Oolite Bulletins

Got a private message last week saying oolite has detected a virus on your computer.which then gives you a link to a very nasty site which is full of password stealers i.if you go to the site BEWARE coz it nearly killed my pc and took me several hours to remove the malware.it said it was from. [email protected] just be carefull. pirates in this case are real. and have a guess what happened next. when i signed back into oolite the message was gone WITHOUT ME DELETING IT from my inbox.. VERY STRANGE.

There has already been an announcement about this:
https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?t=7551

Your PM was most likely deleted when the spambot's account was purged.

There is I think a forum rule whereby new members can't post links until they've made something like five posts. Is it possible/desirable that, in light of this spam attack, we restrict new members' ability to PM in a similar fashion?

Holy Cr*p! Sorry to hear about that one Dazer. Good to know you managed to stop the bad guys.

Before clicking on a link just have a look in the forum, and if in doubt, ask on the forum itself. You can never be too careful. I tend to use firefox with the NoScript plugin, but you still need to back that kind of set up with a healthy dose of paranoia!

Oolite works fine on Linux and you don't get viruses, etc. Linux does everything you're likely to need very well, and as well as being very secure, it's fast too. OK, it's not so hot on some games, but if that's not an issue, consider up-grading your Operating System. I use Ubuntu, which is really user-friendly.

@Smivs
Oolite also works fine on Windows, and you don't get viruses there either - If you practice the same safe-computing principles. It can be very secure and fast. How do I know? I run it - 10 years with a high speed connection with systems I leave running 24/7 (meaning I don't shutdown when not in use).

Please, leave the OS-bigotry where it belongs - 1999.

What Cmd. Cheyd said, plus that suggesting to people that they change operating systems as a solution to the problems, is simply not a solution.

Hey Guys, give me a break! I have a Windows machine as well...I'm not some Linux purist, although I do use the Linux box most as it is just better for what I do, mostly. My post was meant as a suggestion only, as a lot of people don't realise there are alternatives to Windows, and after all, Linux is free and open source, just like Oolite.

dazer1 wrote:

Got a private message last week saying oolite has detected a virus on your computer.which then gives you a link to a very nasty site which is full of password stealers i.if you go to the site BEWARE coz it nearly killed my pc and took me several hours to remove the malware.it said it was from. [email protected] just be carefull. pirates in this case are real. and have a guess what happened next. when i signed back into oolite the message was gone WITHOUT ME DELETING IT from my inbox.. VERY STRANGE.

The 'ModeratorTeam' spam felt way too much like a virus boobytrap to me when it appeared. Dazer pretty much confirms those suspicions.

Woah, feel the tension. Can we start a Windows vs Linux debate?

That Oolite runs on all three platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac) is a wonderful thing. I used to run Windows, until my drive crashed and I had no Windows disks. I decided to try Ubuntu and went to the package manager to see what games were available. Expecting only a dozen versions of solitaire, I found Oolite!.

Cmd. Cheyd wrote:

@Smivs
Oolite also works fine on Windows, and you don't get viruses there either - If you practice the same safe-computing principles. It can be very secure and fast. How do I know? I run it - 10 years with a high speed connection with systems I leave running 24/7 (meaning I don't shutdown when not in use).

Please, leave the OS-bigotry where it belongs - 1999.

All three platforms have their strengths and weaknesses.
Let's leave it at that. Agreed?

Smivs wrote:

Oolite works fine on Linux and you don't get viruses, etc. Linux does everything you're likely to need very well, and as well as being very secure, it's fast too. OK, it's not so hot on some games, but if that's not an issue, consider up-grading your Operating System. I use Ubuntu, which is really user-friendly.

Unfortunately the idea that Linux doesn't get viruses is actually untrue. There are Linux viruses out there. Not many, but they exist. The only reason that windows has so many by comparison is a) the Linux architecture makes writing viruses to work on it difficult where as it's far simpler to get them to work on a Windows box. b) is the number of desktop linux PCs isn't anywhere (sadly in my opinion) as numerous as Windows ones. As a result a linux virus is less likely to spread and the virus writers are therefore less likely to bother writing one. c) Another aspect is that Linux users tend to be a savvy bunch, mostly, (not that all Windows users aren't) and are less likely to believe messages from an unlikely source and click on links provided.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_malware

Also with lots of platform independent systems these days there is nothing to stop a virus that makes use of these things to do malicious stuff to a linux box.

Therefore we are already at the stage where Linux users need to install anti-virus and anti-malware tools.

I use Ubuntu 9.04 as my main OS because I think it is better but if someone wants to use one of the Windows OSs there is no reason they shouldn't.

Therefore we are already at the stage where Linux users need to install anti-virus and anti-malware tools.

What sort of linux antivirus/anti-malware software is out there ?

Chrisfs wrote:

Therefore we are already at the stage where Linux users need to install anti-virus and anti-malware tools.

What sort of linux antivirus/anti-malware software is out there ?

You can get AVG to work on a Linux box - I stopped because they started mentioning things like "rebuilding the Kernel" to get the on-click checks to work - Pretty sure I had Avast on my Gutsy and Jaunty installs - but I 'fess I haven't got round to putting anything on my Karmic install yet.