Dak

Were these warnings from an anti-spyware program that you recognise (like ad-aware, for example), or did they come from a system-tray icon that you didnt recognise? Thats normal. If you meant 'wininet.dll', then: reboot into safe mode and go to C:\windows\ServicePackFiles\i386 and find wininet.dll. Right-click wininet.dll and select 'copy' Goto C:\windows\system32 Right-click on the background and select 'paste' if it asks if you want to over-right wininet.dll with wininet.dll, select 'yes' reboot into normal mode, and explorer.exe should work. if the error message actually read 'wininet.exe' or 'wininet.exe.dll' or anything other than just 'wininet.dll', then dont do the above. Have you done the anti-virus/anti-slyware scans reccomended earlyer? If so, was the name 'smitfraud'/'smithfraud' mentioned? or any infection along the lines of 'trojan-spy.HTML-desktophijacker'?

If you installed the game, then its possible that windows automatically made a restore point. You could try restoring to a point just prior to installing the game and see if that works?

Id just like to quickly point something out. The line that you quoted part of reads, in its entierety, this: http://www.useff.com/firefox-browser.html I fail to see how you could have misinterpreted 'firefox is secure' as meaning that its 100% secure when the very next sentance, which doesnt even have a return inbetween it and the 'firefox is secure' bit, expands upon the point in a way that makes it clear that 100% security is not being inplyed. (emphasis mine)

I'm in the process of (very slowly) trying to learn how to program. I havent actually gotten on to learning a fully-fledged programing language yet as i'm trying to become competent at a few scripting languages first to get the feel of it (learning XHTML at the mo). anyway, my question is: What branch(es) of mathematics do I need to study in order to be able to program, and to what level do I need to become proficient?

On a public medium... Depending upon the wording, I suppose it could count as sexual harrasment?

I was sarcastically pertaining to the word 'secure' ; 'safe' suffers the same flaw as 'secure' if you've a mind to view them as absolutes. Which (Mastertech), by common usage, they aren't. Humans are faster than horses on the start-up. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to outrun a horse.

OK. I wasn't sure, hence the 'if...' clause at the beginning.

If your talking about no FF vulnerabilitys being exploited in the wild, then... From http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/analyses/trojbrissb.html Also: http://vitalsecurity.typepad.com/vitalsecurityorg/firefox/index.html ---------- also... a computer that is not plugged into the internet' date=' and has an updated anti-virus and anti-spyware programs, and is running a limited user account with all the latest OS updates could still catch a virus via removable media that is capable of gleaning/guessing the admin password and running itself with administrator privelages. What about a computer that is switched off? secure? nah-ah! It might be set so that the BIOS will switch on when recieving a command through the ethernet, which would constitute a security vulnerability. What about a smashed-up computer. well, it might be possible to gather bits of the smashed hard-disk drive and recover sensitive information, so no. hell, we may aswell abandon the word 'secure' alltogether. what we need is a word that means 'secure', but doesnt nessesarily inply absolute 100% 'security'. hmm, Im sure that a word like that exists already... what is it now... Actually, I've heard the '100% w3c compliance' myth quite alot. none of the others tho. A flaw with your definition: upon each relese of FF (and, presumably IE), I assume that there are no known unpatched vulnerabilities -- otherwize they'd have patched them for that release -- but there always turns out to be vulnerabilities.

Would you care to justify that.

'Secure' isn't an absolute, otherwize the phrase 'absolutely secure' would be redundant and non-sensical. Despite the security flaws firefox is more secure than not, and -- for a variety of reasons -- more secure than IE, thus the phrase 'secure web-browser' is applicable to FF. '100% secure web-browser' is not applicable to FF... which may explain why I have never heard it applied to FF.

Merry christmas everyone! May your turkeys be fat and juicy, your alcohol plentiful, your friends and/or family present, and your presents lacking in socks.

I dunno... now that I've gotten used to it, i really hate to be without it. Even before firefox I was using slimbrowser for its tabbed browsing... imo, virtually every program should have tabs. Just with respect to this one feature, it is (soon to be rectified in IE7). I guess if you concider tabbed browsing to be that inportant, then the fact that FF has tabs and IE doesnt becomes quite relevant.

