BEWARE DODGY EMAILS PURPORTING TO BE FROM NOOLERS

Not sure where I should have posted this but jamesthomas and myself have recieved a number of emails with a virus from nool email addresses. MissJem, Banseeman and others. (an we are sure they have not been sent by these folks) They all seem to contain the same virus and there are only attachments with the email, no text. Please be careful everyone when you open any files, especially if you are not expecting them.

yeah keep getting them all day now from Mr Mike Garrity and there's only 'X' in them

shit. just checked me Yahoo, and i've got one from someone called Hicks, Jemma.

i take it, its to be binned?

i've also got a bucket load from webmaster@neworderonline. shall i open?

advices please?

Spotnick wrote:

john kershaw wrote: i've also got a bucket load from webmaster@neworderonline. shall i open?

advices please?

Depends.. if it's thread subscription info, sure... otherwise, I never send mail with webmaster@... always with nleblanc@.... !

no, its says: new reply to your subscribed thread on scouse manager for England. -- - loads of times on 25th Jan.

Hay-elp?????????????????????///

I just got this!

Super Viagra

• Little magic. Perfect weekends.
• 36 hours: for all your needs :)
• Chose place and time.It will do the rest.

Viagra

• Extra power. Don't think. Just act.
• This stuff is not really expensive as before...
• Strong enough for a men, but made for a women

You have not tried Cialis yet? Than you cannot even imagine what it is like to be a real man in bed! The thing is that a great errrect1on is provided for you exactly when you want. Cialis has a lot of advantages over Viagra the effect lasts 36 hours! You are ready to start within just 10 minutes! You can mix it with alcohol!

The ideal candidate will be.....

Stupid enough, not only to read email in windows XP, but to do so with Outhouse Excuse Somone who has both Jem's address and LJs and JT's Someone who does not run an antivirus auto-protect despite allowing the world's least secure Operating system near the internet. And presumably Somone who has been repeatedly dropped on their head from a great height since a young age.

If the above sounds like you. Kill yourself and you PC before either breed. EDIT

BTW..... if you want toknow if it's you..... open outhouse and before you do anything....watch the lights on your modem (or if you've made it that far up the foodchain, use the windows performance meter to watch network traffic) if you see a lot of outbound traffic that's nowt to do with you...see above for remedy.

You could always try reading mail headers too, but if you have an XP zombie I'm betting that's beyond you.

Send me your viri, your worms, your pathetic scripts yeraning to be run.

LOL

Windows is too good for you.

(I should point out that where as windows is a water pistol protected by a sign saying...please do not misuse....should someone actually GET round the defneces on y Linux box..... they have a thermonuclear weapon by comparison...this machine could be LETHAL if taken over, and I and I alone would get the boning for it....wipe tha smug fucking geek smile off me gob anyway :D )

john kershaw wrote: shit. just checked me Yahoo, and i've got one from someone called Hicks, Jemma.

i take it, its to be binned?

Thats the one that JT got I think, unless Missy has been secretly advising him on how to avoid Manchester trams.!!

PS if anyone WANTS a virus, I aint cleaned my mailbox out since august 2000 so I have a fairly solid record of the little beasties, I run them on vmware sometimes for the sheer hell of it. Tho I avoid using WINE in case it emulates things too well and get's all chuck norris with my windows emulatation directory

lucyjane wrote:

john kershaw wrote: shit. just checked me Yahoo, and i've got one from someone called Hicks, Jemma.

i take it, its to be binned?

Thats the one that JT got I think, unless Missy has been secretly advising him on how to avoid Manchester trams.!!

It aint Jem, cos if it was...they would appear in my folder for Jem (labelled "Bolton Parrot fetishists") :D Whoever it is....does not seem to have my address, if that's any kind of a clue.

Maybe if we get a list of who's getting them and who's not....we can deduce the owner of the zombie and have them exterminated?

Jet Stream.

still baffled though

It's not just missy's email that appears, also bansheeman and gerry jamieson, rather odd. Thought bansheeman was sending me some superb photos but turns out to be a load of virus bollocks. Felt special and wanted for about five minutes!

