WARNING VIRUS/WORM

[ban-all-sheds]

Sorry - I just can't get my head around the concept that because a server somewhere in the world, infected with a worm that's been around for well over a year, randomly generated the address of your PC, you thought you should inform the sysadmin of some other server. You say, somewhat huffily, that they never bothered to reply. Why should they? Why is it of interest to them that a server somewhere in the world randomly attacked the IP address of your PC? If everybody whose system was randomly attacked or probed by an infected one emailed that news to the administrators of every system that they knew about, the damage done by that network traffic would probably rival that done by the worm itself.


BTW - DIYnot runs Linux, and so is not at risk from this worm.

 

[kendor]

Sorry - I just can't get my head around the concept that because a server somewhere in the world, infected with a worm that's been around for well over a year, randomly generated the address of your PC, you thought you should inform the sysadmin of some other server. You say, somewhat huffily, that they never bothered to reply. Why should they? Why is it of interest to them that a server somewhere in the world randomly attacked the IP address of your PC? If everybody whose system was randomly attacked or probed by an infected one emailed that news to the administrators of every system that they knew about, the damage done by that network traffic would probably rival that done by the worm itself.


BTW - DIYnot runs Linux, and so is not at risk from this worm.

Don't worry Ban this is why i said let the experts on here solve it for us, but thanks for trying anyway

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Ah - is that it? As I said, I couldn't get my head around the concept that because a server somewhere in the world, infected with a worm that's been around for well over a year, randomly generated the address of your PC, you thought you should inform the sysadmin of some other server.

It's too easy to assume that because ones level of expertise makes something blindingly obvious it is obvious to everyone.

Sorry.

 

[HM]

Interesting post

Quite a lot of viruses and worms are the result of M$ inability to produce software that is not full of holes to be exploited. That and the fact that a lot of people online are not IT professionals or do not have in abundance, common sense in opening emails with attachments they don't know who the sender is, or having some sort of installed security on their home boxes, will always result in the pandemonium that occurs on a regular basis on the net today.
You can not expect the lay man of the day to understand ports, TCP/IP, buffer overruns and the such. It basically is down to good old Bill Gates who likes to pump out as much software as he can to bloat his coffers even more. I’m not saying his software is crap, it just needs testing more thoroughly. but heck why should he, he has millions of testers out there all for free…YOU!!

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I’m not saying his software is rubbish,

OK then - I will.

His sofware is f*****g rubbish. Microsloths attitude to s/w quality has infected the entire world of s/w developers, and created a generation of users who just accept that programs have bugs, that OS's crash etc, as if these things are unavoidable.

His s/w is rubbish, he is the Antichrist. I despise him, and I would not cross the road to **** on him if he was on fire.

 

[AdamW]

I would not cross the road to p**s on him if he was on fire.

What about if he wasn't on fire, you just fancied a tinkle?

People give MS a lot of stick and say the software is rubbish... How many of those people are using Internet Explorer, running on Windows XP?

There are alternatives, Linux the most notable one. However despite being a hard and fast geek, who used to run Linux and programmed assembler, I have no incentive to move back to Linux just yet. Every now and then I think "Hmmm, perhaps I will go back to it" but then I just can't bring myself to ditch the warm (yet unreliable) comfort of the Teletubbies style backdrop and the almost infinite software base.

For crying out loud, many people don't even pronounce Linux properly!

And if you think I am going to use Mac OS... A one-buttoned mouse is just plain wrong, obviously designed for inbreds with one finger.

People might say "But there is no reasonable alternative for me, I only use it cos I have to", no, you are wrong. I want a flying car but at the moment all I have access to is this non-flying car. If I want a flying car so badly, why don't I invent my own one? I have no-one to blame but myself. I don't blame Vauxhall for not making a flying car!

 

[Studders]

I would not cross the road to p**s on him if he was on fire.

What about if he wasn't on fire, you just fancied a tinkle?