'cos CWS.A:B is a bitch to remove when its properly dug-in, I'd suggest doing the following to ensure that its completely removed from your computer (Dont worry, theres not nearly as much here as there looks like there is): Could you extract HJT from its zipped file and into a permanant folder please. Also, show hidden files/folders by doing this: * Open My Computer. * Select the Tools menu and click Folder Options. * Select the View Tab. * Under the Hidden files and folders heading select Show hidden files and folders. * Uncheck the Hide protected operating system files (recommended) option. * Click Yes to confirm. * Click OK. Step#1: Download CWShredder Do Not Use Yet 1. Please Download the most recent version of CWShredder, from CWSInstall.exe 2. Check for Updates but please Do NOT use it yet Step#2: Download About Buster Do Not Use Yet 1. Please download About:Buster from here: http://www.malwarebytes.biz/AboutBuster5.zip. 2. Once it is downloaded extract it to c:\aboutbuster. 3. Check to make sure it is up-to-date. Please Do NOT use it yet Step#3: Download Ewido Security SuiteDo Not Use Yet Download and install Ewido security suite Right Click on the “E” icon in your taskbar and open Ewido Security Suite then click “update” to get the most recent definitions for it to use. When it prompts you to update, click the OK button. download the updates and when they are finished installing, close the window Please Do Not Use It Yet Step#4: Download A Registry File to Remove Registry Entries Do Not Use Yet Please download the following zip file to your desktop: HSfix Double Click on HSfix.zip and it will unzip to a new folder it makes on your desktop, called HSfix Do Not Use It Yet Step#5: remove bad service Run HijackThis, and click on the 'open misc tools section' button. click 'delete an NT service' Copy/paste the following into the box: [b]Workstation NetLogon Service[/b] And then click OK. Step#6: Reboot into safe-mode Reboot your computer. As it is loading up, continually poke the F8 button. This should bring up a menu; use the keyboard arrows to select 'safe mode', and press enter. step#6.5: The bit that I nearly forgot. Delete the following file, if it is present. E:\WINNT\devnez.dat.exe Then run HijackThis and put a check-mark next to the following entry: O23 - Service: Workstation NetLogon Service (O?’ŽrtñåȲ$Ó) - Unknown owner - E:\WINNT\devnez.dat.exe (file missing) then, with all other windows shut, click on 'fix checked'. Step#7: Use the HSfix.reg file Navigate to the HSfix folder on your Desktop Then double-click on the HSfix.reg file, and when it prompts to merge say yes, and this will clear some registry entries left behind by the process. if you have a popup from any of your protection programs asking if you want to make a change to the registry, say Yes or Accept it Step#8: Fixing With CWShredder CLOSE ALL WINDOWS except CWShredder Run the program by clicking 'fix' and letting it fix all CWS remnants. Step#9: Fixing With About Buster This is the step where we will use About:Buster that you had downloaded previously. Navigate to the c:\aboutbuster directory double-click on aboutbuster.exe When the tool opens press the OK button, then Start button, then the OK button then finally the Yes button. It will start scanning your computer for files. If it asks if you would like to do a second pass, allow it to do so. Post the log file in your next reply Step#10: Scan With Ewido Security Suite Launch Ewido again Click on Scanner>Complete System Scan. Let the program scan your PC. When the scan asks to clean files click OK. When scan is completed, click Save report. to your desktop. Post the report in your next reply. step#11: Reboot your computer back to normal mode Step#12: Scan and Post a New HJT log with other logs Scan again with HijackThis. Post your logs from HijackThis, About Buster, and Ewido Security Suite here in this thread with any questions or problems that you have run into. In addition, could you try doing this again: go to http://virusscan.jotti.org/ and upload the file E:\WINNT\system32\myproxy.exe and copy/paste the results of the jottiscan into this thread please. It should work now that 'show hidden files' is switched on.

Dave, have you checked out chamelion? I dont know much about it, but apparently its a streamlined geko browser. Its stated intention is to be all-round zippier than other geko browsers, although I dont know wether it succedes or not. I briefly used it some time back, and it seemed quite firefox-esque.

Could you go to http://virusscan.jotti.org/ and upload the file E:\WINNT\system32\myproxy.exe and copy/paste the results of the jottiscan into this thread please. Can you also confirm that you recognise either 'Sify Broadband' and/or 'Value Added Network service provider in India' as your internet service provider?

What I meant was that I thought that it was actually a w3c reccomendation to use XHTML over HTML in order to eventually transition to a purely XML based language. I could easily be wrong, but I was under the impression that that was the case.

That looks like a variant of CWS.A:B, but i dont see any of the other entries that should be assosciated with it... Before i look through your log properly, could you tell me wether the HJT scan was made in safe mode or normal mode? Also, is your account an administrator account or a limited user account? hmm... also, when IE loads up, is the phrase 'about:blank' present anywhere, like in the adress bar or the blue bar right up the top of the IE window? by-the-way, if this is CWS.A:B, then poking at it will cause it to reinstall and sometimes delete system files, so I'd suggest leaving the service alone for now.

I thought that XHTML was supposed to eventually replace HTML?

I have a feeling that you might have look2me, but I can't tell from the old HijackThis log... Download the latest version of HJT from here (scroll down and click the button with a flashing green light next to it), extract it, and whack up a new log from HJTv1.99.1 please Also, do any of your anti-spyware programs detect anything? If so, what do they say you're infected with?

tbh, the only time that ive had a problem with FF compatability is reguarding active-x incompatablility... and even then, I hardly ever come across a site that i cant view in FF. And, if i remember correctly from the first time that we had this conversation, i believe that it emerged that you were using valid transitional HTML 4.01 So, its possible to make sites that render correctly in both IE and browsers that interpret html strictly.

Its a pity that it had to come down to the first amendment, rather than the simple fact that ID is just not scientificaly valid, but huzzah! all the same.

Why do you think that they are nessesary? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant-runoff_voting

A few ideas: Why not just make the usergroup capable of clearing something in the news forum for posting? That way, they could push their own stories through and also help clear others. or, maybe if you said that they couldnt push their own stories through, then the members would have to peer-review each others articles and you could lower the criteria for being in the news-usergroup a bit and have a few more news-usergroup helpers. Also, on what criteria is a news article allowed through or not?

A little hypothetical here: If you were desighning a new political system, what would you concider vital to include, without which the system either wouldnt work, or wouldnt be fulfiling what you concider the central duties of a political system. eg, from what i understand of it, the american constitution seems to be saying that protection of certain freedoms (speach, religion etc) are central duties of the political system -- rights so inportant that the very political system of the country is desighned to maintain them It also seems to be saying that a democratic system is vitally inportant, either for the same ideological/ethical reasons as the freedom of speach etc -- ie, the right to have your say is so inportant that the political system is desighned to maintain it -- or as a percieved vital mechanism of regulating the political system. The above may not be an accurate interpretation of the constitution, but i was just trying to elaborate on my question: what would you concider unobmisable from a political system, either for ethical/ideological reasons, or for the-system-wont-work-without-it reasons [edit]Also, justify why your choices are vital to include in a political system, and feel free to argue against anyone elses includes[/edit]

Just out of interest cap'n, why is it a choice between firefox and opera? What about all the other browsers, like mozilla, slimbrowser, chameleon etc.