Posts by jjwhalen

1) Message boards : Number crunching : Results pending and results still uploading (Message 65395) Posted 22 Feb 2010 by jjwhalen Post: Just 3 left to validate, but 2 validate errors in the process. I'll cope. I only had 3 Rosetta WUs stuck waiting for the mini validator to come back up, but 2 of them (291252049 & 291252024) also failed to validate. After reading the previous post, I suspect the validator wasn't feeling well when it processed them. Based on this host's (1184796) past performance, I think a server-side, rather than a client-side issue is more likely. I'm not whining about a few hundred credits here...you can keep 'em, I have more. I really believe project administration should take a look at this validator's performance since it came back up. But as the philosopher says, "that's just my opinion, I could be wrong."
2) Message boards : Number crunching : minirosetta 2.03 (Message 64537) Posted 16 Dec 2009 by jjwhalen Post: (Hint) It sure would be great if someone from project administration would comment in this forum about this issue, even if just to say "we're looking at the problem."
3) Message boards : Number crunching : Minirosetta v1.47 bug thread. (Message 57928) Posted 16 Dec 2008 by jjwhalen Post: Minirosetta apparently "looks like" malware, whether it actually is or not. This applies to all versions I've run, thru v1.47. I run BOINC on two WinVista (God help me) boxes: one a 32 bit Sony with ZoneAlarm Pro\|ESET NOD32 for security; the other a 64 bit Sony with Kaspersky Internet Security 2009. On the first machine, NOD32 Antivirus thinks the Minirosetta .exe either contains a viral signature or looks bad heuristically (their UI doesn't say which). I have to add an exclusion to get the thing out of quarantine, every time a new version is released. Interestingly, ZoneAlarm Pro's application module hasn't had a problem with it. On the 64 bit machine, Kaspersky's Application Control module gives Minirosetta's executable a Threat Rating of "Potentially Dangerous" with a heuristic Danger Index score of 82. I have to manually override Kaspersky and move Minirosetta out of the "Untrusted Application" zone, to allow it to execute. (By comparison, Rosetta Beta 5.98 has a DI of 12, as does SETI's recently released Astropulse 5.0. SETI's regular Enhanced v6.03 has a DI of zero.) I realize that heuristic analysis is as much art as science, but both ESET and Kaspersky are rated at or near the top of their field. Of 10 project hosts I subscribe to, with over 25 project executables, Minirosetta is the ONLY one that has ever sent up a red flag to my security suite(s). Since most folks leave their security suite (if any) on autopilot, there are potentially many testers who never get to run Minirosetta because the .exe goes immediately into a black hole. Somewhere in those 200,000 lines of code, something apparently looks funky.
4) Questions and Answers : Windows : Minirosetta (Message 52784) Posted 29 Apr 2008 by jjwhalen Post: Interesting problem: The ESET NOD32 AntiVirus V3.0.x heuristics quarantined downloads of the executables: minirosetta_1.15_windows_intelx86.exe & minirosetta_graphics_1.15_windows_intelx86.exe, as possible threats. I forwarded both files to ESET for analysis with a comment that it is extremely unlikely they are malware. We'll see what they say. I've used NOD32 for several years and find it an excellent product--and not just because it's made in San Diego, where I live. This is the first time I've ever seen it have a problem with ANY BOINC-related code or data files of the ten projects I subscribe to. Best wishes, J. Whalen