posted March 31, 2009 06:08 PM         

I just updated and it took 10 min.

posted March 31, 2009 06:50 PM         

I use trend micro PC-cillin Internet Security. I pay for it but fell it`s well worth it.

They have a in depth free scan (highly recommended)Other good stuff there as well like FREE: Trend Micro™ RUBotted
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
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What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world is immortal"~

posted March 31, 2009 09:40 PM         

one site said that this is the 4th intrusion of the 'confick' and it has been around in various forms for months, and that if you are up to date no worries..

posted April 01, 2009 08:26 AM         

The newsletter I received this a.m.:

Security Advisory: Conficker / DOWNAD Worm

On April 1st, 2009, the latest variant of the Conficker / DOWNAD worm WORM_DOWNAD.KK will begin to modify the way in which it communicates with other infected botnet nodes (PCs, servers), and will also increase the number of machines it attempts to contact in order to infect them.


While there is no evidence that the worm will do anything beyond modifying its communications methods, you should take proper precautions to make sure that you are not already infected and that you are adequately protected.

Please visit our website for more information on this worm, how to determine whether your PC or servers are infected, how to clean infected machines, and how to best keep yourself protected.

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What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world is immortal"~

posted April 01, 2009 09:59 AM         

I bought PC-chillin 3 years ago and never installed it~ stupid ~yet true.

Time to chill w/ PC chillin.

posted April 01, 2009 02:59 PM         

April 1st has arrived for the whole world now, which means the dreaded Conficker.C -- perhaps the most technologically sophisticated malware attack ever designed -- is no longer dormant and is now actively looking for instructions on the internet.

That's the bad news. The good news: Those instructions either haven't been delivered by the worm's creators or (far less likely) Conficker has been thwarted by the attempts to raise awareness about the attack and stop it in its tracks, scaring off the creators.

As discussed widely in the media (and in a server-melting blog post here), Conficker was scheduled to go live on April 1 (local time), which meant it would no longer sit dormant on your computer but would rather begin polling the web for its instructions.

And as I mentioned as a possibility yesterday, those instructions have not yet been delivered despite the arrival of D-Day, so while Conficker is indeed "phoning home," no one is answering the call.

Yet.

Vigilance is key for now, as those instructions could be delivered at any time. Given the panic many people are experiencing over the arrival of April 1 (thank you for all the emails...), if I was a malware writer, I'd wait until tomorrow -- or later -- before launching the real attack, after guards had been let down a bit and people thought the coast was clear. That's not the case.

I'll reiterate that, despite the fact that it hasn't yet gone haywire, I don't believe Conficker is a hoax. This is an extremely sophisticated piece of programming that is indeed looking for instructions from its creator on what to do next and is simply idling in the meantime. Just because those instructions haven't been given does not mean you're safe from attack.

Don't panic, but keep your antivirus running and update, and make sure Windows is patched. My prior post has additional information on keeping yourself protected, whether Conficker finally goes live later today or a year from now.
http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/135840

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What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world is immortal"~

posted April 01, 2009 04:16 PM         

The link below is a good way to check whether you have the conficker virus, as it tries to load an image from a conficker-blocked website.
http://www.joestewart.org/cfeyechart.html

posted April 01, 2009 09:02 PM         

TY for the replies

I used to think that the software companies themselves might be a part of it..to stimulate sales.

BG I had a 'clear' on Joe's site.

posted April 01, 2009 09:16 PM         

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What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world is immortal"~

posted April 02, 2009 07:42 AM         

As Above so Below
Cities in the Sky

Bernadette Brady M.A.

As we look up we see the sky above but since the 1960s we have also had the ability to change our perspective and look at the earth from the sky. As we look up at the sky during the day it is full of colours, clouds, sunsets, sunrises and the like. Similarly, if we look down at the rotating earth then as the sun illuminates its surface we also see a parade of colours, oceans, land masses and clouds. But at night both change, the sky to a dome of twinkling lights, the earth also to a ball of twinkling lights. The earth, since the advent of lighting, has slowly been mirroring the starry sky and at night we collectively reflect back to the sky the same sort of images and patterns that the sky has been showing us for thousands of years. We become a ball of twinkling lights to the sky’s dome of light.

