Re: Just the tip of the iceberg... in http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r8996503 en Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:12:44 EDT Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:12:44 EDT Re: Just the tip of the iceberg... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,9003950 dannysdailys : "it would be less hassle down the road. Or for AOL, who knows that users will click on anything (Earthlink users, too, considering the official looking email attacks these days on both company's users)."

Isn't it time to stop talking this nonsense? It's totally unproductive and I have seen some of these sites. They're very easy to fall for. They even fake the URL now. Even Pay Pal, with security second to none has been affected with this. AOL has matured and so have it's users. Obviously you haven't seen a copy of AOL 9. Far from simple, it's probably one of the most complex pieces of ISP software I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot. You can spend days just setting it up. And AOL9 is not unique, see my article on AOL8+ for broadband. »www.dannysdailys.com/tips/dan41.html

Quite the contrary, I find offices to be the largest harborers of spyware and virus's anywhere. People that work in offices don't worry near as much about security at work, as they do at home. They have "staff" to fix it. Small companies that don't have unlimited resources to spend on staff, really get caught in the cross hairs. They don't even understand the issues, let alone the solutions and that has nothing to do with AOL. sheesh...

Anyone who surfs the net, I mean really surfs the net! Knows how easy it is to catch malware these days. It's everywhere. I applaud AOL for going after it. They, at least, want to take care of their people. The anti virus system they set up is second to none. They took a lot of heat over shutting down Microsoft's Windows Messenger, in these very forums. Now Microsoft has followed suit. It's pretty bad when it takes AOL to get Microsoft to act.

Never forget, not one AOL user's computer has ever automatically sent a virus infected email. No one else can say that. AOL, it seems, has become a haven for security. That's nothing to laugh or scoff at.

The Internet has become a very dark place. We should applaud any and everyone who fights these battles. Go AOL! Who knows, others shamed, the way Microsoft was, may just follow suit.

I hope so, AOL can't do it alone...
--
Madness Takes Its Toll, Please Have Exact Change Dan Daily Owner/Webmaster »www.dannysdailys.com]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,9003950 Wed, 07 Jan 2004 07:46:42 EDT Re: Just the tip of the iceberg... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,8997395 BosstonesOwn :
said by garagerock See Profile:
No need for apology; upon reflection, I did misunderstand.

As an IT professional for 10 years, I'd have to agree with elboricua that business users are less inclined to care about what ends up on their machines, as they have said IT staff to fix it!

Again, I misinterpreted your post. Sorry.


Hehe and the way they going all of them will be doing it remotely from india via there nice fat shiny 56k modems.
--
This package does not contain a winner...]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,8997395 Tue, 06 Jan 2004 16:28:17 EDT Re: Just the tip of the iceberg... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,8996503 jeffbrantley : But the real problem is the spyware creators, not the computer and OS manufacturers. Yes, someone bigger than spybot or adaware should step up to the plate and make a bigger dent in a quickly growing problem, but it is not their responsibility to prevent people from installing things unexpectedly.

When you make it their responsibility you get mostly unusable software out of the box. Where on previous versions you had to turn ON security features, they're now all coming screwed as tightly as possible because of MS trying to please the less savvy masses. I think some of that is good, but it can be a pain to a savvy user such as myself when I have to reconfigure a computer's security (still all in the same convoluted places) just to use it.

I liken this to the US Government trying to keep terrorists from blowing up another building. Yes, they should protect the citizens of the US, but how far are you willing to let them go to do that? There is only so much room you can give them to act before it starts negatively affecting your lifestyle. Not all government officials want to strangle freedom, but it sure would make their lives easier. The same reasoning that lead MS to lock down XP by default would be akin to US locking its borders, processing ALL people who try to legally enter the country, and imprisoning (or shooting) those who try to enter illegally. While that may effectively squelch terrorists from doing major damage, the fear of terrorist strike would slowly be replaced by a fear of being labeled a terrorist in your own country.

I think AOL, Dell and many other companies try very hard to be proactive on educating people about what they should watch out for. However, with fears of litigation and the amount of computer novices still out there, even a big company like Microsoft can't effectively change the situation overnight.

