[Is This Any Good]

That'll do it lol !!!

[Is This Any Good]

Hey again m8,

It's a lot easier if you refer to the Boards with their Generic names, such as the "MSI SoA VIA KT600 ATX A L R" you list first, is more commonly known as a "KT6 DELTA FISR MS-6590", the Asus I can't get a reliable match searching with "ASUS SoA nForce 2 ATX A V L" to be sure, but the Gigabyte SoA nForce 2 ATX A L R is also known as a "GA-7N400 Pro2"

Certainly the "MSI KT6 Delta" and the "Gigabyte GA-7n400 Pro2" you can't go far wrong with at all and both are highly rated boards and very popular.

Choosing which to go for after that fact is that matter of preference and many here will obviously have their own preferences and recommendations to you on which to go for, but either will see you right basically and ensure you havea good Board for time to come. Assuming that the Asus you have listed is an A7N8X or the Deluxe?? That too is very highly rated, but all essentally are boards that will fair you much better and are better choices in all honesty !!!!

[5.1 Speakers - Recommendations?]

LOL Ruin,

It's not that I'm "chalk full" m8 lol, it's actually all a lot simpler than you may think it is or be giving yourself due credit for. Once you have the kit in front of you the chances are you'd "sus it out in mere seconds" anyway m8 and realise how easy it is then !!

But, can talk you thru it by all means if you need something to refer to to make sure ya installation goes to plan, but ultimately I'll probably be "teaching you to suck eggs" anyway m8 lol !!

With your Card it is very simple and made easier too, all the Inputs on the Rear are colour coded as you have seen from the Pictures and no doubt from owning it anyway lol. Then..."Using the Creative Inspire Speakers as an example too" (it also doesn't matter if it's specifically the aforementioned "5300's" or any of them essentially, they are all colour coded in the same manner too to ease installation).

All you do is get ya Speaker System in front of you, then basically in the back of the SubWoofer are some Inputs too, these are clearly labelled and colour coded too so you can then just plug the 5 Satellite Speakers straight into these labelled Inputs on the Rear of the SubWoofer, and also a seperate Volume Control you get with most of the 6 Speaker Systems too.

After you have done that there are then the 3 leads that need to go from the SubWoofer and into your Soundcard itself. 1 Orange, 1 Green, and 1 Black. They plug directly into the corresponding same coloured Inputs on the Rear Interface of the Soundcard, and that's it m8, it really is that simple !!

Then, if you also wish to use the Y Splitter that I mentioned for ease of use with a Headset/Mic combination. All you need to do there is remove the Black Speaker Jack that comes from the SubWoofer to the Soundcard, and plug the Y-Splitter into the Black Input on the Rear in place of the Black Jack you just removed. Then plug the removed Black Jack into one of the Inputs on the Y-Splitter you just inserted, and then into the remaining one you can then plug in your Headphones Jack. Then the Mic Jack also from your Headset (which should be colour coded Red too, or at least labelled for "Mic") goes straight into the Rear of the Soundcard into the Red (Dark Pink) Input and that too is then set up ready to go if you do take that route too!!

It sounds long winded etc, but once you have the kit infront of you, you'll see immediately what is being refered to and you'll have it all plugged in and working in under 5 minutes, no problems!!

The Speaker Systems require no instalation of further Drivers etc if that too is a concern, they just plug in and ya Soundcard oes the rest the same as plugging in a cheapo set of Twin Speakers too lol!!

If you wish to then adjust settings then you do it in the usual manner too using the "Windows Volume Control", or if you have installed it with the Creative Software Package, the "Surround Mixer" can also be used. The Creative Software installs an "Audio HQ" Applet into your Control Panel anyway and all of the Setup features for the Soundcard can be adjusted as required via that !! You may have already used it anyway, once you have plugged in the new Speaker System just go thru the options and change any settings that you require. Also in the "Sound and Audio Device Propeties" under the "Sound Tab", and then the lower "Advanced Tab"you may also need to change the present Speaker Configuration from perhaps "Desktop Stereo Speakers" for example to the "5.1 Surround" option too !!

In all honesty tho, once you look, you will soon see how the options available work and you can't really ###### anything up by experimenting with those settings either, so do just that until you get the best sound for you m8!!