Within the sky the “first world” or the well-lit region of the globe is the Milky Way which cuts a line of bright stars across the equator (blue line in above figure). It is in the Milky Way that most of the “big cities” are located. The great metropolis of the sky is Sirius the brightest and biggest star in our night sky. Clustered around it and spreading out in an arch, like the great cities of North America or the populated regions of Europe, are many other bright stars, Aldebaran, Betelgeuse, Castor and Pollux, Capella to name just a few. Outriders or the “frontier new world cities” are the big stars in other places of this starry globe, stars like Canopus, Achernar and Fomalhaut in the Southern hemisphere.

But if we now turn around and look at the earth at night (image above) we see the great cities of the earth also forming a band around the globe, but now the band is running north above the equator and sweeping through Europe and North America, with outriders from the new world twinkling their lights in Sydney, Cape Town, and areas of Argentina, among others.
We are, as we populate the planet and turn on our lights at night, effectively mirroring the night sky; we are reflecting the image of the stars back to the stars. As above so below…
Now given that this probably has no personal astrological meaning for your chart, it is nevertheless an example of the connectedness of all things: how the patterns in one sphere, the sky, are reflected by the patterns being formed in another, the surface of the earth as we populate the planet. Humanity is, aware of it or not, in a relationship with the stars.
Cities in the Sky - Declination

Just as a great city like New York has a location on the earth defined by its longitude and its latitude, so also do the stars in their spheres. A star’s location in the celestial sphere is defined by its declination – which is the same as the latitude of our earth-bound cities, and right ascension (measured in time), similar to terrestrial longitude. Thus for a star such as Eltanin, a bright red star in the head of Draco, the dragon, its declination (latitude) is the same as for London – 51N29, which means that the head of Draco will pass directly over the city of London. In fact, any city or place at the latitude of 51north is “under” the head of Draco. It is interesting to speculate that this bright twinkling red star which shines so brightly over the United Kingdom could offer us insights into the red dragon used as a symbol of Wales.
Similarly the bright star Algol in Perseus the Warrior is located at a declination of 40N59, which means that it highlights a band of latitude which embraces New York City and the northern parts of North America. Whereas down south the stars in the sting of the Scorpion sweep over cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Cape Town, to name a few; indeed the Scorpio constellation as a whole virtually claims the southern continents of Australia and Africa as its own.
Sometimes countries reflect this special relationship to the heavens by encompassing key constellations into their flags.

ORION is riding high in the night sky!
“Orion/Osiris was a god. The constellation was not a symbol of god, it was god; god’s physical place or appearance, in the same way that Sirius in Canis Major was the dwelling place of Isis. Orion rose with the spring equinox Sun and claimed rulership of the world age. The Egyptians knew him as Osiris and the Pharaohs came from him; they were his physical flesh, and were returned to him. “
Bernadette Brady
Without a doubt, Orion is the most recognizable constellation in the autumn and winter skies. Filled with beautiful, bright shining stars, it has long been the source of the religious concept of an afterlife given to us by a god who dies. Therefore, Orion is an archetype of god. Humans have modeled our male gods on this constellation for probably well over 8,000 years.
One of the big stars in Orion is the beautiful bright red Betelgeuse. Found in Orion’s right shoulder, the star’s name in Arabic means “armpit of the central one”. Betelgeuse is a super-giant with a diameter 300-400 times that of our Sun. Its surface temperature is about 3000° K. Betelgeuse is a red variable star, although its variation cannot be detected with the naked eye. Its distance from Earth is 470 light years.
Betelgeuse is one of the great stars in the sky. Because of its red color, it is an old star….a dying star, if you will. In fact, astronomers tell us that the star could go supernova (explode) at any time, perhaps in our lifetime. It is the fact that Betelgeuse is an old star that I have chosen it as the Star of the Week.
Betelgeuse is one of our stellar “Elders”. RA, THE SUN GOD
We learn from our Elders. They are the “wisdomkeepers”of clans, families, and tribes. They are the historians. They remember the important events of their people, and they tell stories of those events. However, most importantly, the Elders are our advisors….our guides. To them we can go for council regarding any issue that arises in our daily lives; we can go to them for spiritual advice and guidance. This week, you can go to Betelgeuse for guidance, for answers and insights, and advice, just as the ancient Egyptians went to Ra, the Sun god, and Osiris, the Lord of the Land and first King of Egypt.
Fixed star astrologers say that Betelgeuse can bring unlimited success without complications. That, my friends, we all need! It is located in the right hand, armpit, or shoulder of the god, therefore representing that which is clear and strong.
Work with Betelgeuse this week. It is easy to find in the Orion constellation. And if you will look close, you will see its distinctly red color. Ask this Elder for advice on some issue that is troubling you, or for insight into some decision you have to make. Listen for an answer. Don’t forget to give an offering to the star, and thanks for the guidance you receive.
· Betelgeuse is the left star in the “pyramid” top of this outline [image locked]
In my book Starwalking, Albion says that Betelgeuse is a star whose energy, as it impacts the Earth, stimulates the flow of evolution.