All very strange, not being a computer head I find it all very hard to understand why anyone would want to fook up your computer and apparently wipe out all of your word files.

Spotnick wrote:

Steve Campbell wrote: The ideal candidate will be.....

Stupid enough, not only to read email in windows XP, but to do so with Outhouse Excuse Somone who has both Jem's address and LJs and JT's Someone who does not run an antivirus auto-protect despite allowing the world's least secure Operating system near the internet. And presumably Somone who has been repeatedly dropped on their head from a great height since a young age.

If the above sounds like you. Kill yourself and you PC before either breed.

Now come on, Windows XP *IS* secure, so is Outlook 2003... problem is people with obsolete versions.

The mail virus happened using the system used by developpers to enhance outlook, and believe me, Outlook is now a pain in the a*se when you need to develop an extension for it due to the security in it.

Linux or Mac don't have much virus because they don't have anybody using them, so it's useless to do so :p

j/k, I know Linux is more secure due to the amount of people being able to check the code... ;) but as long as I don't have my development tools for Linux, or Photoshop etc for Linux, I'm staying away from it...

Thing is buddy, you are intelligent and well versed in computers enough to tae care of windows properly.

The issue with ROOT access is the biggest stumbler to taking over a linux box, no random user can alter system files.

this is the only one I ever seen.... "YOU HAVE NOW RECEIVED THE UNIX VIRUS

This virus works on the honor system:

If you're running a variant of Unix or Linux, please forward this message to everyone you know and delete a bunch of your files at random. Thank you."

Mac's make up 15 percent and Linux about another 10 to 15 of home machines, but they do not account for an equal volume of viri (remember Macs run Free-BSD now (labelled as OSx) ). The fact that linux and BSD machines run the whole internet (that's why the WWW doesn't reboot every 5 mins) would make them an asymetrically attractive target, but it doesn't happen that way.

BTW....download GIMP for windows....if you can find anything it doesn't do that PS does, ask the devels and they'll stick it in :D

lucyjane wrote: It's not just missy's email that appears, also bansheeman and gerry jamieson, rather odd. Thought bansheeman was sending me some superb photos but turns out to be a load of virus bollocks. Felt special and wanted for about five minutes!

All very strange, not being a computer head I find it all very hard to understand why anyone would want to fook up your computer and apparently wipe out all of your word files.

1.because masturbation isn't the top hobby among 14 yrolds anymore? 2. Can we get some hugs for LJ please? (HUG from me to start you off, there you ARE special :D )

lucyjane wrote: It's not just missy's email that appears, also bansheeman and gerry jamieson, rather odd. Thought bansheeman was sending me some superb photos but turns out to be a load of virus bollocks. Felt special and wanted for about five minutes!

All very strange, not being a computer head I find it all very hard to understand why anyone would want to fook up your computer and apparently wipe out all of your word files.

coz some people are gobshites, that's all

So when Bansheeman said he was 'boshing' windows we all assumed he meant the glass ones

I havent got a fuckin clue what any of you are talking about,sorry, goodnight.

Well, that explains the p.... enlargement advertisings I'm receiving from Mick

gerry jamieson wrote: I havent got a fuckin clue what any of you are talking about,sorry, goodnight.

Proves my point exactly. obviously you didn't send the emails someone did it on your behalf with your email address. Be afraid, be very afraid

If you are going to use a mail program on Windows, you could always use... Thunderbird.

I know, I know, I just love the Mozilla products, is all. Probably wouldn't help in this case much, but overall seems to identify enough spam that I don't deal with it.

(Though, again, won't help much if you're just using webmail like yahoo, or hotmail unless you pay MSN or Yahoo for the ability to access mail from a home-based mail program. But, if you've got a mail account with your ISP or from a domain you've bought,it does wonders for that. Just remember to mark any messages that aren't valid as spam within the program, so it learns what is and isn't good, and remember to keep up a good address book to verify against.)

There are also numerous standalone programs one can use to secure their existing older technology Outlook/Express program. Some are free like Mailwasher, and some others you might need to pay for to get more functionality.

