Yet Another Microsoft Rant

Ottawa Boy
work in tech support for a major ISP. I take
calls all day long from customers. There are
several issues that are very common.

These problems are made worse by me reading
various news articles on "How to protect
yourself from spyware/virus/ phishing scams"
and then saying to myself "that is total B***
S*** !"

Let me address the points I find most contentious
in order.

Keep your windows patched.
-------------------------
The lastest big huge 90 meg patch they recently
had to fix a flurry of security issues did little
for security , but did cause lots of peoples
network cards, video cards , etc , to suddenly
stop working. We got a wack of calls about that.

Microsoft is actually quite famous for this.
Issue a patch , patch makes all competing
products stop working. Things like that. As
for security ? It was openly stated that if
you had an up to date fire wall and anti
virus program the patch really did nothing for
you (except make microsofts competitors miserable)

So .. did they enhance your security ? Not really ,
no.
Did they forward Microsofts goals of making
the competitor's miserable ? yes.


This impacts you when you go to the store and
try to buy , say a network card, and discover
the "microsoft certified" cards cost triple
what the non certified ones do. And it really
impacts you when you realize the "certified"
ones are cheap scuzzy cards and the good
cards are all non-certified.

Get a decent anti-v / keep it updated
--------------------------------------
I have no anti virus on my computer, and
an old 8 yearout of date fire wall.
How many virus's have I had in the last
year ?

Zero.

How many trojens, mal ware, spy ware,
and other pieces of "hostile software" ?

Zero.

How do I do this ?

I stay off the Internet Explorer.

Huh ?
The Internet Explorer is a "Browser", you
"surf" the internet with it, look at web
pages, do your e-bay or shopping or what
not with it.

But it is not the only one in the world to do
this job. The alternatives are Mozilla Firefox
and the ever popular Opera (my fave).

I've been using Opera for six months, and Mozilla
for another six months. In this whole time I have
caught precisely ZERO virii, ZERO trojens, ZERO
mal war, ZERO parasites ... you get the idea.

Hmmm... stop using Internet Explorer , all the
mal ware stops. You don't think that IE is just
a fly trap for attracting things, do you ?

You don't think the entire anti virus industry
is souly dependant on the Internet Explorer for
survival , do you ?, that if we stopped using it
they'd all be out of business ?

What is exactly the benifit to keeping your
antivirus updated ?

Norton and McAfee make a ton of money.

What exactly is the penalty for running without an
anti virus package and staying away from the
Internet Explorer ?

Diddly Squat.

Hmmm.....


Disable Active X on the Internet Explorer
-----------------------------------------
This is the usual advice you get.
But when you actually do it, you get this annoying
pop up saying that Active X has been disabled so
This page might not display correctly ON EVERY SINGLE
STUPID PAGE YOU GO TO ANYWHERE ON THE INTERNET !!!!
It's worse than the parasites.

It was this particular "feature" of the internet
explorer that first clued me into the fact that
maybe microsoft wasn't entirely on the up and up
about this whole "security is job one" thingy.
I mean lets face it. Active-x is a copy righted
technology , if anyone else makes an active x
"interperter" Microsoft can and will sue their
pants off.

So what is active x used for ?

Silly online games , like bingo.

Advertising.

virus's, parasites, trojens, mal ware ...

Whoa ! Wait a min ! Where did that come from ?

Active - X is what the anti-virus people like to
call "Arbitrary Code" , that is to say , a program
that can do anything it feels like. Like erase your
hard drive. Or be a virus. Or spam you with pop ups.
Or log your key strokes hunting for passwords and
credit card numbers ...

Hmmmm... Active X is the problem giving everyone
greif,
but only the internet explorer is ALLOWED to use it...

Hmmm....Active X is the problem , but microsoft is
fighting tooth and nail to prevent you from turning it
off , making you buy antivirus stuff when you really
don't need it ...

Install This Plug In Now !
--------------------------
Another Internet Explorer Quirk.

After you've reinstalled windows, you go to a web
site,
and then every other page you visit demands you
install
some component , typically Flash , over and over and
over until you just give up and say yes.

This is called "Harrassment". It is considered a
hostile activity. The Internet explorer is trying
to make you install some program whether you want to
or not simply by endlessly bothering you about it.

Oddly enough , only certain browser add in's , like
flash , does it bother you about. Anything else you
only get asked once. Almost as if someone was paying
microsoft to harrass you ...

Doesn't happen on any other browser.




Delete Reply Forward Spam Move...
Previous | Next | Back to Messages