Mike Rochip

Looks like Sony is giving in (for now). It'll be interesting to see what they do next. MSNBC

Sony rootkit now available for Macs. Details and an interesting commentary: Google News LOL While pasting the link I noticed the filename for the article is called "Sonys_death_wis.html"

Thanks! I would have never guessed that was it.

To all the Veterans past on present- Although today is set aside specifically to honor Veterans past and present, every day we are all reminded of the freedom, opportunities, and quality of life that is only possible because of the commitment, devotion to duty, and above all the personal sacrifice of the members of the Armed Services, their families, and friends. If not for you, we would not be who we are today and we are forever grateful and in your debt. Our thoughts and prayers are with you as we hope for the success of your mission, your health and safety, and above all your safe return. Thank you

I guess this was a rhetorical question. I was just wondering because I have never seen symbols like that and thought they were funny. I was wondering what this one meant:

More malware discovered using Sony's rootkit and Computer Associates to release a removal tool: CNN

My personal experience is that CCleaner has never deleted anything it shouldn't have. You could backup the registry and/or create a restore point (if you're running XP) before removing the files as a precaution. You may also want to post a HiJackThis log which one of the experts here will analyze and then let you know if you have any malware. They will often offer suggestions on things you can do to make your computer run better, as well.

Could be a coincidence but I cleared all the permissions in Zone Alarm so it could relearn my preferences and haven't had any problems since.

It is OK to delete those extensions, CCleaner only deletes specific instances, not all the files with those extensions. PS Welcome to the forum!

You didn't add the car symbols, did you?

Saw this while reading about the rootkit issue: Inquirer

The site is working (at least for now 5:05PM MST). Thanks rridgely!

Andavari- When I was reading up on Sony's rootkit I think you had a post in another forum wondering if anti-virus vendors were considering doing anything to prevent, remove or at least detect rootkits on user's PCs in the future. Have you seen this? ZDNet UK article Apparently Sony can add Anti-Malware Vendors to the list of people they have p*ssed off royally with their "harmless software." The list now includes their customers, their artists (Van Zandt and Switchfoot have gone on record as saying they want no part of excessive DRMs), privacy advocates, safe computing advocates, people with ethics or at least half a brain, etc. I guess no-one's happy except for Sony Management who still are saying they can't understand why people are upset. Are they really that CLUELESS or are they just too arrogant to admit they made a mistake? To be fair to Sony I did read hackers are happy, too.

I used Limewire for a long time and really liked it. However the latest version installed or allowed to be installed lots of serious and very hard to remove malware. The older versions let some adware etc. through but I was aware of it and it was easily removed. I think it's too bad the program is now basically worthless in my opinion, It's certainly not worth all the trouble it causes. I'm thinking the same thing is happening to Download.com since they still list it despite their "no malware" pledge and in fact give it their hearty recommendation. Then I read some of the over-the-top "User's Comments" which obviously come from people living in some sort of alternate universe very different than ours. I've been using SoulSeek from Ultimate Predator's recommendation and it may not be as flashy as some of the others but it's easy to learn to use and offers a lot of content and some pretty neat features and options of it's own.

I Googled Singingfish and everything I found was positive. Apparently it's a good site that keeps getting better. It's now owned by AOL and since AOL has decided to be nice to everyone (even non-subscribers) they seem to be making a genuine effort to provide usefull and interesting content on the Web. I searched a few obscure artists I like and found songs and video which really surprised me. I'd heard of Singingfish and tried it quite a while ago and wasn't impressed at all but this new version is totally different than what I remember. Thanks for the heads-up! I'm curious what others will say about this site.

I'm not sure if this is what you're describing but lately my internet connection seems to "disappear" for lack of a better word. I use NetZero and the computer will disconnect and there is no pop-up warning that "the connection has been lost" like there always was before. I've been wondering if it's ZoneAlarm. The other day there was an error in the Event Log that said something to the effect that ZoneAlarm tried to write info to its log that was "more than 8 times" the space allocated for it. I haven't been able to figure out anything that could be causing the disconnect but it's happening less often now.

Sony is now allowing you to remove the rootkit but of course there's yet another catch: "If at some point you wish to remove the software from your machine simply contact customer service through this link. You will, though, be unable to use the disc on your computer once you uninstall the components." Sony FAQ You still have to give them your e-mail. Hackers are already exploiting the rootkit: World of Warcraft hack Another article: Inquirer UK

probably for sympathy? Seems hard to have sympathy for a 55 year old man who allows himself to be called SCOOTER!

If we were locked in a room with Cher and her clone, we could "Cher and Cher-Alike."

Stupid posts are my only area of expertise. Please don't take that away

Another is to go to Programs>Accesories>Accessibility and turn on Narrator. I like your idea though because of the endless amount of sound effects you could use if you wanted to like blood curdling screams, car alarms, etc. Long songs is pretty evil, though...

Sorry gr81, looks like I misunderstood your question Glad Eldmannen was paying attention...

Million dollar lottery ticket bought with stolen credit card.

While Exxon's quarterly profit was up 75 percent from a year earlier, and revenue rose 32 percent to more than $100 billion , the results fell short of Wall Street forecasts due to production outages caused by the hurricanes and sharply lower profit at the company's chemicals division. "They were a bit disappointing , but this a temporary phenomenon," said Paul Kuklinski, an analyst with Boston Energy Research/Soleil Securities. "This is largely attributable to hurricane effects." Exxon shares closed down about 1 percent. If my math is right that's $12,860.08 A SECOND for 90 days. I wonder how much more we all needed to be ripped off in order to satisfy Wall Sreet. Full Story

Found a Regedit Tutorial here. Scannow here. I'm sure you know, but be extremely careful with Regedit, it can really mess things up if mistakes are made ie: computer = expensive paperweight Even the all-knowing rridgely is very wary of Regedit, you may want to check with him before using it. He's said he won't advise people on specific editing instructions, but I imagine he can advise you of the dangers Regedit involves. Hope this info is what you were looking for.