Lufty

Hi Everyone After searching the globe I have found them again Let me know if any more disappear. Regards Lufty

Kirstie Who has stolen the mountains Let me investigate and come back to you. Lufty

Hi Everyone Unfortunately DNS propagation (The process of updating site information on the Internet) can take up to 48 hours to complete successfully however most people will have been back up and running within an hour of the cutover. Please post any specific problems you are experiencing in this thread as the propagation should be complete by now. Kind regards Lufty

Dear All The move is now complete and most members should be able to access the forum. Kind regards Lufty

Dear All Due to the continued growth and the popularity of this forum we need to move to another ISP. Over the next two days the site maybe unavailable for a short period of time while the transfer takes place. The ISP we are moving to provides professional hosting services and we hope the extra capacity and improved resilience will ensure the forum remains up and available for use 100% of the time. We will not be making any changes to the forum software so it should be a seamless process with only a minor outage while the DNS servers on the Internet update the new ISP details. Kind regards Lufty

Hi Curra I think you will find that the virus alerts you received were coincidential with you being on the forum at the time but as always it is important to remain vigilant in case of future hack attempts. Kind regards Lufty

Dear All The ISP that we use called Fasthosts had a major connectivity outage yesterday which resulted in this forum being unreachable for much of yesterday afternoon and evening. There was obviously nothing that we could do until the data circuit was restored overnight. Kind regards Lufty

Hi Lil_me There is no plans to take this site down for maintainence however it is possible that there is a new security patch being released today. I will keep my eye out for it and let everyone know if I hear anything. Regards Lufty

Hi Tux Well spotted and sorry but it is part of the tightened security measures to try to withstand another hack attack on our site Lufty

Hi DaisyProudfoot Unfortunately changing the forum address would not really help as hackers use search engines to find sites running particular software and then attempt a hack. The only alternative would be to make this a private site and not publicise it to the wider world which stop ligitimate people from finding the site. Kind regards Lufty

Hi Karin Do you have a copy of the email still by any chance ? If you do can you PM me ASAP. Did anyone else receive an email ? If you did please PM me as well. Many thanks Lufty

Hi everyone Just to add to Phasmid the data was restored from a backup taken at 12:07 on Wednesday 24th May 2006 so any postings/registrations/amendments made after that time will have been lost. I am sorry for any postings that have been lost but it was better to bring the forum back up as safely as possible. Kind regards Lufty

Hi Suze I am glad you could log on successfully to the site with your computer. A good example of something strange would be an admin (name in red) other than Kris, Elefan or Lufty for example as was noticed last night by another member. An strange error message when accessing the site would be another example. Kind regards Lufty

Hi Nellie Just to add you can generally configure antivirus software to either delete or "Quarantine" a virus or trojan infected file. When you "Quarantine" the file it puts it in a special directory so you can not run the infected file by accident. Kind regards Lufty

Hi Baddad This update came out a couple of days ago and is safe to download. There have been many attempts at simulating the Windows Update Software so you did exactly the right thing and ran it from the Windows Update site. Regards Lufty

Hi Nellie Yes empty the vault which is like deleting the virus infected files from a quarantine folder. Kind regards Lufty

Dear All I am really sorry and indeed sad to inform you all that this forum was hacked into last night and a trojan program maliciously installed on the site. At approximately 21:20 on Sunday 21st May 2006 we became aware of the problem and I immediately took steps to shut the forum down to prevent any further damage to the site and to forum members own computers. Most antivirus software will have detected and dealt with the trojan however now is a good time to run a complete virus scan on your computer and also ensure your antivirus and antispyware software is up to date and functioning correctly !!! At first glance it looks to be the work of a Russian hacker however it was more important to preserve the integrity of the site and the forum members own computers than preserve the evidence of the hack. In restoring the site I have taken the opportunity to install the latest version of the forum software along with a security patch which might prevent further hacking. Please immediately notify the moderators on this site if you notice anything suspicious. You can contact all moderators by sending an email to moderators@asd-forum.org.uk. Kind regards Lufty

Hi hev Before you invest in a new graphics card consider other reasons for the display not working. For instance the motherboard, processor or memory might be the cause of the problem. I strongly suggest going to a friendly local PC shop and getting them to test it. They can diagnose the fault quickly using spare parts before investing in new hardware until you are sure what the problem is. Good luck Lufty

Paula In addition to the earlier posts you can go to the Microsoft website and check whether your copy of Windows XP is a legal copy at :- http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/downloads/WhyValidate.aspx In fairness to Microsoft (and I do not usually stick up for them !!!) they are trying to cut down on software counterfeiting which costs the industry Billions of pounds a year and ultimately means we all end up paying for this by way of increased software costs. Anyway I hope I have not started a big debate on the subject Regards Lufty

Hi Lauren There is a database minimum word length limit of 4 characters for the search engine which I am unable to alter. I have modified the board settings to give an error message if any words you search for are less than 4 characters. Let me know how you get on. Regards Lufty

Hi Viper I am not sure from the description as to what your problem is but drop me a PM and I will look into it for you. Kind Regards Lufty

Hi All Many thanks for the concern but the three of us are all alive and well We have all taken a back seat on the forum as we wanted the moderators to have ownership of the day to day running which I am sure you will agree they have done admirably. We however have not left the forum but remain lurking in the background so watch out Kind regards Lufty

Rule introduction notice: In response to a number of recent incidents it has been agreed by the moderating and administration team that new rules be introduced to safeguard the integrity of the forum. All members are asked to abide by new guidelines regarding single identity posting, as detailed in the amended forum rules found in the header section of all posting areas. While it is recognised that ?dual identity? posting does not necessarily imply any malicious intent it would be foolish not to recognise that there are potential dangers. It is felt that on a website of this nature, with a family membership, the protection of more vulnerable users must be a prime consideration. We would ask any members currently posting under dual names to refrain from this activity, and to revert to a single on-forum identity. We trust that all members will appreciate the reasoning behind this decision, and would reassure you that to date there have been no dual posts discovered that imply any malicious intent. It is felt, however, that as the forum continues to expand the potential for system abuse is a very real consideration, and that prevention is always better than cure. Regards Your hosting and moderating team

Baddad Lol What typo Lufty

Dear All Our forum is getting ever more popular and the growth in new members and posts is growing daily. In order to keep the board running in the friendly, good natured and above all safe environment we are all used to, we have decided to increase the number of moderators. Baddad, Bid and Nellie have chosen three new moderators for the site in Annie, Kathryn and Phasmid. The moderators will be taking on a greater responsibility for the running of the forum, so please direct any questions/issues you have with the forum directly to the moderators who are now collectively empowered to make decisions about the forum. You can contact the all the moderators collectively by sending an e-mail to moderators@asd-forum.org.uk I would like to take this opportunity to thank Annie, Kathryn and Phasmid for volunteering as moderators and also for the continuing support of Baddad, Bid and Nellie. Kind regards Lufty, Kris and Elefan The Hosts