On Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:53:56 -0400, Jarrett Billingsley
<jarrett.billings...@gmail.com> wrote:
On Mon, Apr 6, 2009 at 3:31 PM, dsimcha <dsim...@yahoo.com> wrote:
Yeah, I've always wondered why some people put so much emphasis on the
10% of
computer security that's highly technical in nature when 90% of the
problem of
computer security is between the keyboard and the chair.
ComputerIlliterateFriend: Hey Jarrett, can you come over and fix my
computer?
Jarrett: What's it doing?
CIF: It's popping up all sorts of dialog boxes telling me I need to
get Spyware Aweseom Remover and stuff, and it's running really slow,
and my files keep disappearing.
Jarrett: And where have you been on the internet?
CIF: Oh you know, normal sites.
Jarrett: Like?
CIF: Porn, more porn, horse porn, warez. I also used Limewire to
download *every song and program ever made*, and I make it a habit to
click on interesting-looking [read: violently-flashing] ads.
Jarrett: ...
CIF: What? Did I do something wrong?
Seriously. It's like sleeping with every prostitute on the East Coast
and acting surprised when you have seventeen STDs.
Windows' security is wrong from the ground up. Consider that without
having any anti-virus installed, your computer would be at risk from the
conficker worm unless you have all latest windows updates installed.
Just the other day we shipped a system to a customer with a 6-year old
worm on it. Because the customer's image is that old, and we have other
systems running test images that are that old that can propogate the worm
around (still don't know where the source is). The "let everyone have
free access to my system for the sake of productivity, then try to patch
holes later" mentality of Microsoft is seriously flawed. The number of
Linux/Mac/FreeBSD installs out there is getting to (or has gotten to) the
point where the whole "there's no viruses for Unix because it isn't as
popular" argument is moot.
Then on top of that, you are required to run your system as an
administrator to get any work done. Windows is the equivalent of a
rest-area bathroom toilet seat with no ass gaskets avialable as far as
breeding malware. The only way they can fix it is to dump backwards
compatibility and start over (which will never happen IMO).
And yeah, I've had those friends too. Not running as Administrator would
be a better solution to those idiots ;)
My $.02
-Steve
