E-mail altered in Ubuntu

[Shankle]

Wife's puter running XP Pro and OE.
My puter running Ubuntu and TB in Partition 1/Vista Business and TB in partition 2

Wiffie sent me an email which I received in Ubuntu/TB. Some Xs in check boxes
were moved a considerable distance on the page but were centered in another check
box. This rendered the email as useless. OK, I said and had her send the email again.
Same thing happened.
So I had her send the email again and this time I received it in Vista/TB and the email
was correct and identical to the one on her puter.
Needless to say this is baffling.
Only thing I can say is the TB in Ubuntu might be different than the TB in XP Pro.
It just doesn't make any sense IMHO.

[Arup]

Whats your default language setting?

[tlu]

Just a guess: Different configuration of TB on both computers. (Simplified) HTML view on Vista and text mode on Ubuntu perhaps.

[Shankle]

Thanks guys for taking the time to reply.
I would be happy to answer you suggestions if I could find the answers.
Maybe stated in a different manner might help me.
Here is what I did find:
Ubuntu/TB V. 2.0.0.21
compose messages in HTML format

Vista/TB v. 2.0.0.19
compose messages in HTML format

[pandlouk]

Check your text size.

[Shankle]

More info and a sample.
On the wife's puter the email is a PDF attachment . However the text on her puter is the same as mine. Only the Xs were moved.
Here is a short example of what happened:

Wife's puter (XP PRO/OE).............My Puter(Ubuntu/TB)
X Hurricane................................__ Hurricane

__ Basic......................................__ Basic

__ Not Rated................................__ Not Rated

__ none........................................X none

As you can see it is quite a displacement of the (X).
Rendering the report useless.

[Mrkvonic]

Try to send html or any sort of formatted text in what-you-see-is-what-you-get attachments, like postscript, pdf, etc. Still, for bandwidth, security and simplicity sake, plus no surprises when it comes to output, always use plain text.
Mrk

[Shankle]

A third party sent the original Email to my wife's computer. All she did was forward it to
me. So what ever format the originator used was passed thru my wife's puter to me on Ubuntu/TB. Again the main text on Ubuntu is correct. Just the Xs are in a different place.
Which makes the information incorrect.

[Kerodo]

And what do you recommend then?

[Shankle]

Thanks all for your comments.

Is there a PDF add on for TB?
I've seen references to it on Google but have no idea if it a scam or not.

[Shankle]

I have since found out that there is a Foxit Reader for Linux desktops.
I downloaded it and executed it. However the report/email is still wrong.
So for the present I am obliged to use VISTA/TB to run any pdf files.

[pandlouk]

-{ Quote: "I have since found out that there is a Foxit Reader for Linux desktops.
I downloaded it and executed it. However the report/email is still wrong.
So for the present I am obliged to use VISTA/TB to run any pdf files." }-
Why don't you use Adobe Acrobat reader? ???
http://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions/

Panagiotis

[lotuseclat79]

Hi Shankle,

If you are using Ubuntu, then if you are in the Gnome (Gui) environment rather than the KDE (Gui) environment, use the command evince or as I do, just double-click on the PDF document.

To use evince in a Terminal command line window select the following from the main menu across the top of your screen (Gnome assumed):(Applications>Accessories>Terminal):
$ evince <pdf document>

What does Ubuntu / TB mean? I.e. what does TB represent?

-- Tom

[Shankle]

To Pandlouk,
IMHO Adobe Reader is bloated piece of junk.

To Lotusclat79,
TB means Thunderbird. It is the program that reads my Email in Ubuntu.
I am using the Gnome environment.
Trouble is (If I understand your comment) that I am in Thunderbird when I read
the pdf document.

[Shankle]

For some poor soul that has the same problem with pdf files in Thunderbird/Ubuntu that I have , here is a workaround. I don't like it but it is better than going into Windows to solve the problem.