When I originally installed one of the early versions of Kazaa, I had no idea from reading the EULA and installation pages that I was installing some other crap. They've gotten better with their install package, but I think they and other companies that "give" away software try desparately to hide other programs, whether spyware or not, and it's difficult for even advanced users to know what's being installed. I've recently found that even some mainstream sites are exploiting the Microsoft JVM bug to get there "browser helper" objects installed.

On my personal computer, I no longer even attempt to keep information on their that I would consider painful to lose. And as a result, a couple of times that I've had to completely start over from the restore CD, other than a little time lost, I haven't had any pain. This isn't the case for a lot of people, though.

In short, there is more to it than just getting it done.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,8996503 Tue, 06 Jan 2004 14:59:39 EDT Re: Just the tip of the iceberg... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,8995193 garagerock : No need for apology; upon reflection, I did misunderstand.

As an IT professional for 10 years, I'd have to agree with elboricua that business users are less inclined to care about what ends up on their machines, as they have said IT staff to fix it!

Again, I misinterpreted your post. Sorry.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,8995193 Tue, 06 Jan 2004 12:40:19 EDT Re: Just the tip of the iceberg... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,8994543 DHRacer : I would have thought that businesses would have their employees sign an internet/computer usage agreement that tells them they are not to install other software or download programs from the internet...

We do that here for all the kids (but they ignore it and we can't expel the entire student body) and we also make sure teachers are aware of the facts to help keep the kids from doing it as well as themselves.

But of course we still get teachers who ask if Kazaa would be ok on their computer...

You are obviously the more professional person than I , so despite my explanation of my position, you are probably more correct. I understand your logic and I accept it.
--
The three most dangerous things are a programmer with a soldering iron, a manager who codes, and a user who gets ideas.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,8994543 Tue, 06 Jan 2004 11:25:53 EDT Re: Just the tip of the iceberg... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,8994438 elboricua :
said by DHRacer See Profile:
I was referring more to home users, not business users since business users are more aware of the dangers...


As an IT professional for more than 7 years, I have to disagree with you on that one. Business users are not more aware of the dangers. What they do have over the home user is an IT staff that tries to secure the network from spyware, and a helpdesk/technical support staff to clean the machine if it should get infected.
--
Sending script kiddies to /dev/null since 1995!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,8994438 Tue, 06 Jan 2004 11:12:35 EDT Re: Just the tip of the iceberg... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,8994419 DHRacer : I was referring more to home users, not business users since business users are more aware of the dangers...

I have 350 Dells and 3,000 users (high school) and I've had to resort to including Adaware and Spybot as part of my images, so it can be one of the first things I run to troubleshoot system problems.

Spyware is a major annoyance when you have a couple thousand kids trying to download anything and everything (and yes we do filter and block but there are ways around that).

Didn't mean to hit you with that brush, I think you missed my intended meaning. I wasn't clear about which demographics I had in mind when I wrote it. Sorry.
--
The three most dangerous things are a programmer with a soldering iron, a manager who codes, and a user who gets ideas.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,8994419 Tue, 06 Jan 2004 11:09:50 EDT Re: Just the tip of the iceberg... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,8994336 garagerock :
quote:
and Dell


Uh, yeah. With the right removal tools, Spyware is just an annoyance. I've got 50 Dells running nicely without any Spyware, thank you very much. Don't paint everyone with that broad brush...]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,8994336 Tue, 06 Jan 2004 10:58:21 EDT Just the tip of the iceberg... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,8994244 DHRacer : How about some proactive education to these users of AOL and Dell, who typically (note qualifier) don't know enough to protect themselves in the first place.

If these companies installed the software as part of the computer purchase (Dell), where it ran in the background and prevented spyware in the first place, it would be less hassle down the road. Or for AOL, who knows that users will click on anything (Earthlink users, too, considering the official looking email attacks these days on both company's users).

This playing catch-up will never work. Yes it may decrease the problems slightly, but not as much as being up front about it initially. Maybe letting the user decide, if they are properly informed and educated enough to make a choice when the software is initially set up or the computer is setup.

Like Microsoft, it will not do anything until it gets bad press, then it moves. They are, after all, in business to make money, not spend it when it doesn't need to be (in their opinions).
--
The three most dangerous things are a programmer with a soldering iron, a manager who codes, and a user who gets ideas.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,8994244 Tue, 06 Jan 2004 10:45:39 EDT