Hoping thatt's of continuing use to you, and happy hunting for the choice of which Speaker System you do decide on in the end too lol !!

[Is This Any Good]

Heya BM,

Its by no means the worse Board on the Planet lol, but it is still a little on the budget side TBH. Granted is does have many onboard features and extra's, so ya certainly better off with that board than the first choice you mentioned if you have decided that you are getting it no matter what lol. But, it also still has a couple of small limitations to it that you may or may not have considered, although it may not matter to you at all anyway, but I'm just mentioning it in case you had missed it etc, that's all m8, I'm not criticising the choice itself at all ???

That board only has 3 PCI Slots for one, (how many PCI devices other than your GFX Card do you currently use or may require in the future, obviously remembering that the PCI GFX Card won't matter anyway as you'll have an AGP Slot on the new board lol)?? It also won't take your DDR400 Ram you are planning on buying either, it only supports a maximum of 2 GB of RAM as well, and only has 2 Memory Slots also. That obviously means that if you want to stick more RAM in later on than you are presently considering buying, then you'd have to bin one of the 512MB Modules to put in a 1GB Module, and the limit on the OCI Slots may also cause you problems later too if you buy other devices for your Computing.

TBH m8......If you really can't afford to go any higher on buying a MoBo at the moment along with the other bits you plan to buyand go for a well known Mid-High Range Board that may cost that little bit extra, then if it were me then I'd simply re-think my current "Shopping List" a little hehehe!!! Consider making a small change to your posted list of items you intend to buy m8!!!

Instead of getting 2x512mb DDR400 RAM Modules, just get 1 instead. 1x512mb of memory is still a bloody good amount and certainly more than enough for "Every Day Computing, and/or Gaming" in general. That would obviously then free up a bit more cash for you to put into a Board itself, cash that as we speak you would in all honesty be far better off throwing into that MoBo!! You'll have a little left over still, save up for another month and you could then get that 2nd 512mb Module of RAM then no problems !!

Cut corners on your MoBo now, and exactly as you are presently experiencing you may find that you suffer from limitations and find yourself in the same predicament again as you are in right now if you can see where I'm coming from here m8 lol !!! You are potentially going to do the same thing to yourself in maybe a year or 18 months time if you are intending that the kit you are about to buy is to last longer than that.

I know it's what I'd do as I'm sure many others here ensure they have too, and be sure that the base of the PC as such was as Forward Compatible as it can be (ie your MoBo), but that doesn't mean you have to buy the latest kit such as the 64 bit Boards and CPU's and end up being skint for eternity to acheive that either if you catch my drift lol.

After that the other bits you have listed are extremely good indeed, why not give those good parts the best home possible hehehe !!

Hope that's of contuning use to you m8 !!

Oh and P.S. - Choosing Boards is often a Personal Preference thing when it comes to going for one, as many of them do exactly the same thing from Manufacturer to Manufacturer, which one to go for is up to you obviously. But stick with Brands such as Asus, Abit, Gigabyte and M.S.I. and that will narrow the chances of you experiencing later problems and they are all the more reputable examples of Board Manufacturers. Specific boards you may like to look at if you do decide to free up some cash by dropping a RAM Module for now might be, an Asus A7N8X-Deluxe, an Abit NF7-s, a Gigabyte GA-7VT600 or an M.S.I. K7N2-Delta series (the KT6 Delta's are slightly cheaper than their latest K7's too for example and are very highly rated boards and obviously so are the examples from Asus, Abit and Gigabyte). That should point you in the right direction anyway lol !!

It's also worthy of note.....There'sa good chance that if you are slotting this into your present Case too, that your current PSU (Power Supply) probably isn't going to be up to the job either, so you may very well need to get a new PSU. For that you obviously again have 2 choices. Get one that will just about get you thru now but won't allow you later options, or just spend a few extra £'s/$'s and go for the best you can. If you go for a minimum of a 350W PSU that will offer you some forward options albeit not a huge amount, but go for a 500W PSU and then you'll ensure that your Computer will basically be able to cope happily as it is or with later additions for time to come!!

[5.1 Speakers - Recommendations?]

Heya Ruin,

There's no need for you to completely change ya Card is the good news m8 lol.

