Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 11 to 12 of 12

Thread: Firewall Assistance Question

  1. #11
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Posts
    8
    It's the google search that told me it had to do with attacking DOS and that blue death screen. I'm still reading along... or will be soon. I have to feed my daughter and me some lunch first.

    I didn't know that if you're using Windows that you wouldn't have DOS though. That would mean that DOS is like an operating system of it's own then, right?

    Edited:
    I've misunderstood what I've read before. Newtear attacks Windows95 and NT 4.0.
    The "Blue Screen of Death" is when your computer runs in panic mode. (Never experienced that I don't think). Newtear is a variation of another attack called Teardrop.

    Edit 2:
    Is DOS and Denial of Service the same thing? This is where my previous confusion lies. They're writing "Denial of Service" as DoS.
    LisaDarln
    aka D

  2. #12
    Senior Member problemchild's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Posts
    551
    Hmmm... well, OK. I had hoped to avoid this topic, but since you asked....

    The relationship between DOS and Windows is fairly complex, and everybody explains it a different way. I'm sure some folks will take issue with the way I'm explaining this, but here goes....

    Windows has historically had 2 parallel development lines - the consumer version, and the corporate version. When Windows 95 came out, Microsoft built a 32-bit Windows environment that ran on top of 16-bit DOS and you ended up with something that was neither fish nor fowl. They did this to maintain backward compatibility with old applications, especially games. Unfortunately, while it was good at backward compatibility, it wasn't the most stable architecture in the world. That's why you get lots of crashes and blue screens in Windows. Since it was good with games and not terribly reliable for critical jobs, Microsoft aimed this version at home users.

    The business version, the NT/2000 line, was built from the ground up as a 32-bit platform. No DOS there. It was much more stable than the consumer version (but that isn't saying much), but it sucked at backward compatibility and games. So Microsoft targeted it at business users who - at least theoretically - weren't supposed to be playing games anyway.

    Maintaining and developing 2 separate lines was very inefficient and confusing for consumers, so Windows XP represents the merging of the 2 lines. For the first time, a consumer version of Windows is based on the 32-bit NT kernel.

    So basically, Windows 95, 98, and Me have DOS underneath. Windows NT, 2000, and XP don't.

    Clear as mud now?

    No, they're not the same. DOS the operating system stands for Disk Operating System. DoS the attack stands for Denial of Service. Not related at all.
    Do what you want with the girl, but leave me alone!

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •