Techs,
What are .sop files? I found many in my directory with names of specifics brands and products. They suggested the names of spam campaigns to me, so I deleted them. Then my config.sys file was hosed.
I googled for further info, but did not determine if they are necessary or not. Any insight?
regards.
Paultpa
I have never come across these files TBH, a search found nothing to do with infections or anything nasty, all the results I found came back as Standard Operating Procedure, so looking it would appear these are essential system files, you should NEVER blindly start deleting files, you should ALWAYS find out what they are first, and even if they turn out to be something nasty, there are good and bad ways to deal with them, but there is no solid rule, it depends what it is, are you able to restore to before you deleted these files ?
News update on this, 8210GUY . . .
an engineer I worked with at two tech shops looked at the IBM laptop I could have hosed when I removed the .sop files. He said my machine does not see Windows. He did not say why that happened. He also could not boot from the Win XP Pro CD. Apparently something got corrupted or I removed the wrong items trying to outsmart supposed spammers. So the machine your tech BHowett and I worked on fro so long to kill those two trojans took a fatal hit.
The HD should be wiped next week, losing all the IBM overhead along with a wonderful CheckPoint firewall. At least I can put in some anonymous machine registrations.
If you find out anything more about the .sop files I'd be very interested, as they have specific brand names. And I wonder why the names of Ford and other products are files that are SOP to my laptop.
many thanks,
Paultpa
If you still got info on that HD, you'd like to retrieve, look into some of the Linux distro's which are bootable from a USB stick. Like Ubuntu, Fedora or DSL (DamnSmallLinux) even Linux pendrive (based on Mandriva distro) if you have access to another machine to make a bootable pendrive from.
Well as I said above they appear to be system files, so I'm not surprised about the news, but as to the files you mention, they sound as though they were a part of the system ?
Just wondering if you have, or can get rescue disks to restore it, but one major point when it comes to formating drives, if the pc is store bought then do NOT blindly format the drive, you will lose EVERYTHING, most makers use hidden partitions to store the recovery files etc, formating a drive can remove that and leave you with nothing, no OS or anything, so you end up with a "useless" shell, of course you can get another OS and install, but obviously thats at a cost, so just check about recovery options from the makers, they may be able to help restore to out of the box status.
That's the question . . . why are .sopfiles with major brand names like Ford or suspicious file names like admedia Std. Operating Procedure in Win XP Pro or installed by IBM when they loaded my laptop? My somewhat logical thought was that they were externally loaded by a masked spammer so I cut them loose.
That may be coincidental with my config.sys getting hosed, and my very experienced engineer pal (he's installation, project and repair experienced for over 15 years) telling me the OS does not see windows. He wants to wipe the drive, OK.
Having much respect for this forum, your good guy BHowett and the knowledge of techical folks overall, I thought I'd present the issue for our future awareness. Seems we're not sure if I goofed by deleting mission critical files or if something was "protected" with a "fuse" on it.
The PC was not store bought, but purchased directly from IBM for my position within security services. Regarding the formatting, I can only imagine the extras that IBM installs on machines so as to better "manage" the data. My PC exchanged data with our servers over the VPN all day.
Most of the HD was accessible through a utility and he copied alot of files onto a CD for me. But I am glad to pass on the suggestions from Abydos.
Many thanks!
paultpa
Gentlemen,
As an aside, tech pal told me yesterday that removal of the .sop files may just be coincidental. He said my whole IBM laptop may be toast. It shuts down 46 seconds after booting. He believes it is something else . . . perhaps a circuit connection in the keyboard, I suggested battery (it is a Lenovo, made in China). Am awaiting word, and if it is I'll let you know.
As we know, these soldered connections get soft or develop cracks, and even a mostly stationary desktop laptop will become uncertain after 3 years. Maybe it's time to toss it on the heap of other tech boat anchors and get a new Windows 7 machine with a 42" TV and new wireless router with top speeds and coordinate internet over the TV.
Thank you all for your time and help. Happy 4th!
paultpa
If you want to use this a good excuse to get a new one … go for it.
Laptops don't just go bad after 3 years, especially if they are mostly stationary. What often causes problems is plugging and unplugging the power adapter somewhat aggressively, or banging the power plug while it's plugged in, causing the solder connections to the system board to break. That's actually fairly easy to repair, just takes time and instructions on how to get the thing apart.
I've carried my Dell Inspiron 6000 all over the country and it's still working fine after 4.5 years. I'm careful with it though and don't let anyone mess with it.
go for it.
Laptops don't just go bad after 3 years, especially if they are mostly stationary. What often causes problems is plugging and unplugging the power adapter somewhat aggressively, or banging the power plug while it's plugged in, causing the solder connections to the system board to break. That's actually fairly easy to repair, just takes time and instructions on how to get the thing apart.
I've carried my Dell Inspiron 6000 all over the country and it's still working fine after 4.5 years. I'm careful with it though and don't let anyone mess with it.