Huge virus

[Carolinablue]

Howdy guys, not about hho but everyone needs to know about this. This was sent to me by a friend of mine.

HUGE VIRUS COMING


http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/postcard.asp

Hi All, checked with Norton Anti-Virus, and they are gearing up for this virus. I checked Snopes (URL above:), and it is for real.

Get this E-mail message sent around to your contacts ASAP.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING AMONG FRIENDS, FAMILY AND CONTACTS!

You should be alert during the next few days. Do not open any message with an attachment entitled 'POSTCARD FROM HALLMARK,' regardless of who sent it to you. It is a virus which opens A POSTCARD IMAGE, which 'burns' the whole hard disc C of your computer. This virus will be received from someone who has your e-mail address in his/her contact list. This is the reason why you need to let all your contacts know about this. It is better to receive this message 25 times than to receive the virus and open it.

If you receive a mail called' POSTCARD,' even though sent to you by a friend, do not open it! Shut down your computer immediately.

This is the worst virus announced by CNN. It has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever. This virus was discovered by McAfee yesterday, and there is no repair yet for this kind of virus. This virus simply destroys the Zero Sector of the Hard Disc, where the vital information is kept.

COPY THIS, AND SEND IT TO YOUR FRIENDS. REMEMBER: IF YOU SEND IT TO THEM, YOU WILL BENEFIT ALL OF US

[Carolinablue]

Well I just got this back from another friend. Still wouldn't hurt to be alert.

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_postcard_virus.htm

[IronBear]

http://antivirus.about.com/od/emailhoaxes/p/postcard.htm

Good hearted people are always the victims in this type of thing...;)

[protecheqp]

always good to post a heads up .thanks

[Q-Hack!]

This is just another reason why I run Linux instead of Microsoft Windows on my computers.

[Painless]

This is just another reason why I run Linux instead of Microsoft Windows on my computers.

Amen Linux brother.

[triple88a]

linux doesnt get viruses? why not?

[alpha-dog]

linux doesnt get viruses? why not?

I also use Linux and it does get some virus but in the last four years I've had one and most poeple get none. Virus's are made to run on Windows.
Russ

[Q-Hack!]

linux doesnt get viruses? why not?

Two reasons stick out:

1.) Marketshare... More people use Windows so there are more viruses (virii?) written against it. The people who write viruses are looking for personal information. The average windows users is not very bright when it comes to keeping personal information secure. The average Linux users tend to be more security conscious. Very much a supply and demand thing.

2.) Built in security/stability... Linux is based on Unix, which is used in the big iron around the world (Mac OS X is also based on BSD Unix). Linux also has the advantage of millions of eyes looking at the source code. Microsoft only allows a few hundred people to look at their code. As a result, any bugs found in Linux tend to be quickly fixed. Viruses are written such that they exploit some bug in the software. If all of your bugs get fixed quickly it is hard to write a virus that affects it.

If you want to try out Linux, there are a number of "Live" CD/DVD's available. A Live CD allows you to boot up into Linux without saving anything to your hard drive. Then all you have to do is reboot to get back into windows Currently Ubuntu seems to be the most popular, I use a version called Fedora. It really doesn't matter what version you use as once it is installed all versions of Linux are basically the same.

[Painless]

Something else worthy of note about Linux is that the operating system itself is free. However, one of the biggest advantages is that there is a huge wealth of software and applications out there which are developed under the same open source policy and which are also free of charge.

I've been using Linux both at home and at work since the very early beta days of the Kernel. As q-hack rightfully pointed out, whenever I have come across a bug, its been fixed relatively quickly.

My personal favourite is Ubuntu Linux. There is a learning curve when switching to Linux, but it is very much worth the effort, plus, there is a huge user community ready to help you with the transition.

[Carolinablue]

Does any Window apps run with linux. What are the compatability issues with windows?

[Q-Hack!]

Does any Window apps run with linux. What are the compatability issues with windows?

The answer to this is both yes and no...

There are several windows compatibility packages available. If you are looking for just office productivity software then use the "Code Weaver" package. (The code weaver package cost money though.) If you want gaming compatibility then go with "Cedega". (Also cost money to get)

Most people use a free package called "Wine" It has excellent overall compatibility. Because windows software is not written for Linux, you probably wont get any support from them. However, there is a huge support base for wine in general and many people are working to get various windows software working. Check out http://www.winehq.org for more information.

Generally speaking unless you are doing something that requires the bleeding edge technology, you will be able to get it to work in wine. This will take you to the database of what works with wine: http://appdb.winehq.org

[Painless]

Does any Window apps run with linux. What are the compatability issues with windows?

Another option is to use a virtual machine emulator such as VirtualBox OSE. This will mimic a computer and allow you to boot any operating system from inside Linux, effectively in a jail cell, if you like.

I use it to run Windows XP when I want to test something.

Russ.

[triple88a]

LOL i hate you guys, i'm gathering info and getting ready to install linux now lol :p

How about security, do you still need programs? Will my modems and all that stuff work on my windows pc if i switch to Linux?

[truck]

Snopes is garbage, truthorfiction.com is a lot better! That em is a hoax!

[daddymikey1975]

Snopes is garbage, truthorfiction.com is a lot better! That em is a hoax!

we're on an HHO forum, this guy has one post, and is knocking something another member was just pointing out... what gives here?? (troll?? I dunno..)

[daddymikey1975]

LOL i hate you guys, i'm gathering info and getting ready to install linux now lol :p

How about security, do you still need programs? Will my modems and all that stuff work on my windows pc if i switch to Linux?

I'm wondering the same thing as well.. will all my USB ports, DVD burner, etc. all still work as well?? I'm very intrigued as well..

