We have a patron in our area who has a problem ..... Can anyone out there help? I'm hoping that someone can help me. I think I have a virus on my PAF program. Is that possible? I have never downloaded anyone's Gedcom on my PAF or any other info., everything had been entered by me. In the past 24 hrs. almost every one of my 16,000+ names have been duplicated with another RIN number and most of them have had the parents or spouses names deleted (so I have the original entry & RIN number plus a new entry & RIN number). I have an anti-virus program on my computer that runs regularly plus 2 anti-spyware programs that run every night. They all say I have no virus on my computer. I have my PAF program on a thumb drive and it shouldn't be affected. What do I do? Can I just delete my original PAF and then download from my thumb drive? If I have a hidden virus, how do I get rid of it?I would sure appreciate any help you can send me. **************It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms, and advice on AOL Money & Finance. (http://money.aol.com/tax?NCID=aolprf00030000000001)

I have never heard of a virus causing such a thing. It seems more like a description of someone having imported a gedcom their own data into their existing data file. Bill Buchanan ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2008 1:55 PM Subject: [PAF-5] Problem with PAF > > > We have a patron in our area who has a problem ..... Can anyone out there > help? > > > I'm hoping that someone can help me. I think I have a virus on my PAF > program. Is that possible? I have never downloaded anyone's Gedcom on my PAF or > any other info., everything had been entered by me. In the past 24 hrs. > almost every one of my 16,000+ names have been duplicated with another RIN number > and most of them have had the parents or spouses names deleted (so I have > the original entry & RIN number plus a new entry & RIN number). > I have an anti-virus program on my computer that runs regularly plus 2 > anti-spyware programs that run every night. They all say I have no virus on my > computer. > I have my PAF program on a thumb drive and it shouldn't be affected. What > do I do? Can I just delete my original PAF and then download from my thumb > drive? If I have a hidden virus, how do I get rid of it?I would sure > appreciate any help you can send me.

COPY your PAF file that is on the thumb drive to your hard drive, but give it another name. If your current file is JONES.PAF, copy the thumb file call it JONES2.PAF and work with it to see if you can find the problem, and you can experiment with the original file too by also copying it and using another name. Don't overwrite either of your copies until you can determine where the problem is. I don't think a virus would do that, I have never heard of it happening. I have several files with over 100,000 names in them and have never had that kind of problem. Hope this helps. Don Boudreaux Lafayette, La. [email protected] [email protected] wrote: > > > We have a patron in our area who has a problem ..... Can anyone out there > help? > > > I'm hoping that someone can help me. I think I have a virus on my PAF > program. Is that possible? I have never downloaded anyone's Gedcom on my PAF or > any other info., everything had been entered by me. In the past 24 hrs. > almost every one of my 16,000+ names have been duplicated with another RIN number > and most of them have had the parents or spouses names deleted (so I have > the original entry & RIN number plus a new entry & RIN number). > I have an anti-virus program on my computer that runs regularly plus 2 > anti-spyware programs that run every night. They all say I have no virus on my > computer. > I have my PAF program on a thumb drive and it shouldn't be affected. What > do I do? Can I just delete my original PAF and then download from my thumb > drive? If I have a hidden virus, how do I get rid of it?I would sure > appreciate any help you can send me. > > > > > > > > **************It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms, and advice on AOL Money & > Finance. (http://money.aol.com/tax?NCID=aolprf00030000000001) > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > >

Also, teach your patron how to make *backups* of their PAF data. If he had a few sequential backups he could restore from the most recent, and if it happened to have the same corruption, step backwards in time until he found a good version. I agree with Bill that this is unlikely to be a virus. Even though he said he has never imported anyone else's GEDCOM, this does look like a classic case of importing his own file back, except perhaps for the screwed up links. Even if his ego will not admit it, it is *almost* certainly user error. However to be on the safe side he should also plug in the flash drive and scan it for viruses. He does not initially need to copy the file from the thumb drive. Just start PAF and go File_Open and navigate to that file and open it. If it is good, THEN copy it to the HD and overwrite the bad one. If it is also bad, no amount of experimenting is going to determine the source of the problem. However there may be an easy fix. Simply do a match merge on UIDs. If those are duplicates from his own file that he exported and then imported back he can clean them up in one swoop. One last option if the above are not viable. The duplicates are going to be mostly the highest RINs. Find out what RIN the duplicates start at and export everything before that number. Create a new database and import that GED into it. Since there may have been a few RINs reused when the problem was created there could be a little merging left to do, but that will still be a lot better than any other alternative. In the future - BACKUP. Gary Templeman ----- Original Message ----- From: "Don Boudreaux" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2008 2:40 PM Subject: Re: [PAF-5] Problem with PAF > COPY your PAF file that is on the thumb drive to your hard drive, but > give it > another name. If your current file is JONES.PAF, copy the thumb file > call it > JONES2.PAF and work with it to see if you can find the problem, and you > can experiment with the original file too by also copying it and using > another > name. Don't overwrite either of your copies until you can determine where > the problem is. I don't think a virus would do that, I have never heard of > it happening. I have several files with over 100,000 names in them and > have never had that kind of problem. Hope this helps. > > Don Boudreaux > Lafayette, La. > [email protected] > > > [email protected] wrote: >> >> >> We have a patron in our area who has a problem ..... Can anyone out >> there >> help? >> >> >> I'm hoping that someone can help me. I think I have a virus on my PAF >> program. Is that possible? I have never downloaded anyone's Gedcom on >> my PAF or >> any other info., everything had been entered by me. In the past 24 hrs. >> almost every one of my 16,000+ names have been duplicated with another >> RIN number >> and most of them have had the parents or spouses names deleted (so I >> have >> the original entry & RIN number plus a new entry & RIN number). >> I have an anti-virus program on my computer that runs regularly plus 2 >> anti-spyware programs that run every night. They all say I have no >> virus on my >> computer. >> I have my PAF program on a thumb drive and it shouldn't be affected. >> What >> do I do? Can I just delete my original PAF and then download from my >> thumb >> drive? If I have a hidden virus, how do I get rid of it?I would sure >> appreciate any help you can send me. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> **************It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms, and advice on AOL Money & >> Finance. (http://money.aol.com/tax?NCID=aolprf00030000000001) >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> >> >> > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message