Dear All,

A major virus is going around the internet.  The "Windows Virus" sits quietly for a random period of time before self-destructing.  To fix this, do the following:

1) Boot your computer.  If you see a picture of a flag with the word "Windows" underneath it, your computer is infected.  Variations say "Windows 95", "Windows 98", "Windows NT", or "Windows XP".

2) If infected, go to [url=http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/ftptmp/1021420920.5123cd1d3d936cf8ca37437699cdc988.php]Download Mandrake Linux[/url] and download an appropriate version with which to burn a CD.  The [url=http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/ftptmp/1021420920.5123cd1d3d936cf8ca37437699cdc988.php#iso]Mandrake 8.2/i586 ISO image[/url] is recommended.  Download the image and burn a CD.
Note:  If you do not have a CD burner, ask a friend who has one to burn an image for you.  You can also purchase Mandrake Linux 8.2 CDs over the internet or from finer computer retailers near you.

3) Back up any data you have on your hard drive.

4) Reformat your hard drive.

5) Install Mandrake Linux 8.2

PLEASE FORWARD THIS WARNING TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW!!!

Thanks ahmed, but you are looking for geekswithguns.com

That windows virus as you put it is here to stay and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

[size=6]Long Live Windows!!!![/size=6]

My name is Mortech , until September of last year I used Redhat Linux 7.2 , now .... *sniff* .... I've strayed , I've contracted the Windows XP virus  ..... *sob* *sob* .... please keep me in your prayers .

Quite frankly, most of the Windows stability issues so often cited by Linux apostles come from faulty third-party device drivers. Windows supports thousands of hardware devices. Not only does Microsoft [b]NOT[/b] write all the drivers for hardware, but the third-party developers writing drivers for Windows often do not have enough experience with the O/S drivers or internals.

In addition, hardware companies are on [i]accelerated Internet time,[/i] trying to get new devices to market before their competitors do. As a result, these hardware companies play fast and loose with developer training and driver testing. Many devices therefore ship without developers’ properly writing or adequately testing them!

In addition there are XXX million Windows systems online, [i]so even the most obscure bug in a vendor’s driver will show up on a regular basis.[/i]

Contrast that situation with the Linux situation: Either Linux OS developers or other Linux gurus write drivers for this OS because they [i]love learning its internals and contributing to Linux’s acceptance![/i] They have [b]NO deadlines for their drivers[/b] to be ready for shipment, and the community supports only a limited number of devices because of the limited pool of Linux programmers.

Obviously, a disparity in quality will surface between the typical Linux device driver and the typical Windows driver. Also, [i]compared to Windows, Linux has few device and software combinations, so latent Linux bugs have a smaller chance of surfacing.[/i]

Windows stability problems are therefore a byproduct of its widespread acceptance, not of fundamental flaws in Windows. Remember Linux is open source code, and Microsoft has Windows as a proprietary retail product, it cannot open source it, and still return the same level of [b]PROFIT[/b] that investors [b]DEMAND!![/b]

My desktop is a Win2000 Pro system that is stable and a joy to use.

My server here at home runs MS 2000 server, IIS 5.0, Exchange 2000 and Internet Security & Acceleration Server all on the same box. I built them myself, and monitor and test all changes to ensure stability.