If you also have a Headphone Speaker Jack on the front too, then if you use a Headset/Mic combination (as obviously the Plugs for a Headset are close together), it's doubtful you'd get one lead right around to the rear with one already up front lol??? If you have both up front you should be sorted anyway with the seperate inputs, ya Headset can go up Front and ya Speakers to the Rear as usual and job done !!

If you haven't however, then you can still plug ya Headset/Mic combination into the Rear as well as the 6 Speaker System and that's very easily solved too for around $5 or £3 for a "Y - Splitter Cable" depending on ya location lol, (just as another option for you to solving that problem quickly and easily lol, and any decent Electrical Goods Store should stock the Y - Splitters too), http://www.ghostrecon.net/forums/uploads/emoticons/default_smile.png' alt=':)'>!! Magnum, this may be of use to you too m8, there's no need to continue unplugging everything to use your Headset/Mic Combi m8 if you just use one of these .......

I one of these Splitters in line so that the "Headset Speaker Jack, and 1 of the Speaker Jacks" plug into the Splitter, which then obviously inturn plugs straight into the Rear Jack Port on the Soundcard (either the "Green or Black" inputs will suffice on the Rear (in your case that is Ruin). Then obviously your Mic Jack goes straight into the Reddish/Pink input on the Rear too:)!! No performance is lost doing this at all, but what can happen is "IF" you leave the "volume up" on the Headphones when they are not in use, it can very slightly reduce the volume on the Main Speakers as obviously a very small amount of power is going to both devices. That's clearly easily solved by turning the HeadPhones off or just turning the volume of them right back down when they aren't in use lol !!

Also, for ya further info if it helps in your quest. The Inspires I have (5300's), can be used as either Digital or Analogue and the Plugs are colour coded for ease of use as has been discussed too (making it easy to plug it into cards like the Audigy and SBLives as examples), the Orange plug can also be plugged into an Analogue Jack Port anyway for anyone who doesn't have a Digital Input available and still has or is thinking about getting the "Creative Inspire Speaker System" (thse may be different to the type that Super-Bob is refering to so please don't confuse his post on how the Orange plug works on them to this one, although I'd assume that they'd actually work the same though lol), it really doesn't matter essentialy with the Inspires. You can then also simply control whether they operate Digitaly or as Analogue within the Soundcards Software too, that's all!!!!

Hope that's of continuing use !!

[Is This Any Good]

Heya Blackmamba,

Anything will be good compared to ya current system obviously lol, but clearly that's not the point I know, you are upgrading and want to get the best for the cash you are spending on a new System .

You can't go far wrong at all with all of the items you list there, with the exception of perhaps the Motherboard in all honesty. It runs an SIS Chipset which is essentially inferior to both the VIA and NForce equivalents and could be a "Potential" weak link in your chain of listed upgrades. I'm not saying the board is ######, but SIS does have limitations unfortunately and for maybe just a few extra £'s/$'s, you could get a far better Board with far greater performance and potential use.

the following is also worthy of note too directly on the ASRock Website for your listed product:-

.* According to SiS official document, SiS 748 chipset has limitation DDR

supports:

CPU at FSB 200MHz mode, it will NOT support DDR400;

CPU at FSB 333MHz mode, it will NOT support DDR200;

CPU at FSB 400MHz mode, it will NOT support DDR200/DDR266, there seems to be other limitations to the configuration of RAM you can use too, which could restrict you now, later even on.

....Otherwise, the board also has no SATA or RAID options either. Which although to some is of absolutely no importance or requirement whatsoever I agree lol, right now you may not be interested at all. But, as time passes and components become cheaper, you may wish in the future to make the odd upgrade here and there too, which with the ASRock again, you may be potentially limited too, possibly in several area's!!!

Essentially the question would be, (after you have obviously budgeted for the items you are looking at buying etc in your list), is how much are you prepared to spend on your MoBo basically m8??? If you name a price, other Boards with enhanced options and features could no doubt be recommended to you by some of the guys here for you that "may" serve you far better for your "present or even future" requirements !!

[5.1 Speakers - Recommendations?]