I think anyone can learn to used outside programs apart from their PC's bundledware as long as they make sure to read and understand the documentation. :D

Steve & Melly..stop scaring people.

I use XP & Outlook bareback (no firewall & anti-virus to slow down my Reason stuff) and never had a virus.

OK, I work in computer security so know what I'm doing, but the message is use common sense always and you'll be fine. And that means DO NOT connect your computer directly to the internet. You can buy really cheap routers on ebay for less than the price of firewall/anti-virus software.

Unless I've just been lucky and am talking out of my arse

Wouldnt be the first time

whoa- I've had issues with sexual advise ending up in the mailbox over these last few weeks and was hoping that it wasn't anything to do with latched on parasite. Spotnick, isn't this site fairly secure?? any 'vitamin discounts and things, sorry- I'll shop in person. bin it , erase, delete. burn. same things with answering machines. if it's that important, leave a message or call back. Melly- that pre-spam alert is a hyper joy isn't it.

Barney Army wrote: Steve & Melly..stop scaring people.

I use XP & Outlook bareback (no firewall & anti-virus to slow down my Reason stuff) and never had a virus.

OK, I work in computer security

but, doesn't XP have a complete security line of defense all set up? that's part of the conflicting power struggle that ensues when setting up. even shutting down? still, knock on wood.

Barney Army wrote: Steve & Melly..stop scaring people.

I use XP & Outlook bareback (no firewall & anti-virus to slow down my Reason stuff) and never had a virus.

OK, I work in computer security so know what I'm doing, but the message is use common sense always and you'll be fine. And that means DO NOT connect your computer directly to the internet. You can buy really cheap routers on ebay for less than the price of firewall/anti-virus software.

Unless I've just been lucky and am talking out of my arse

Wouldnt be the first time

You probably explained things to outlook that most people don't (don't auto execute scripts and binaries for a start). a router and it's hardware firewalling will give only very limited protection against a true virus it WILL keep out crackers ( cos good lord does Xp leave a lot of stuff open)and ruin trojan's days but they do jack to help against a true virus. I use kaspersky AV in windows (after all I have to open installers from dodgy websites), it doesn't seem to annoying to cubase tho I still kill it off if doing anything major, or playing games. I dont use any of those little "firewall" that run in the task bar, the are not fiewalls, tho I admit for a novice user they are infinitely more useful that a real one.

People need to be scared frankly, only then will they DO something before it's too late. There ought to be a way to make zombie spam boxes burst into flames. :D

JW wrote:

Barney Army wrote: Steve & Melly..stop scaring people.

I use XP & Outlook bareback (no firewall & anti-virus to slow down my Reason stuff) and never had a virus.

OK, I work in computer security

but, doesn't XP have a complete security line of defense all set up? that's part of the conflicting power struggle that ensues when setting up. even shutting down? still, knock on wood.

the problem a lot of people have is that by the time you patch and upgrade all the bits of a virgin XP install...the thing is already infected with something. And as usual wth ALL things microsoft, the builtin stuff almost but not quite, totally fails to work right, or if it DOES work, it does so in a way that drives you gaga. I have to use IE and OE in work and it amuses my colleagues no end as I sit there and just spout a CONSTANT stream of hatred and abuse at it...puntuacted by comments like "come on come on life's too short for windows" Not been there in nearly 2 years but the memory still burns.

EDIT: the way to avoid the setup catch22 is as SOON as you DO get the thing installed and patched...scan it and BACK IT UP before it's even finished pricking around with your hardware. Use a disc imaging program....something like norton ghost, acronis trueimage (hmmmmm Linux in windows dDROOOOOOOOOOOL) or ust download a 10mb linux boot cd and do

dd if=/dev/hda1 | gazip>backup.img

Shug wrote: That Miss Jem gets about a bit. I opened one thinking it was pics from the gig as well.

Feck all - nothing's up with me computer though.

Also mailed Jem to tell her what happened. Glad to see other fuckers are getting dodgy emails as well.....it's usually just Rocket playing games (when he's not banged up)

:D

Jem aint the source, cos I mail her a fair amount and I've had none of these.

