The Coffee Shop (a place to chat) Est. 2004

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by JCtrain

I got a B on a test as a result of not studying, oh well just have to work harder next time.
And Im as tired as a...well a man whos really tired and just benched pressed 95lbs.


I finnaly got MSN up and running and started to chat when....BLAM I got a spim virus (yeah spim)
So i Reinstalled the OS and im not getting msn again

JCTrain [:)]

What is a spim virus ? [B)]

We have a large group of chatters and I have never heard of that. The only other person who has said anything about a virus was Dougal. Since we are working so much now I haven't been on msn very much lately. But I have never had any virus problems with msn. I do have a firewall and McAfee Virus scan.

Maybe Lupo, Mikey Gaw, Jonathon, or some of the other guys can shed some light on this. Msn is onary at times but has never given me a virus.

Sorry to hear of your bad luck. I hope you will try again.

[lupo]

SPIM? sounds like an english cookie to me but i found this info:
http://www.computercops.biz/article4801.html
has to do with spamming.
I have -until today - only at one occasion had trouble through MSn, but I hope my network is safe now, as I am connected to the internet through a LINUX based gateway, wich blocks out most c[censored]p going around

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Lupo. [;)]

I read the article but am still not sure what spim is. As far as I know I haven't had any. I have not spent much time on msn messenger lately because I have been so busy at work. But I use to spend a good deal of time there and Mikey spends a lot of time on msn messenger too. He knows much more about computers and software than I do. He has been a big help to me and others.

Well I need more coffee. I think either my cup has a big hole in it or the dog is sneaking a drink often. Plus I am tired from another 10 hour shift and as usual didn't get much sleep. [:(] [V]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Noah Hofrichter

My big news though, is I got to ride in the Cab of a WSOR GP-38 again.

Noah

Now Jim is jealous. [}:)] [;)] [:p] [:)] [:D]

[lupo]

Jim, I think spim is when spammers ask you to add them to your MSN friends list and if you do that without checking they can send messages to you through msn, I heard one of my coworkers complain about that. he thought he added a friend but it turned out to be something else.
SO: watch out when you accept additions to your msn list. if you do not know them, do not accept them.

[Anonymous]

I too have had considerable problems w/ MSN Explorer lately, and no matter how many times I rerun a scan using SpyBot S&D I'll get bombarded w/ popups the very next moment I connect w/ my cable provider, Adelphia. I've contacted MSN and they don't respond w/ anything-nothing-silent. . .They suck.

Some of the popups are so aggressive that they 'cascade'-not sure what the actual term should be-I'm a bit of a neophyte on PCs (my 19 yr old calls me 'fossel')-anyway the same full screen popup will repeat itself up to 22 or 23 times on top of itself, faster than you can right click / left click in an attempt to close it, eventually locking up the PC, knocking me offline, and eventually crashing the system. I've spoken w/ (on phone) w/ one of the worst offnders (a discount prescription company), and after I wade thru their corporate bs and their rights to bombard me w/ spam, etc. they eventually respond to threats and that I've filed complaints w/ FTC. . . Then the same popups show up again a few days later, and when confronted again, they blame their spam 'webmaster'-then the same routine w/ threats, etc. There are a couple of anti-spyware popups just as aggressive, but they seemingly have responded to threats, ugly emails and/ or FTC complaints. These same companies are advertising on MSN's Home Page, and I suspect that these aggressive popups are infiltrating MSN Explorer right thru MSN. I emailed MSN re: this, and again they are silent.

Also MSN has been pushing a new feature that 'combines' numerous search engines into one location, and even though I indicated on one of the options that I'm not interested and to not show this option again, it keeps coming back.

When I uninstalled MSN's popup blocker, some of the problems died down to a more tolerable level. Isn't it coincidental that MSN has been hawking their 'popup blocker' (sic) and other features lately, even emailing me to 'take advantage of their technology' - right.

I have McAfee Security, SpyBot S&D, a junk mail filter, Zone Alarm, and just installed Google's toolbar w/ a popup blocker. Norden's firewall blocks everything so we uninstalled it.We have Internet Explore 6 and Windows XP. About four months ago we got Adelphia cable modem; prior to that we had Time Warner 's "Road Runner" cable modem.

