XP SP2 Be careful !!

[moondogg]

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If I leave my doors and windows open in my house, and I get burgled, it is not my fault.

It may be lax of me, and even silly, but it still isn't my fault.


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I disagree with this. It's negligent. If you do not secure your house, you must assume some responsibility for your negligence, IMHO. If you don't fasten your seatbelt, it's your fault if you go through the windshield. True, it's also the fault of the person who hit you, but some of the fault would be yours too.

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It is the fault of the person who broke into my house.


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True, but even if it's not your fault, it's the door and window maker's fault even less.

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I believe that companies like Microsoft should stop these things at source rather than leaving my doors and windows open for me to run around closing and either shut the doors and windows for me,


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As has been stated in previous posts, this is absolutely impossible. No software company in the world is capable of releasing bug-free software. Instead, the gave you a automatic-update feature, which would do everything for you.

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or catch the criminals.

Blaming me for not tidying up their mess whilst simultaneously not catching the burglars does nothing for my confidence.

Lori

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This is not their job to catch criminals. Again with the window an door anology, do you expect Window Wizards to catch the guy who broke into your house? It is the job of a law enforcement agency. Many hackers do get caught, many do not. Regardless, the enforcement of anti-hacking laws is not MS's responsibility.

[Lori]

Instead, the gave you a automatic-update feature, which would do everything for you.

Is that why, when my friend told me about the site I had to do a specific search to find out how to do it?

I don't know what is different on my computer, and that of everybody I know, but until today I never even knew auto-updates existed as I've always had to go to the website and ask it to scan my machine.

Lori

[sammy_g]

You're right. You shouldn't have to apply these updates. Unfortunately, it's the reality of software. It is impossible with today's tools to write software of any size or complexity that has no bugs, just as it's impossible to design a lock that cannot be picked or broken. And malicious people will exploit these bugs to break into your system.

If you own a car, you have to get its oil change regularly. It'd be nice if you didn't, but you do. I don't know how to do this myself, so I take my car into the shop. I could put it off for a while and probably be OK. 6,000 miles. 10,000 maybe. But at some point my car will break down if I don't take it to Jiffy Lube. And if I don't regularly apply software updates to my computer, I'll eventually have problems with that, too.

Some day someone will perhaps engineer a car that doesn't need an oil change. Some day someone might engineer software that has no bugs. Until that time, we'll have to take our cars into the shop and perform regular software updates on our machines. It's irritating. I know.

[Lori]

If you own a car, you have to get its oil change regularly. It'd be nice if you didn't, but you do. I don't know how to do this myself, so I take my car into the shop.

Again, the difference is, when I buy a car I get a book that tells me this needs to be done.
With computers you get nothing.

Lori

[shandrakor]

Well, Ed, seeing as you understand my point perfectly, and are significantly more eloquent, I'm going to head off to Royal Casino, play some live poker, and leave things in your more than capable hands.

[Ed Miller]

Just a little pamphlet in with the disk and I'd feel like I was wrong here.

That's a very fair criticism. XP does tell you about Automatic Update after it installs, but it isn't made clear enough how vital a role it plays in maintaining security.

And I didn't want to make it sound like you are entirely to blame. Microsoft does need to shoulder some blame too. But the "Microsoft makes such a crappy product" people (not saying you are one) need to get a clue. If as many people spent as much time trying to compromise Linux or another more politically correct operating system as they do Windows, you'd see a lot more security problems unearthed in those OSes.

And Microsoft does about a 2000x better job of making their product "idiot friendly" than does Linux. I'd like to see the computer-ignorant set try to run and secure a Linux machine.

The bottom line is that what takes ten million people to build takes but one to break. And that's really not anyone's fault. It's just the way of the world.

[sammy_g]

Yes, you should get a manual. The whole update process could be less painful, too. I don't disagree.

[byronkincaid]

SP1 wouldn't download on my computer, something about a missing key? Will SP2 work?

[Simon Diamond]

It amazes me that professional players such as you and MicroBob don't have broadband access - surely its an essential tool of the trade?

It amazes me that anybody could live without broadband - 56k really is a mission. It's pretty painful.

Simon

[sbalzac]

Software firewalls are for the most part useless. If you're that concerned about security get yourself a decent router and lock it down. Unfortunetly most people who would rely on a software router would have no idea how to effectivly do this.