I asked Bonz if she had any...nope so we're looking for an address book containing Jem's bansheemans, Lucyjane's yours, JT's

we couldnarrow this down and give the bugger a kicking if we had more info :D

Ya sad fookers, it is I !!!! :evil:

Footballer's wife wrote: Ya sad fookers, it is I !!!! :evil:

Fuck right off Maya, your mail account's barely holding it's head above water, it's in no position to take on the world :D

Steve Campbell wrote:

Footballer's wife wrote: Ya sad fookers, it is I !!!! :evil:

Fuck right off Maya, your mail account's barely holding it's head above water, it's in no position to take on the world :D

oh poo, don't fookin remind me :(

Footballer's wife wrote: Ya sad fookers, it is I !!!! :evil:

Could you stop sending me porn advertisings? Thank you. :D

Server Error in "/" Application wrote:

Footballer's wife wrote: Ya sad fookers, it is I !!!! :evil:

Could you stop sending me porn advertisings? Thank you. :D

Easy darling, you're flattering yourself !!

I'm not gonna get into tech talk here, computer crime is so much simpler than open tcpip ports. Fuckin ell I do it for a livin (good guy, not bad guy)

But one word of advice for you all.

If you log into this site, and use your everyday email account, and same password, then those details are stored on your computer where anyone can find it in a simple text document (Nicos, you should sort that out! I've already told you!)

Now, are they the same email address/password you use for something like..err Paypal, or maybe you have some personal details in your mailboxes you'd like to share with the world? After all, you are broadcasting your email login details.

So, fer fucks sake, make sure your NOOL login password is not the same one you use for everything else.

An 'unchecked buffer overrun' isnt the weakest link in computer security...you are.

I dont want to sound patronising, I just thought you might like to know how easy it is to get all the details anyone could want, from a 'secure' machine. :\ohwell:

Do it now. Do it here..

Barney Army wrote:

An 'unchecked buffer overrun' isnt the weakest link in computer security...you are.

just read that back to myself. What a twat! Thats my new t-shirt.

Barney Army wrote:

Barney Army wrote:

An 'unchecked buffer overrun' isnt the weakest link in computer security...you are.

just read that back to myself. What a twat! Thats my new t-shirt.

If you mean the buffer overrun thing, put me down for one.

Wise words....this site is crawled over daily but all sorts of horrid bots. I have mentioned this several times but I use a unique address for each site that requires one, typically the site's name @ slightlynarrow. nool@ accounts for EASILY 70% of my spam.

Tis a true thing what you said tho, open ports and bad technical security will get your computer fucked over, but brainfarts get you robbed.

Might I mention one other little perl ( :D ) of wisdom.... ifu have a vanilla XP (no service packs)...FOR FUCK'S SAKE DO NOT USE AUTOCOMPLETE in IE it stores credit card numbers (dunno who let that one thru....bleedin idiotic even by MS standards). Oh...and on the subject.....see anything like Gator or any of those "formfillers" NO NO NO NO NO!!!!! Anything that says it's cool, free or appears ina floating window should be viewed with as much relish as Bubunic Plague!

I'm seriously thinking of starting a Steve's computer clinic to raise NO fans IT skills to the same level as their taste in music. If I do, I PROMISE to keep the "just install something, anything, other than windows" rants to a bare minimum :D

Barney Army wrote:

Barney Army wrote:

An 'unchecked buffer overrun' isnt the weakest link in computer security...you are.

just read that back to myself. What a twat! Thats my new t-shirt.

everybody can do with new shirt. pointing out some obviouses now and then is a good thing. chains &leather, well that's something else entirely.

does jem or the other 'culprits' have a hotmail account? because this used to happen to me when i had one and now that i use a different account it no longer happens. no spam from (fake) NOOLers.

p.s. i had a linux computer for a while. useless. i couldn't download shit and it was about as user-friendly as BASIC. i went straight back to windows.

this hasn't happened to me yet. in any case as i am unable to change my e-mail address in my profile, they would go to my work address, where we have hopefully decent virus protection. in any case only a handful of noolers have my home e-mail address.

i think even if i could change the address in my profile, i now probably won't.

