kasia in a nutshell

dont forget to place some blame on the computer manufacturers.

Ugh, this is the worst part about travelling home for Christmas each year - the obligation to provide tech support. And when you can't fix the problem, and the data is lost it suddenly turns into your fault.

For german Windows (2000 and XP), there is the most amazing website. It has something they call a "post-update" package, which is: Every required patch for the OS since the last Service Pack. That makes Windows Installations virtually harm-free, as you can be well prepared. I don´t know if there is anything similar for other language verions, maybe someone else can give a hint?

http://www.winhelpline.info/daten/?shownews=540

*All* the blame goes to the manufacturers. Microsoft gives them the base OS bits to install, but it's not like there's some little elf with a blue MS badge on loading the software on each machine as it trundles down the assembly line.

As you can see on Dell and HP machines, the mfr loads on a ton of their own (usually crappy) software too-- they customize the base OS image already. It's a trivial matter to build installs that slipstream in service packs and hotfixes, so if a particular manufacturer isn't doing it, shame on them.

To give Dell some praise, (other than the crappy extra apps), my new Latitude X300 came pre-installed with all firewalls turned on, even on new connections I create myself.

However, I can understand the frustration. I just set up an old machine for a friend, using windows 2000 'cause the old hardware could in no way cope with XP. About 5 mins after I connected it to the net blaster infected it, and every time I cleaned blaster off, it reinfected within 5 mins again. I couldnt event run the SP4 update so that I could install the blaster patch because the SP4 installation program kept bombing out on the download of the patch.

Ended up having to come all the way home to grab a CD with SP4 on it.

"You're having a Windows problem? I see. Well, I actually don't know that much about Windows. Yes, I work with computers, but it's mostly Unix. That's a different operating system - have you ever heard of Linux? Yeah, it's different. No, sorry, but call Bob [our friendly community PFY], he's pretty good at this sort of thing."

Works for me.

When I got a brand new Dell Dimension a few months ago, it came with what looked like a stock Windows XP install (plus a bunch of crap). Not even SP 1, and certainly not protection against Blaster or the like.

Been there, done that. When I was building some machines from scratch on the network at work (we had NO firewall and publicly routable IP addresses), the machines were getting infected minutes after the first boot. I had to resort to using the pull the plug and then plug it in at the last minute so I could install Norton Corporate and its updates technique.

In the end it turned out to be a machine that the DEVELOPERS upstairs had built and left COMPLETELY unpatched without a firewall protecting it and a publicly routable IP address. The company has a serious problem with security because for some reason the DEVELOPERS upstairs had managed to convince everyone that we should NOT have a firewall because it would break the website... Its really hard to be a system admin in an environment like that, so I'm leaving and going back to working for the State. :)

(And yes, I'm still giving developers a hard time. *wink*)

When my brother got fed up with supporting Mom's windows machine a couple of years ago (and that was *before* the current plague), we got her an LCD iMac instead. Took a little hacking to shovel her Eudora config and mailboxes over, but after that, it's been worth every penny - much less maintenance, and what little it has needed (things like "ISP moved mail servers around") have been "ssh in and edit some XML plist files", which is far better (as a unix geek) than "talk through graphic interface"...

I'd hate to say it but this can happen to ANY computer running ANY OS. My first PowerBook came with an Apple test CD-R disc in the drive and the HD was completely wiped. I had to boot off the CD and install Jaguar from scratch, even though I was a first time Apple owner/user and I had to install it two times after that as I learned my way around Mac-World.

On a bright note, XP's Service Pack 2 is shipping with the Firewall enabled (and it was probably disabled in the first place to avoid tech support "this won't connect" problems. Longhorn is being reworked so at least you can hope it will suck less - just gotta wait around for a couple years for it.

And I agree with the first comment: OEM's that are shipping boxes with built in virus because their drive images were corrupt need to get some blame and for feck's sake, can someone push some blame to the hackers that keep on being... well, hackers? SOMEONE had to infect Patient Zero with their virus or else the exploit wouldn't be such a big deal.

Hmmmmmmm.... I guess from now on I should just have Kasia do all my computer work....

As I've always said: computers are not TVs. If you don't know what you're doing, don't get one. Simple as that.

As for buggy OSs, they're ALL buggy. They ALL have security holes in them. It's the manufacturers and retailers who should be patching them, but until customers demand it, they won't.

Then again, we could all just go back to 8-bit machines with their OS on a ROM and software on cartridges. That way no one would have any trouble. :)

Something that I think you overlooked is that Windows is such a target because it's so big. Other OS's *seem* secure, but that's partially because no one wants to write a virus that only affects such a small number of users. Virus writers, like bloggers, tend to be somewhat narcissistic. (Spyware writers have different motivations, but are still trying to get the most bang for their buck by attacking the big OS).

If 90% of the population used Macs, there would be a whole lot more security problems with Macs.

>> As I've always said: computers are not TVs. If you don't know what you're doing, don't get one. Simple as that.

And people still buy VCRs despite being unable to programme them properly.

If it's any consolation I got a Toshiba laptop three weeks ago, which had XP Home with SP1 and a few intermediate patches already applied out of the box. Let's hope when SP2 comes, MS makes an effort to get the OEMs to include it as standard on all their new machines, and that any copies of XP on sale are SP2, and not SP1 or Gold.