Linux and Runescape HD mode

I did a minor update this week for Java and the ATI driver to see if the HD mode in Linux works yet. To my surprise it did and it was very stable. I have been running this for the week and I have not had any problems yet. One more item that I can remove from the list that didn't work well (if at all). The only things now are my palm pilot and TV tuner to get working and everything that works in Vista will work in Linux. The other major item is income tax software that will run on Linux. Once I get all three items to work I can then think about removing Vista from my machine.

On a similar note I downloaded LinuxMint 7 KDE RC1 and I will be burning a CD and testing that out to see how it works. I also downloaded and burned PCLinuxOS 2009.2 and burned it on to a CD. I tested it out on my wife's machine and it looks good and solid. After backing up her machine I will be upgrading her and my daughter's machines. The distro still does not boot on my machine and I will need to take an inventory of the hardware and check out PCLinuxOS knowledge base to see why. I would prefer that all of our machines use one distro just to make it easier for me to support and keep up-to-date.

New Phishing scam - CRA

Earlier this week I got a mail from what purported to be the CRA (Canada Revenue Agency). Looking at the email I saw a grammar error and the way the email was addressed made it look like a scam. My ISP also flagged it as a possible scam. I didn't click on the attached link, but, put my mouse over it to see what the link would resolve to. The proper URL for the CRA is WWW.CRA-ARC.GC.CA. This one had that and a bit more, namely the URL went to a '.COM' site. As this was a new scam to me I forwarded the note to RECOL and reported it as a scam/phishing attempt.

It failed on a few areas:

• Subject was 'recalculation of you tax refund'. They used 'you' instead of 'your'
• It was addressed to 'Dear Applicant' rather than my proper name.
• The URL provided did not end in GC.CA, but, to a COM site which the Government of Canada does not use.
• I had already got my tax refund and I know that the CRA does not have my main email address for correspondence as I prefer hard-copy rather than email from them.
  

When I got home I opened the site using Linux as it was fairly safe from trojans and viruses. It asked the following questions:

• Name and Adress
  
• Date of Birth
  
• Mother's maiden name
• Phone number
• email address
  

One of the first things firefox did was to warn me that this was a site reported for web forgery. If you don't have firefox I would advise you to download and install this browser ASAP as it is a second level of defense.

Again, if you get an email that claims to be from the government, bank, insurance company or anyone else asking you to key in personal information do not ever use the attached URL, go to their site yourself (using a link you know is legit).

Linux Mint V6

Since I upgraded to the new box I have been running Linux Mint as PCLINUXOS has a problem with the SATA drive. I downloaded the latest version (V6) and was playing with it for a while. It is much like V5 and works without a problem.

Both versions have a problem with my Palm Pilot and TV, but, the scanner and browsers work without a problem. Playing Runescape (Java based game) works as before. All of the other pieces of software appears to work and the hardware ran without causing any glitches.

I may upgrade my machine later, but, the current version works without a problem and I am really hoping that PCLINUXOS does come out with a version that at least recognizes my TV card.