I've got the Creative Inspire 5300 Sub and 5 Satellite System here, (presently on an Audigy, although probably gonna upgrade the Audigy soon too, not cos it actually needs it as such lol, merely because everything else has pretty much been upgraded recently except for that lol, the Audigy has seen 2 1/2 years hard service, although it's still going strong tho hehe).

I use my PC as my stereo in my Computer room now, (but before I had these Speakers I had a seperate Hi-Fi System sat in here with me lol), and they are bloody loud and of very high quality too !!!

The price didn't break the bank either m8 and I'd recommend them to anyone interested too, no complaints on them here and very happy with their performance overall !!

[Latest GF4 Det drivers?]

LMAO,

Must admitt, I certainly like the Creative Sound Products too, have sworn by their Soundcards for years now lol, some complain about them or don't like them, but I can't recall ever having a problem with them !!! My Audigy and the 6 Speaker set are a good combo and no doubt will continue to buy Creatives Sound Products for years to come too !!

And, there's ya answer too m8, check out the Creative Website and see if they have any 52.14/16 Drivers for your specific card too, Creative always seem to be pretty much on the ball and it's worth a look to see if they have them and try them out !! Dunno if you got a Driver Installation CD as you do with most products for the AGP Card, but you likely did, and if you installed them and it had extra features to the General Release Nvidia Drivers then you'll know that the Creative Drivers may be better for you too !!!

Either way, hope ya all updated soon and the Drivers work out well for you m8 !!!

[Latest GF4 Det drivers?]

Heya Nightmare,

What Manufacturer is ya AGP Card too m8??

It may be that you can get the latest Drivers from the Manufacturers site too instead, depending on the actual Card you have. Manufacturers Drivers often have some extra options intergrated into the Nvidia options specific to a particular Card that can be very useful . Extra options that the General Release Drivers from Nvidia don't have for specific Cards, such as the facility for you to have extra config options, or to O'Clock the Card etc etc .

It's not essential obviously, but with a couple of Cards I've had for example purposes, the Manufacturers Release Drivers have been more useful than the General Release Drivers, otherwise they perform exactly the same though, it's just handy sometimes if there are those extra config options available to you !!

Certainly the Asus GF 4 Ti4200 128mb agpx8 I've just removed worked far better with the Asus/Nvidia Drivers and the MSI Release Drivers for my current Card are extremely handy too, on the other hand though, an Elsa Gladiac Ti516 64mb I had in the past seemed to operate better on the Nvidia General Release Drivers so it can vary, again as examples if it helps you get even more from your AGP Card . They are even up to date with the 52.14's or 52.16's depending on your OS too hehehe, although other Manufacturers can be slower to release them admittedly lol !!

[BT Yahoo (was known as BT Openworld too)..]

Have finally got round to bothering to order an upgrade for my ISDN to Broadband lol, due to be installed in another few days.....

"For now" I've just gone with BT Yahoo (will change that later on), and reading the relevant Website to it I got the impression that the packaged Software with the DSL Modem installs it's own Web Browser and possibly other Software that may not be required in general either. May not be reading it right and often what you read isn't always 100% accurate either, so......

Can anyone here "who is on this service" shed any light on that please and if so, is it possible to un-install any "extra" Software, (such as a Third Party Browser when I'd prefer to just use IE), without buggering up the actual service etc???

[!!!!!!HELP!!!!!!!&]

Reading thru and then getting to SOTOPhantoms post I'd go with that to the word lol !!!

Look at getting a new MoBo as you are throwing money at only part of the problem to just upgrade your GFX Card and you'd probably still be very frustarted by the quality etc if you just did replace that alone.

You can pick up high quality MoBo's for very good prices these days and if you take the example of an Athlon too, the XP series for example have rocketed down on price since the advent of the AMD 64 bit processors too.

Ya best bet would be to go for all 3 in all honesty. Obviously finances are often an issue and not all can afford to just replace several items at will, but it would actually save you in the long run anyway as it probably won't be long before you do need to upgrade again if you did just upgrade the GFX card now either!!!

[IPod=Music+Pic Storage]

Hehehehe....

No probs m8 !!!!

At least you realised the common fix for the Mrs moaning about being on ya PC hehehe, get her hooked on games too rofl !!!

[Asus Gameface anyone?]

I was going to get it a while back but for some reason I forgot about it and never got round to D'loading it !!