posted April 02, 2009 07:56 AM         

http://souledout.org/nightsky/valentinestar/valentinestar.html

I have yet to find a degree designation tho---amowls where is your ASC, and are you using 1-2 degrees as a conjunct?

posted April 02, 2009 08:02 AM         

Barred Spiral Milky Way:

posted April 02, 2009 12:13 PM         

My ASC is also conjunct Polaris, Wazn and Saiph.

posted April 11, 2009 08:58 AM         

The Conficker worm has started to update infected machines with a mystery package of data.
Computer security firms watching the malicious program noticed that it sprang into life late on 8 April.
The activity on its update system delivered encrypted software to compromised machines. It is not yet clear what the payload contains.
The Conficker virus variants are thought to be present on millions of PCs around the world.

The updating activity has begun about a week later than expected. Analysis of the "C" variant of Conficker (aka Downadup) revealed that its updating mechanism was due to go live on 1 April.
The belated updates were spotted by researchers for Trend Micro following the arrival of a new file in one of the directories in so-called "honeypot" machines deliberately seeded with Conficker C.
Analysis showed that the file had arrived via the peer-to-peer file transfer system that infected machines use to communicate.

In a bid to avoid alerting people to its activity, the update is slowly being trickled across the population of machines harbouring the C variant. Exact figures for the number of Conficker-infected machines are hard to determine, but the minimum is widely believed to be three million.
"The Conficker/Downad P2P communications is now running in full swing," wrote Ivan Macalintal from Trend Research on the company's security blog.

Once it arrives on a machine, the package of data randomly checks one of five different websites - MySpace, MSN, eBay, CNN and AOL - to ensure its host still has net access and to confirm the current time and date.

Following this check the data package removes all traces of its installation.

The strong encryption on the payload has, so far, prevented detailed analysis of what it actually does. However, security experts speculate that it is a "rootkit" that will bury itself deep in Windows in order to steal saleable data such as bank website login details.
Security researchers are continuing to analyse the payload to get a better idea of what it is intended to do.

Symantec said it too had noticed the increased activity of Conficker and its analysis suggested a link with another well-known virus called Waledac. This malicious program steals sensitive data, turns PCs into spam relays and opens up a backdoor so the machine can be controlled remotely.

The security firm noticed that the update also included an instruction to the worm to remove itself on 3 May, 2009. However, the Waledac imposed backdoor on the machine will remain open, so its creators can still control compromised PCs.

posted April 11, 2009 10:51 AM         

I have never trusted the security of on-line banking. No matter what *securities* are assured to those who do.

posted April 12, 2009 08:44 AM         

It looks like it`s picking up steam

Conficker worm hits University of Utah computers

Posted on - Sun Apr 12, 2009 8:11AM EDT

SALT LAKE CITY - University of Utah officials say a computer virus has infected more than 700 campus computers, including those at the school's three hospitals.

University health sciences spokesman Chris Nelson said the outbreak of the Conficker worm, which can slow computers and steal personal information, was first detected Thursday. By Friday, the virus had infiltrated computers at the hospitals, medical school, and colleges of nursing, pharmacy and health.

Nelson says patient data and medical records have not been compromised.

"That's secured in a much deeper way because of the implications," he said.

Nelson said the virus is mainly attacking personal computers and could be siphoning login and password data, credit card numbers and banking information.

Directions for purging the virus from personal computers and equipment like thumb drives, digital cameras and smart phones has been distributed to staff and students.

Information technology staff shut of Internet access for up to six hours at some campus locations Friday so they could isolate the virus. They were expected to work through the weekend to eradicate it from the system.

Mindy Tueller of the university's office of information technology said all faculty and students should take steps to make sure they are protected. The virus does not infect Macs.

"It can do a lot of bad things," Tueller said. "Every university member should be concerned about this if they're using Windows-based devices."

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What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world is immortal"~

posted April 13, 2009 06:58 AM         

Thanks Betelgeuse one of the reasons why I tried to stay unconected that day just waited for the Virus to get cleaned off of the servers first.

I think the future will be macs getting Viruses, the only reason why they don't is the market is still mainly PC.

Wait for Macs to become just as domanate, there getting there.