Holy Hell!

[captpackrat]

While installing software on a user's computer I noticed some suspicious activity. I noticed some apparent spyware on her machine, so I installed the Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta.

THIRTY FOUR different spywares were found. GAAAAAAH!

We've got antivirus software, and I'd been waiting for MS to release the final version of their antispyware, but it looks like everyone will be getting the beta version now.


(I've been using it for months now myself, and I've never gotten any infections. 22 years of computing and I've never gotten a spyware or a virus. How is it everyone else gets burned so badly?)

Comments

[rcoony.livejournal.com]

I'll bet you use Firefox or something else non-IE. I use Firefox, and rarely, if ever have trouble with spyware. Unfortunately, occasionally I will need to use IE for certain web pages, and that's when those things get in. At work, my computer is probably the cleanest; everyone else's seem to be bogged down with stuff. Trying to keep spyware out while using Internet Explorer is like trying to keep a hurricane out with a window screen. That's probably what she uses.

[captpackrat.livejournal.com]

I only use Firefox on the few Ubuntu machines at work. Otherwise, everything else runs IE.

According to Symantec, IE actually has fewer vulnerabilities than Firefox. In the last 6 months of 2004, there were only 13 vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer while Mozilla suffered from 21! (In comparison, 6 vulnerabilities were found in Opera and zero in Safari)

IE is pretty easy to secure, you just have to make sure you've kept up with patches and everything, and lock down the security settings.