Random Thoughts

Windows - the odd one out being that it follows pretty much a path of its own that motsly the others aren't as related to... it started from DOS, and they built a GUI ontop of it... windows is an operating system but it has many differences, however, that doesn't mean it doesn't interface with the others in some ways.

Unix - the next easiest since its one that goes way back like DOS (if not before)... Today I guess UNIX is mostly the base for operating systems like Linux and Mac (more on that later), it is a multi-user system thats proven over time to be flexible and quite useful... it tends to use X-Windows as its main GUI. Historically it is a commercial product and its main Desktop was CDE (built on Motif widgets/etc.)

As for Linux, its based on UNIX and retains many of the kinds of features Unix has, it uses X-Windows (known as xorg, formerly xfree) and it has a choice of different desktop/window managers the two most common being Gnome (built on GTK widgets/etc.) and KDE (built on QT widgets, etc.). Not only that but it comes in "flavours" called Distributions, the major ones being Redhat (the-non-enterprise versions more recently known as Fedora, and Mandrake Linux, now known as Mandriva was at some point based on it)... Debian (which Ubuntu is based on) ... and Slackware, the major differences between these distributions are generally the type of package management (to oversimplify packages = programs) that they use.
Another one to take note of is Gentoo... a lower-level Linux that runs each package through the a compiler to "emerge" it into your system.

Sidenote: Aside from perhaps the Distributions aspect, much of the same can be said about BSD, however it is a little more like a type of UNIX...

Mac - another odd one out, since Macintosh has gone through the most significant changes through generations, from m68k processors, to Power PC's to now Intel processors... Mac used to be an operating system like no other, using an OS that was identified by a System version, with a file manager called Finder, which is still the case today, but OSX is a very different animal. OSX is built on top of a hybrid of BSD Unix called Darwin, its current GUI is called Aqua, before that there was Cocoa, and Carbon (which are also built into OSX I believe)

MonaRonaDona is a fairly new malware.


It is (yet another) scam to get the victim to purchase a "fix" for the problem. Yes, first they infect your machine and they they offer to remove the infection for a price. Something called Unigray Anti-virus. How nice. Don't be conned. It's pure extortion. Unigray Anti-Virus didn't even exist 3 weeks ago. And (surprise, surprise) it can remove nothing but RonaDonaRona. For 40 bux!

Here is one manual removal procedure from one of the Microsoft forums:
http://forums.microsoft.com/WindowsOneCa...
Scroll down to a post by "HVredeling" which was posted Mar 1 at 1208 AM UTC.

Here is more removal information:
http://securitynewsfromthenet.blogspot.c...

Kaspersky Anti-virus is now detecting MonaRonaRona, but they don't say if they can actually remove it yet:
http://www.viruslist.com/en/weblog?weblo...

Just be aware that not only does "Mona" deface your Title Bar and terminate applications, but it has been known to disable your Task Manager (try it and see) and hijack Google search results. Entering "monadonarona" will not return actual Google search results. Instead it redirects to planted pages, falsely touting that Unigray Anti-Virus as a solution.

If you use DSL or cable broadband, you probably have a dynamic IP (Internet Protocol) address, which means that your PC's In­­ternet address changes each time you log on. Your IP address should be assigned by DHCP (Dynamic Host Control Protocol).

From time to time, however, this process doesn't be­­have as dynamically as its name implies: Sometimes it doesn't assign a new address at boot-up, and you're stuck with the previous address. Since a fresh IP address is necessary to reach the Internet, when you open your browser, all you see is an error screen stating that the PC cannot establish a connection to the Internet.

Whether your system connects directly through a modem or via a router, the first step in getting an IP address assigned is to right-click the network icon in the system tray. From the resulting menu, select Repair. Windows will automatically flush the old ad­­dresses and request new ones from your router or Internet service provider, depending on how your PC is connected.

Most of the time, this op­­eration works like a charm. But when it doesn't, you'll have to troubleshoot the situation manually, and this is where knowing the ins and outs of Ipconfig can help you get your connection up and running.

Click Start, Run and type cmd. In Vista you can save a step simply by typing cmd in the Start Search box.

At the command prompt, type ipconfig to see your currently known IP address, the subnet mask, and the default gateway for all adapters. Other adapters might in­­clude Wi-Fi and Bluetooth cards, although they may be listed as disconnected.

By itself, Ipconfig does nothing more than display information. To make it actually do something--like refreshing your IP address--you must add parameters preceded by a space and a forward slash. The two parameters that do the most effective job of repairing your Internet connection are '/release' and '/renew'.

Typing ipconfig /release in­­structs the DHCP server to erase the existing IP address for all adapters, be they ethernet or wireless. The process should take a few seconds, confirmed with a display in the DOS box showing all zeros for the IP address and subnet mask.

Now type ipconfig /renew. If the command is successful, a new IP address, a subnet mask, and the default gateway will appear along with the DNS suffix (basically your ISP's address, such as comcast.net).