People give MS a lot of stick and say the software is rubbish... How many of those people are using Internet Explorer, running on Windows XP?



And if you think I am going to use Mac OS... A one-buttoned mouse is just plain wrong, obviously designed for inbreds with one finger.

Ahem
<cough>

bit behind the times ol' boy. Three button drivers and functionality is standard now in Mac OS and most (sensible) folk ditch the mac offering in favour of summat more useful.

</cough>

From a one fingered inbred who thinks Microshaft have never originated anything, bugs aside, in their entire existence.

 

[Igorian]

It amuses me that everyone takes a swipe at poor old Bill Gates and blames him for the worlds programming issues. I can assure you, as an IT professional of 25 years, that programming bugs have always been there and are always 'addressed' by future releases. A well known International Company providing Business Machines were constantly 'adjusting the features' of mainframe applications like CICS and DB2. I also worked on an early code generator called APS. Under certain conditions, the compiler would go into a loop. Now we are talking of software that was leased yearly at a cost of 10s of thousands of pounds by very large companies and not an O/S that costs a hundred quid a shot.

I'm not saying that this is ok, but just pointing out that within the industry, the problem was there long before M$ produced anything.

 

[Studders]

It amuses me that everyone takes a swipe at poor old Bill Gates and blames him for the worlds programming issues. I can assure you, as an IT professional of 25 years, that programming bugs have always been there and are always 'addressed' by future releases.

That of course is very true but, Gates, and thus Microshaft, crossed the divide long long ago in the pursuit of dollars regardless of consequences to the end user.
A 'good' programmer will make strenous efforts to iron out as many bugs as they possibly can before releasing anything. Microshaft will release stuff knowing full well it is crammed full of bugs. Therein lies the difference.

 

[Igorian]

That of course is very true but, Gates, and thus Microshaft, crossed the divide long long ago in the pursuit of dollars regardless of consequences to the end user.
A 'good' programmer will make strenous efforts to iron out as many bugs as they possibly can before releasing anything. Microshaft will release stuff knowing full well it is crammed full of bugs. Therein lies the difference.

The reason M$ is picked on is that it's in (almost) all homes with a PC. How many games or other software have you bought that didn't have a patch released on their website. Probably none. But we all still tolerate it. For most people it's more of an nuisance than a problem. I'd say fair play to the bloke. If he can convince so many people to buy his product knowing full well that it contains bugs, then who is the bigger fool?

I agree that a good programmer will iron out bugs. However, with modern programming, you very rarely get to produce a whole thing. You generally have to rely on modules written by third parties. A programmer would only be responsible for testing his bit. In an ideal world you would have the time to cater for everything. In business, this decision is removed from the programmer by politics. I once worked for a mobile phone service provider who would make a decision to install major changes that would need to be live within a day. Not a lot of room for design or testing, but it generated income even with it's faults.

 

[AdamW]

From a one fingered inbred who thinks Microshaft have never originated anything, bugs aside, in their entire existence.

It has been said that Apple would have gone under if MS had not ported Office over to the Mac. Don't get me wrong, I used to use Clarisworks on a 68030-powered Powerbook! But MS Office apparently saved the Mac.

As for Apple originating anything... Let's think what innovations they have introduced over the years... there was the WIMP interface. Nope, that was Xerox wasn't it. There was the mouse... nope, that was back in the 1960s... And Apple also release software with bugs in, anything as complex as an operating system will not be infallible!

Don't get me wrong, I dislike MS in the same way that we all dislike OPEC... and I still use petrol in my (non-flying) car!

 

[Studders]

The reason M$ is picked on is that it's in (almost) all homes with a PC. How many games or other software have you bought that didn't have a patch released on their website. Probably none. But we all still tolerate it. For most people it's more of an nuisance than a problem. I'd say fair play to the bloke. If he can convince so many people to buy his product knowing full well that it contains bugs, then who is the bigger fool?

