Drop, charge, and lose the cords
Spyware, viruses, & security : SETI@home - Is It Safe - or Spyware
An indication of innocence
by pearl298 - 1/27/06 8:20 AM In reply to: SETI@home - Is It Safe - or Spyware by skycatcherI think the best indication of the lack of any "malware" is the fact that seti@home (and now BOINC) depends on running on some very secure systems worldwidefor much of its user base.
COULD there be somwthing buried in the software? Of course.
However a much more productive path would seem to be some sort of NSA/Microsoft/whoever "favour" or something similar to bury the code in their software.
MS Word, Star Office etc. have access to FAR more interesting things thatn seti/BOINC ever wouuld!
BTw "open source" is not much protection from this stuff, ask any lawyer about hiding things in the "fine print" for example.
Trust is a BIG Issue!
by gpbarth - 1/27/06 9:07 AM In reply to: An indication of innocence by pearl298I ran SETI for awhile, and gave up because I just could find no further reason to run it on my 4 computers. However, knowing that EC Berkeley is controlling the show now is one sure indication that the BOINC project can't be trusted. I wouldn't trust Berkeley to teach my kids, let alone get into my computers.
1984 or lunacy?
by William Randall - 1/27/06 11:19 AM In reply to: Trust is a BIG Issue! by gpbarth"However, knowing that EC Berkeley is controlling the show now is one sure indication that the BOINC project can't be trusted. I wouldn't trust Berkeley to teach my kids, let alone get into my computers."
How long have they been doing this? You did not know this when you first "trusted the parent" of your kids to that which you say you are loathe to trust your kids to?
Think again and make sense this time.
Right wing. Left wing. Government conspiracy.
Get real or get out if you can't trust your shadow.
?
by Harry Nelson - 4/3/06 11:15 PM In reply to: An indication of innocence by pearl298OMG, do you even know what "open source" is? If you don't trust the software, examine the source code yourself! If you don't trust UC Berkeley, read the source code and verify it for god's sakes.
Seti@home
by Waterdog - 1/27/06 11:47 AM In reply to: SETI@home - Is It Safe - or Spyware by skycatcherI have been using seti@home for many years and have switched to Boinc and have had no problem's with cpu or memory drain.And as far as latest war machine calculations if it helps our troops in Iraq im all for it.
Forget 1984
by William Randall - 1/27/06 12:40 PM In reply to: Seti@home by WaterdogWe are talking patriotism with a brain drain deficit here.
Conspiricy or???
by Bob-san - 1/30/06 5:21 AM In reply to: Seti@home by WaterdogSo awhile ago i read a short called "The Machine that Won the War"... it was written in the 50's or so, but reminds me of the entire thing.
So alot of computers (commanders's computers) feed information into one super-computer. From there the information is sent out to an army which tells that commander what to do. However, most of the info is false, and the commanders with computers? are accurate. The feed into the super-computer? Is tweaked minor-to-major by the guy who runs it. The data stream? is fine. The commander receiving the info and directions? He is using his own computer... a coin... so he would not listen to it often...
Maybe this is the same (conspiricy)... We put in info, Seti sends it to the military, or maybe this is all the same stuff going to NASA etc
Don't use it on a laptop
by aoconnor78 - 1/27/06 11:56 AM In reply to: SETI@home - Is It Safe - or Spyware by skycatcherI would advise anybody interested in this type of software not to use it on a laptop in particular. Running a CPU at max speed for hours on end generates a lot of heat. This will significantly accelerate the aging of electronic components and can lead to mechanical problems. I almost lost my laptop to Folding@Home when a component on my motherboard came loose. I had to resolder the component to get back a stable computer.
Not spyware from orginal source
by Willy - 1/30/06 9:35 AM In reply to: SETI@home - Is It Safe - or Spyware by skycatcherSETI is not a spyware as I've known it for years. However, since it changed to the BOINC side of doing things, I've since gotten rid of it. It was just too much to handle in that the new s/w and showing work history, etc. was nothing compared to the old SETI s/w pgm.. I had it running for 4-5 yrs. under the old method and not to be grouchy, I did try it for awhile but it seemed when I visited thier forums, other users were exoperiencing the same problem(s) and nothing was taken care of. Further, the s/w change was done during the Xmas holidays and really was bad timing even if low usage rate, but it seems many users took that "time" to finally change over and some got caught in how BOINC handles things. To be frank, I did have it running properly but when I queried for results or tasks, done with workunits and such it just sat there, that's NOT the why to get speedy results for any project. Thus, I left.... -----Willy 
BIONIC
by forkboy - 1/31/06 3:04 PM In reply to: SETI@home - Is It Safe - or Spyware by skycatcherMy wife and I have run the SETI programme under both the old version and the newer method. We never had issue with the old application and were quite happy to help find ET, but the new one had a noticeable effect upon my computers performance. I eventually grew annoyed enough with it that I terminated our relationship with the SETI project. I would gladly go back if they returned to the old way of doing things though.
BIONIC & SETI
by mspears33 - 2/6/06 9:37 AM In reply to: BIONIC by forkboyI'll have to echo the previous two responders. I ran SETI's program for a few years on various pc's.
I loaded the bionic program. My first bad impression was with the un-adjustable screen size for some of the setup screens. I hate it when programmers put non-adjustable windows in a program. I have one pc that has a non-standard setup (well its 800x600, but large font) and the window was too large to fit on the screen, and couldn't be adjusted to fit. This is usually enough for me to uninstall the offending software; but I liked the cause, so I struggled though things like clicking the very bottom pixels of the title bar and moving it up off the top, just so I could see the the top of the OK button at the bottom...you get the idea.
I navigated through the confusing and eventually useless way of setting up projects. But finally got rid of it when I saw how much of a resource hog it was...and its haphazard way of not working with a dialup connection to the internet.
I removed it from all my pc's except for one laptop...even on that computer it generates an error on startup and shutdown...though it does appear to be working (the screen saver is, I don't know if its transfering information or not).
I'm not terribly impressed with the 3d graphics, which seems to be the only advantage over the old seti other than being able to devote time to other projects.
Watch for this!
by murrman - 4/4/06 11:13 AM In reply to: SETI@home - Is It Safe - or Spyware by skycatcher
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