Security Concerns
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I have been involved with computers and development for many years and one thing that I have never had a major problem with is security. The big paranoia of modern computers is security. Firewalls, antivirus, passwords, encryption systems etc etc. My main computer runs kapersky antivirus and sits behind a firewall and I have very little dramas. (I run adaware occasionally to get rid of minor spyware etc.) My second machine is connected directly to the net, and has no antivirus, is never update from Windows XP SP2 original CD, has no password, run full admin account all the time and is the machine I do my main leasurely surfing on. I wanted to see see how many thousands of viruses I could get. The machine was used for everthing from little games , internet surfing, testing software etc. (RAn like a dream compared to the other. Far less problems like DLLs occupying wrong memory locations, other MS update fiascos.) Anyway, after 6 months I ran Kapersky over it. It retrieved 2 viruses, both embedded in some screen savers that had been downloaded. (Can't be right, so I ran a couple of online virus checkers - nothing found!) I ran adaware and it retrieve 133 threats, 99% being tracking cookies and similar. The point is, I don't keep my list of bank accounts and passwords on my computer, I don't have super secret info, I'm just an average Joe, who does a bit of programming and plays around with the net. IF someone broke into my machine that might be able to see a letter I wrote to the local sporting club, or my email enquiring about a new digital camera etc but nothing I'd be particullarly concerned about. (Like most regular users, I guess.) I was surprised as I was expecting hundreds of viruses and system failure within a week but after 6 months - nothing! (Not even DLL location errors!) It makes me wonder!
Programit wrote:
I was surprised as I was expecting hundreds of viruses
That is rare, and you have to be doing something pretty crazy to get that many, or be killed that fast. Viruses are rare, but when you get them they can be minor annoyances to major problems, so catching them fast keeps the trend to the former. Taking precautions is just smart. Anti-virus programs can be had for free. I've been hit only a few times, once from my boss (he brought it from home to work, and sent it out to everyone), once from a customer's machine, and once came pre-installed on a vendor's driver diskette. They are just a fact of life, and you take precautions just because it is safer, not because you are paranoid the world will fall in on you.... :)
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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Programit wrote:
I was surprised as I was expecting hundreds of viruses
That is rare, and you have to be doing something pretty crazy to get that many, or be killed that fast. Viruses are rare, but when you get them they can be minor annoyances to major problems, so catching them fast keeps the trend to the former. Taking precautions is just smart. Anti-virus programs can be had for free. I've been hit only a few times, once from my boss (he brought it from home to work, and sent it out to everyone), once from a customer's machine, and once came pre-installed on a vendor's driver diskette. They are just a fact of life, and you take precautions just because it is safer, not because you are paranoid the world will fall in on you.... :)
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
If you believe all the hype from MS and friend then your in serious danger unless you update every second day, and buy the latest software etc. I've been hit with minor annoyances in the past but realistically even the worst virus case is no more than a minor inconvenience to most. I'm not saying to switch off virus programs, but to many people, the need for them is not necessarily critical. If my system ever gets badly infected then I'll simply spend an hour, re-install windows and appropriate software and away I go again. (Minor inconvenience?)
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If you believe all the hype from MS and friend then your in serious danger unless you update every second day, and buy the latest software etc. I've been hit with minor annoyances in the past but realistically even the worst virus case is no more than a minor inconvenience to most. I'm not saying to switch off virus programs, but to many people, the need for them is not necessarily critical. If my system ever gets badly infected then I'll simply spend an hour, re-install windows and appropriate software and away I go again. (Minor inconvenience?)
Programit wrote:
If you believe all the hype from MS and friend then your in serious danger unless you update every second day, and buy the latest software etc.
Every issue like this is related to risk. If you you do not have anything that can be stolen, then risk is low. If you have nothing that cannot survive being lost, then risk is low. Businesses tend to rate such things as high-risk because it doesn't matter how rarely it happens, they have data to loose, and data to be stolen, so any security risk is a high risk.
