Who the hell died and made you king?

[Rivers]

I wouldn

[Craig.]

personally i have never seen anything for cancer research like the SETI program. But hey if you have some links i will give it a look over, hell if tuesdays results go bad i may have a personal interest in it.
But with SETI i also have an interest as finding other life in the universe will one day be a huge thing.

[Rivers]

Here is a link I found out about this in the avsim main page.Oh and I don

[Politically Incorrect]

I might be missing the point, and need too read more on these programs but don't these type programs do what you try and prevent via "firewall". Allowing a unknown person or computer access to yours? It seems like by installing one of these you are giving permisson to allow someone to hack your computer
Sure they say it is safe, but many many charities tell you that the money you give goes to feed children when actuall it goes in thier pockets.
Heck the one listed in the link tells you how to allow it around your firewall. Next they will tell you you need to have your anti-virus turned off.
And can they provide proof too you that your computer is being used the way advertise? I want to see proof that the $5000 I donated went to what I was told it was being used for, and any charitiy that can't provide proof of how resources and money is being used isn't legit. IMO!
I never donate anything to a charitable cause until I check into thier purpose and make sure that they are legit. In the world we live in now it is all to common the amount of fraudulent charities out there taking the money and resources from innocent people who belive they are making a differance. When there are many legit ones that struggle!

[Craig.]

the SETI one doesnt ask for access around a firewall, all it does is download a chunk of data, and then it works on it while your screensaver is active or whenever the program is run. It only requires an internet connection to download the data and send the results back.

[Hagar]

Being the old cynic I am I have to agree with Fret. I don't trust anyone & certainly don't want anyone messing around with my PC without my permission. There's enough problems with hackers, spammers & all sorts of idiots out there as it is.

As for searching for extra-terrestrial life they can stop wasting their time. LOL

[IcedFoxtrotter]

As for searching for extra-terrestrial life they can stop wasting their time.

I've been saying that for years myself.

I also have to agree that I don't want anyone messing with data on my computer, no matter how "nobel" the cause.  I go so far as unplug my computer from the lan when I am not on the net to safeguard it.

[ATI_7500]

Why being so frightened of attacks from the internet? I don't have a firewall (no outcome at the cost of CPU power + memory) and neither an active virus scanner installed. I only use it once in a while when I think that my Comp acts somehow strangely. Hell,if a hacker got me by the balls, I just format my HDD and reinstall Windows. That's it.
As for spam stuff:
I get three to twelve spam mails a day,but my e-mail provider (free service) deletes the contained worms,throws it into a special Inbox  and I just need two clicks in order to delete those mails. Then I start programs like Ad-Aware and delete those cookies or wehatever they are. But this only once in a while,too.
Windows can't spy anymore since I shut down all those unnecessary (spying) services (with the help of some programs or by myself).
So I don't understand the big trouble about spam.

But maybe you just didn't follow the rule "Never give your e-mail address to strangers".

[Hagar]

I don't have a firewall (no outcome at the cost of CPU power + memory) and neither an active virus scanner installed.

But maybe you just didn't follow the rule "Never give your e-mail address to strangers".

I wouldn't advise anyone to go online without a decent anti-virus application running. These darned things are so common these days it's just not worth it. Sorry but your golden rule doesn't work any longer. The worst part is that if you get a virus it will mail itself on to anyone in your address book. That's how these things are spread.

[ATI_7500]

Oh,and I don't have an address book,too.

[Hagar]

Oh,and I don't have an address book,too.

That makes 2 of us then. Strange thing is, people still get mail from me that I didn't send.

[IcedFoxtrotter]

Why being so frightened of attacks from the internet? I don't have a firewall (no outcome at the cost of CPU power + memory) and neither an active virus scanner installed. I only use it once in a while when I think that my Comp acts somehow strangely. Hell,if a hacker got me by the balls, I just format my HDD and reinstall Windows. That's it.

Yes, that used to be my stance as well.  But after having to reformat twice due to stuff that I couldn't get rid of, and not wanting to go through that anymore.........

[Scorpiоn]

I just never understood how people get viruses.  You have to download the program in an attachment to get it, I presume.  All those virus programs cost too much.

I get on the internet, check my forums, occasionally download some Simviation or RADEN stuff, and log off.

Never had any problems.

[Politically Incorrect]

I just never understood how people get viruses.  You have to download the program in an attachment to get it, I presume.  All those virus programs cost too much.

Not really, sure some viruses are contained in programs but a majority spread via email. I used to think this too that you have to download something that contained one and then I started looking into them further.
Everytime you open email it is a "download" some of the most used methods of spreading viruses are those "Ecards" you can find at various websites and have them sent too friends, family etc. Same with web pages everyone you go to the page has too "download".

That is why Hagar mentioned the "Address book", The Klez viruses are smart they can take addresses and also watch who you send mail too and who you get mail from,
Which is probably why Hagar has people getting email "from him" that he didn't send . The virus will imbed itself in a email and use a address that you might be familar with in hopes that you open it! Golden rule is never open a email from a unknowen source, well Klez type viruses by pass that by using names and addresses of people/ places you reconize! Smart!!
Actually I don't know if the virus itself does this or a person? But either way I rather be safe than sorry.
I've suffered a virus attack my dad sent me, and only after chewing him out for sending me a virus did I find out he didn't , and that is when I decided to read up on viruses and how they work. There is allot of info on the web you can look into on viruses and I would recommend everyone check some out just to get a basic knowledge of how they work. Not only is it very interesting but the extra knowledge could save you and your computer some day!!

[SilverFox441]

I keep my various Email accounts in my address book...If something gets past my firewall or virus scanner it will probably send to everybody in the address book and therefore it will send from one account to another...and I'll see it.

Just thinkin about it a "paid" email service would cut down on virus propagation as well...many peeps wouldn't maintain a huge balance and wouldn't be able to send out hundreds of infected emails.

As for services such as SETI@Home...

Well, I've run SETI since it came out. In my household we have done more than 4500 workunits without a problem. SETI doesn't have permission to run as a server and can only go and get data and then return it.

SETI will probably find nothing...probably.... I like to think that someone, or something, is out there. The one big problem in the search has been the lack of computer power to actually conduct a real search. The other reason I support SETI is it's leadership in the distributed computing field. SETI@HOME has made possible a lot of the other similar services that now exist.