I'm getting an MSI 256mb GeForce4 FX tommorow tho, and dunno if they do similar software or if the Asus Gameface will work with that card (can't see why it shouldn't tho lol), so mite give it a whirl now that someone reminded me of GameFace hehehe !!!!

[IPod=Music+Pic Storage]

Heya Cpl Ledanek,

You should still be able to copy ya Cassettes even without a Stand-Alone Soundcard with your MoBo m8. The A7N8X-Deluxe has a "Line In Jack" that you should simply be able to make use of as Syncopator describes for you, and as he says too, as long as the Cassette Player you are using has an AUX out capability to plug into the AUX in Port on the MoBo )!! It should be the "Blue Jack", right next to your "Line Out Jack" (Speaker/Headphones) and the "Mic Jack" !!

You could also make use of S/PDIF and Audio I/O etc for Digital Sound with the "Optional Bracket" if you were wanting to get a decent set of Speakers on the go, instead of just ya Headphones too ! There is a small but to that one tho and not sure if you have it with your Board TBH, but check obviously that you have those "Optional Parts" and that they were supplied with the Deluxe (which I suspect they should have been lol)??

Have a good read thru the Boards manual too m8, it tells you in there of the other Sound Options you can make use of etc and get more out of your Sound Options if you wanted to . They all give you far more flexibility and will also allow you to fit other wonderful things like a 6 Speaker 5.1 or 7.1 System for example hehehe, that'll sound awesome if you are just used to wearing Headphnes too, if of course you aren't under instructions to make no Computer noise at all by the "Other Half" hehehehe . I wouldn't argue with that either after seeing your pics of the 2 of you blatting Targets away at the Range in Las Vegas muhahaha, but that's a whole other issue I guess hehehe !!

[virus : Trojan.Java.ClassLoader]

Did you disable your Sys Restore as per the info in my first post too Rocky?

It's probably backed itself up in your System Restore folder. Disable that, then run your AV apps and all being well they should then be able to get at the unwanted files, (if Sys Restore is enabled, Windows blocks any applications having any access to removing or altering files, hence why it needs disabling for a temporary period to allow apps like AV's to do their work )!!

If that doesn't work, then try a boot into "Safe Mode" and retake the steps you did to paste in the contents of your "System.ini" file and see if you get the filenames which need deleting from there (check out your "Win.ini" file as noted too !!

Continuing good luck and hope you have it soon m8 !

[Win XP]

I like Smart FTP too, completely free and works better than the extremely well known ones like Coffee Cup etc if ya ask me rofl !!!

mIRC is very fast for file transfers too if you ever have some more large ones to do etc , if you ever use any of the IRC networks?? Easy enuff to use for anyone new or experienced, you can just join any chat network, create a channel just for your time there to transfer the file in question too if ya like, and over it goes. Leave the network after, and job done and channel cancels itself. You can do it without going into a chan but if you aren't used to IRC it would be a pain to explain how to do that with various server settings etc lol !! Unless ya interested in using it more anyway and would be happy to then rofl!!!

Do you or your freind have the "Web Folders" (or WebDAV) installed and in use too and know how to use that as well lol?? You may be able to send the files using that too, it's kinda similar to FTP but more secure but it mite not tho thinking about it, just thinking more idea's out loud for you really so that you have options if you require them lol !! Although the first post should you anyway if you are experienced enough to set up FTP transfers from your PC !!

[virus : Trojan.Java.ClassLoader]

LOL Rocky,

Sorry m8, my bad........

......As ever I don't know how much you know about checking the attributes of the mentioned files and didn't want to patronise you or "teach you to suck eggs" m8 lol. To get the info mentioned you will probably have to boot into "Safe Mode" and then view and check the files, that's all!! But, sounds like you may be on the way to solving it anyway so hopefully you won't need to do it all now anyway hehe !!

I assumed you might have known that and as said, h8 to patronise anyone at all, but it's always hard to know how much people do actually know without either stating the obvious to more experienced users or not giving sufficient info to users who may have less as well lol!!

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcen...va.nocheat.html also gives more info if you require it too !!

Otherwise hope you have it all sorted soon m8, and visiting the Windows update site and getting the latest Critical Updates and Service Packs etc will certainly aid you in not getting lumoed with that particular one again too m8, there is an update there for the VM that should sort you !!