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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I have been involved with computers and development for many years and one thing that I have never had a major problem with is security. The big paranoia of modern computers is security. Firewalls, antivirus, passwords, encryption systems etc etc. My main computer runs kapersky antivirus and sits behind a firewall and I have very little dramas. (I run adaware occasionally to get rid of minor spyware etc.) My second machine is connected directly to the net, and has no antivirus, is never update from Windows XP SP2 original CD, has no password, run full admin account all the time and is the machine I do my main leasurely surfing on. I wanted to see see how many thousands of viruses I could get. The machine was used for everthing from little games , internet surfing, testing software etc. (RAn like a dream compared to the other. Far less problems like DLLs occupying wrong memory locations, other MS update fiascos.) Anyway, after 6 months I ran Kapersky over it. It retrieved 2 viruses, both embedded in some screen savers that had been downloaded. (Can't be right, so I ran a couple of online virus checkers - nothing found!) I ran adaware and it retrieve 133 threats, 99% being tracking cookies and similar. The point is, I don't keep my list of bank accounts and passwords on my computer, I don't have super secret info, I'm just an average Joe, who does a bit of programming and plays around with the net. IF someone broke into my machine that might be able to see a letter I wrote to the local sporting club, or my email enquiring about a new digital camera etc but nothing I'd be particullarly concerned about. (Like most regular users, I guess.) I was surprised as I was expecting hundreds of viruses and system failure within a week but after 6 months - nothing! (Not even DLL location errors!) It makes me wonder!
Same here. I had no AV, nothing except the windows firewall, and after 5 months I got myself Kaspersky and expected it to find a thousand infections. It found 5 infected files. It was just one silly trojan. :doh:
____________________________ I didn't know what to put in here.
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Programit wrote:
If you believe all the hype from MS and friend then your in serious danger unless you update every second day, and buy the latest software etc.
Every issue like this is related to risk. If you you do not have anything that can be stolen, then risk is low. If you have nothing that cannot survive being lost, then risk is low. Businesses tend to rate such things as high-risk because it doesn't matter how rarely it happens, they have data to loose, and data to be stolen, so any security risk is a high risk.
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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I have been involved with computers and development for many years and one thing that I have never had a major problem with is security. The big paranoia of modern computers is security. Firewalls, antivirus, passwords, encryption systems etc etc. My main computer runs kapersky antivirus and sits behind a firewall and I have very little dramas. (I run adaware occasionally to get rid of minor spyware etc.) My second machine is connected directly to the net, and has no antivirus, is never update from Windows XP SP2 original CD, has no password, run full admin account all the time and is the machine I do my main leasurely surfing on. I wanted to see see how many thousands of viruses I could get. The machine was used for everthing from little games , internet surfing, testing software etc. (RAn like a dream compared to the other. Far less problems like DLLs occupying wrong memory locations, other MS update fiascos.) Anyway, after 6 months I ran Kapersky over it. It retrieved 2 viruses, both embedded in some screen savers that had been downloaded. (Can't be right, so I ran a couple of online virus checkers - nothing found!) I ran adaware and it retrieve 133 threats, 99% being tracking cookies and similar. The point is, I don't keep my list of bank accounts and passwords on my computer, I don't have super secret info, I'm just an average Joe, who does a bit of programming and plays around with the net. IF someone broke into my machine that might be able to see a letter I wrote to the local sporting club, or my email enquiring about a new digital camera etc but nothing I'd be particullarly concerned about. (Like most regular users, I guess.) I was surprised as I was expecting hundreds of viruses and system failure within a week but after 6 months - nothing! (Not even DLL location errors!) It makes me wonder!
Depends on a load of factors, by direct to the net means that the PC has its own public IP address (its not on a private network) NAT traversal is easy now but still needs to be a targeted attack on your IP address. Windows XP sp2 firewall is good but not brilliant. Anti-Virus, don’t always find the virus and virus's are just the start when it comes to ‘trojans’ and ‘rootkits’ there pretty much worthless tools. the use of ‘malware’ now has changed the value of your machine as a zombie is higher than trying to find any useful information on it (credit card numbers) not saying that no one does that anymore, key loggers, ‘dns poisoning’, redirectors and other nice ‘malware’ is very much prevalent on the Net. basically, if you put a Windows XP sp1 machine un-patched on a direct connection to the internet(has a public IP) you wont need to go to a website, give it about a day and it will hacked and taken control of. (i've done it.. and after a week there was all sorts of cool stuff on it... my internet traffic was near enough 100% 24/7) p.s if your machine gets infected, backup files (which your sure don’t have any infections which is pretty hard these days) and format the machine, if you really want to be sure flash your BIOS as well. computer security is a complex field which i know very little on but enough to understand how complex it is. someone smart enough gets there ‘malware’ on your machine you can not trust that machine!
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If you believe all the hype from MS and friend then your in serious danger unless you update every second day, and buy the latest software etc. I've been hit with minor annoyances in the past but realistically even the worst virus case is no more than a minor inconvenience to most. I'm not saying to switch off virus programs, but to many people, the need for them is not necessarily critical. If my system ever gets badly infected then I'll simply spend an hour, re-install windows and appropriate software and away I go again. (Minor inconvenience?)