AgentWood wrote: p.s. i had a linux computer for a while. useless. i couldn't download shit and it was about as user-friendly as BASIC. i went straight back to windows.

works a treat here all mail, net and p2p(soulseek,emule,azureus) stuff along with general day to day shit. The windows box runs cubase and driving games.

I must confess however that this particular version (gentoo) is a fucking joy to use compared to most others, you have access to a ready made database of over 100,000 packages..I mean say I want to install firefox... I just type "emerge firefox" and it's there.

I would agree that if you have to confgure anything it can be a bit daunting, but to balance that you do find out so much because the manuals and so on are so much more informative (often far too much so) than the average windows help file.

I got my first PC in january 2000 and it got it's first Linux install in about april (because having used a spectrum and an amiga and an atari ST before I simply could not believe something as bad as windows was allowed out into the world never mind that I somehow HAD to use it)...and it was cute but useless. By the time Mandrake8 came out it became my day to day OS and lead to me doing sod all music cos I had to reboot to windows to do so (there are linux music apps, very good ones, but I am a dyed in the wool cubase head and can use fuck all else very well so I ignore them). I put gentoo on some time in 2003 and I've had it since. I moved all mail to linux in 2000 and still have mail going back to then.

I would honestly say that Linux is not the OS for the moderately adept windows user such as yourself....but for the total novice (who must have someone else install windows already) it's actually really good because if you don't already know the windows way of things you never have that "ugh" factor, and it is much more forgiving and much safer....no root access=idiot not deleting the equivalent of c:\windows It also does fairly well for the advanced user who is sick to the back teeth of battling windows and rebooting endlessly just to fail to make the most minor of changes.

I would reccomend anyone with broadband download something such as knoppix...which is a live CD (or live DVD) version... no installation required, it just runs (albeit slower than usual) from CD...even on a machine with no hard disc so you are totally safe to use it......there are only 2 cavaets....1 it does not come with proprietry video drivers, just like windows...so the cd performance in games on it sucks ass (you can put proprietry drivers in somehow but I never tried) and 2. you will need to know some very basic things about your network to get online, like your ip address...and if you have a crap "winmodem" (a modified soundcard with no network functionality at all, often found pre-installed in PC's or supllied on the end of a USB cable by ISP's....not only are these devices useless by and large outside windows...they are far from optimal IN it as any gamers or techy site will confirm) you're boned. Nonetheless it will demonstrate the current state of a linux desktop machine (I'm not sure how long ago you tried Agent, but it's a rapidly moving thing) and give some idea of the range of free software available.

Advocacy ends

It will

Johnny, floridaykeys, so good. just saving that one. :!:

look at the pretty pictures then

sorry cambo. i'm still relatively new to all this home computing stuff. i defer to your greater knowledge, but for the time being i'll stick with what i've got. perhaps in a year or so i may be persuaded to try linux.

Ronald Kirsch wrote: sorry cambo. i'm still relatively new to all this home computing stuff. i defer to your greater knowledge, but for the time being i'll stick with what i've got. perhaps in a year or so i may be persuaded to try linux.

Like i said...play with a run from cd version like knoppix...no risks :D

You've probably used it already without knowing, lots of bootable windows rescue tools use it.

You start out freaked out and slowly you start to see all the little cute smart things and warm to it and before long you are sitting at a windows machine trying to copy and paste using mouseover and the middle button and wondering why it wont work :D

And it's happy to dual boot so u keep your windows for any MUST have apps you may have in it.

Yeah , i only got my first Computer in March 2004.I've surprised myself actually that i've gone this long without it dying .

Steve Campbell wrote:

Ronald Kirsch wrote: sorry cambo. i'm still relatively new to all this home computing stuff. i defer to your greater knowledge, but for the time being i'll stick with what i've got. perhaps in a year or so i may be persuaded to try linux.

Like i said...play with a run from cd version like knoppix...no risks :D

You've probably used it already without knowing, lots of bootable windows rescue tools use it.

