First, we have a bunch of idiots that have nothing better to do than infect people’s pc’s with viruses.
Second, we have an email spam problem that ISN’T going away. A quick word about this. If the major companies such as MSN Hotmail REALLY wanted to eliminate the ridiculous junk going to millions of people’s mail boxes, they would have done it. Period.
The fact is that SOME of the junk mail jerks are paid clients of these corporations, and so they have to pretend doing something about it and FORCE millions of people to waste their time going through the junk folder. Believe me, they could stop all of it, but they won’t because they are paid not to.
So, let’s put the two together. Let’s have a brave soul save all the viruses someplace. Let’s have another work on finding the exact sources of all the incoming CRAP from Nigeria, penis enlargers, Credit Card, and Mortgage Comp. ad infinitum.
Then we—and I mean millions of us-–answer these stupid scams with viruses included. What do you think? There has to be a way.
I’ve really had enough of all this sh…, please help me out here. >:(
avast indeed detect some pishing (specially nowadays in the beta program).
avast indeed scan emails (if you set it correctly).
So… I think besides good Internet habits, we’re protected.
First its illegal to transmit malware and you can be sure you would be caught and prosecuted where the crooks get away with it.
Second you don’t have a clue if the reported from address which is easily forged is the true originator of the spam. So you could be hitting someone who email was used for the from address, typically extracted from the address book of an infected system or of a spam list.
Third, its stupid Never ever respond to spam in any way, get an anti-spam and simply delete them, life is to short.
Agree with above responses.
Sorry, bw, but in effect, doing the same as the spammers just lowers yourself to their level. Forums such as this one are generally places where the users don’t wish to spread malware; in fact, I’d go so far as to say that there is a strong aversion to it. (Quite beside the illegality.)
There are good operating practices around to help prevent spam. My hotmail account gets a little bit; my home email address none at all. This is partly due to conservative email practices on my part, and (probably) also largely due to good spam filters run by MS and my ISP.
[morality mode on]
If you send malware to someone, even if you think they deserve it, you’re no better than they are. Plus, what goes round comes round. [/morality mode off]
This really is a case of “two wrongs don’t make a right.” I would like to point you to what our Lord Jesus had to say about this during the Sermon on the Mount…
“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.”
Matthew 5:43-48 (NLT)
AND
“Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essense of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.”
One more comment, which if anyone else already said then I missed it …
Suppose you actually did “hit” the actual spammer’s server. About all you’d “accomplish” would be to increase the spread of the virus by several orders of magnitude, since very likely the spam sent out from there would become infected too. Not too brilliant, IMHO.
Nobody claimed to be brilliant. I only asked for help to stop the crap. Instead I was attacked by self-righteous evangelists who adhere to a religion that has torturerd and killed millions in the name God. I respect Jesus–not christians.
legality is only a word, and it has been ignored by everyone on this planet and used at their convenience including Prime Ministers, Presidents, and yes, Jesus Christ.
It’s mostly used by lazy people who don’t want to consider alternatives.
As for lowering myself to their standards. If a dog is pissing on your leg, you don’t recite your rights or quote the Golden Rule.
I’ll pray for all you sheep knowing that any good Idea whether spiritual, technical, or political has been ridiculed. I guess that’s better than being beheaded by some christian.
And if my idea really was stupid, I’ll never know because the responses I got were even more ridiculous.
Nobody claimed to be brilliant. I only asked for help to stop the crap.
Um, not really. You came up with what, at face value, appeared to be a good idea for payback, and asked for comment.
Instead I was attacked by self-righteous evangelists who adhere to a religion that has torturerd and killed millions in the name God. I respect Jesus--not christians.
No attacking occurred. I did see some putting right, a bit of moralizing, and a couple of religious posts. Probably one of the more valid of the replies was by MikeBCda regarding the increase in viral spread as a result of your proposal.
Although the religious posts might well seem out of place, it is actually true that a lot of the basic laws of the land derive from Christianity.
Nobody on any respected forum is about to condone outright anything illegal.
You’re obviously feeling a bit defensive. And in that condition the feeling is that you want to shoot the messenger.
Please don’t. No-one here was attacking you, merely pointing out that your idea (which has been suggested many times before, btw,) is deficient, and why.
Since you haven’t been here very long you don’t know that the Evangelist is a forum category like your newbie category is based on the number of posts on the forum and nothing to do with religion.
You didn’t come asking for help but suggesting people take action that is illegal and asked for feedback, etc. and that is what is being pointed out. It was not a direct attack on you but pointing out why we felt it wrong, you gave your opinion and we gave ours as simple as that.
Legality might only be a word but should they choose not to ignore it and you get caught spreading viruses and you will see just how that word could seriously effect you, your family, or anyone who felt it a good idea and got caught sending malware.
This is the official avast anti-virus support forum and you are hardly going to get any other response to sending malware, when the whole point of the forum is to protect against viruses…
Thank you for those corrections, I wasn’t aware of your authority. You’re obviously feeling a bit insecure and feel the need to embrace each other. Go ahead and hug, it’s okay.
If thy right eye offends thee…Pluck it out…and Eat it.
God…please send me a rocket launcher to protect me from your followers.
I did not share the Lord’s Word with you to attack you, only to let you know what He requires of all of us. None of us can do this on our own nor can we enter into heaven adhering to our own standards and what we consider “right and wrong.” This is why the Lord came down to die for us on the Cross, taking upon Himself the sins of which we are all guilty, so that through Him (by confessing Him and sincerely asking Him to come into our hearts and obeying Him,) we are forgiven and given the gift of the Holy Spirit. He could not have made this sacrifice for us had he been guilty of even one sin. The Lord could not have ignored the law He came to fulfill…
“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. So, if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. But I warn you-unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!”
