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#149776 - 22/03/2003 22:19 Viruses and the empeg
mrfixit
enthusiast

Registered: 14/06/2002
Posts: 337
I'm not shure if I should post this in general, but I was wondering if you got a virus on your pc could it be transfered to the empeg? I found the W32.opaserv virus on my pc and wondered if it could hurt the empeg, or if it could be transfered from one pc to another through the empeg.
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Ben
mk2a 60gig green/Greenlights Buttons
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#149777 - 22/03/2003 22:20 Re: Viruses and the empeg [Re: mrfixit]
tonyc
carpal tunnel

Registered: 27/06/1999
Posts: 7058
Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
I'm not shure if I should post this in general, but I was wondering if you got a virus on your pc could it be transfered to the empeg? I found the W32.opaserv virus on my pc and wondered if it could hurt the empeg, or if it could be transfered from one pc to another through the empeg.
The empeg utilizes the Linux operating system. Windows viruses have no effect on Linux. So you're safe.
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- Tony C
my empeg stuff

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#149778 - 22/03/2003 22:27 Re: Viruses and the empeg [Re: tonyc]
mrfixit
enthusiast

Registered: 14/06/2002
Posts: 337
Thats kinda what I figured since it has a different os, but just wanted to make shure... thanks
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Ben
mk2a 60gig green/Greenlights Buttons
mk2a 60gig green/Greenlights Buttons
mk2a 40gig blue no illumination....yet
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#149779 - 22/03/2003 22:53 Re: Viruses and the empeg [Re: tonyc]
drakino
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/06/1999
Posts: 7868
Windows viruses have no effect on Linux. So you're safe.

Unless your an admin that for some reason has a root partition of a Unix box mapped to a Windows drive letter, and get hit with one of the viruses that try to infect everything. Sufice it to say, the guys unix box wasn't doing so well with random windows code injected into about everything.

But on the empeg front, since it never is directly connected as a hard drive, there is no rish of a virus even being able to corrupt something vital on the empeg. I'm also pretty sure unlike other media players, the empeg player won't execute code snuck into MP3 and other media files.

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#149780 - 23/03/2003 04:30 Re: Viruses and the empeg [Re: drakino]
tman
carpal tunnel

Registered: 24/12/2001
Posts: 5528
And besides, the processor in the Empeg is a StrongARM so it wouldn't even be able to run Windows viruses.

- Trevor

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#149781 - 23/03/2003 09:34 Re: Viruses and the empeg [Re: tonyc]
Daria
carpal tunnel

Registered: 24/01/2002
Posts: 3937
Loc: Providence, RI
Wandering off into "not even vaguely addressing the question" land:

It's been (not widely) reported, but of course Linux viruses are always a possibility.

Still, the (weak) defense here would be no one bothering to attempt them for anything other than i386.

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#149782 - 23/03/2003 12:17 Re: Viruses and the empeg [Re: Daria]
tfabris
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31597
Loc: Seattle, WA
Last night, I was about to post something along these lines (rarity of ARM-specific viruses), then it occurred to me that someone might take that as a challenge...
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#149783 - 23/03/2003 12:33 Re: Viruses and the empeg [Re: tfabris]
Daria
carpal tunnel

Registered: 24/01/2002
Posts: 3937
Loc: Providence, RI
I always take "can't" as a challenge. "You can't do X." typically means "we don't allow you to do X." Tough.

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#149784 - 23/03/2003 20:29 Re: Viruses and the empeg [Re: drakino]
lectric
pooh-bah

Registered: 20/01/2002
Posts: 2085
Loc: New Orleans, LA
I'm also pretty sure unlike other media players, the empeg player won't execute code snuck into MP3 and other media files.

Crap. I guess my virus scans are going to start taking significantly longer to complete now.

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#149785 - 24/03/2003 08:32 Re: Viruses and the empeg [Re: Daria]
wfaulk
carpal tunnel

Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
Still, the (weak) defense here would be no one bothering to attempt them for anything other than i386.
The real defense is that it is trivial in Unix to be a superuser for tiny periods of time and run only one or two processes while doing it. Windows often forces you to be a superuser for extended amounts of time, and, in fact, it is often vastly easier to do even simple things as a superuser than bothering to set up your security correctly, especially for a home user, since Windows' initial security settings are a joke.
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#149786 - 25/03/2003 08:27 Re: Viruses and the empeg [Re: wfaulk]
TigerJimmy
old hand

Registered: 15/02/2002
Posts: 1049
This is an excellent point. I'm a pretty good UNIX sysadmin and think my systems have good security and procedures. On my home Windoze XP machine, I run as an Administrator user all the time because its such a PITA to do it any other way. I have a UNIX firewall keeping the insecure piece of dung relatively safe, but I don't put anything important on it.

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#149787 - 25/03/2003 09:47 Re: Viruses and the empeg [Re: TigerJimmy]
Yang
addict

Registered: 14/01/2002
Posts: 443
Loc: Raleigh, NC
I throw caution to the wind and don't even run anti-virus software.. ;o I prefer to look at any kind of serious system failures as a good excuse to reformat the drive and reinstall everything anyway.. It also helps to not have any data that's worth anything to begin with..

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#149788 - 25/03/2003 09:56 Re: Viruses and the empeg [Re: Yang]
mtempsch
pooh-bah

Registered: 02/06/2000
Posts: 1996
Loc: Gothenburg, Sweden
... don't even run anti-virus software ... helps to not have any data that's worth anything


Well, if you're on broadband you might want to consider that your unprotected machine can be used to target others... (cracking, spam, DDoS etc)

/Michael
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