Although triple... it wouldnt hurt to just try it out and see... you could always partition a piece of your hard drive off and boot from the linux one and when you wanted to play with windows, boot from that one. (that's what I might do.)

[Painless]

I would recommend that you head over to ubuntu.com and download their live cd. You can boot from the cd and try out linux and its compatibility with your hardware before you commit to actually installing it.

I have the 8.04 LTS (long term support) version of ubuntu on my familys PC's. Mine utilises software disk mirroring using LVM so I don't need to worry about using a disk.

As for the occasional windows app, I have virtualbox ose installed (also free) which allows me to run a virtual windows xp pc inside linux.

[daddymikey1975]

Thanks Russ, I'm gonna try that out.

Edit: Russ, i found this page http://releases.ubuntu.com/hardy/ they're wanting to know which PC I'm using... from what I read, Since I have an Intel Centrino Core 2 Duo processor in my laptop, should I get the 64 bit version?
thanks

mike

[Q-Hack!]

Thanks Russ, I'm gonna try that out.

Edit: Russ, i found this page http://releases.ubuntu.com/hardy/ they're wanting to know which PC I'm using... from what I read, Since I have an Intel Centrino Core 2 Duo processor in my laptop, should I get the 64 bit version?
thanks

mike

You can install either x86_64 or i386 versions on your machine. The nice thing about 64 bit computers is they are backwards compatible. Yes, go ahead and install the 64 bit version, just be sure to answer 'yes' to any questions that come up during installation like: "Do you want to install 32 bit librarys?" This will give you that backwards capability.

[daddymikey1975]

well i grabbed a live CD for my wife and myself, burned them and booted with them.

Ubuntu, seems to be enough 'computing' to just work and windows is all about looking pretty and it kindaworks LOL...

there are a few applicationsthat i need to find linux versions of or a compatible linux equivalent.. eMule, convertXtoDVD and Total video converter... Also something to stream media to my PS3 would benice, I currently use TVersity and Orb for this....

any ideas??
thanks
mike

[Q-Hack!]

well i grabbed a live CD for my wife and myself, burned them and booted with them.

Ubuntu, seems to be enough 'computing' to just work and windows is all about looking pretty and it kindaworks LOL...

there are a few applicationsthat i need to find linux versions of or a compatible linux equivalent.. eMule, convertXtoDVD and Total video converter... Also something to stream media to my PS3 would benice, I currently use TVersity and Orb for this....

any ideas??
thanks
mike


Well... there is an emule program for linux... I have never used it, so no promises.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/lmule/

For your ConvertXtoDVD I recommend a program called k3b.
There is a really good website that talks about video conversion for linux in general.
http://www.videohelp.com/tools/sections/linux-video-tools

Took me a bit to figure out what a PS3 was... thought it was some sort of MP3 player at first... sorry not much into console gaming. Though I see it has the ability to stream music and such and there is a following for installing linux as well (may have to look into one of these for myself.) :D Here is a url for the streaming.
http://mediatomb.cc/

Linux has the advantage that if you can think of something for it to do... most likely someone has already thought of it and written a bit of software to do it. You just have to search around.

Perhaps Russ can provide other/better resources for some of this.

[daddymikey1975]

Took me a bit to figure out what a PS3 was... thought it was some sort of MP3 player at first... sorry not much into console gaming.

LOL... I actually got this as a Blu-Ray player.. and the fact that my Blu-Ray player also plays games (duh) is a bonus.. but it's MUCH more than a game console.. .it's a media center PC... of sorts.. has a built in web browser, as well as streaming audio and video functionality... you can use a PSP to remotely control it, or view your content from anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection. As of now, I have a 1TB hard drive that has all my movies, music, and pictures stored on it. It's plugged into my Dlink router with a USB shareport on it... both my computers can access the Hard drive... My laptop streams content from the drive, through the network, to my PS3... I can grab a controller and scroll through my alphabetic list of movies and watch one, whenever I want. Music you say, well it's the same. Family pictures are a breeze as well... all i need now is one with a broken optical drive for my bedroom :-D

I have a 50" plasma (smaller than my 60" Sony SXRD than it replaced) in my living room, and a 32" Toshiba on the wall in my bedroom that feels lonely... LOL...

I'm not sure I want to install Linux on my PS3, but I definitely want to explore putting linux on my laptops... it seemed to run very quickly and without quirks...

I use the above mentioned programs very frequently, and don't want to trade those for the linux... also i don't want to do a bunch of command line stuff either... MY wife is already got a bad taste towards vista... I don't want to be 'coding' on her machine all the time either or i'd be sleeping in the garaga HAHA...

thanks for the links, i'll def. check them out.
mike

[alpha-dog]

well i grabbed a live CD for my wife and myself, burned them and booted with them.

Ubuntu, seems to be enough 'computing' to just work and windows is all about looking pretty and it kindaworks LOL...

there are a few applicationsthat i need to find linux versions of or a compatible linux equivalent.. eMule, convertXtoDVD and Total video converter... Also something to stream media to my PS3 would benice, I currently use TVersity and Orb for this....

any ideas??
thanks
mike

May I recommend you go to howtoforge for a set-up guide
Russ

[daddymikey1975]

May I recommend you go to howtoforge for a set-up guide
Russ

I'll def. check that out as well.. Seemed as though ubuntu was just as customizable as Windows, but it's not spending 2 minutes loading up drivers ans junk just to boot. (that's what i meant when i said 'it just works' .. LOL.. it really was neat to play with.. I'm seriously going to check out the few programs that Q-hack posted as well as a few others to see if they will be suitable replacements for the ones i listed.. if so, i'm going to make the switch for sure. Windows has too much garbage... seems like linux is way more 'basic' and 'simple' to use in comparison..

thanks for the advice.
mike