> From: "H.J.Bathoorn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
...
> On Thursday 02 December 2004 10:26, Kaj Haulrich wrote:
> > Maybe I'm paranoid, but after that experience we don't allow her
> > Windows box contact with anything outside her room.
> You are;) Confined to the LAN can't really hurt can it, especially with
> static
> IP and a dedicated router/firewall.
I broadly agree that if you have a simple firewall (the typical NAT setup is
probably enough) between your windows and the big bad world, you're not going
to be too badly off. But, and it's a big but, the thing this doesn't address is
the horrors of "ordinary users" using email and web-browsing. These horrors are
compounded by the default configuration of many of the tools they use (notably
IE and Outlook). These things will, by default, download and execute various
things you probably didn't want. This is compounded by the average user's
response to the typical security warning which they read as:
Blah blah blah, if you want this to work, you have to press "OK"
Instead of
Blah blah, this guy seriously wants you to trust your entire machine and
everything on it to him. Just how well do you know him again, that you'd let
him rummage in your bank and tax records, and all your dirty laundry? Clearly
this function isn't worth it, right?
But, if you browse/email sensibly and turn off all the clever stuff (or at
least have it prompt you and say no if you can) then yes it's not too terrible.
(HAve you seen how many web-pages launch some kind of script or active-x that
has no significant impact on the page you're looking at? I'd guess almost 1 in
3. I have my browser--rather irritatingly--set to prompt before executing
anything, and about the only time I let it do anything is when I'm downloading
a PDF, which it considers in the same category as any other script. You get
used to hitting "No" which fortunately is the default on this browser.
Cheers,
Simon
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