Not To Overstate The Obvious, But…

Yesterday a ton of people (possibly you included) received an auto-update from Microsoft patching the security flaw recently discovered in IE 7. If you haven’t received it yet for auto-update you will soon enough.

Not to be outdone, malware authors have already begun work on alternate ways of exploiting security holes in that browser.

One of the ways mention that people get suckered in to getting their PCs infected with malware is by receiving a Microsoft Word document file attachment with an embedded ActiveX control via e-mail, then opening the document which activates the trigger for the control.

I think people need to exercise common sense when it comes to file attachments.

Rule #1 of file attachments from those you don’t know is: DON’T OPEN THEM, period. Don’t do it. Delete it. Don’t bother scanning it or any other of that crapola. Just don’t open it and get rid of it immediately.

Rule #2 of file attachments is that if you do receive an attachment from someone you do know: DON’T OPEN IT.

However, if you feel that you must open an attached document anyway, my suggestion is to use Google Docs or ThinkFree. Just bring the file out of your e-mail, send it over to Google Docs and let that open it up.

"But that’s inconvenient."

What’s more inconvenient? Getting infected with malware or bringing a document into a safer environment to open it? The answer is obvious.

In addition, saying "Use Firefox" or "Use Opera" is not a proper course of action. What is proper, as mentioned a moment ago, to exercise common sense. That alone is better than all the anti-virus/spyware/malware/whatever-ware you have installed on your computer.

You absolutely should not solely rely on software for protection. Use your head and the vast majority of the time you’ll avoid all the bad stuff on the internet.

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John
If you really wanted to be safe on the internet use sandboxie. its a free program that lets you run programs in a “boxed” state.
http://kkomp.com Sharron Field
The real thing to worry about, and many such people do exist, is the people without common sense and/or no idea of staying safe on the internet who don’t bother with any anti-virus etc software.
They shouldn’t, in an ideal world, be allowed to own and use a computer; however they are allowed to do so and theycontinue to do so with reckless abandon.
No matter how many times and in how many ways you try to tell them that:
They shouldn’t uninstall their antivirus software in the hope that their computer will be less cluttered and run faster; no matter what language you tell them not to open attachments from people they don’t know in Nigeria, not to respond to their “bank’s” request for their password and account details, that the security fix emailed to them by “Microsoft” that they installed has caused their system to join a botnet, that the outdated pirated copy of Windows 98 they’re running is a security risk – especiallywhen they ignore all published updates and patches because they allegedly “clutter the computer’s drive”…
- It just goes in one ear and out the other. Who are we to try to tell them how to run their own computer? – I mean the computer which they share with several criminal gangs and twice as many spammer networks.

http://www.twitter.com/AndrewPearce Drew
I think it’s it’s a little bit over the top to state that just b/c some people are without common sense, they should forfeit their right to use or own a PC. Some people shouldn’t have the right to drive, but they have a license to do so. Some people shouldn’t have the right to have kids, but they are allowed to do so.
We obviously don’t live in an “ideal world”. If we did, this post wouldn’t need be to be written, b/c in an ideal world, we wouldn’t *need* anti-virus software.
And sorry to have to bring this up again, but Outlook Express is also a “security risk”, like Windows 98 (regardless of how many updates or security fixes it has) but you use Outlook Express still, correct? Pot, Kettle?

http://kkomp.com Sharron Field
What I stated was the fact that one should worry about “people without common sense and/or no idea of staying safe on the internet who don’t bother with any anti-virus etc software.”
People without common sense as a group could be a large number of people; and to stop a large number of people using or owning a computer would be over the top, agreed.
What I’m actually saying here, in essence, is that people without common sense NEED anti-virus etc software; so that their system finds and notifies them of that virus that got in when they opened the attachment or clicked the link to the malicious website, etc.
Yes I use Outlook Express because I like Outlook Express. I am fully aware of its security vulnerabilities, and therefore I know what to do and what not to do with regard to it.
I’m not saying I’ve never had a virus: In fact I’ve had more than one this year, (Not all due to Outlook Express.) but none of them stayed on my computer long, because I frequently virus/malware scan with a number of products, I am very careful; I don’t open suspicious-looking attachments or click on dubious links to obscure websites, etc. I am also behind a router as a hardware-firewall, which helps too, as the criminal’s machines can’t find the infected port to relay their spam and porn through, should the system become infected, neither can they communicate with their malware to find an alternative way in. (The router itself assumes my ip address which would otherwise be my computer’s ip address if I weren’t behind the router.)
- However let’s use the fantasy scenario that I’m computer-illiterate and don’t really have much if any of a clue re. computers and the internet:
I have a computer, I run Windows XP, I use Outlook Express. I’ve been to a number of sites that tell me I should use anti-virus, and a friend who is in the know has advised me to use a particular effective anti-virus + anti-spyware solution. I’m behind a router: My ISP advised me of that. The anti-malware software automatically-updates every time I use the computer, and it notifies me of any infection I let in due to my lack of technical prowess and knowledge of just what it is that I shouldn’t click on: Therefore, 98 percent of the time my computer is virus-free. I apply all the updates that Microsoft produce and distribute through Automatic Update; even though I honestly have very little idea what they do and I don’t understand all the technical-jargon associated with them.
As a user I’m fairly safe; even though, in this scenario, I’m rather clueless when it comes to computers.
Back to reality; and such a person who uses their computer observing the correct security precautions, even though pretty clueless from a geek standpoint, is relatively safe; both in themselves and to others.
It’s the wreckless, couldn’t-care-less, clueless people that are worrying; and as a result of their possibly deliberate irresponsibility, they should be disallowed from owning a computer IMO.
Of course that probably won’t happen. Call me a fascist if you like; but why should everyone suffer due to the irresponsibility of the few?

Jerome
Unfortunately the web has grown to a point of necessity and some flock to it hoping to get the experience what us techies show you can do with it. However most barely know how to change their background let alone be safe on the net. They need to have a crash course first. Sometimes I go on a regular basis at updating family and friends computers. At the same time I teach them what I’m doing. Most will retain enough to get by. That’s fine with me then I don’t get a call every week about some virus. Most just need to be taught a little. If they don’t want to learn that’s fine. That’s were we make money fixing them.