Conficker virus rant (boring)

i run arch linux... my everyday pc is 8 years old though.. so it doesn't boot in 20 seconds.. but sure.. i hardly ever reboot it (see other thread). i'm really happy with arch. in the 2 years i've used arch.. i've learned almost nothing about it. it just works for me. really simple configuration, simple package management. it's a rolling release, which is definitely the thing i like most about it. i'm done with major distro upgrades.

Yeah I run ubuntu on one of my laptops (using it at this very moment) and it is by far the best Linux distro I've tried, it's not faster than windows (xp) and not more stable but it is free, a lot less bloated and doubtless more secure (and/or less targeted). Also there is a lot of readily available good quality free software available.

I do wish bass box pro, winISD, sound forge, audiocore, race and dcx-remote ran on it though, then I think I would never have to run windows.

Basically Mint is Ubuntu with all the multimedia codecs already included plus they have modded a few apps. to make them much easier to use. Only available in  32bit at the moment but 64 bit is at RC1.

Tony

darkmatter wrote: Problem is, when people realize you know about these things, instead of taking your advice they just ask you to sort it out for them. I'd rather let them all get worms than spend ages trying to set people's computers up properly.

Just tell them it's £25 per hour after the first favour (unless they are good friends or family). That dissuades lazy people pretty quickly. After the first time you have sorted them out they don't get a second if good advice has been disregarded too!

iand4403 wrote: chickenfizz wrote: I have two answers to that... I WOULD be able to tell because I'd see network traffic that was unaccounted for or I'd see extra processes running or many other tell-tale signs. The other answer is if I REALLY wouldn't be able to tell then I don't really care. And still I'd say that no I couldn't be part of one unless my computer had requested to be part of one. I agree that without decent protect there could be problems, but "decent protection" in my opinion is running a dedicated firewall and well-informed PC usage. Not downloading and installing patches and running bloated scanning software etc. Apparently it's quite simple to spoof the windows process list/netstat etc but I have no experience. As long as I can browse SP and play Moh:AA I'm not bothered either

Yep if you have a rootkit your system will basically lie to you.

Did you see what happened to our local botnet creator in the Coromandel? He has dyslexia or similar, so he doesnt go to jail,and has many job offers. Isnt that discrimination against those of us without conditions? Also he didnt modify an existing botnet program,he made his own :P

And as for patching, yes some people DO have an excuse - for every 10 bugs that are fixed, 3 more are created. But your everyday joe blogs, I dont think they have a problem with auto updates aslong as they have a decent ADSL pipe.

chickenfizz wrote: I have two answers to that... I WOULD be able to tell because I'd see network traffic that was unaccounted for or I'd see extra processes running or many other tell-tale signs. The other answer is if I REALLY wouldn't be able to tell then I don't really care. And still I'd say that no I couldn't be part of one unless my computer had requested to be part of one. I agree that without decent protect there could be problems, but "decent protection" in my opinion is running a dedicated firewall and well-informed PC usage. Not downloading and installing patches and running bloated scanning software etc.

Apparently it's quite simple to spoof the windows process list/netstat etc but I have no experience.

As long as I can browse SP and play Moh:AA I'm not bothered either