[73155] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: WashingtonPost computer security stories
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Mikael Abrahamsson)
Sun Aug 15 13:02:14 2004
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2004 19:00:41 +0200 (CEST)
From: Mikael Abrahamsson <swmike@swm.pp.se>
To: nanog@merit.edu
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.58.0408151855590.25705@efes.iucc.ac.il>
Errors-To: owner-nanog-outgoing@merit.edu
On Sun, 15 Aug 2004, Hank Nussbacher wrote:
> Retina scan on something and some virus/worm got in and it took some
> registry editting and safe mode work to get it removed - and I know what I
> am doing.
As far as I know, there is no remotely exploitable hole in windows that
doesn't have a patch for it, nothing majorly in the wild anyway. I run my
fully patched XP laptop without firewall directly connected to the
internet all the time and the above you mention doesn't happen to me.
A lot of the problems with windows that people complain about, isn't
Microsoft caused apart from them designing a bad driver/library/registry
model for how things are installed and ran. I usually run windows boxes
for two-three years without reinstalling them, other people have to
re-install every 3-6 months. Looking at their usage pattern and mine, they
install games and other programs and de-install them all the time, whereas
I usually stick to a fixed set of programs and rarely install new ones,
and I always apply new patches when they're available via Windows Update.
I can also run my machine for months without it crashing, which seems an
unobtainable feat for a lot of other people. I see a pattern.
Bad hardware and application software cause a lot more problems than
the operating system itself.
--
Mikael Abrahamsson email: swmike@swm.pp.se