You start out freaked out and slowly you start to see all the little cute smart things and warm to it and before long you are sitting at a windows machine trying to copy and paste using mouseover and the middle button and wondering why it wont work :D

And it's happy to dual boot so u keep your windows for any MUST have apps you may have in it.

i actually agree with you on windows. all the computer nerds at work think that bill gates is the devil, and that windows is shit, but for now i'll stick with what works for me.

not to mention i'm not about to repartition my hard disk. what with the luck i have, i'd lose everything. oh, and as far as the tech support manual for linux being easier, i rarely need tech support for windows, but i was having problems every day with linux and couldn't find any answers to my problems. it was SO frustrating!

simply typing man and the name of the program usually does the trick. This may have been a wee while ago Agent? Can I ask what version you were running, (braces himself for "red hat 5")

I can't get a useful tv output from a windows machine, because it cannot multitask videos always glitch if I run other programs while watching something. I also cannot make it rip or master dvd's.

But if point and click and pretty pictures is your way, I'd rather you stayed with windows, not in a nasty way at all, but because a lot of people who come to linux start saying daft things like "shouldn't it be more like windows"...and if it DOES get that way...I'll have to find something else to use :D

I like being able to tell a computer what to do, and I like error reports that are a little more helpful than.... "an error has occured, please click here for more info" click "unspecified error, click here for help" click "there is no help available"

that's just rude :D "wanna pint?" yeah "fuck off" LOL

PS...you arent seriously telling me your machine only has one drive partition? Oh boy are you asking for it :( Sort that out if you can it will make backing up a joy. I allow my C: drive to have windows, sensible apps and utilities and the like, as well as any games that are so bacdly written they depend on the registry. Everything else gets left off that drive..games to D: audio banks and work to E: and music(new order is the only music on mu windows machine cos it had the space for it :D ) installers and backups to f: Means I don;t have to backup 200GB just to protect myself from the inevitable "WTF" moment.

I had apalling hardware problems with Linux in the early days, but that's not so much the case these days as long as you aren't trying to get it to work on awful hardware. (then again, Linux will run on a 386 from a floppy, or a 5000 node supercluster). These days I don't even notice hardware changes for the most part unless I have to manually say "oi" to get it to see something new, but last time tat happened was when I changed video cards, I think even windows makes yu reboot a few time and pulls your chain to achieve that.

short and more sensible answer....

I have problems with linux too, it is still a computer OS after all. In general tho, fixing the problems is a genuine intellectual challenge that's quite enjoyable, because I get better info on what's broken and why. It's more than just an exercise in me weeping and burbling softly.."WHY wont you let me do this" or "I changed that, why did you change it back without asking me or even telling me".

There are a lot of things I had to give up on with windows, but so far the only things to defeat me in Linux have been the MIDI I/O on my soundblaster Live and an ATI radeon which was just not an enjoyable experience in 3d. Both manufacturer's errors of course, the problems are in the drivers. (FWIW the ATI now lives in my winbox where it's happier but still a tosser).

The most shocking thing about you saying "I had loads of trouble" is that no one ran to your aid, because Linux lets on what it's doing, when you ask a question, someone knows and answer far more often than in the windows world where you end up trying 100 things before fixing it yerself.

well done you have found something I care about a lot that I wont immeadiately lose my temper over......

Funny view of a linux user trying windows for the first time VERY funny in fact

cambo sometimes you truly scare me. what do you do for a crust when you are working? i'd recommend something with computers, if you aren't already in that field.

I work in a fuckin call centre ( albeit I am a highly trained chimp)...on windows.....I sometimes think IT made me sick LOL

I'm not a real computer genius tho, I am a tweaker, a putterer and a fixer of broken things. I rely on a gift I was born with rather than any learned skills. I was born able to understand machines, simple as that. It's why I make music the way I do, it's why I think Dr Who is the best thing in the world and it's why most of my friends are petrified to even let me pick up their tc remote.

I Can't program. I dunno anything about all those important windows apps I do things MY way

So I'm never gonna get a gig as a proper geek :(

Melly...what say you? does being a machine maiden preclude you from doing a sensible job round them?

