Alex
Thu Aug 14 09:09:15 CDT 2003
<Rant On>
Yes, computer geniuses like you all know and worry about their computers on
a daily basis. Yet people like my Mom just got a computer to go on and
check e-mail and keep up on the grandkids. There are more like my Mom than
there are like us. And though I set up her XP Home system and turned on the
firewall, as I remember it was not on by default. Are we to expect people
in their 70s to just start picking this security stuff up? Some will, but
for most folks they really don't care that much about computers and just
want them to work. We have an incredibly warped industry where our apps are
beset by inherent design flaws, but we blame the consumer for the problems.
Some folks don't use their computers more than once a month - and don't
expect to be shut down the moment they go online. The fault is solely our
industry's fault - not the consumer.
To go back to your car driving analogy, our industry announces that your
tires are outmoded and need to be replaced - but they only tell a select
group of people. Everyone could find out if they drove their cards every
day, but the vast majority don't. Suddenly grandma gets in her car that she
hasn't driven in two months, starts driving, the tires blow off and she ends
up in the ditch.
<Rant off>
"John McGaw" <nowhere@inparticu.lar> wrote in message
news:u4UlutmYDHA.3248@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> "Thomas Highsmith" <somaht34@earthlink.net> wrote in message
> news:0de201c36254$8cef8c30$a401280a@phx.gbl...
> > I was using a computer that belongs to a friend of mine to check email
> > when all of a sudden it just started rebooting itself. Then I saw the
> > news about this blaster worm. I am a mac user and would like to fix
> > her computer since I'm the one that messed it up. Are there step by
> > step instructions somewhere to get rid of it? She is running Windows
> > XP. Any help would be appreciated since I am not that familiar with the
> > OS. Thankyou.
>
> Begin semi-rant:
>
> It is generous of you to want to fix her computer but you shouldn't assume
> that you "messed it up" because you didn't. She did that for herself when
> she failed to install the oh-so widely publicized patch last month, failed
> to have proper anti-virus protection, and failed to use a firewall (even
the
> one which was provided to her for free with the OS), and probably violated
> every other security practice known to man. You simply happened to be
> present when the results of her actions/inactions happened to hit the
> machine. In my book that places you in roughly the position of a passenger
> who happens to be trapped in the back seat of a speeding car which crashes
> in the rain because the tires are bald, the brakes don't work, the
steering
> wheel often falls off, and the throttle sticks full-on without
provocation.
>
> End semi-rant mode:
> --
> John McGaw
> [Knoxville, TN, USA]
>
> Return address will not work. Please
> reply in group or through my website:
>
http://johnmcgaw.com
>