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