Steve Campbell wrote:

Can I ask what version you were running, (braces himself for "red hat 5")

the computer was running on fedora (no idea which version, as my friend's dad installed it--he's a computer specialist and swore by it). it was about a year ago.

i have no idea if my comupter has only one repartition drive. but with all the linux problems i had in the past i don't see myself bothering. half the stuff i wanted to download wasn't available for linux and the other half had downloading descriptions written in code that reminded me of my commodore 24. i thought the purpose was to make things simpler as computer programs became more advanced?

No, it's cool like, I understand yer problem. There are some things that just dont exist in linux, tho there are usually bloody good alternatives. And yeah if you have to install by hand it can be a pain.

Oddly enough it's the sort of half way distro's that fuck up the most...things that use RPM and so on, you can end up in a terrible cycle of pain getting things to work.

I used a thing called LFS, Linux from scratch, which was literally installed by the olde school method...like how it was done (is done) on BIG IRON, bootstrapping and the heap. It took fookin ages to install because everything was compiled from scratch (I far prefer that to HUGE bloated binaries full of things my computer has no need for). because it was "pure" installation was often EASIER.

then I happened upong Gentoo which has a perfect balance. Everything is compiled from scratch, giving slender speedy binaries, but it's all under the control of a package manaer called portage. Basically, if I want something, I ask for it....and portage runs off and downloads the source for what I want plus any other bits and bobs that it needs to run.To be silly about it, if I sat at a bare text only installation and asked it to install Kmail, it would install the Xserver (the graphical bit like windows), the KDE desktop, video drivers, the lot. And it would compile and install them all in order.

I almost NEVER fucks up (in all honesty I have fewer installation failures in Linux these days than windows), mainly because as soon as it does, because everyone is singing from the same choir sheet, with the same source code and the same scripts to build it.....it gets fixed. Of course there are a few cases where somethings slips through the gaps, a browser forgets it needs a jpg library or something, butit's always sortable in no time, usually by guesswork.

Gentoo is a JOY to use, truly, I mean our house server skivvies away for months on end without a burp running it, it also fulfills my everyday desktop needs, internet, office, such games as do work (MAME in particular runs beautifully). Installing from the ground up with Gentoo is not for a beginner tho, it's a simple procedure that's well documented and walked through but it does require you to know some pretty basic facts about your own machine. For a first installation I would reccomend Mandriva (formerly Mandrake), it's attractive, very full featured and has an excellent software installation system (it also costs fuck all and comes with 3000 programs). The downside is that if the installer system doesn't know the program you want....you're off into the hell you describe.

BUT as you said, there may be things you simply cannot get. Nicos mentioned photoshop, GIMP is a fine alternative, tho I have seen people choke on it purely because the menus are in a different shape....and i can't take the high ground there cos I freak out using Logic or Sonar instead of cubase.

I dunno why I'm bother with all this really, I'm not trying to talk you into using it again. Maybe I just wanna point out that my mileage varied :D

Steve Campbell wrote: Melly...what say you? does being a machine maiden preclude you from doing a sensible job round them?

I've had sensible jobs. Startups needing me for marketing, working tape backup (DAT), monitoring a network under a senior admin trying to cut my teeth on it all, working in a factory building the bleedy steel cases for all this cool technology, doing R&D...

You can get a proper job doing it, it's just everyone I know that actually have degrees in it sit at a desk doing entry level stuff they could sleep walk through while waiting for a senior tech to move on so they can advance and do what they were degreed to do.

Only have one friend who managed to get a position at MIT doing AI lab stuff, and that's only because he had a birth link to a professor.

As it stands now, the work I do from home is what I'd be doing 9-5 elsewhere, but I get to work on my terms and though the pay is weak it makes me a lot more satisified in the end.

Beware dodgy jobs purporting to let you stay a NOOLer.

Oh dear everybody, i only e-mail a couple of people. Sorry if a virus is pretending to be me, i am a cool girl though. It's to be expected.

Hope nobody's computer crashed. Shug sent me an e-mail saying that the e-mail i sent him wasn't working. I thought it was very odd, as i'd never sent anything.

Al Jarvis wrote: Oh right, I just thought Missy Jem was overly obnoxious on email ... didn't realise it was actually a virus?!

*Slaps large bat against palm of hand menacingly*

Lucyjane wrote: It's not just missy's email that appears, also bansheeman and gerry jamieson, rather odd. Thought bansheeman was sending me some superb photos but turns out to be a load of virus bollocks. Felt special and wanted for about five minutes!

All very strange, not being a computer head I find it all very hard to understand why anyone would want to fook up your computer and apparently wipe out all of your word files.

jesus ive only just read this thread for the first time i never send e-mail via the site,just hotmail.how wierd. why me well,plus a few others

I got about 20 of these emails yesterday. Didn't even see that they were from the NOOL adresses, the dodgy Subjects were enough to tell me to delete them all without opening. Can't remember what they were now, something fairly meaningless with a spelling mistake and a number.

My golden rule is if it looks unsafe - delete it. If you're not sure - delete it. If there's an attachment and you're not COMPLETELY sure what it is - delete it.

I get lots of spam emails to the email account which I only use for NOOL. This is a recent thing, the NOOL account was the only clean one for years. Obviously someone has broken in, taken our addresses and added them to a list that gets passed around the worlds spammers. As I result, I get about 20 emails a day offering me a bigger cock, free money etc etc.

This new thing sounds like it's an actual attack on us rather than the normal spamming. No cock enlargement was offered, just a dodgy-looking attachment. Wonder if we've upset someone. Can't think how...

maybe its BSP ?

Missy Jem wrote:

Al Jarvis wrote: Oh right, I just thought Missy Jem was overly obnoxious on email ... didn't realise it was actually a virus?!

*Slaps large bat against palm of hand menacingly*

Slapper!

bansheeman wrote:

Lucyjane wrote: It's not just missy's email that appears, also bansheeman and gerry jamieson, rather odd. Thought bansheeman was sending me some superb photos but turns out to be a load of virus bollocks. Felt special and wanted for about five minutes!

All very strange, not being a computer head I find it all very hard to understand why anyone would want to fook up your computer and apparently wipe out all of your word files.

jesus ive only just read this thread for the first time i never send e-mail via the site,just hotmail.how wierd. why me well,plus a few others

The emails I received from you WERE from a hotmail address as were those from MISSY!!!!!!!!!! SCARY :evil:

Never had a hotmail address.

BIGINOIL wrote:

Missy Jem wrote:

Al Jarvis wrote: Oh right, I just thought Missy Jem was overly obnoxious on email ... didn't realise it was actually a virus?!

*Slaps large bat against palm of hand menacingly*

Slapper!

Al Jarvis wrote:

Missy Jem wrote:

Al Jarvis wrote: Oh right, I just thought Missy Jem was overly obnoxious on email ... didn't realise it was actually a virus?!

*Slaps large bat against palm of hand menacingly*

My kneecaps are running scared.

if you can reach them.

!

up the security settings on your browser. change password, again. right with Big&oily on this one- something looks dogey in any way. delete it. had all sorts of 'suggestions, have upped the security settings. now just lonely.

beware fellow noolers. i keep getting e-mails at work, that contain picture attachments which contain a virus.

I wouldn't use my work email for here.

BIGINOIL wrote: I wouldn't use my work email for here.

well originally it was the only e-mail address i had, and now i can't change it in my profile. i think even if i could change it, i wouldn't.

I still suspect the source is a zombie or at least infected box run by a NOOLer.

I base this on the fact that I have not heard of a spam harvester that picks up addresses, spoofs one to the other (ie sending from Jem to LJ) and tags on a virus. I may just be misinformed of course.

The chances are the poor bugger doesn't even know they are doing it.

If we knew everyone who'd recevied one, and everyone it had been spoofed from, and whether the mails come at certain times of day, we may be able to narrow it down and help them sort it.

Steve Campbell wrote:

The chances are the poor bugger doesn't even know they are doing it.

.

Could be me then

beware of e-mails from this address do not open the pictures. actually do not open it fullstop.

cerdsp@hotmail.com

i just got a few more this morining.