Once again, Google has bought something only to open source it. This time it’s ReMail, first acquired, then put on Google Code as open source under the Apache 2.0 license. (It previously did the same thing with DocVerse.) ReMail was more efficient in terms of system resources than Apple’s own mail.app, it offered full text searching, and it had other neat ... [
Apple’s suit against HTC could end one of two ways. Either Apple becomes the next SCO, which ran itself aground claiming rights to Linux, or it becomes the next Microsoft, which is prospering while claiming to own Linux. The answer depends on how hard Apple presses its case. You can get a clue by looking at who Apple has sued. While ... [
The low-hanging fruit in the renewable energy business still lies with efficiency. Cutting your energy use without crimping your lifestyle gives you a faster payback than turning into Ed Begley Jr. It’s still good to be a little Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) on energy use, even if your politics are to the right of Rush Limbaugh, because there’s money in saving, ... [
The 311 service has been a “red headed stepchild” for American cities practically since it was launched in the mid-1990s as a phone service. (Picture from Moonbattery, a conservative blog.) The idea was to make 311 the 911 for non-emergency calls. A burning building call 911, a burning question call 311. But that charge was so broad that most cities did ... [
In all the talk about New York financier Paul Singer’s plan to go all Gordon Gecko on Novell, one word has not been mentioned nearly enough. Microsoft. Microsoft needs a viable Novell, and Novell’s Linux business was on the verge of becoming viable when Singer’s Elliott Associates swooped in with an offer to break up the company, seize its cash, split ... [
Dries Buytaert of Drupal and Acquia is warning that Software as a Service is becoming a threat to open source and that clouds could create the same vendor lock-in customers sought to avoid with open source. (This is Dries at last year’s Drupalcon in Paris, in a close-up of a photo by Pedro Lozano. From buytaert.net.) Even where SaaS companies let ... [
That first step is interoperability. Getting proprietary gear to work together, to transform reports among proprietary standards, is the first step on the road to an open world. The HIMSS show takes that step every year with what it calls its Interoperability Showcase. At this year’s show in Atlanta it occupied the whole end of one hall of the Georgia World ... [
The announcement by Twitter that it is switching to Cassandra for its database lookups puts new attention on a project that has yet to reach Version 1.0. Cassandra had been underway long before Oracle bought Sun and mySQL. Facebook first launched it in 2008 to power their inbox search feature. It was released on Google Code in 2008 and became an ... [
Today Matt Asay urges government buyers to support open source, open data and open standards. Why? Because it’s better. Because it promotes competition. Because it gives government flexibility. But after watching government on every level, in various countries, for over half my lifetime, I can tell you the last thing any government wants is to make a decision its successor can ... [
Since I began writing this blog in 2005 I have watched open source move from a fringe idea to something embraced by the IT mainstream. But there are still extremists out there who want to destroy open source. Some of their names may surprise you. What they have done is retreat into a group where they seek not to be identified. ... [
No. Matt Asay hits the nail on the head. In full “knock this board off my shoulder mode,” the Ubuntu COO dares Microsoft to sue Canonical, or Google, or someone else over its Linux claims who might fight back. To torture my recent analogy (analogies can’t fight back), Microsoft isn’t Neville Chamberlain. It’s the guy on the other side of the ... [
In response to my piece yesterday, my Italian friend Roberto Galoppini referenced a piece he did last August called the Open Source Innovation Backbone. Packaged software companies may just use open source to build a common base on which they can innovate. Or they may copy a proprietary product, competing against it together in order to drive out a competitor’s monopoly ... [
Open source may become the default position of customers, but it is still not the first option when a market is new. This is a point open source executives like Matt Asay continue to struggle with, one that closed-source advocates continue to hammer on. (Picture from the Breakthrough Institute.) Open source is shared freeloading. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. ... [
Another day, another Microsoft patent deal. This time with Amazon. And more whining from Linux advocates that this is a “Microsoft tax” aimed at making Linux users pay Microsoft for the open source operating system. I have thought that too. But let me play devil’s advocate a moment, using as my text Marshall Phelps’ Burning the Ships. Isn’t Microsoft just buying ... [I have to say this is one of the nastiest pieces of software I’ve ever encountered. I’d like to thank in advance all of the folks who put up posts to help people rid themselves of this, plus Bill Chin here in Roxbury who has removed this from 100’s of machines over the last few months. Sites that I used as a reference for removing the Malware were Soft Sailor and BleepingComputer . If you’re local here in Connecticut you can get in touch with Bill Chin, Software Matters, LLC, at softwarematters at juno.com .
Here is what this virus did to my Windows XP System:
- Shut Down Zone Alarm Anti-virus Software
- Disabled Task Manager so I couldn’t shut it down
- Posted many, many pop ups saying the system was infected and to buy Internet Security 2010
- Disabled the control panel functionality
- Changed and added registry entries
There were so many other things it did I thought I’d never get rid of it. I tried several anti-spyware packages and Malware packages, plus removed quite a few things manually. Here is what eventually worked for me….
1. I installed Process Explorer on the System. Process Explorer does the same thing as windows Task Manager, maybe a little better. IS2010 didn’t stop this from running or infect it so I was able to stop Internet Security 2010 and a few of the other obvious rogue programs.
2. I unplugged the system from the internet.
3. I navigated to the programs directory and deleted the entire directory for Internet Security 2010. Note that if you try to use the add/remove functionality in the control panel, IS 2010 doesn’t even show even though it’s installed.
4. I downloaded SpyBot and Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware Download Link on another computer and put on a thumb drive for use on the infected system. I then moved the installers from the thumb drive to the desktop of the infected system.
5. Next step was to plug the internet cable back in and run Spybot. It will find a ton of problems. Select them all and delete them all.
6. Run Malwarebytes. Be sure to read the article on Bleeping Computer because sometimes IS 2010 actually infects or renders Malwarebytes and other anti-malware programs inoperative. If so, you will have one more download to do.
7. Delete everything it finds and follow the instructions.
8. I then uninstalled both programs, rebooted the system and then reinstalled both and ran them again in the same order.
I believe the system is now free of IS2010. I will continue to run both programs at least monthly. I will leave Zone Alarm on full time too.
Good luck if you’re dealing with this nasty beast. You’re probably looking at a day or more before you get back on your feet.
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