[pchelpers] Re: Preview pane and the dangerous world of Microsoftand dishonest business people
- From: "Ekhart GEORGI (last name last)" <Ekhart.GEORGI@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: pchelpers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 04 Jun 2004 20:11:35 +0300
Hi Scott
>>>My understanding (which could be wrong) is that if you have all of the
>>>security updates, you won't have that problem.
>
>
> EGlnl> With the inevitable "window of opportunity" between the appearance of a
> EGlnl> new virus and the release of an update for Windows and the normal
> EGlnl> antivirus programs (see below for the apparently only AV that is
> EGlnl> intelligent and doesn't need constant updates), a serious cracker (or
> an
> EGlnl> *intelligent* terrorist -- so far we've only seen wild fanatics) could
> EGlnl> smash most systems running Microsoft products at once.
>
> There's unlikely to be any such thing as "no holes". Safest to assume
> that there will always be another problem waiting.
I agree, but it would make sense to try to avoid settings, programs, and
companies that have more problems, especially when they care about them
and dissatisfied customers less than about making money.
> EGlnl> It's no coincidence that these continue to include US government
> EGlnl> computers according to the pee-brained logic (i don't think i
> misspelled
>
> Most people spell it "pea", but either spelling gets the point across.
> ;)
Yes, i was aware of that, but since many people on this list don't even
know such basic differences as too/to and you/your, i thought it might
be good to point out the joke. Well now it's definitely a dead one (-:
> EGlnl> (Nor the idiots who build skyscrapers without remembering that planes
> EGlnl> have fuel tanks -- when i stood on the WTC in 1985, i said that i'm
> 100%
> EGlnl> sure it can't survive a full hit by a large civilian plane, but since
>
> I read an article discussing that very issue; at the time it was
> seigned, it was able to. They didn't expect that planes would balloon
> so much larger.
That's very interesting. Please tell me more if you can remember or find
more, maybe privately since this is not exactly a PC topic anymore (-:
> EGlnl> See this too to prevent destroying all your mail with the many badly
> EGlnl> designed antivirus programs that unnecessarily scan your email (they
> EGlnl> should only prevent the virus from executing!):
>
> Oh, so it's ok to FORWARD a virus to someone else?
No one should ever forward an attachment i.e. send an attachment they
didn't themselves attach, and if their AV is up to date, no attachment
they attach will be infected, even if their AV only scans everything
except emails. And if someone is so ignorant or careless as to forward
an email with a virus attachment, chances are their AV is not up to date
anyhow and wouldn't prevent them from doing that anyhow.
If one has a safe email program (almost anything except Outlook and
Outlook Express) that does not do anything except what it's supposed to
do, i.e. render *text* and not execute any attached or embedded scripts
or executables, even virus attachments do not hurt anybody. If you try
to open one, the AV will stop you; no sense in destroying the message
itself, especially if it's important. Even the AV manufacturers admit
that scanning email does not provide extra protection. It's enough that
any dangerous attachment is stopped from executing if someone is stupid
enough to doubleclick on it without first checking to make sure it's safe.
Ekhart
Regards, John Durham (list moderator) <http://modecideas.com/contact.html?sig>
Freelists login at //www.freelists.org/cgi-bin/lsg2.cgi
List archives at //www.freelists.org/archives/pchelpers
PC-HELPERS list subscribe/unsub at http://modecideas.com/discuss.htm?sig
Latest news live feeds at http://modecideas.com/indexhomenews.htm?sig
Good advice is like good paint- it only works if applied.
Other related posts:
