Quote - Paranoid? No.Unless you remove power from memory, nothing is going to force it to empty out other than the software of the OS - which can be easily targetted and told to do otherwise. Merely using restart or shutdown doesn't necessarily remove power.

paranoid? yes.

we're not using bloody spintronics to make RAM yet. and when we do, you'll have to use a very powerful EM field - think MRI machine - to wipe the stuff. power down and it gets wiped. even then, when the system comes back up it will test it to make sure it's good. if that doesn't replace it's contnents then the OS loading up will. polipos NEEDS windows to run, it's not OS independant and doesn't show signs of infecting the boot sector yet. even if it could survive in RAM between boots, when Windows comes up it's memory mapping tables are compleatly empty, even the stuff for swap. It would be over written as the memory was filled up.

:-|

restart? maybe. my systems will still perform most of POST when they reboot. and the OS will come up with empty memory tables.
shutdown? yes. this terminated power to all but the "important" system components:

• WoL NIC (for remote management)
• WoR Modem (for FAX servers)
• CMOS (for power on at a specified time)

sometimes paranoia is usefull, this isn't one of those times, and I'm kicking myself for helping to stoke the fire.

want to avoid most computer security problems? get a Mac they have a low user volume. otherwise get a really obscure system like a Sun, SGI, or HP (IA64, HP-PA, or Alpha). to really avoid these problems get rid of the little blighter. :laugh: