majorgeeks server problem ???

Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by Clark_Kent, Jun 29, 2004.

  1. Clark_Kent

    Clark_Kent MajorGeek

    i was unable to reach the message board all day i get this message

    The server is too busy at the moment. Please try again later!!!

    may be it's time for a server upgrade ;)
     
  2. Kodo

    Kodo SNATCHSQUATCH

    plans to move the board to a new server are under way. :)
     
  3. Sgt. Tibbs

    Sgt. Tibbs Ultra Geek

    Just don't go to RackShack! :eek:

    Good to know, though...it's been pretty flaky the last couple of days. :)
     
  4. g1lgam3sh

    g1lgam3sh MajorGeek

    I thought so too, had a few problems d/l ing etc...............












    but somehow I just knew there'd be someone on the case;) :D
     
  5. Major Attitude

    Major Attitude Co-Owner MajorGeeks.Com Staff Member

    There is some server moving around, tweaking, adjusting. We hit a growth spurt thanks to those dorks at Coolwebsearch and are trying to adjust. It was unexpected.
     
  6. bigbazza

    bigbazza R.I.P. 14/12/2011 - Good Onya Geek

    MA did "growth spurt thanks to those dorks at Coolwebsearch" result from a plug by coolwebsearch? Thought that would be a good thing for MG. Bazza

    ======

     
  7. laurieB

    laurieB MajorGeek

    one good thing about this place is i find out very quickly if a problem is 'just mine'. aloha
     
  8. Clark_Kent

    Clark_Kent MajorGeek

    coolwebsearch bad !!!

    I found this about Coolwebsearch.....

    CoolWebSearch is winning Trojan war

    By Jan Libbenga
    Published Tuesday 29th June 2004 09:05 GMT

    Merijn Bellekom has abandoned developing software that removes one of the nastiest browser hijackers on the planet: CoolWebSearch, a trojan that converts your PC into a source of revenue for fly-by-night porn sites not capable of generating legitimate Web traffic.

    The trojan installs dozens of bookmarks to foul porn sites on your desktop; it also adds a toolbar to Internet Explorer and changes your home page without asking. And it significantly slows down the performance of your PC, and introduces some modifications which cause Windows to freeze, crash or randomly reboot.

    It takes a brave Dutch student, Merijn Bellekom, to remove the hijacker effectively; but CWS seems to be winning, leaving users at risk.

    Bellekom has just released the latest version of his CWShredder (1.59), the only antidote to the trojan, but warns that his app won't be updated again: "I have a few bugs to fix, but after that there's not much left to do. I simply do not have the tools to remove the latest variants. They are too aggressive or too complicated to allow for automated removal."

    He has tracked CWS and its modifications ever since it first appeared last summer, claiming that it is "the most complex, invisible and devious hijacker" ever programmed. He is not joking: We run afoul of CWS not too long ago and the only way to remove the sucker was to replace the entire Windows Registry with a previous version. Even MSIE 6 Service Pack 2 (beta) couldn't provide any protection.

    The first modifications weren't even identified as such, according to Bellekom. Users began to report significant slowdowns when they typed messages into text boxes. Merijn believes CoolWebSearch is part of a new strain of trojans that install through the ByteVerify exploit in the MS Java Virtual Machine.

    Fighting CoolWebSearch has become a daunting task. The criminals behind it often engage in Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against sites that host CWShredder. Some variants try to cripple CWShredder and other spyware removal tools. New versions of CWS are released almost every few weeks. Bellekom's chronicle of variants pretty much reads like a horror story. Merijn calls the latest variants "a living hell".

    Some have already volunteered to update CWShredder, but rather than playing a never-ending cat-and-mouse game, why not hunt for the people behind it? Sites such as Webhelper4u already provide a lot of evidence of their whereabouts.

    The trojan often redirects users to sites affiliated with CoolWebSearch, a Russian pay-per-click search engine where companies can bid for keywords. The site accumulated over 1000 affiliates since last year, all with their own site. CWS itself denies any involvement with the trojan: "We are buying surfers' searches from webmasters all over the world. Maybe some webmasters, who are sending visitor traffic to us, are challenging your system's security," the company says.

    Perhaps. But only if there is money involved. Do largely unknown Russian search sites or their affiliates earn that much money? We doubt it, not without the help of their western counterparts, anyway. Which may be the key to the solution: follow the money trail and you may get some answers. ®
     
  9. laurieB

    laurieB MajorGeek

    Re: coolwebsearch bad !!!

    and how do we avoid this? aloha
     
  10. Adrynalyne

    Adrynalyne Guest

    Re: coolwebsearch bad !!!

    Avoid what? Spyware?

    Simple, pay attention to what you click, and practice Safe Computing.

    Its worked for me. Not once have I been hijacked, and unless you call those tracking cookies spyware, I've been clean for years.
     
  11. G.T.

    G.T. R.I.P February 4, 2007. You will be missed.

    Re: coolwebsearch bad !!!