Matthew 5:17-20 (NLT)
You say you respect Jesus, but the Scriptures above and in my last post (that you took offense to) were spoken by Him, and he only spoke what the Father had given Him!
"So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man on the cross, then you will understand that I AM he. I do nothing on my own but say only what the Father taught me. And the one who sent me is with me-he has not deserted me. For I always do what pleases him.”
John 8:28-29 (NLT)
And I can personally assure you, the Lord was and is in NO way lazy and if you read the Bible, you discover very quickly that God’s law is very different from the world’s law.
You may have noticed the link to Mr. Billy Graham’s site in my signature area. I have only spoken to you what lies in my heart, the truth, and I invite all of you to know the Jesus I know and the love I spoke of in that link.
I am REALLY new here, so I’m sure this idea has been mentioned before. Or maybe it doesn’t work everywhere. Or maybe a stupid idea, but— Have one e-mail you use for personal/work, one email for internet stuff. That seems to have helped me tremendously.
I get tons of spam in my Hotmail account, and none in my other two personal/business accounts. Although I have the last two filtering through Outlook (which is protected by Avast!) even when I go directly to my mailboxes on the web with these other two e-mail accounts, I’m not showing any spam. (One’s through my ISP, and the other is a paid web account.) I never use anything but my Hotmail account for forums, signing up for stuff on the internet, etc.
SPAM irks me, too, as I still get tons of it in the Hotmail account, but I’ve learned to just ignore and delete. Most of it is filtered in the “junk” box anyway, so it’s easy to just delete the bunch all at one time. I agree with someone else, life’s too short, plus I have too many other things going on.
I wanted to also address this comment from last night. I know this has happened in the past but the people who perpetrated these sins and then claiming they were doing in the Name of God weren’t actually obeying God as he commanded in Scripture. Our Lord also addresses this in the Sermon on the Mount…
“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgement day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, 'I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.”
Matthew 7:21-23 (NLT)
@ PamJ: Thank you so much for your kind words, Pam, all that I am and all that I have is because of Him and I give Him the glory and credit for this too!!! Actually, your idea is a good one. I used to do this myself. Windows Mail (in Windows Vista, it replaced Outlook Express) has a built in SPAM filter that’s actually done a good job since I’ve received my notebook.
My comments in this forum have not always met with approval - from fellow posters and even not from the avast team.
This posting may not be different.
I am an American - part of our national creed is freedom of speech and I support that wholeheartedly. So it is incumbent on my principles to support the comments made by all those participating in this thread. I must, in all honesty, disclose that I have referred to the moderators posts in the past that I believe contained “hate” diatribes.
Nothing in this thread constitutes “hate” comments. Indeed I must say that I believe poster ardvark is an outstanding contributor to this forum. I too am a Christian, I believe that the religiously inspired posts from ardvark in this thread stem from pure love.
Nevertheless, it is my opinion that such publicly posted comments promoting personal religious faith are not, in any way, appropriate or helpful to this forum.
avast and these forums support a worldwide user base. That means that these forums support users who are Christians (of all denominations), Jews (of all denominations), Muslims (of differings branches), Buddhists, Hindus, Shinto and I am missing (forgive me) a host of other faiths not forgetting the many who profess no faith at all (and those that are repelled by religious faith). The one thing of which I am sure is that the Christian faith of ardvark and me is a minority on this planet. avast and this support forum is planet wide even if most users might just happen to profess the Christian faith - and I cannot be certain of that.
I suggest it is best for all of us in this forum if we recognize that this is a technical support forum. I believe that we should respect the worldwide nature of this forum. I doubt that we can (or should) avoid any comments of personal support but I ask, in respect of all, that we avoid using this forum for advocating the tenets of any religious faith as part of our help to our fellow users of avast.
I suggest it is best for all of us in this forum if we recognize that this is a technical support forum. I believe that we should respect the worldwide nature of this forum. I doubt that we can (or should) avoid any comments of personal support but I ask, in respect of all, that we avoid using this forum for advocating the tenets of any religious faith as part of our help to our fellow users of avast.
I wholeheartedly agree.
What I have learned:
Religion is for those who are afraid of going to &Hotplace
Spirituality is for those that have already been there
As a long time follower of Ram Dass and have been on several retreats to listen to his teachings I live this way now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Dass
I bought his book Be Here Now back in '72 when I was searching for Religion and it took me until '98 until I understood it and had attended many Satsangs and met many interesting people.
I. along with the rest of you, was asked for my thoughts and ideas and I gave them. Whether anyone chooses to believe or not, I simply desire to present the message as given to us in The Bible.
Yes, it is a technical forum, not a religious one. But, sometimes forums get a little off-topic (at least the other ones I’m part of do ;D ) and unless it goes on a long time, or there’s a rule against OT posts, I say if you don’t like it, just skip over it. There have been plenty of times in my forum experiences where an on-topic thread turned OT in a direction I didn’t like, so I just ignored it. If an admin or moderator thinks it’s out of line, he/she can handle it. We had a real mess on one forum were posters were deleting other posts they didn’t like (under the guise of them being spam) because they were “mean and rude posts.” The admin, of course, restored them.
Anyway, although I don’t start Christian topics on a non-Christian forum, I personally like ardvark’s posts.