1. in Ubuntu go to Applications/add
2. add a program called "XPDF" (this is a pdf reader for Ubuntu)
3. in Ubuntu create a folder for the pdf email in Places/Home Folder)
4. in Thunderbird access the pdf email
5. Right click on the attachment
6. in the next window point to the folder you created. Then in the right hand lower corner
click on SAVE.
7. exit Thunderbird
8. in Ubuntu click on Places/Home Folder
9. go to the folder you created
10. now you have the pdf file in Ubuntu where you can read it

[Sputnik]

Evince (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evince) is included in Ubuntu by default and will open if you click a pdf.

[Shankle]

Hi Sputnik,
The trouble is that the pdf file I am talking about is received in Thunderbird as an
attachment to an email message.

[Kerodo]

It should still load Evince when you double click on the attachment. That's a TBird issue if it's not. I do remember having trouble setting default programs for various attachment types in TBird. I think there is a TBird extension somewhere that allows you to set the default app that loads when you click attachments (by file extension). That would let you set it for pdf=Evince.

See this link/page: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Actions_for_attachment_file_types

Down the page (near the end) check the section "Alternative Approach", and try out the OpenAttachmentByExtension extension. This will let you set the default apps for various file extensions, and should do the trick. I have used it with success myself.

[Shankle]

Thank you Kerodo for responding.

I tried to follow your instructions for downloading "openattachmentbyextension" but was unable to download the file. A window came up asking me to right click and I did
but nothing happened.
I'm surprised that The Thunderbird people had no idea of a fix like this.
So I am kind of stuck.

[lotuseclat79]

-{ Quote: "Hi Sputnik,
The trouble is that the pdf file I am talking about is received in Thunderbird as an
attachment to an email message." }-
Hi Shankle,

Since the pdf file is an email attachment, Save it to your Desktop (right-click, and select Save As). Then double-click on the pdf file on your Desktop to launch the PDF Reader evince!

-- Tom

[Kerodo]

-{ Quote: "Thank you Kerodo for responding.

I tried to follow your instructions for downloading "openattachmentbyextension" but was unable to download the file. A window came up asking me to right click and I did
but nothing happened.
I'm surprised that The Thunderbird people had no idea of a fix like this.
So I am kind of stuck." }-
Just tried it at work here and it works fine. Just right click on the link as it says (close the popup window that tells you that first, then right click on the link), then "save target as" or similar in your browser. A window comes up with the .xpi file ready to download. Just tested it. Perhaps try again?

[Shankle]

I am running Ubuntu 8.10. I searched for evince and it is there. "xpdf" is also there.

Here is what I did to try to run the "openattachmetbyextension":
in your message I clicked on "'kb.mozillazine.org/actions".
Next window, I scrolled down to "alternate approach"
There I clicked on "openattachmentbyextension"
Next window, in "nic-nac-project.org" under "openattachmentbyextension" I then
clicked on "download".
Next window:
http://nic-nac-project.org says:
Right click and choose --> save target as

OK
a right click on OK does nothing
a right click on "nic-nac" does not have a "save target as" in the box

I have placed a pdf file on my desktop and dbl clicking on it does not bring up evince

Something must be different of my puter.

[Kerodo]

Go here: http://nic-nac-project.org/~kaosmos/index-en.html#openattach

Where is says "Download", just right click on that. Then on your right click menu, save target as, or "save link as" in Firefox, etc, and you should get the file. I'm not sure what you're doing, but it works for me....

[Shankle]

Thanks for helping.
Openattachmentbyextension is now on my Puter.
I have read the readme file and am stuck there.
I have found "/usr/bin/gedit" and I have displayed the hidden files.
I have found ".mozilla-thunderbird".
I have not found "user.js" or any "user_pref".
So I am stuck again.

[Kerodo]

Once you have the .xpi file on your computer, just open TBird, go to the Add-Ons menu and click the Install button, then navigate to the file and install it. That's it.

After that, I think you have to edit your TBird config (from within TBird) and add the proper file extension and app for loading it. I think it's Edit -> Preferences, and then Config Editor.

Sorry I can't be more specific, I'm not using TBird right now and don't remember the exact menus and options. But you don't need gedit, just do it all from within Thunderbird. I think there are instructions on that page with the extension on it.

[Searching_ _ _]

-{ Quote: "Since the pdf file is an email attachment, Save it to your Desktop (right-click, and select Save As). Then double-click on the pdf file on your Desktop to launch the PDF Reader evince!" }-
Isn't this potentially dangerous if the attatchment is malicious?

-{ Quote: "The premise of this type of 'virus' is simple: Get a user to run an executable attachment you sent them via email.

Firstly, most email clients for Linux will not execute attachments. They might try to open them if they know the extension as an indication for a document or media type (.pdf or other documents for example). But that's about it.

Something that always gets executed when clicked on. And here then is one more step that needs to be taken by the user, which might reduce the success rate of this attack vector a little. The user has to first save the attachment and then double click on it. Because while the email client typically cannot run an executable file, the desktop environment very well can as we will see." }-
creating a Linux Virus (http://www.geekzone.co.nz/foobar/6229)

[Sputnik]

-{ Quote: "I am running Ubuntu 8.10. I searched for evince and it is there. "xpdf" is also there.
" }-
I would suggest you uninstall/remove "xpdf" and stick with the default Evince. You might also try using Evolution for your e-mail needs under Ubuntu. In my opinion Thunderbird is a buggy piece (Linux version suffers more errors then the Windows version actually). Evolution however is nice (KMail is recommended by me for KDE users).

[Shankle]

Thanks for replying.
I will remove xpdf.

The reason I don't use Evolution is that they haven't fixed a problem that needs fixing
now for the past 6 months. The problem is that items in the trash CAN'T be deleted.
This is unacceptable. To the best of my knowledge I am not using KDE. I using the other one.

[chronomatic]

-{ Quote: "Isn't this potentially dangerous if the attatchment is malicious?
" }-

Not really.

You are referring (based on your link) to a well known "vulnerability" which allows .desktop "launcher" files to be executed without the x bit being set. This means a kiddie could hide some malicious code inside a .desktop file but change its extension to anything (like .pdf or even .mp3). As a result, the user sees his potential .pdf and he clicks it and it executes some shell script that tampers with the /home directory. What this attack essentially does is bypass one step of getting a script to run (it negates the need for the "chmod a+x" command).

Remember UNIX doesn't recognize file extensions -- that's a Windows thing -- so one can change the extension at will. Extensions in UNIX are only there for humans to see what a file probably is, not what it really is. Normally this is not a problem because even if the file is malicious it won't have executable privileges. And even if one gives it executable privileges, it will only run with the group and user permissions allowed in the DAC.

The problem with this attack, as even the author of the article admits, is that the malware would only compromise the /home directory and would not give the malware access to anything important. So, basically, it comes down to this question: What good is the attack? This is the question I am sure the KDE and Gnome developers have asked themselves, and is likely the reason they have intentionally *not* fixed this "vulnerability." About the only thing the malware could do is resend itself to other people listed in the e-mail client address book. But what good would that be? It would essentially be an "annoyance" type of malware.

About the only thing I can think of that it could be used for is to send spam or to delete files (pictures, mp3's, documents) in the /home directory. Sure, it's not fun having files deleted, but it would be trivial to find and exterminate the malware responsible (it would be a file in the /home directory in plain site) and the Linux hackers would quickly discover what is going on and would have it nipped by sunrise.

[Sputnik]

-{ Quote: "The reason I don't use Evolution is that they haven't fixed a problem that needs fixing
now for the past 6 months. The problem is that items in the trash CAN'T be deleted.
This is unacceptable. To the best of my knowledge I am not using KDE. I using the other one." }-
You're using GNOME that's right. This problem with the trash seems to be Ubuntu specific to me. Some users report that by removing the "folders.db" file from "./evolution/mail/local" fixes the problem. Make sure you have Evolution closed while removing this file.