    Much the same here. If you don't want it and don't know what it is, don't click on it. I won't even click "NO" on such pop-ups. I either click the X in the corner to close it, or if that's not showing, bring up Task Manager and End Task out of it.
     
  12. laurieB

    laurieB MajorGeek

    Re: coolwebsearch bad !!!

    wheres the task manager? i meant how do you avoid CWS. already try hard to avoid opening things im not sure of. i also have spybot and spyblaster. it just sounded as if this was something different.. aloha
     
  13. alanc

    alanc MajorGeek

    Re: coolwebsearch bad !!!

    And keep current with critical updates and Service Packs. The ByteVerifier exploit that Clark mentioned is easily patched.
     
  14. G.T.

    G.T. R.I.P February 4, 2007. You will be missed.

    Re: coolwebsearch bad !!!

    No, same old crap, just VERY widely spread, and one of the worst to clean up after. You avoid it by never ever saying yes to anything that pops up on screen that you didn't ask for, and never install any handy toolbars or helper programs that you're not sure about, no matter how useful they look. Hitting Ctrl/Alt/Delete brings up Task Manager, and you can highlight any running task and hit "End Task" from there. The newest window to pop up will normally be at the top of the list.
     
  15. laurieB

    laurieB MajorGeek

    Re: coolwebsearch bad !!!

    thanx hon. i will continue to be vigillant. its good to know about con/alt/del though. i sometimes get caught in things. aloha
     
  16. ArchAngel

    ArchAngel Sergeant

    Re: coolwebsearch bad !!!

    And, as you previously mentioned, don't even click "no". It took me a couple times to figure that out. I'm a slow learner.[​IMG]
     
  17. Phantom

    Phantom Brigadier Britches

    Also, do NOT 'Unsubscribe' to any unwanted spam that may get into your inbox, as this often just confirms to the spammer your email address.

    Alt + f4 can close a lot of unwanted boxes that want to be clever and hide and/or disable the 'x' icon. Others - use G.T.'s Ctrl + Alt + Del access the close task manager.

    Always scrub your cookies and stuff with 'Crap Cleaner' and double check with Ad-aware, or whatever after surfing, even if you've just been to M.G.'s!

    A lot of good I.S.P.'s will operate a free and automatic trojan/virus removal for your e-mail, at least. ;)

    I've had zero infections on my main box in the last three years. But many have tried! :rolleyes:
     
  18. Major Attitude

    Major Attitude Co-Owner MajorGeeks.Com Staff Member

    Yup, never click anything on email. They also track that your a legit email with the images that load. Service pack 2 disables most of these by default.
     
  19. HUDIK

    HUDIK Sergeant

    Have OE/IE SP1. All my email is set to be 'not read'. What I do sometimes though is rightclick on the email and check the 'properties', as this will tell me who is sending me stuff and where it comes from. I also check 'message source'. Is there any problems with this procedure?????

    Never open emails I don't know, don't even open attachments from friends unless I know they run tight security, and I am expecting it.

    Perhaps I'm paranoid, but so far have nothing nasty has ever gotten in.:eek:
     
  20. Ken3

    Ken3 MajorGeek

    What time frame are you talking about? Or will this be invisible to the board users? Or will the board go down and come back up on the new server?
     
  21. lostkiwi

    lostkiwi MajorGeek

    I use Opera and on the top tool bar you can click "window>close all but active", this works very well for me as Opera has an option to "accept all cookies and open in background". Very rarely will one pop up in front.

    @HUDIK , the avatar looks great! First time I've seen it in your posts :)
     
  22. laurieB

    laurieB MajorGeek

    i wasnt aware that you could right click on email for more info. i will hafta experament with right clicking everything. aloha
     
  23. Major Attitude

    Major Attitude Co-Owner MajorGeeks.Com Staff Member

    Currently the situation is being worked on for days. Let me tell you, Jim and Phillip are killing themselves on it. It has ranged from possible kernel issues, to considering other operating systems to other servers. It turns out our web host did not do the requested memory update, so we are currently, awaiting the mmeory upgrade and considering running double lines into the server, effectively placing 2 10 mb lines just for the server itself.

    Its great to see this sort of growth, but its also hard to keep up with. Thanks for your support and patience.
     
  24. HUDIK

    HUDIK Sergeant

    Thanks lostkiwi. I had the graphic, but AbbySue sized it for me, so she should get the praise. I love it !!!!! You never know though I might change it as I have a habit of doing this...........:)
     
  25. HUDIK

    HUDIK Sergeant

    laurieB plese note that I'm asking a question in that post, please don't do anything until somebody answers.........
     
  26. laurieB

    laurieB MajorGeek

    eewww. ok . i just LOVE not knowing what im doing. everyday is a new adventure ! my puter has a life all of its own. im beginning to feel more and more like an observer and less and less like a participent. :)
     
  27. Doc43

    Doc43 Private First Class

    I'm getting the same thing at G4techtv forums.
     

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