[virus : Trojan.Java.ClassLoader]

Sorry to read of you having trubbles with these nasty files like so many others out there Rocky !!

Anyway....If ya AVG is struggling to rid you of your Trojan at the moment, in the meantime then you just might be able do some manual snooping if you are happy too to track the sucker down and rid yourself of it too, or at least find out some more on exactly what ya dealing with etc if ya want to????? The following info may not turn anything up for you, but it also might, but either way it's well worth a look if ya AV Software is currently not doing the job and obviously you need shot of the damn thing ASAP ultimately!!

If you do??......First up, Locate your "SYSTEM.INI" file and open it, (either find it directly in your "WINDOWS" directory, or simply use the good old find files and folders util etc lol)....

Once open, browse the entry lines of the file, then locate the line that begins with "shell=explorer.exe". If there is anything entered after "shell=explorer.exe" on the same line, make careful note of it, (an example may be something like "WINSAFE.EXE"). "WINSAFE.EXE" being the name of another Trojan for the purpose of example. After you have noted that info, erase everything written after "shell=explorer.exe" on that line, being absolutely sure obviously that you leave 'shell=explorer.exe' and subsequent lines. If you aren't happy to just go ahead and do that either, then backup up your "SYSTEM.INI" file before making the changes too, and put the back-up in a seperate and safe place for easy restoration if it doesn't work out etc!!

If you do find any of the forementioned extra entries on "THE SAME LINE" as "shell=explorer.exe" and subsequently remove them, then simply save the changes you have made, closing your "SYSTEM.INI" file!! (ALL "Quotes" used in this post obviously won't be present and are not to be used either lol, so don't use any " 's or worry that they won't be there etc )!! On saving the changes too if it doesn't accept, you may have to double check that the file hasn't been converted to "Read Only", some Trojans will change that attribute when it should not be set to "Read Only", if it has been altered, obviously change that back too and then save again.

You can also double check the existence of a possible Trojan by checking your "WIN.INI" file too. Once you have found and opened the "WIN.INI" file, locate the entry line that begins with "load=". Note this line too. Many Trojans are able to load using the "load=" line when they infect a computer. Also Locate the line that begins with "run=" and the same information may be there, depending on how your Trojan is loading itself etc on boot!!

Then just locate the file of the name that you have made note of or cross referenced (such as the example of "WINSAFE.EXE"), and delete it yourself (post up the name of it here too, could be handy for someone else in the future too).

FYI...These Trojans are also generally of the type that create a back-up of themselves in your System Restore too . So you may need to temporarily disable that and purge your System Restore Dir too to be on the safe side, less you initiate a System Restore at a later date and the damn thing restores itself if you don't .

Alternatively if you aren't happy to do any of that another idea is Norton can remove it too if your AVG is struggling to get at the the little sucker......Even if you just get hold of one of the Norton AV trials to install and get rid of it for now, it could be worth doing if your AVG simply can't get at it as an interim measure kinda thing. If you install Norton, obviously fully update the definitions immediately and all being well it should find it and get it for you then!! I know I would to know I could be rid of it ASAP, then under that scenario, just un-install Norton again and return to ya AVG and hopefully once again trouble free computing too lol !

There doesn't "seem" to be a Stand-Alone Removal Tool for this type of infection either, or at least one that's easily located if you catch my drift, if you do happen to come across one then put a link to it too as others may suffer your problem in the future also!!!

Hope the info is useful, even if you don't actually employ it, and at least it's there for ideas to help you or maybe others out too if nothing else.

Other than that, obviously good luck with getting rid of the darn thing from ya system too !!!

[USB portable storage]

Thought that was the case Dark Ranger but didn't want to make it a statement in case it wasn't, and went with the safe option of lots of "??????" instead hehehehe !!!

As for the subject itself, I have a 512mb stick and it is incredibly useful as you can literally plug it into anyone's PC and swap information, files etc with minimum greif, (with compatible OS's obviously lol) and without any special software being installed either!!

If you do tend to swap a lot of files between several PC's or between freinds etc, then they are great and worth the cash. If you rarely do though then TBH ya better off maybe sticking with CD-RW's etc and saving the money for something else having used em for a while as they are a lot of cash if you hardly use em obviously lol !!!

They get my vote tho if you use em to their potential !!

[USB portable storage]

NT doesn't support USB does it???? Is that why ya work stations won't see it xian saint???

[Open ports]

In case ya not in a position to get a HW Firewall too (which as said would be best if ya can).....

Otherwise.....Tell us which of ya Ports aren't Closed or Stealthed and may be able to direct you to some info on stealthing them or closing them completely depending on their use etc !!!

[I want to buy a new PC...]

Hehehe,

Hopefully yeh, just to get rid of the soddin great IDE Cables even if there wasn't a speed enhancement would be one thing hehehe !!

Thanx for the info tho m8 !

[F.A.O. Forum Managers (and users)...]

Phantom.....Nothing is taken the wrong way at all m8 . After all, forums are for discussion, information and debate m8 lol !!

I didn't believe it at first either from what I had read on them too when I first heard of things happening this way, that it could be inserted into webpages and executed. But when you consider that such code is inserted into malicious websites all the time and people are directed there under false pretences and a code can run, then it doesn't take much to also realise that any legitimate website can be hacked by experienced hackers, and once in they can insert any code they wish into a wepage on the hacked site that will then run until a Webmaster finds that code and removes it again.

Don't know if you read, but I recently had a huge system problem (not down to Viruses etc, it was Hardware problems), but the long and short of it is that I lost a lot of data (fortunately not the important stuff tho) and with that data was the websites and other sources that gave information of the occurances of which I speak too.....I am trying to remember what they were and locate them so I can link you guys to them.

If it further helps tho, I got hold of the MSBlast Worm and built some test webpages (again using my poor old "Crash Tests Dummy Laptop" hehehe) and inserted the Worm hidden in amongst the HTML code to see how it ticked, then logged my Laptop on to it and it did indeed pick up MSBlast straight away when I surfed to the page I had constructed, (all ports were closed with a Firewall too and no email accounts were installed on it either, just so you know that it didn't manage to creep in that way lol)!!

It can be done and is!!!

I'm trying to find the links I had, but buggered if I can remember them as I type, typically and always yhe damn way when you need the damn things lol!!

[Computer won't download]

.......Hope ya sorted then!!

Don't forget to thank Mr. SOTOphantm too tho m8 lol.....

Second, Have you installed the IE Service pack 1?

.......

That would very probably have fixed it too if you had had access to the mentioned Service Pack on CD as well !!!!

[F.A.O. Forum Managers (and users)...]

As said in my post, I wasn't making any solid stone statements on Gr.net obviously to not initiate a scare, but to hopefully help all here to protect comps as far as they possibly can !

Although MSBlast primarily gains access to PC's by someone initiating Port Scanners on vulnerable machines and if the right port is open agreed completely, basically slipping the Worm in thru the Backdoor like so many other nasties.......

....It is also becoming well known and frequently common, that as people become more wise to that fact that Worms are slipped in thru unprotected ports and protecting their ports more efficiently. Those that choose to utilise the Worms to wreak their havoc are having to seek other means of transferring their code. Thus they are readily hacking into legitimate websites and adding the required code directly onto the content of any Sites they gain access too, obviously when they do this it is hard to detect and can sometimes go untraced until problems start to occur.

When a user then visits that website, along with all the other items that load on the page, if the page has been maliciously altered then the inserted code also automatically runs and installs the necassary .exe's staright onto a users PC. and regardless of how your ports are protected, MSBlast is and has been transferring by this method too by direct running from Web pages !! That's what I was reffering to as it is a real nasty way to work, but obviously, for those that use these scripts, an effective one too and further to the problem, most AV apps don't pick it up when it runs in a webpage like that either !!

It has indeed also been rare that such files have been transferred by anything other than suspect websites I agree, but it unfortunately is becoming more common that busy legitimate sites are being affected in this manner too !!

The main thing is obviously though that Gr.net is clear and at least if nothing else, it was checked personally by the Administrators. Better safe than sorry even if all is clear than any other outcomes to the issues and if anything, that's exactly what will help avoid scares for people to know that the site is checked regularly too !!!

I'm glad it is for one lol, it's one of the best forums on the whole damn web !!