Worms
What is wrong with you people? Unplugging your computer because a new worm is terrorizing the campus network is not a viable solution. The real solution is to stop using Windows! When will this get through?
Comments
My updates are kept up-to-date, as well as my anti-virus software. My version of Windows has been kind to me, because I do not neglect it.
- A product testimonial from some guy who hasn’t been fucked over by his Microsoft OS… yet
Windows is like a well loved pet. If you take care of it, feed it(updates, clean it(msconfig anyone?), and keep it out of trouble(like those stupid links that tell u to download spyware everywhere you go on the internet), then it will not act out be well tempered and behave as it was trained. I completely understand why people get frustrated with windows…its because they don’t do these things. They just ingnore the upkeep. Now to these people I say you are all idiots! and are too stupid to to own a computer! (of course this is just me ranting..its people like you that allow me to get a paycheck to fix your errors). :-)
It really drives me crazy when people who don’t even use the OS complain about it. I don’t mean to go off on you Greg, but just because you prefer a Mac to a windows machine doesn’t make it any better…in some cases I agree a Mac is better suited for a some of jobs out there(i.e. Graphics), but for me, someone who grew up on DOS who likes a file system that has structure that makes sense, I want my windows. The only problems windows has had for me is when I try to fix other peoples fuck-ups. But with XP this is rare.
As for viruses and worms…some 17yr old kid in Germany creates a worm that plays havok over the entire internet…good for you…see you in jail. I’m over it. I accept them as a fact of life…viruses have been around as long as computers have been able to talk to each other..just because they are more common for windows doens’t mean that other OS’s are immune…didn’t someome recently write a virus that attacked the MAC OS?
So my rant is over…
BTW…Who the hell is unplugging their computers…thats the most idiotic thing I think I’ve ever heard…that sure isn’t going to stop the worm….
Love you all….
Posted by: Matt on May 12th, 2004 10:46 AMI guess I should add that until other platforms have more adaptable software, I will always have a Windows computer (or two, because Microsoft does not appreciate backwards compatibility) to run my favorite PC games. Sentimental favorites like the Command and Conquer series to unexplored and romanticized games like Mechwarrior 2, which can now be purchased at Stop & Shop for 50 cents. :)
Posted by: Benjamin on May 12th, 2004 11:41 AM50 cents? wow..now thats a bargin!
Posted by: matt on May 12th, 2004 12:36 PMMatt,
I don’t see these people as idiots. Computers are the single appliance where we expect people to know far more than they should just to keep the thing running. Which is strange.
Windows doesn’t help people in this respect, as it ships with security holes already present, server configurations that encourage exploits, and a philosophy that doesn’t seem to care much about system security. (Not to mention their product lineups which encourage exploits with some very problematic “features.”)
I complain about worms on Windows and not about my Mac (or any of the other operating systems I use) because worms are almost entirely a Windows thing. The same is true of viruses. Trojan’s are a different story, but that falls back on people not being taught well to avoid them, and systems not being designed with malware in mind.
Other operating systems certainly aren’t immune to viruses and worms. But with a properly configured system, you should be able to come very close to immunity. No one has recently written a virus for the Mac, as far as I know. There was a proof of concept trojan that sent the Windows world into a shouting frenzy of “See? It’s not just us.” Unfortunately the media hype got the story completely wrong. Daring Fireball sums it up nicely in “Crying Wolf”:
The core of the story, missed by all of the above Mac news sites, is that Mac applications can have icons and file names that make them appear at a glance to be documents. You don’t need anti-virus software to defend against this threat — you simply need to be careful that documents you download from untrusted sources are, in fact, documents. The Finder can tell you this.
As far as unplugging the computer, true it won’t stop the worm. But it can insure that going forward, your computer isn’t infected. It’s a solution, but like I said, it’s not a viable solution.
Posted by: kasei on May 12th, 2004 4:38 PMBen,
Point taken on the games issue. As far as not being infected by worms, I’m not sure how to respond. Lucky, perhaps? Certainly keeping up to date on security patches helps.
Posted by: kasei on May 12th, 2004 4:39 PMOh, and a file system that has structure that makes sense??? Are you kidding? Or do you just mean ‘a file system that you’ve grown familiar with’? Maybe it’s just the Microsoft bigot in me, but Microsoft totally dropped the ball on their filesystem design. And Apple ditched a lot of the great features of their filesystem from the OS 9 days and followed Microsoft’s lead when designing OS X. For varying reasons, BeOS, NeXT, OS 9, and UNIX all have/had some great features in their filesystem designs. But they all got a lot of it wrong. And as far as I’m concerned, the newer Windows and Mac OSes don’t get very far towards setting things right.
Posted by: kasei on May 12th, 2004 5:03 PMi’m gonna go ahead and assume that my awesome japanese fujitsu biblio portable loves me so much that worms dont effect it. i heart japanese manufacturing.
Posted by: shuli on May 13th, 2004 7:16 PM
They could stop using windows, the best idea, of course, or they could just keep their updates well.. updated.
small grin
Posted by: Sara on May 11th, 2004 7:43 PM