Re: Family tech support

[Drsolly <drsollyp () drsolly com>]

On Sun, 29 Nov 2009, Larry Seltzer wrote:

> Get her Windows 7 and have her run as Standard User. She won't be able
> to install anything difficult to remove anymore. 

I heard that Win XP was a *lot* more secure than Win 98

I heard that Vista was a *lot* more secure than XP

Now I hear that Win 7 is a *lot* more secure than Vista.

Well, I'm still installing Linux for her.
 
> If she needs admin privileges then she needs them on Linux too. Maybe
> people aren't writing such malware for Linux but they could. Given that,

Maybe they aren't? Definitely they aren't. What's the ratio of Win malware 
to Linux malware?

> what could Microsoft do?

Well, they could watch while my daughter stops being one of their 
customers. 
 
> One answer could be whitelisting; it's becoming a reasonable solution in
> managed networks, but for consumers it's not clear who manages the list.
>
> Larry Seltzer
> Contributing Editor, PC Magazine
> larry_seltzer () ziffdavis com 
> http://blogs.pcmag.com/securitywatch/
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: funsec-bounces () linuxbox org [mailto:funsec-bounces () linuxbox org]
> On Behalf Of Drsolly
> Sent: Sunday, November 29, 2009 8:12 AM
> To: funsec () linuxbox org
> Subject: [funsec] Family tech support
>
> Daughter.1 has picked up a nasty, that wants her to pay for an
> antivirus, 
> and keeps nagging at her. She already had Norton, but that doesn't seem
> to 
> want to know. I don't know if she's updated it - probably not.
>
> I didn't fancy wrestling with the malware to try to remove it, or go
> back 
> to some previous checkpoint (there probably isn't one).
>
> I offered her two solutions.
>
> 1) reinstall XP. She doesn't have the CDs (I don't think they came with 
> the computer). I suspect you can't buy XP now. Vista will cost her about
> a 
> hundred pounds, and then she'll need to buy a new word processor, I'd 
> guess. Probably another hundred or two. 
>
> I suspect that a new laptop would be cheaper. I remember when we used to
>
> wonder if a virus could actually destroy the hardware. Well, you don't 
> need to when it's cheaper to buy a new computer than to get rid of the 
> virus.
>
> 2) I install Linux. Zero cost, and she most likely won't ever see
> another 
> malware.
>
>
>
> It's a no-brainer, really.
>
>
> Do the folks at MS realise what this is doing to them?
>
> _______________________________________________
> Fun and Misc security discussion for OT posts.
> https://linuxbox.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/funsec
> Note: funsec is a public and open mailing list.

_______________________________________________
Fun and Misc security discussion for OT posts.
https://linuxbox.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/funsec
Note: funsec is a public and open mailing list.