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| Thread ID: 53334 | 2005-01-14 12:13:00 | Anti-MS and trademe thread for the day/night/whatever. | Metla (12) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 313999 | 2005-01-15 05:15:00 | Yoper linux is a pretty good distro for newbies | Prescott (11) | ||
| 314000 | 2005-01-15 05:39:00 | When you deal with people who voted for George Bush, the fact that Linux' "usability" has come along way flies out the window. That is to say, introducing any user-friendly Linux distribution to non-geeks who struggle with Windows is not going to be an easy task. |
agent (30) | ||
| 314001 | 2005-01-15 06:58:00 | In contrast to views expresed elsewhere that personal weakness was the cause of PC's getting infected by spyware this article gives us a glimpse of the situation at hand. Isn't P2P considered to be a high risk activity Metla? I understood that today we not only have to watch out for the normal run of creative crazies, but that the record and software companies also get into the act by seeding the net with corrupted files. That is a lesser evil, but a nuisance nonetheless. I accept your proposition that it is a human weakness to want to get something without paying, and isn't that weakness exactly what the current threat as linked in this thread is preying upon? Sounds like yet another situation where those who do, suffer, and those who don't have little to worry about. Even so, it sounds like another patch is in the pipeline. :( Cheers Billy 8-{) |
Billy T (70) | ||
| 314002 | 2005-01-15 07:21:00 | As much as i would prefer to have no discussion with you on any matter, Your amazing leaps of logic must be answered i supose,Although i will of course feel grubby from the experience. Here is a newsflash that you won't be able to comprehend. People who have different interests then your own are not suffering from a weakness, Nor is this issue about people getting something for nothing, Nor is it about P2P. Its about the ability to direct a drm query to a malicious website. And seeing as i bothered I may as well enlighten you to a few facts that will of course be so incomprehensible to you that they will probally be screwed all out of proportion and then presented back here as a sick abomination. Spyware's two main causes are pop-up that offer "free" browser enhancments and/or shopping oputunities (this targets the mums) and MSN Chat extensions that offer enhanced features (this targets the kids) And yes,I do realise i just wasted my time trying to enlighten the "overly enlightened" who will no doubt continue to believe that the cause is weaknesses built into lesser human beings. |
Metla (12) | ||
| 314003 | 2005-01-15 08:49:00 | Well said Metla .... well technically at least ..... a bit evil, but I guess that's just in your nature ;). Not meant offensively, I am sure you yourself recognize your pure evil within? Billy, these files could be distributed via P2P, but why single out that? There are hundreds more popular sources of video clips. Are you saying you never watch any .wmv's ever off the internet? And it doesn't have anything to do with human weakness I'm afraid - not everything in computers can be philosophically linked in such ways. I myself fell victim to such a thing a year or so ago - not the DRM thing obviously, but something that meant I opened a .wmv clip, and I could see it installing stuff.... And suffer the wrath of the crap it installed, via a page with lots of ads for porn. I don't personally think that my mild desire for humour (it was a funny video, can't remember exactly what it was about) was linked to any horrid weakness inside me. Nor was I surfing dodgy places - I got it off a popular humour portal. So, was I a stupid 13 year old (back then) with human weaknesses, or somebody who got unlucky? I somehow think that the latter better fits the bill. George |
george12 (7) | ||
| 314004 | 2005-01-15 09:15:00 | Indeed. The reality is that those that choose to distribute such nasties make use of every single avenue they can, hell, you can download pop-up killers that install pop-us,spyware scanners that saturate the machine in malicious code,websites offering to scan your system for security holes that then go ahead and install trojans. Then you get fake childrens sites, sitting there covered with cartoon charecters offering downloads that turn out to be porn hijacks. A case in point,A 11 year old girl whose family i know downloaded a screensaver of waterfalls,when activated it played waterfalls alright,and in the background streamed in a movie of 2 men doing someing highly unnatural. When she tried to exit out of it the software made her type in the word that describes what they were doing. Upon getting back to the desktop the browser/homepage had been hijacked,a toolbar installed,mutiple entries made to the favourites list and of course a dialer. |
Metla (12) | ||
| 314005 | 2005-01-15 09:32:00 | Poor girl. That human weakness argument, Billy, works in ways - but not in this case. By that I mean it can contribute to the problem, but is insignificant as a major cause. I mean, people that surf internet porn using IE will get spyware. People who use unpatched Windows' with no firewall will get spyware. But there are other ways that everyone falls into the trap of, that is a much bigger cause - things like those screen saver downloads, or download plugins etc. By download plugins I mean a big site with loads of awesome looking stuff to download - illegal stuff that is. But you need to download this little "plugin" that lets you get the stuff, to "stop leeching". But it does nothing of the sort, it installs ****loads of malicious crap, or even an unobtrusive, undetected backdoor for hackers. All that exists, and gets downloaded onto thousands of peoples computers every day, often from normal everyday activities. More than once a week someone posts saying their browser had been hijacked, or porn diallers were taking over. George |
george12 (7) | ||
| 314006 | 2005-01-15 10:04:00 | Settle down Metla, I never suggested any form of weakness, that was your own invention. I made a legitimate post querying risk factors and there is no need for you to have a hissy fit. If you have a thing about me, do us all a favour and get over it please. This is an open Forum where all views are valid and sharing different points of view can be helpful to people who don't have black and white opinions. Please don't forget that this is the Chat Forum too, where a wider range of topics and views can be expressed. There is no call for aggressive behaviour or personal attacks just because we don't read from the same book of life. Cheers Billy 8-{) |
Billy T (70) | ||
| 314007 | 2005-01-15 10:26:00 | No worries,as soon as you get over "the thing" you have with the 20 or so posters you dislike whom you activly follow around the forum reporting everytime you see something that doesn't sit with your judgemental view of things . Who do you think you are? The mind boggles . And no,Weakness was no invention of mine, It comes from a post of yours where you blame spyware on peoples weaknesses, Rather then the reality where every possible avenue for infection is exploited . |
Metla (12) | ||
| 314008 | 2005-01-15 10:30:00 | Billy T and Metla, you have both made valid points, but lets not get personal over it. This thread brings up some interesting discussions on just how easy it is to get infected by spyware/trojans without dodgy browsing or downloading. It would be a pity to lock it if it gets out of hand though. |
Jen (38) | ||
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