Programit wrote:
If my system ever gets badly infected then I'll simply spend an hour, re-install windows and appropriate software and away I go again. (Minor inconvenience?)
An HOUR? BS! It takes hours to get a computer reloaded with all the software that is used.
CleaKO
"I think you'll be okay here, they have a thin candy shell. 'Surprised you didn't know that.'" - Tommy (Tommy Boy)
"Fill it up again! Fill it up again! Once it hits your lips, it's so good!" - Frank the Tank (Old School) -
Programit wrote:
If my system ever gets badly infected then I'll simply spend an hour, re-install windows and appropriate software and away I go again. (Minor inconvenience?)
An HOUR? BS! It takes hours to get a computer reloaded with all the software that is used.
CleaKO
"I think you'll be okay here, they have a thin candy shell. 'Surprised you didn't know that.'" - Tommy (Tommy Boy)
"Fill it up again! Fill it up again! Once it hits your lips, it's so good!" - Frank the Tank (Old School)perhaps he's restoring from a disk image.
-- You have to explain to them [VB coders] what you mean by "typed". their first response is likely to be something like, "Of course my code is typed. Do you think i magically project it onto the screen with the power of my mind?" --- John Simmons / outlaw programmer
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I have been involved with computers and development for many years and one thing that I have never had a major problem with is security. The big paranoia of modern computers is security. Firewalls, antivirus, passwords, encryption systems etc etc. My main computer runs kapersky antivirus and sits behind a firewall and I have very little dramas. (I run adaware occasionally to get rid of minor spyware etc.) My second machine is connected directly to the net, and has no antivirus, is never update from Windows XP SP2 original CD, has no password, run full admin account all the time and is the machine I do my main leasurely surfing on. I wanted to see see how many thousands of viruses I could get. The machine was used for everthing from little games , internet surfing, testing software etc. (RAn like a dream compared to the other. Far less problems like DLLs occupying wrong memory locations, other MS update fiascos.) Anyway, after 6 months I ran Kapersky over it. It retrieved 2 viruses, both embedded in some screen savers that had been downloaded. (Can't be right, so I ran a couple of online virus checkers - nothing found!) I ran adaware and it retrieve 133 threats, 99% being tracking cookies and similar. The point is, I don't keep my list of bank accounts and passwords on my computer, I don't have super secret info, I'm just an average Joe, who does a bit of programming and plays around with the net. IF someone broke into my machine that might be able to see a letter I wrote to the local sporting club, or my email enquiring about a new digital camera etc but nothing I'd be particullarly concerned about. (Like most regular users, I guess.) I was surprised as I was expecting hundreds of viruses and system failure within a week but after 6 months - nothing! (Not even DLL location errors!) It makes me wonder!
Try having a 13 year old use it for a month... Adaware returned over 10,000 threats - over 200 of which were trojans, etc.
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perhaps he's restoring from a disk image.
-- You have to explain to them [VB coders] what you mean by "typed". their first response is likely to be something like, "Of course my code is typed. Do you think i magically project it onto the screen with the power of my mind?" --- John Simmons / outlaw programmer
yea... an hour by image or hmm last i remember fresh install of xp pro on a fast machine felt like all day but was probably 1 hours then active the firewall, install some other stuff from cd, the start windows update and go watch the matrix trilogy, come back restart.. time for SP2... then go watch lord of the rings... after all that you have an up to date machine. i cant stress how brilliant the person behind HDD imaging was... :) nothing better to put the computer back to then start filling it up with junk again :)
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Programit wrote:
If my system ever gets badly infected then I'll simply spend an hour, re-install windows and appropriate software and away I go again. (Minor inconvenience?)
An HOUR? BS! It takes hours to get a computer reloaded with all the software that is used.
CleaKO
"I think you'll be okay here, they have a thin candy shell. 'Surprised you didn't know that.'" - Tommy (Tommy Boy)
"Fill it up again! Fill it up again! Once it hits your lips, it's so good!" - Frank the Tank (Old School)As all good users do, I have a backup image on DVD! Complete with Windows, Office, Firefox etc and associated utils I use. I also have a CD with data I find useful such as my documents, and bookmarks etc. Total restoration of Windows takes approximately 45 to 50 minutes including format of drive. Give 10 minutes to make a coffee and dump my docs back on! ;)