Phalanx2 rootkit

For those Kubuntu users concerned about this virus, the following Kubuntu forum link has practical advice to offer.
Just for peace of mind, I ran rkhunter on my system yesterday and it didn't find anything.
For those who don't know how to do it:
1.Open a Terminal program.
Applications ---Accessories -----Terminal
2. Type "Sudo rkhunter -c"
Key in your password, and the program runs. It took about 3 minutes on my system.
If you don't have rkhunter installed, go to:
System ---Administration -----Synaptic Package Manager and Search "rootkit" or "rkhunter" to download and install.
It is a command line application, so you need to run it from a Terminal.

Unable To Read File .ICEauthority

Yesterday, I had the above mentioned linux error message appear on my desktop, in a rectangular grey box. I tried clicking the cross in the top right corner , to make it go away, but it refused to load the desktop. All I could see was the blue KDE 4 screen, without desktop icons.


I didn't really want to know about the error message. I never know whether to take such error messages seriously or not. In the past, whether in Windows or Linux, a reboot has generally made some error messages go away. Not this time. Not in Kubuntu KDE 4.

The exact linux error message was:

"Server manager unable to read the file /home/myname/.ICEauthority

If this file exists it must be readable by you for GNOME to work properly. Try logging in with the Failsafe session and removing this file."

So, I had to do something to get at my files, etc.


I interpreted the message literally, and chose the failsafe session to login. You can select any of the available sessions to log on to, depending what you have chosen to install. Select session type at the login menu and you'll see your available choices.


When you select the failsafe session, a Terminal emulator appears and waits for you to input something.

Following the letter of the message, I changed directory to the one indicated in the error message, ie.

cd /home/myname/

Only afterwards did I notice I was in that directory by default.

I could have done a file listing at this point,to look for the file, I chose instead to remove the it, assuming it was there. It was.

rm .ICEauthority

The file was in the directory and I had deleted it.

Since doing this, the error message has gone away, and the operating system loads as normal.

How to set up a wireless card on Ubuntu Hardy Heron

Setting up a wireless card on Ubuntu Hardy Heron or Kubuntu KDE4 is surprisingly straightforward.

From System - Administration - select Synaptic Package Manager. You need three packages -

Ndisgtk - the indispensible graphical front end to the application.
Ndiswrapper-common
Ndiswrapper-utils-1.9

You load the software CD which comes with the wireless card.

From the Menu at the top of the screen select Administration - Windows Wireless Drivers (this is the Nidiswrapper application just downloaded)

Choose Add, put your driver software in the drive, and select the .inf file

Select Administration - Network - then choose Unlock the greyed out wireless connection.

You might need to reboot before you see this. I can't remember if I needed to or not,

Choose properties and enter your WEP or WAP key and password.

After configuring the wireless card, reboot the pc and you should be able to connect to the internet.

I'd also recommend installing Kwirelessmanager from the Synaptic Package Manager.

Having done this, it shows up in Applications - System Tools - as KWiFiMaganager

If you launch this application, you see the connection speed and the signal strength. Two very useful pieces of information.

Windows Linux Dual Boot

Installing linux distros alongside Windows shouldn't be a problem

I had good reason to reinstall openSUSE 11 after installing Windows 2000 on the same hard disk.

The installation order was then:
Windows 2000
openSUSE 11

When I restarted the machine after everything was installed, it failed to show the Windows 2000 operating system and I had to boot straight into openSUSE, without choice.

I'm so used to having Ubuntu deal with the boot loader for me I thought it would be the same this time.

After a bit of head scratching as to how I would access the Windows partition, I launched YAST and selected the Boot Loader option within SYSTEM.

All you do is change the boot order, in my case, moving Windows 2000 to be loaded first, reboot the pc and you see the two operating systems.

Done.