“Microsoft provides antivirus and antispyware updates”

1. On May 18th, 2006 at 1:22 PM Forex Service Says:

   nice one but i totally cant agree with it …ive also subscribed to your rss feed …keep the blog alive

2. On May 20th, 2006 at 12:07 AM m3Rlin Says:

   I wrote what I did because I believe in it. I have been managing Windows (as well and NetWare and Linux) networks for several years and with almost 400 Windows workstations I know where my problems are. For example: my most insecure application on the whole network is Internet Explorer (I have the IE 7 beta installed on a few of my computers and I cannot say I am impressed at all; at least with the beta).

   To prove my point is easy: the most spyware / adware infected computers (yes, it is always the same users have been given Firefox as a replacement and the problem has been solved. After using Windows Defender (for Real Time protection) and SpyBot for scans to get rid of any malware, I have my staff install Firefox on the user’s computer and we usually do not hear from them again. Setting up higher security in IE doesn’t work too well because either sites stop working or one piece of malware simply resets the security levels, updates the Trusted Sites, writes to the registry as well as the HOSTS file. And we start all over again The simple fact that Firefox does not run ActiveX controls is enough (although I have come across Java exploits, but they do not install silently as ActiveX can in IE).

   Of course, there are exceptions to these rules but there is no perfect product. Truth is that Microsoft is promising the same changes for years (better security) and it is not keeping its promise. With the purchase of Giant Software and creating Windows Defender (formerly known as Microsoft AntiSpyware), they added a great level of protection to the system but they acted only after the situation was completely out-of-hand and SpyBot’s scanning (not the Real Time protection) capabilities are much better.

   Microsoft has changed over the years and as one of the I.T. purchase decision makers at my job I can say that they care more about long-term relationships with companies (i.e. Enterprise Licensing ) and consumers (monthly & yearly subscriptions) because these guarantee a steady income. New editions of Office and Windows solve some problems while leaving other things to be included in new version (WinFS anyone?). Wasn’t this one of the selling points of Vista [Longhorn]?). I personally think they make great business and marketing decisions but that does not mean that they are the best choice.

   Please keep in mind that Internet Explorer has not been in active development since 2001 after Microsoft was virtually the sole player in the browser market. After Netscape was acquired by AOL the browser completely lost its value and only the Mozilla Foundation was able to change this (Opera, Safari, Konqueror and others doesn’t have a significant enough market share to be mentioned). Internet Explorer 7 is late and does not solve any security problems in the latest Beta 2. Anyone managing a 50+ workstation might have serious problems with simply supporting the insecurity of this application.

   As for Windows 2000 and Windows XP, I can say that from a programmer’s point of view there are little changes behind the scenes. Sure, they are good, but don’t let the looks fools you (literally :o) Windows XP came out only 2 years after Windows 2000 and has been on the market for a long time, but only Service Pack 2 made significant (security) changes. The functionality for both is pretty much the same.