tgp1994

Umm... ok :\ Like this would be more preferable; the thing is, you really only want relevant answers in the poll. Hope that helps

Oh, I see. Well, I generally have about ~220 GB stored on my main drive, so... that would be about 600GB of data on my other drive. Ehh, I dunno.

I think I might have really mistated something, I apologize. What I meant originally was for the hard drive to only keep the core operating system files in a read only portion, while the rest of the hard drive is standard read and write.

Keeping that many backups? I think that would total at least 1.6 terabytes of data for me. Much more than I could store, and much more than what I'd want to pay an online service to keep.

Hmm... I kind of like the one time idea. I guess the only problem is: I wouldn't be able to get into the habit of backing up often enough to make it worthwhile... and then, what if I backup an alreadt infected file? You're right though, I should be backing up something. The idea of an application or utility that scans windows file for corruption is very interesting, since I think I'm still infected. (Mysterious outgoing HTTP connections from the system idle process, some of which ESET blocks because they are known attack sites.)

Yikes Even though I'm not an OO user nyself, I'd hate to see any part of it go proprietary. I hope the fact that oracle's logo is on it isn't an indication of anything.

Ohh, tha does make sense. I think iPhones and iTouches would be safe, wouldn't they? I mean, I don't think there's even a jailbreak that allows windows to recognize them as usb storage disks (perhaps partially due to the filesystem)

Umm, ya... that's my point. Having a drive like the one I suggested would sort of be like that.

I have never seen any windows setup CD replace only a select few files before. Ya, I know, I know, I confused what you had said for a second there and assumed you were actually running Windows XP SP1. I would consider running it before bootup a performance decrease (adding time to the boot procedure). And like you said, the space will be taken up. Despite there being hundreds of replacements, I don't think there's anyway around it.

I didn't say I've never used any of the above mentioned mediums at all. I was using the word "was" to indicate the time at which I was infected. Thus, Does not fall under your list And what can someone do with my IP? Sure, they could test my computer for an attack, but of what type? P.S. I never clicked anything in the website. I don't fall for things like recreated UIs, I was merely looking at the front of the website to judge its appearance.

That still didn't make much sense. Why would you want to use a LiveCD as a mainstream operating system?

Umm... wrong topic?

Agreeing with most of the users in this thread, a futureproof computer is impossible.That's the only reason why computer part manufacturers thrive: every year or so, they create a newer, faster part, and the software follows along to fill that new space. The user is eventually left with no choice but to buy that newer part, which in turn, may be incompatible, thus creating another market for other part manufacturers :DI mean, if you think about it, it's better that way. What would we do if both Intel and AMD went out of business?My suggestion to you is to get parts that have the latest support built into them, which should hold you over for as long as possible.Otherwise, keep that job, so the money keeps flowing

Hey everyone.While I was sitting here cleaning my infected computer and browsing Xisto on another, an idea came to me: what if the original operating system install could store its most valuable and critical operating files on a memory chip of the hard drive (regardless to whether it was a platter or SSD drive), then after installing the OS, the user could move a jumper to set that portion of the memory to read-only?One reason that's a nearly foolproof method for preventing the files from being written over with a virus is because that portion is read only! And the only way to change that would be to move a two pin jumper on the hard drive, which fortunately, viruses can't do yet Also, loading the operating system would be very fast for the first part, due to it being on a memory chip (again, regardless of whether it was a platter or SSD drive). Then, suppose you want to make a dual boot or n-boot drive, manufacturers could begin making drives with expanded "os-space" chips, allowing you install the os alongside. Of course, you'd have to trust that OS that it wouldn't install a virus of its own.What do you guys think?

The answer for watching longer videos in higher quality has already been made - Netflix I believe for the PS3 or xBox360 it supports HD. I kind of feel like I'm in the future already - you can now play nice looking video games over the internet with a low end computer, you can view and control other peoples' computers at their consent, and even average users can make and host their own website from their own computers! This just goes to show what kind of a catalyst the internet is: the more people using it, the more you can expect to come out of it. I predict, in the future, that we'll never need hard drives in our computers - everything will be stored online. Perhaps Segate and Western Digital will just create gigantic data centers and charge you a minimalistic monthly fee to store it there. By then, I bet we'll be able to store petabytes of information on a chip the size of our thumb. (And maybe by then, all electronics will be made out of fiber optics, rather than copper and gold )

I guess I don't understand the business model for Oracle/OpenOffice. Open office is apparently now owned by a company, but how can it still be produced for free?

AND IE8? I thought this was only a Firefox problem, which now indicates that it is Xisto. Btw, I was using Firefox 3.6.10 on Windows XP home. And I don't think that's how you make a poll

Yup, that's it.

I don't think I have/had any kind of specialised viruses like that on my computer. Anyhow, the BSODs were happening before I was infected. (Oddly enough, the infection has almost seemed to have fixed my problem I'm still holding my breath.) That doesn't make much sense... I'll quote myself above and say that I doubt I have anything like that I'd like to try and keep the virus issue and BSOD issue in separate threads. No crack or hacking software has been installed recently. Haven't had any of those. You mean do a repair install? Afaik any windows version can do that when you pop in the setup cd, and I'd like to hold off on that as a last resort. And why in the world are you only running SP1? Oh, wait, that does sound different. Do you happen to remember the exact name? Bleh, performance decrease. And I don't exactly have the space to keep that ghost partition. Thank you for all of your input! This did add some new angles to the whole thinking process.

Very interesting, except I was doing none of the above

Are you sure about that? Then again, Xisto is the only place I've seen this problem, so that would seem to point towards the forum software its self...

Perhaps it would save everyone some trouble if the moderators got on the admin(s) back(s) and had them fix the forum

Did someone reply? I just got a notification email saying so.

It's a bug in the forum software. In your control panel, change the default editor to standard mode.

Last thursday I was surprised to see a firefox update, but it downloaded and installed like usual, so I went about my daily business. At one point after that, a friend contacted me about a software website they thought was suspicous, so I followed the link. "Yup," I told him, "sure is."So he looked elsewhere for the application he was looking for, and I went back to my tasks.Then later, my screen was attacked by about 5 different antivirus applications saying I was infected by rogue software (probably reporting each other), at which point I quickly finished writing puppy linux to my cd, then I rebooted my computer.I have almost never run anti virus software on my computer; I always get the latest patches from microsoft, and I think I have enough common sense to know what bad software is from good software. This, and the fact that I had no idea websites could download and run executables to my computer, contributed to this occurance.Don't be like me: be VERY careful after getting this firefox update! It's user hunting season!