Some wierd things still keep happening-
-like an 'insert' of a program w/ an html code and a bunch of somewhat unrelated numbers, characters, and words, that inserts itself in the middle of text usually when posting on this and another Kalmbach Forum. It's easily erased and usually goes away on first attempt, but is annoying. It isn't happening on emails I send, or on Forums ouside of Kalmbach. It attaches itself to certain key words (and I've since edited this post, removing approx half a dozen or more of these), but I've left one in as an example. When reviewing a post I've made (and sometimes, someone else's posting, certain words are highlighted in blue and underlined when using those words in text on Forum posts. Here's an example : <A TITLE="Click for more information about <A TITLE="Click for more information about car" STYLE="text-decoration: none; border-bottom: medium solid green;" HREF="http://search.targetwords.com/u.search?x=5977|1||||cars|AA1VDw">car</A>" STYLE="text-decoration: none; border-bottom: medium solid green;" HREF="http://search.targetwords.com/u.search?x=5977|1||||cars|AA1VDw">car</A> End of example. (since I edited this post twice to remove this crap I'm referring to, the 'insert' has duplicated itself , and I've left it in the above example) There is a direct correlation w/ when a post is edited by me right after initial posting. If I click on highlighted word, it connects me to the same 'search assistant' I mention below.
-Lastly, we've had a popup, a 'search assistant' (useless)-t hat sometimes crashes the PC-only a brief waiting time seems effective in getting rid of it- it looks just like the first page you get when one does a search on Yahoo - links to different search programs promising to 'facilitate your search' Sometimes I'm able to get back to MR Forum by clicking on a "model railroader" window that appears in the body of the popup! Is Kalmbach the root of this? Not sure if it's relavent, but I have Forum Code 'ON' and HTML is 'OFF' .

Anybody experiencing any of these problems? Thanks for any info or suggestions.

BILL

[cwclark]

it's a good idea to go to your online computer virus protection sites of your choice and download their latest and greatest protection patches at least once a month...also download any msn file updates every month.... Chuck

[lupo]

You are right Bill, there is something weird going on on your computer, as I type this, the NES was top of the page telling me you made a post at 11.00 , but there is no post at 11.00, the last post there was mine at 8.13, strange,! OK: took a second look: you edited a post at 11.00, might this be it ? btw this time the ness was on the bottom of the page.
OTOH: I can remember on one occasion I saw that you should have made a post, and when I wanted to read it, there was non
The MSN problem: You may be on to something, IMO: MSN has something to do with pop-ups and spam: as I first registered with MSN, I stated my age and got flooded with vulgar 18+ spam, at the same day I registered my son, also with his proper age: No filth, tried it with 5 aliasses different ages, same thing happens, how can spammers get easy acces to age of the users unless Microsoft makes that available to them? this info supposed to be private for MSN use only. BTW: after receiving tons of filth MSN offered me a PAYED service to block unwanted mail aint they commercial ?
I ask around if some of my mates can shed a lite on your other problems!

Bill, another possiblility :
have you looked in the "Software" folder in the Configuration section, where all software you have installed on your system is listed? services like Smily Central and other "free" services install all kind of software on your computer wich are not needed and only cause trouble, If you see programs there you do not know or want, you have the possibilty do remove them.

[lupo]

Bill, another possiblility :
have you looked in the "Software folder in the Configuration folder, where all software you have installed on your system is listed? services like Smily Central and other "free" services install all kind of software on your computer wich are not needed and only cause trouble, If you see programs there you do not know or want, you have the possibilty do remove them.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for replies. Lupo you're correct that I made an edit to a post this AM -was still working on first cup of coffee and experienced a bit of brain fade. I've spent all this time from originating this post ot now, pulling out all the glitches that keep popping up when editing my post. Just as soon as key on the 'edit' on the top of the post, that program shows up-instantly.

I too get bombarded / 'xxxx rated' junk, 'steel their email' junk, 'popup blocker and anti spystuff', (purposely written that way to avoid that key word from attaching that program again), 'discount prescription and instant and everlastring hardon offers', etc. We do not have any teenagers using this PC - we're empty nesters, and I don't acess any xxxx rated stuff-honest. Interesting idea about registering an under 18 yr old - perhaps I'll backdate myself to 1963 and maybe it'll go away!

My thought is that either Kalmbach and/or MSN is at the root of some of these problems. Never had problems to the degee or severity as I do now, and that was after I joined both this Forum and Kalmbach's Scale Auto. I think it's doubtful that it could be tied to Adelphia, our cable connection.

[Anonymous]

hey Lupo ! Its been a long time I ve not seen you online on MSN ! how are you ?
And your turbine ,

Antoine

[lupo]

Bill, watch your age if cheating on MSN, the won't allow people older than 99 years on their network! and if you feel lonley you can install the old windows messenger next to MSN messenger, log in with two different names and type your fingers blue chatting to your alter ego! ( I used to be a schizophrenic, but we are allright now! )

[Roadtrp]

Hello all,

Seeing how it is Friday evening, does anyone mind if I bring a nice glass of Merlot into the coffee shop?

I've never had a problem with viruses or worms (knock on wood). At work they immediately apply the patches and anti-virus updates to our servers as soon as they come out. The servers then pu***he patches and updates out to all of our desktop computers during the evening.

At home my computer is still running Windows 95. That operating system is so darned old that the viruses and stuff don't affect it. My wife thinks it is crazy that I make my living with computers but use a Windows 95 computer with a dial-up Internet connection at home. I figure what the heck -- I always have the latest and greatest at work, why do I need it at home?

But now I am probably going to have to change. My boss gave me a new computer to use from home that of course has XP on it. Now I will have to deal with the virus stuff like everyone else. I've had the new one here for three weeks and still haven't set it up. I'm sorry, but I like my OLD computer.

The new one is kid of cool though. It is one of those new one-piece jobs where the flat screen and its stand contain the guts of the computer. That will take up WAY less space than the old beast I'm on now.

But I still like my old one. We've been through a LOT together. [:(]

[fec153]

Good evening,C.W. Does your dad know about the old Eustis depot? they use a
MoPac caboose for secretary's office. 3 Milw.Rd. box's are attached to the depot for
extra storage,and they are air conditioned. CSX has stored hundreds of old cars on
old sidings but most have been removed. Still a bunch left. Road names include, R.I.
RF&P, CSX,CSXT,and others.
Phil

[Anonymous]

Do be careful with Smiley Central. It contains Adware. Adware is not a virus but is an "unwanted program" according to Mcafee. Adware is activated by using MS's Internet Explorer Browser (if I remember correctly). There is a free scan for adware called Ad A Ware (or something like that). Once the Adware is on your computer it is difficult to get it remove.

[CP5415]

I try not to download anything from websites that I'm wary of.
I like being virus free.
I have enough modern technology problems without having to add any.

Gordon

[Fergmiester]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Roadtrp

Hello all,

Seeing how it is Friday evening, does anyone mind if I bring a nice glass of Merlot into the coffee shop?

I've never had a problem with viruses or worms (knock on wood). At work they immediately apply the patches and anti-virus updates to our servers as soon as they come out. The servers then pu***he patches and updates out to all of our desktop computers during the evening.

At home my computer is still running Windows 95. That operating system is so darned old that the viruses and stuff don't affect it. My wife thinks it is crazy that I make my living with computers but use a Windows 95 computer with a dial-up Internet connection at home. I figure what the heck -- I always have the latest and greatest at work, why do I need it at home?

But now I am probably going to have to change. My boss gave me a new computer to use from home that of course has XP on it. Now I will have to deal with the virus stuff like everyone else. I've had the new one here for three weeks and still haven't set it up. I'm sorry, but I like my OLD computer.

The new one is kid of cool though. It is one of those new one-piece jobs where the flat screen and its stand contain the guts of the computer. That will take up WAY less space than the old beast I'm on now.

But I still like my old one. We've been through a LOT together. [:(]

All depends would that be an Australian or french Merlot? Personally I would opt for the Aussie one then agai if it's free pass the bottle[:D]

As far as being virus free consider your self fortunate. I've been hit and it can be more than annoying. I was hacked two years ago and the individual who did it left a little note saying "nothing good here that I'm interested in". Un be known to my wife and I he disabled our Antivirus and left another present, which eventually crashed us. Needles to say I'd love to catch the little twerp and keel haul them the length of the ship with both props ahead full!

[Noah Hofrichter]

We to had a Windows 95 untill about 3 months ago or so, and now we have an XP. We only had a problem once when the computer wouldn't shut down after something happened to it, we still don't know what, and we finally had to go in under another user name and shut the computer down properly instead of just shutting it off.

Noah

[Anonymous]

I've got XP on a (used) new Dell Inspiron 8100.
I've got the sygate firewall but the virus was downloaded ceonnected to a legit download. ( confusing, yeah it is)
It was a spim virus but was maliciously attached to computers so when they sent data the recieving computer would open the package.

I had to re-install the OS right after i just formated the hard drive[censored]

Do I sound like a Nerd? well Im not , I had to have help partitioning my hardrive!

