Detecting virii, false-positives, and getting signatures

I help out the ClamAV dev team as much as I can when I find a virus/trojan/PUA/worm that is not detected by ClamAV, but is detected by others. The first thing I usually do is stick the infected file(s) on a thumb drive and transfer the files over to my laptop. It runs Linux, so there is no real chance of it becoming infected. I upload the file(s) to both http://virusscan.jotti.org and http://www.virustotal.com and have them scan the file. They use many different AV programs to scan the file and will send the results to any AV distributor that had either incomplete or no detection of the malware at hand. After that, I have the (generic) name of the malware, who recognises it, and a sample of it. I will take these samples and upload them to ClamAV so the dev team can get a signature out for the malware as soon as possible. Sometimes though, I do run into false-positives, which is when the AV at hand falsely detects a virus in a clean file. When this happens, I do the same first step as I do with an undetected piece of malware. Upload it to either Jotti or VirusTotal and see how it is detected and by whom it is detected. If it is just ClamAV, I will just email the list, give them my findings, and be on my merry. For the rest, the information will be sent to them from VirusTotal or Jotti, so I need not worry.

Busy Busy Busy

It has been quite hectic the past couple weeks. In fact, I wouldn't have had time to write this had I not been waiting for an email. I will start my second project with VALID next week on Monday and I can't wait. I am actually working on a mock-up on and off tonight and will work on it more tomorrow so I can have something to show them on Friday, as well as finishing the last bit of the project I am on now, which should be done by Friday.

I fixed my computer desk chair tonight. Used some duct tape and a guitar strap to fix the back of the chair so that it is upright now and _very_ comfortable. I also put together the computer desk Nigel got me for my birthday/christmas present. I have actually done quite a bit today.

I know most of you probably wouldn't care, but the ClamAV Live CD got over a hundred downloads this month, which rocks. Also, I need a watch.

It is just Geppy and I in the apartment now.

Things I learned entirely too late

1. What the "Mile High Club" meant.
2. That "twat" and "twit" are not the same thing.
3. Girls do not find movies like "Revenge Of The Nerds" romantic.
4. Girls do not find movies like "Dead Alive" romantic.
5. Girls do not find any good movies romantic.
6. There is a reason they are allowed to sell cooking wine to minors.
7. Quoting movies around people that have no idea what you are talking about just makes everyone else awkward.
8. Just because I would or did do it probably means I am the only one that would or did do it.
9. I should not consider myself normal by any means.
10. No matter how much I tell myself otherwise, running Linux does not mean I will pick up more women.

I think too much

I guess some could say it is a mixed blessing, but I think way too much about everything. Not that it slows me down in life really, but I am sure it gets annoying (or creepy?) for someone to be talking to me, and I am staring into space (generally something like the ceiling or something). On mornings that I wake up earlier than usual, I will just lay in bed, stare at the ceiling, and just think about things. A lot of times, I am not exactly sure what I am thinking about, which sounds crazy, but if you ask me what I was thinking about, I will probably just say nothing because I can't answer the question truthfully. Either that, or ninjas. I was thinking about ninjas.

Anyway, it can get in the way of personal things and make them quite difficult and sometimes a bit embarrassing, but I can get over those pretty easily as long as I realise what I did wrong in the past.

I guess what I am asking is, how do you not think as much, or stop your self from thinking about stuff?

My workspace setup

I have gotten my laptop as efficient as I can. I have no internet distractions outside of email (no AIM, Yahoo!, IRC, etc...). I have a Windows VM running in seamless mode on one virtual desktop and email, epiphany, etc... on the other. Inside the VM, I have a network drive pointing to my home dir on the host OS (Ubuntu), so any data that I need and can't get to from Windows, I can get to it on Ubuntu, stick it in my home folder, then grab it in windows.

It just works.

I demand it!

Why are there no Quake 3 Zombie mods? You would think that would be the one of the highest demanded mods, especially since the Quake 3 engine is GPL'ed. The Quake 3 engine would probably spit out some amazing zombie mods. I would love to write one, but the most OpenGL I have ever done is spinny things on a pictured background. I demand someone make one, now.

What if....

I have an uncanny ability to memorize the most random things in the world. Richard says that I can name 5 random facts about any movie and list everyone that was in it, as well as the crew that helped film it. This is obviously a stretch on things, but I do know a lot of pretty useless stuff. I am not sure why, but after I read an IMDB article on a movie or actor/actress, it just sticks. This works with anything I read, but for some reason, trivia like that tends to be much more prominent than the mating seasons of the Peruvian Seahorse or something. I have covered this before in an earlier post, but tonight we were watching I, Robot and, of course, I am just saying random facts throughout the movie. I really wish I could pinpoint what allows me to do this, it would be really interesting to see why I can do this type of thing and other can't.

I think one of the reasons (I don't know I have this, but it seems logical) might be a larger prefrontal cortex. Pathological liars generally have a larger prefrontal cortex as it aids in a longer "storage" of short-term memory. The only problem with this is I have a horrible short-term memory. And, yes, I read that in a book in Mrs. Shipley's class.

Anyway, not sure if anyone would be able to help me figure this out, but if you know of any articles or books on it, please suggest them.

EDIT: My dad also has this, so it is quite possibly genetic.