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Win 7's Malware Infection Rate Climbs, XP's Falls
BogenDorpher writes "Microsoft released data today showcasing that Windows 7's malware infection rate has climbed by more than 30% during the second half of 2010, while the infection rate for Windows XP has dropped by more than 20%."
Microsoft calculated the infection rates using its Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT) by detecting and deleting selected malware such as fake antivirus programs, worms, viruses, and trojans.
One VERY important point is that Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool considers certain programs which can be used to bypass Windows Activation as "malware", which is probably skewing the results.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Corperate environments are usually controlled and less likely to get malware.
That's not true at all. Having worked support in various corporations I can assure you that the infection rate is still very high. I remember working for a large bank and they had conficker on 1500 servers and 20000 workstations. This is supposed to be a sterile environment as it's a bank, not so. Where you have staff who aren't exactly computer literate you will have large infection rates.
Let this old PC repairman enlighten you as to why those numbers as so low on XP. It is because the data is collected using the Malicious Software Removal Tool, which any repair guy that has had one of the bazillion "Razr1911 WinXP Pro Corp SP2" boxes cross their desks know that they all have Windows Updates turned off (to keep from getting WGA'd) and are infected with more viruses than a Bangkok Whore.
I'd love to see the numbers of XP infections pre WGA and after, along with how many pirate versions are out there. Because while I can understand MSFT wanting to stop piracy (but IMNSHO they royally fucked up by getting rid of the Win 7 HP $50 upgrade, as that thing turned more pirates into legit users than I'd ever seen) but anyone who has worked repair for any length of time knows there are a shitload of pirate Windows out there and nearly all have updates off.
It isn't just the "Crazy Dave's house of whitebox" BTW, it is all those that decided they didn't want to pay for an upgrade that got their "smart PC friend" who has every Razr1911 version on a spindle, and there are even plenty out there that have legit keys that aren't being used because the guy they took it to has a Razr1911 automated install and simply never bothered to change the keys, or the box had XP Home and all they had was the Razr XP Pro. Finally you have all those pre Vista Cheapo Best Buy and other retail joints that have autoupdates turned OFF for some damned reason, probably to cut down on those "OMG my PC has a yellow thing in the right corner OMG!" support calls.
In the end I can tell you I probably get 3 minimum cross my desk a week that haven't ever seen an update, and most are infected all to hell. I see so damned many PCs missing tons of updates that I keep WSUS Offline on my network fully loaded with every update for every OS from Win2K Pro to Win 7 X64, just so I don't have to waste time and bandwidth on updating all these damned machines. MSRT might give you a tiny taste of what is going on, but since WGA I'd say its data really isn't worth much.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.