I agree that a good programmer will iron out bugs. However, with modern programming, you very rarely get to produce a whole thing. You generally have to rely on modules written by third parties. A programmer would only be responsible for testing his bit. In an ideal world you would have the time to cater for everything. In business, this decision is removed from the programmer by politics. I once worked for a mobile phone service provider who would make a decision to install major changes that would need to be live within a day. Not a lot of room for design or testing, but it generated income even with it's faults.

Can't recall ever having to patch an Adobe product but that's not really the point I was making. Microshaft will release software knowing full well that bugs, some of them serious issues, are still within the software. They leave error testing to the user, saves them having to bother, saves them time and money.
I know a bit about error trapping, iterative testing and the like having studied programming, design - coding - testing, albeit only at a basic level covering many languages.
Microshaft are both sloppy and greedy, they are also not advers to a bit of bullying if needed.
I agree Gates is a good businessman that's partly the reason MS dominates the SOHO market. Other reasons include Apples shortsightedness; but that's a whole new subject.
How the computer industry has got away with things for so long is a mystery to me (well it is and it isn't), can you imagine buying a domestic appliance that 'might work OK' then again 'might not'?

 

[Studders]

From a one fingered inbred who thinks Microshaft have never originated anything, bugs aside, in their entire existence.

It has been said that Apple would have gone under if MS had not ported Office over to the Mac. Don't get me wrong, I used to use Clarisworks on a 68030-powered Powerbook! But MS Office apparently saved the Mac.

As for Apple originating anything... Let's think what innovations they have introduced over the years... there was the WIMP interface. Nope, that was Xerox wasn't it. There was the mouse... nope, that was back in the 1960s... And Apple also release software with bugs in, anything as complex as an operating system will not be infallible!

Don't get me wrong, I dislike MS in the same way that we all dislike OPEC... and I still use petrol in my (non-flying) car!

Hmmm MS saving the Mac? Will have to do a bit of research on that one. Certainly wasn't mentioned in any comp history books I've read (and I've read a few).
WIMP was certainly created at Xerox Parc but what did they do with it? Zip diddly. Why show it to Steve Jobs? Why didn't they clobber Apple when they used on the Lisa?
Infallible software - no such thing exists nor is it ever likely to. The point is are you happy to pay for software knowing that the creators know it is full of bugs?

 

[kendor]

Let's face it Microsoft are an easy target for criticism as they cater for such a large market of third party software and hardware that their operating systems are expected to work faultlessly on, before they even release the next version of windows patches would have to be written to take account for new developments in hardware,software etc.
It is almost impossible for them to release software that will work properly on everything out there and the mention of the word BUG seems to be thrown at any problem that may occur without even checking that it might be a conflict from some badly installed,badly written piece of third party software.
Those that criticise Microsoft so vehemently are usually individuals that don't understand the diverse and complicated market out there and seem to be living in their own ideal world!(I usually find that the biggest critics of others are usually pretty useless at doing things themselves and use their criticisms of others to cover their own shortcomings)
The irony is that as Microsoft try to take things under control somewhat by trying to install standards througout the industry (Direct X for one comes to mind) then the moaners are out in force again spitting venom that Microsoft are trying to take over the world again.
As for Linux(I know it's based on the tried and tested platform of Unix but it is still a relatively new system), has it really been tried and tested like windows? considering the very small software base( in comparison), The reliability statistics bandied around would no doubt be in Linux's favour but are those statistics a fair test? has Linux been stretched in it's capabilities yet? has it had to run on top of countless patches in order for it to run hundreds of thousands(conservative estimate!) of bits of hardware /software out there?
If you have to pitch Linux against Windows then proportional statistics should be used, I'm sure Ford get more complaints than Daewoo of faults with their cars but which would have the most percentage of complaints if the userbase was taken into consideration?

 

[pipme]

Have some friends using Apple Comps in publishing, they say the Apple kit is far better than the Winds stuff, which they originally accquired and retain.
Is it not horses for courses ?

P