[lupo]

Morning all!



poured a cup for you to start the day!
It nice and sunny overhere, first BBQ of this year coming up this afternoon!

http://www.lavasoft.de

this is the site where you can download ad-aware ,
there is a free version available, I installed it and it took out a lot of garbage
You can find all sorts of info on the dark side of the internet on there as well.

stay safe

[fec153]

And good morning to you. coffee pot almost empty. another hot day ahead. b-b-q grills
have been used here in mid Fla. for weeks. may your day be warm and sunny and your
drinks tall and cool.
Phil

[Fergmiester]

QUOTE: Originally posted by lupo

Morning all!



poured a cup for you to start the day!
It nice and sunny overhere, first BBQ of this year coming up this afternoon!

http://www.lavasoft.de

this is the site where you can download ad-aware ,
there is a free version available, I installed it and it took out a lot of garbage
You can find all sorts of info on the dark side of the internet on there as well.

stay safe

Oh you poor child[:D]

My BBQ never gets put away and I'll burn upto 4 tanks of propane a year to burn that piece of meat to perfection.

Maybe we should be swapping recipes![:p]

[Anonymous]

I saw a D&H runthrough with a Soo Line SD60 and three CP SD40-2's. I got some nice shots.

[egmurphy]

I'll join you guys with a cup this morning. We had some rain during the past couple of days and it knocked the temperature down a couple of degrees and really reduced the humidity (it was pretty unbearable for a while). So the idea of a hot cup of coffee in the morning doesn't seem so bad now. I'm trying to learn to say that the weather is "balmy" instead of saying that it's "like a sauna".

We barbeque sometimes just to avoid heating up the kitchen, but of course that means I get to stand out in the heat and cook. I suppose I need to try to learn more about using my grille. The stuff turns out okay, but I really miss the taste from when I used to use charcoal. Not that I'm willing to go back to briquets though.

Trying to get some energy up to continue with those cars I started on a few days ago. But now that the weather has improved it's really lazy out today.

Aaaahhhh. That coffee tastes good.......

Ed

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by lupo

Morning all!



poured a cup for you to start the day!
It nice and sunny overhere, first BBQ of this year coming up this afternoon!

http://www.lavasoft.de

this is the site where you can download ad-aware ,
there is a free version available, I installed it and it took out a lot of garbage
You can find all sorts of info on the dark side of the internet on there as well.

stay safe

Thanks Lupo, I can sure use it this morning. BTW, it's your run this AM, on the Rail Road, (see the NES for details).

[Anonymous]

It is about 12:45 here and I am still drinking coffee. This is my 14th day in a row without a day off. [:(] The paycheck was very disappointing. The 7th day is double time but I only netted a little more than a 6 day check would have brough in. TAXES, boooo, hissssssssss, yuckkkkk, yuckkkkk. [:(!] [:(!] [:(!]

More coffee please, my cup seems to have a hole in it. [;)]

Anyone have an "energy" they want to sell? I can't seem to find mine. I just don't know where I put it. [;)] And to make matters worse I have to be at work in less than 3 hours. [:(] [V] [:(!]

And "they" complain about going to school. [}:)] [;)]

Noah, Jonathon, want to trade? [:D] [;)] [:p]

I will study history (of railroading) and you two can work on airplanes. How about it, huh? [:p] [:D] [;)]

[tomwatkins]

Hi Everybody,
It's mid afternoon here in the mountains, and it's been a good day so far. The coffee was outstanding this morning, but we switched over to sweet tea a while ago. Our barbecue grill also goes all year round. We cook on it probably as much as we do on the stove, even in winter. We really enjoy it and the food is wonderful. I've not gottenmuch done on the railroad today, but we got a lot done in the gardens and that's fun too.

Have Fun,
Tom Watkins

[Fergmiester]

Well gents I'm sailing "on the tide" in a few hours off into the deep blue sea.

so see ya in a week or so

[Noah Hofrichter]

No thanks Jim, I'll wait till I have to work that much before I actually do work that much! Things have been going okay at school right now though, So far all I've lost is my sanity.[:D]

Noah

[cisco1]

Hello everyone. Another gorgeous day here in NW Missouri. BBQ season in full swing here too. (I'm with Fergie- cook out all year and keep our propane dealer happy!) Got word this week that the city of St. Joseph is helping put a roof over CB&Q 5614 finally.
Had to celebrate a little that somebody else sees the importance of preserving the past.
The garden is doing well and looks like with a little luck and some rain we'll have sweet corn by July. Got to go now- am taking the better half out for her birthday.[dinner]
Best wishes to all.
Chris