1) read the mail in which had an attached zip file
2) opened the attachment - winzip displayed a single file called (somthing).cmd or.com which had a system file type icon
3) viewed the file in notepad - it was mostly non-text characters
I have no idea which of these steps triggered the infection, but I my suspicion is a corrupted zip file causing a buffer overflow in Winzip. I find it unlikely that there's much room to exploit Notepad, or that many users would do that. It simply have been opening the mail in Outlook, of course - I didn't check it's format, but I don't recall anything visible in the mail body.
After 15 years in the programming business, and 8 years mucking about on the internet, on Tuesday I caught my first virus.
Yes I'm usually careful, but I opened the attached zip file out of curiosity - I've never heard of an exploit of Winzip before.
Two minutes later we got instructions from our sysadmin to apply the new McAfee patch, which detected it. So rip out the network cable, then track down the latest version of Stinger from a co-workers machine, run it, reboot, run again, then a full system scan.
Time lost: about 2 hours. Hourly rate: none of your business.
It has been suggested that we call the whole lot IONA (Islands of the North Atlantic) as a non-offensive alternative. Although no-one has asked the Icelandic folk what they think about being lumped in with us.
I have to disagree about Berlusconi though - anyone who can wind up the Germans is ok with me!
From the article: A Commerce Department (news - web sites) report last month said increasing numbers of technology jobs are moving from the United States to Canada, India, Ireland, Israel, the Philippines and China..."
Half of the countries in that list are not going to give much of a saving in labor costs. But at least you don't have to demean yourself by peeing in a bottle to get the job...
I agree with everything you say - but what is beneficial for society is not the same as what is beneficial for programmers.
It's funny that you mention working as slowly as possible, because I've come across this behaviour many times: IT departments wanting to avoid having their budget slashed, software houses trying to milk their clients; etc.
Not at all. Every software company will create its own date routine, for instance. If the company can simply get a free one, that is one less program to write, and therefor a one less programmer required for the duration. We can't compete against free.
While open source development may make you feel like you giving something back to the community, you are actually putting programmers out of work since they can no longer "re-invent the wheel" of that code.
Thanks guys:(
Re:Shutting out the worst offenders
on
UK Spam Law Goes Live
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Please don't "bounce the e-mail with some kind of message". My yahoo email address is currently being "borrowed" by some spammer as their from-address, resulting in such bounce messages coming to me. It's very tedious.
My point is that we can consider the Win9x/NT split to be different platforms - like developing for Linux and BSD. You would have to support both but attempt to keep their behaviour the same.
Forking (at least my understanding of it) is one group wants to add a new feature (or change existing behaviour), the other does not, so a fork is made with no intention of merging the new development with the existing version at a later time (unlike having a development version and a current support version).
Remember when lots of software wouldn't run on the NT branch of Windows?
Forking is not the same as making the same software run on different platforms. Usually forking is where designers wish the add/remove feature from the software, instead of making the effort to make features optional within the same software (and resolving possible conflicts within the process) with can lead to bloat.
I suspect users are more likely to prefer bloat and optional features to forking.
What the Ashcroft DOJ did not seek was a *breakup* of Microsoft. That's far from unreasonable. A breakup would have been purely punitive, and done nothing to correct the situation.
I think breaking Microsoft into an OS company & a Software company would have done alot to rectify the situation.
It extremely unlikely that IE would have been a freebie under those circumstance, it would have needed to compete against Netscape.
It would mean that the Office developers would not have tricks up their sleaves not available to non-Microsoft developers, and that Microsoft OS would have to properly document ALL the hooks and tricks publicly, and would not be able to change specifications to break competitors software with the next release.
I am not normally a Microsoft basher, but they are guilty of non-competive behavior, and the penalties sought have done little to discourage that. Separating the OS & Application companies could have gone a long way towards leveling the playing field.
Telling her to invest in some more RAM would have been helpful, although why they think they can get away with a P4 with only 128mb is beyond me... oh wait, its because most folks don't know better, then they can charge an hours labour for a 2 minute job.
Well his first language is Italian, not English. He has also spent alot of his life studying medieval documents and history, so it is unlikely he would come across like Orwell, who spent most of his life producing novel in 20th century English.
I have always enjoyed his work, although sometimes you have read it twice to get his meaning (which it not unusual for translations).
Slashdot Mirror
Hey if you think chess is a good game, you should check out Go (aka Baduk/Wei Chi) - excellent strategy, less ulcers ;)
1) read the mail in which had an attached zip file .com which had a system file type icon
2) opened the attachment - winzip displayed a single file called (somthing).cmd or
3) viewed the file in notepad - it was mostly non-text characters
I have no idea which of these steps triggered the infection, but I my suspicion is a corrupted zip file causing a buffer overflow in Winzip. I find it unlikely that there's much room to exploit Notepad, or that many users would do that. It simply have been opening the mail in Outlook, of course - I didn't check it's format, but I don't recall anything visible in the mail body.
I think you are mistaken - to car mechanic would call him a "good customer".
