For those with an open mind, I will detail what has happened. For those who refuse to believe that Beonex can be in any way at fault, I suggest the following URL: http://www.amishrakefight.org/gfy/
Preface: I use Norton Anti-Virus religiously. All email is scanned before opening, and I do not allow my mail reader to process any HTML, Java or Javascript. I download and install new virus signatures once a week. The last time I downloaded and installed virus signatures was Tuesday, 23 July 02, getting the update of the same date. I use Netscape 4.79. My reasons for using 4.79 is that it is the last stable version of Netscape that will allow me to configure it on my own terms. Every subsequent version of Netscape tries to imitate Internet Explorer. I despise Internet Explorer and all of its imitators. In particular, I despise the fact that I have no control over the buttons displayed, that I cannot display buttons as text only, and that it insists on doing for me things I don't want to do. I do not want automatic updates or smart browsing or any other of that dancing paperclip crap! Internet Explorer has been expunged from my system. I was advised by my ISP's support personnel to download an updated DSL modem driver from to fix a problem with disconnects that affects my modem, but the webpage they direct me to to obtain it does not conform to HTML standards (probably written with Frontpage) and Netscape 4.79 will not display the page. I do not install a great deal of software on my system. I am a proponent of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" school; a firm believer in KISS and that Murphy was an incurable optimist. Until I attempted to download the driver, I have not installed any software on this system in the last 6 months. Other than the weekly virus definition updates, the last three programs installed (in December 2001 when I obtained DSL service) were Zone Alarm (firewall), Ad-aware (a program to detect spyware) and Popup Stopper (which stops pop-up windows). Someone in one of my ISP's support forums suggested I download Beonex, because it used the Mozilla engine derived from netscape, could load the page in question and was configurable in the way I want to configure my browser. I searched for Beonex and found it at this URL: http://www.beonex.com/ Following the hypertext links to obtain the version for Windows I arrived at the following URL: http://www.beonex.com/communicator/version/0.8/install/win32/download.html ... and selected the link for "ibiblio.org (USA; ftp)" where I obtained the following file: beonex-comm-0.8-stable-1-win32-installer.exe I saved the file to disk and closed Netscape, then ran the installer.exe. A standard Windows install shield application came up and I opted to install only the browser component. At the end of the installation, I received a pop-up warning from Zone Alarm asking if I wanted to allow Litmus.exe to access the internet as a server. I selected NO. That was immediately followed by another pop-up warning from Zone Alarm asking if I wanted to allow Beonex-comm.exe to access the internet as a server. I again selected NO. At this point the Beonex browser window appeared in all it's Internet Explorer wannabe glory. I went to Edit|Preferences where I discovered that I would not be able to select plain text for my buttons and that I would apparently not have any choice with regards to smart browsing or any of the other dancing paperclips the programmers in their infinite wisdom decided that I just cannot live without. I then typed the URL for my ISP in the Location bar and was prompted did I want to do a google search for the URL. I selected NO, and received the message that Beonex was unable to resolve the URL. I then typed http://www.google.com into the location bar and again received a prompt to do a google search for the URL. Selecting NO again brought up the error that Beonex was unable to resolve the URL. Selecting YES to do a google search for google also brought up the error message that Beonex was unable to resolve the URL. I closed the Beonex browser window and waited a few seconds. I then clicked the icon Beonex had installed in my System Tray to re-open the browser. This time when the Zone Alarm popped up the request for Litmus.exe to access the internet occurred, I selected more information. That caused Zone Alarm to lock up. I closed the browser window and performed a graceful shutdown and restart on Windows. Upon restart, as soon as I logged onto Windows, I got a pop-up error message "NGNISD.EXE has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down". I selected "Close" and got two more instances of the same error message. On the third instance, I selected "Details" and got "Invalid Page Fault in module <unknown> at 0000:00000000". Closing that, I found three instances of "Runtime Error 216 at 0000A430". Zone Alarm did not start, but I was able to manually start it from the Start Menu. This time when the Zone Alarm popped up a request from Litmus.exe I told it NO, but did allow Beonex-comm.exe to act as a server, carefully making sure the option to remember the selection in the future was NOT selected. I managed to download the updated USB Modem driver. I have not installed it, because I want to clear the other problems caused by the beonex fiasco. While writing this, I have received information that Litmus.exe IS, in fact, a trojan that makes the system accessible by ICQ. I have not and will not install ICQ. But here's the bottom line. At some point the beonex's install files have been compromised and I have been infected with a trojan that came with the beonex install. -- I do not speak for any corporation, government or organization. All opinions expressed are uniquely my own. Ain't nobody else to blame! John Sessoms
