. Specifically, on a Windows PC, Carbonite backs up everything in
>> the
>> Documents and Settings folder, including the desktop, favorites, and
>> all
>> other files except for temporary, log and video files.
>>
>> Any file or folder can be added to the default backup if it is on a
>> local
>> (internal) drive formatted with the FAT32 or NTFS file systems. The
>> backup
>> software integrates with Windows Explorer, adding green dots to the
>> file icons
>> of any backed up file. Adding or removing files from the backup is
>> done using
>> the right mouse button and the Windows context menus.
>> "
>>
>> So right there, that tells you the software is pretty invasive.
>>
>> What you'd want to do, is ask Carbonite tech support, what they recommend
>> for AV software. Then see, whether the recommended protection methods,
>> are horrible or not. (If they recommend an AV which isn't good at
>> detecting problems, you would not want to switch to it.)
>>
>> I don't know the AV products by heart, but if I had to guess, the payware
>> version of Malwarebytes probably does a lot of its detection via
>> heuristic
>> behavior. That means, it watches software, and what that software
>> attempts
>> to interfere with. It could be watching the Carbonite, and conclude it is
>> up to no good. And that's why you have a problem. Maybe it quarantines
>> all
>> the carbonite install files, which is why you have to reinstall it ?
>> Check
>> the quarantine screens on your AV software, and see what it's catching.
>> Maybe the missing files are in a quarantine folder. Something similar
>> could
>> be happening with your Facebook game - AV product took a dislike to the
>> game, and froze the computer.
>>
>> All AVs will have some heuristic detection capability (or otherwise,
>> they'd
>> be "tipped over" too easily). Some are better than others. And some, will
>> have a "hair trigger". I know in the past, I've had trouble with this,
>> with dialog boxes galore that didn't belong on screen. But an AV product
>> isn't going to get a good reputation for being thorough, if it doesn't
>> question everything it sees. This is in the "necessary evil" category.
>>
>> I was tempted to answer this question, by suggesting you boot with a
>> second
>> OS, and do the backup from there. But once I read the description of
>> Carbonite on Wikipedia, I see that such a suggestion would be
>> inappropriate.
>> Carbonite is designed to back up live content, and trying to achieve the
>> backups from a second boot OS, would not take advantage of the Carbonite
>> approach.
>>
>> *******
>>
>> If you switch to a local backup method, the disadvantage is no disaster
>> recovery (if your house burns down, the backup drive could be burned with
>> it).
>> There are many products, which base backups on VSS, so that when you need
>> to
>> back up the C: drive, there is no need to reboot (it's no longer like
>> using
>> "Ghost" from the old days). For example, if I need to make a "System
>> Image"
>> on my Windows 7 laptop, that can be made while I'm still working. And
>> that
>> ends up stored on an external USB drive. So the only limitation with a
>> lot
>> of other backup approaches, is how to handle the USB external drive, in a
>> way that is disaster proof. And I guess your adherence to Carbonite, is
>> the answer.
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrium_Reflect
>>
>> Macrium, or a similar tool, is less likely to trigger an AV response.
>> In that, the VSS service does the dirty work, and the VSS service is
>> "trusted".
>>
>> Paul
>
> Thanks! I just don't understand why I never used to have a problem and
> now all of a sudden that is all I have. But I will look into the AV's/

Well I still don't know what the problem was. Carbonite told me that I had
a problem with my Windows and that I needed to take it to a shop, which I
did. There was one bad component on the mother board which has since been
replaced. And apparently it had three viruses. I have three different AVs
so I have no clue how that happened. But it has all been fixed now and...
Carbonite still wouldn't install!

I had to contact them again and they somehow forced it back onto my
computer. I just hope that it stays on there the next time that I have to
reboot.

Re: Carbonite
 

Julie Bove wrote:

>> Thanks! I just don't understand why I never used to have a problem and
>> now all of a sudden that is all I have. But I will look into the AV's/
>
> Well I still don't know what the problem was. Carbonite told me that I had
> a problem with my Windows and that I needed to take it to a shop, which I
> did. There was one bad component on the mother board which has since been
> replaced. And apparently it had three viruses. I have three different AVs
> so I have no clue how that happened. But it has all been fixed now and...
> Carbonite still wouldn't install!
>
> I had to contact them again and they somehow forced it back onto my
> computer. I just hope that it stays on there the next time that I have to
> reboot.

Did you get the names of the three viruses ?

I'd do a Google on them, and see what characteristics they might have in common.
Maybe they even have a "taste" for Carbonite. Yum.

*******

On the one hand, the AV may use heuristics to detect an application
as being a problem. As a result, good AV products will seem "intrusive",
stopping you from doing legit things. I used to have that problem
with my Kaspersky subscription. It seemed about every thirty seconds,
I was dismissing a warning dialog box.

And on the other hand, software which fiddles around at driver level,
can actually make the OS less secure. Which means, there is a remote
possibility, that a Carbonite computer has one extra security hole,
that a non-Carbonite computer might not have.

That's the beauty of open-ended ecosystems, where there are an infinite
number of combinations of "stuff". You never know, when you've constructed
a corner case, that nobody else has ever seen before.

The world was a much simpler and nicer place, before malware came along...

Paul

Re: Carbonite
 

"Paul" <nospam@needed.com> wrote in message
news:jvsjm9$3hn$1@dont-email.me...
> Julie Bove wrote:
>
>>> Thanks! I just don't understand why I never used to have a problem and
>>> now all of a sudden that is all I have. But I will look into the AV's/
>>
>> Well I still don't know what the problem was. Carbonite told me that I
>> had a problem with my Windows and that I needed to take it to a shop,
>> which I did. There was one bad component on the mother board which has
>> since been replaced. And apparently it had three viruses. I have three
>> different AVs so I have no clue how that happened. But it has all been
>> fixed now and... Carbonite still wouldn't install!
>>
>> I had to contact them again and they somehow forced it back onto my
>> computer. I just hope that it stays on there the next time that I have
>> to reboot.
>
> Did you get the names of the three viruses ?

No. They didn't give me the names and I didn't ask.
>
> I'd do a Google on them, and see what characteristics they might have in
> common.
> Maybe they even have a "taste" for Carbonite. Yum.
>
Hmmm... Could be.

> *******
>
> On the one hand, the AV may use heuristics to detect an application
> as being a problem. As a result, good AV products will seem "intrusive",
> stopping you from doing legit things. I used to have that problem
> with my Kaspersky subscription. It seemed about every thirty seconds,
> I was dismissing a warning dialog box.
>
> And on the other hand, software which fiddles around at driver level,
> can actually make the OS less secure. Which means, there is a remote
> possibility, that a Carbonite computer has one extra security hole,
> that a non-Carbonite computer might not have.
>
Ahhhhh. Hmmm...

> That's the beauty of open-ended ecosystems, where there are an infinite
> number of combinations of "stuff". You never know, when you've constructed
> a corner case, that nobody else has ever seen before.
>
> The world was a much simpler and nicer place, before malware came along...

That's so true.