After 15 years in the programming business, and 8 years mucking about on the internet, on Tuesday I caught my first virus.
Yes I'm usually careful, but I opened the attached zip file out of curiosity - I've never heard of an exploit of Winzip before.
Two minutes later we got instructions from our sysadmin to apply the new McAfee patch, which detected it. So rip out the network cable, then track down the latest version of Stinger from a co-workers machine, run it, reboot, run again, then a full system scan.
Time lost: about 2 hours.
Hourly rate: none of your business.
It has been suggested that we call the whole lot IONA (Islands of the North Atlantic) as a non-offensive alternative. Although no-one has asked the Icelandic folk what they think about being lumped in with us.
I have to disagree about Berlusconi though - anyone who can wind up the Germans is ok with me!
Pre-Pentium 4 they were called laptops computers. After burning the thighs of some users they are now referred to as notebook computers.
Just like they "well formed" HTML to break standards?
How long before you get "de-Microsoft your XML" software appearing?
Hopefully this will shed some light on what AMD is trying to do with all the different socket types..
Making us buy more motherboards, of course!
From the article:
A Commerce Department (news - web sites) report last month said increasing numbers of technology jobs are moving from the United States to Canada, India, Ireland, Israel, the Philippines and China..."
Half of the countries in that list are not going to give much of a saving in labor costs. But at least you don't have to demean yourself by peeing in a bottle to get the job...
It doesn't mean less programmers required, just less run-of-the mill "programmers" required.
I hope you dont write specs with logic like that!
I'm not against efficiency and innovation, just pointing out that there will be less work to go around, and that Open Source is contributing to that.
On a philosophical level I approve of Open Source; on a professional level it worries me.
I agree with everything you say - but what is beneficial for society is not the same as what is beneficial for programmers.
It's funny that you mention working as slowly as possible, because I've come across this behaviour many times: IT departments wanting to avoid having their budget slashed, software houses trying to milk their clients; etc.
Easy way to get modded Troll: attack Open Source.
Not at all. Every software company will create its own date routine, for instance. If the company can simply get a free one, that is one less program to write, and therefor a one less programmer required for the duration. We can't compete against free.
While open source development may make you feel like you giving something back to the community, you are actually putting programmers out of work since they can no longer "re-invent the wheel" of that code.
:(
Thanks guys
Please don't "bounce the e-mail with some kind of message". My yahoo email address is currently being "borrowed" by some spammer as their from-address, resulting in such bounce messages coming to me. It's very tedious.
My point is that we can consider the Win9x/NT split to be different platforms - like developing for Linux and BSD. You would have to support both but attempt to keep their behaviour the same.
Forking (at least my understanding of it) is one group wants to add a new feature (or change existing behaviour), the other does not, so a fork is made with no intention of merging the new development with the existing version at a later time (unlike having a development version and a current support version).
Remember when lots of software wouldn't run on the NT branch of Windows?
Forking is not the same as making the same software run on different platforms. Usually forking is where designers wish the add/remove feature from the software, instead of making the effort to make features optional within the same software (and resolving possible conflicts within the process) with can lead to bloat.
I suspect users are more likely to prefer bloat and optional features to forking.
What the Ashcroft DOJ did not seek was a *breakup* of Microsoft. That's far from unreasonable. A breakup would have been purely punitive, and done nothing to correct the situation.
I think breaking Microsoft into an OS company & a Software company would have done alot to rectify the situation.
It extremely unlikely that IE would have been a freebie under those circumstance, it would have needed to compete against Netscape.
It would mean that the Office developers would not have tricks up their sleaves not available to non-Microsoft developers, and that Microsoft OS would have to properly document ALL the hooks and tricks publicly, and would not be able to change specifications to break competitors software with the next release.
I am not normally a Microsoft basher, but they are guilty of non-competive behavior, and the penalties sought have done little to discourage that. Separating the OS & Application companies could have gone a long way towards leveling the playing field.
nah, just the 80's. Nothing important :)
Telling her to invest in some more RAM would have been helpful, although why they think they can get away with a P4 with only 128mb is beyond me... oh wait, its because most folks don't know better, then they can charge an hours labour for a 2 minute job.
What part of "No user serviceable part inside - breaking this seal will void your warranty" don't you understand?
Well his first language is Italian, not English. He has also spent alot of his life studying medieval documents and history, so it is unlikely he would come across like Orwell, who spent most of his life producing novel in 20th century English.
I have always enjoyed his work, although sometimes you have read it twice to get his meaning (which it not unusual for translations).
Do go out to a local cafe for lunch. It at least forces you to get dressed, as opposed the sitting around in your dressing gown all day.
I'll be happy if it fixes the "page widening" bug, and the "repeat the entire thread on next page" "feature" in nested view...
So you presumably build and maintain your own car, fridge, cooker, TV, etc.
Elitists should bugger off back to the medieval monasteries, where they belong!
Would that be Rochefort or Chedder?
:-)
I like the philosophy of BSD.
I dislike the politics of Linux.
I wish I had Microsoft's money