you make a good point. I never thaught about sendmails running as root, thank god sendmail only relays/recieves/send mail, and does not otpen it :-P but perhapse a message os a specific size can screw something

I thought spyware programs had to be installed. Program installation is a little more involved than in Windows where you just double click. Linux has package managers.
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I use root for moving files between my two 'user' accounts and my Windows partition which is required as some of my hardware is not Linux compatible. There are the administrative chores such as updates plus the occasional install of a program that passes the 'smell' test of a trusted friend.
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Anyone surfing in root is nuts.
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Firefox/Mozilla comes with it's own bag of security. They've a list of plug-ins that aid the user in choosing what content they want and what they want blocked.
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I do use root for my virus checking program. It allows me to check the whole disk with out going into each 'user' account and Windows partition which would take time...
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Linux viruses are scarce as hen's teeth. However, I've deleted a good many Window's viruses from my email box and saved friends from pesky or ruinous infections from bugs that would just sit in my system.

Welcome to LQ!

While your contribution is nicely done, did you realize you were replying to a nearly 4 year old thread?

lol I got the email notification for this thread and it was like I went back in time!

Part of the problem, IMO, is that the OP is using RH9. That distribution is OLD...very old. Old enough to where he'd have issues with updating software packages. Based on that fact and the fact that the OP seems to be rather new to the Linux arena, I suggest something more supported...Fedora 7 or the latest version of CentOS, since he/she appears to hold RH in favor.

Other than that, the OP should offer more of the who/what/when/where so we can offer better support.

Just my .02...

BajaNick, you mention you are running RH9, that distribution is several years old.. Are security updates still available for it ? While this latest event appears to be nothing more than a pop up advertising gimmick, you might want to ensure you have the latest security updates for your system, or better yet, update your distribution to something more current and better supported.

The last update I see available for RH9 is over a year old... 2006-07-27 http://www.fedoralegacy.org/updates/RH9/


[edit] Sigh I guess I should read Page 2 before replying with yet another redundant post. nothing like saying what's already been said.

Ouch! I didn't notice that! I feel dumb for even responding!

BajaNick was posting in '03, RH9 lasted until April 30, 2004. So it was quite current at the time.

The last zero-reply thread started by him was on 04-10-06 and the latest thread was This is A great online movie (sic) posted 08-22-07.

But you'd think he'd know better than to leave a thread dangling...

The reason I responded to the thread was that I thought the OP created the thread in the last few days. In retrospect, anyone could've made the same mistake (and did), irregardless of the OP using RH9, which was current back in 2004. At this point, and after I acknowledged my mistake, I don't think it matters when RH9 was current...the post is WAYYY old and I shouldn't have responded at all.

(Gets hit with a stupid stick LOL!)