On Fri, 2004-03-19 at 10:24, Bill wrote:
> Linux is connected to the Internet.
> 
> I loaded Mandrake Linux on a dual boot system.  Mandrake would not read XP
> files so I loaded Xandros Linux on top of Mandrake.  Xandros took over most
> of the Mandrake file space but not all.
> 
> I then tried to use a usb drive and the system froze.

Bill,

It sounds like you had some damage done to your file system when the usb
drive crashed your machine. I've had some issues with usb drives
completely hanging the system, mainly flash card readers.

Sometimes when a Linux box goes down hard, files will be lost, and
sometimes those files belong to things like Evolution, making the
applications act strangely. (lock and state files are a big culprit
here, and hunting then down can be annoying)

It sounds like the friend who notified you that Norton said you sent a
virus was probably fooled by one of the many Microsoft worms that
pretend to send emails from random sources (like Josh said).

Some thoughts of mine:

1) Don't compute as root, create a normal user account and use that
2) Save $40, you don't need a Virus scanner for Linux
3) I love Evolution and use it daily, but I'll admit I've ran into some
strange problems with it. You may want to consider Sylpheed-Claws or
Mozilla Thunderbird if you just need email (no calendaring).
4) I have also had problems with auto-updaters nuking my entire package
collection. I don't know if this is a strange Xanderos thing or not,
I've never ran that. This may be a bug in Xanderos' update program.

Perhaps not so much help, but I think it is good to know that others
have had similar problems, and it is not usually because of a malicious
program.

-- 
Mark C. Ballew                          [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://sublinear.net                    http://markballew.com
PGP: 0xB2A33008                         AIM: pdx110
"I wish those people just would be quiet,"
-- Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, complaining about computer security
researchers.

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