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Microsoft Apologizes for Serving Malware
dark_15 writes "Microsoft has apologized for serving malware via its websites and Windows Live Messenger software. APC reader Jackie Murphy reported the problem: 'With Microsoft launching Vista along with their Defender software to protect users from viruses and spyware, it seems therefore to be an oxymoron that they have started to putting paid changing banner advertisements for malware, on the popular MSN groups servers.'"
Started to putting?
Does anyone proofread anything anymore?
What fool would be taken in by this?
Personally, I'm downloading SystemDoctor 2007.
Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
ISR, Microsoft serves malware to ... uh... you serve malware to microsoft!
stuff |
Regardless, this is a really stupid oversight on Microsoft's part. Reminds me of the p2plawsuits.com thing. Shouldn't a person knowledgeable about ads be approving these beforehand (at least in Microsoft's case)?
do you know squarepusher?
It's much worse than that. Each time you click a link, somewhere, a server dies.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
Risk Impact: High
Systems Potentially Affected: All PCs
Behavior:
Windows.vista is malware that gobbles up all resources on a machine and renders it unusable. Suggested solution is to visit the following malware cleansing site : http://fedora.redhat.com/
Gator apologized for advertising Windows Vista. "Obviously this sort of malware slipped through our screening process, " they quipped.
One ring to bind them - should probably have more fiber and less rings in their diet.
Just stop injecting medkits you find lying around in some random alley and you will be fine.
Symantec says "SystemDoctor is a Security Risk that may give exaggerated reports of threats on the computer. The program then prompts the user to purchase a registered version of the software in order to remove the reported threats."
I completed the unpleasant task of helping my wife get started with a new HP computer, preloaded with Windows XP Home and a plethora of shovelware. We spent hours watching dialogs pop up suggesting that we download this, register that, and update the other.
Practically the first thing that happened was that Norton Internet Security popped up a huge scary dialog warning us that we hadn't turned it on. The next thing was a huge scary dialog saying that it had found a security risk in her system. The problem it had found was that it apparently ships with no virus definitions at all, and required about twenty minutes over broadband to download and install some seventeen thousand of them. The next thing was a huge scary dialog saying that we needed to register with Symantec (presumably so that it can give us a huge scary warning at the end of the free 60-day trial).
The next thing was a huge scary warning that we needed to turn off Windows Firewall, which to Microsoft's credit is apparently preinstalled turned on and functioning, so that we could use Norton Internet Security's firewall instead.
The next thing was a huge scary warning that we had attempted to change Internet Explorer's home page from an AOL signup offer to my wife's existing "my Yahoo" page.
Every time she launched an application a little yellow flag would rise up from the taskbar to tell her that Norton Internet Security noticed that she had launched an application.
And from time to time it puts up a message box with no apparent purpose other than to tell her that Norton Internet Security is running properly. "Exaggerated reports of threats on the computer?" "Prompts the user to purchase a registered version of the software in order to remove the reported threats?" To be fair, although it did prompt her to register, I don't believe it will prompt her for a purchase until the end of the sixty days.
But the thing is the most intrusive, obnoxious, offensive piece of crap I've ever seen. It makes Clippy look adorable by comparison.
Presumably she needs more than just an antivirus program (ClamAV). If anyone has any recommendations on a well-behaved, friendly security program for Windows XP that isn't in your face all the time, I'd love to hear it.
P. S. The reason we bought a machine with XP is that my wife has been stalling on a much-needed upgrade for about three years now, and what she read about Vista was what convinced her that we needed to run out immediately while we could still get a machine preloaded with XP. Do you think she is being included in these statistics that show that Vista has boosted PC sales...
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Windows Defender is supported by XP and is a free download. You don't need to buy Vista to get or use it.
do you know squarepusher?
Reminds me of a UserFriendly comic
http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20050130
Plus, their apology and recommendations aren't any less stupid. From TFA : Microsoft recommends customers follow our Protect your PC guidance at www.microsoft.com/protect.
Let's have a look at their guidance: Protect your computer in 4 steps :
Step 1. Keep your firewall turned on
A firewall is useless in this situation. The user manually downloaded and executed a piece of software.
Step 2. Keep your operating system up-to-date
See step 1.
Step 3. Use updated antivirus software
That's exactly what the user is trying to do. The message lets the user believe he needs to use this software as a protection against viruses, spyware and whatnot. Plus, it's on a Microsoft.com page. You gotta trust Microsoft.
Step 4. Use updated antispyware technology
See step 3.
After 3 days without programming, life becomes meaningless
- The Tao of Programming