On Tuesday 21 Feb 2006 06:41, you wrote:
I've seen more than one estimate that most computers *are* infected by at least one piece of malware/spyware/etc, (including numbers as high as 90%)
I've seen 95% quoted - certainly my experience if you go looking for malware in recent Windows desktop machines using IE and Outlook it is pretty much a certainty you'll find it. Most of these tools I was using didn't detect the Sony Rootkit, or other malware, so this will always be an underestimate of the true extent of the problem, unless one uses fingerprinting and packet inspection as the tools of choice for malware detection. This is very much a Windows only problem, it doesn't affect desktop users of other systems at all, possibly in part because they lack critical mass, but also because they have more sensible security models. Largely it is an Outlook and IE problem.