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Microsoft: One In 14 Downloads Is Malicious

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the wonder-where-they-surf dept.

alphadogg writes "About one out of every 14 programs downloaded by Windows users turns out to be malicious, Microsoft said Tuesday. And even though Microsoft has a feature in its Internet Explorer browser designed to steer users away from unknown and potentially untrustworthy software, about 5% of users ignore the warnings and download malicious Trojan horse programs anyway. IE also warns users when they're being tricked into visiting malicious websites, another way that social-engineering hackers can infect computer users. In the past two years, IE's SmartScreen has blocked more than 1.5 billion Web and download attacks, according to Jeb Haber, program manager lead for SmartScreen."

7 of 290 comments (clear)

  1. "Malicious" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    On the list of malicious files, as determined by the Microsoft Corporation:

    - Google Chrome
    - ubuntulinux.iso
    - antivirusotherthansecurityessentials.exe
    - iTunes
    - *ipod*.exe
    - gmail.com/index.html

    1. Re:"Malicious" by Missing.Matter · · Score: 4, Insightful

      antivirusotherthansecurityessentials.exe

      I know you're joking, but this one is pretty close to the truth. Norton and McAffee do more to slow down computers than actual malware does.

  2. Here is the list of top 5 malicious Downloads. by LWATCDR · · Score: 5, Funny

    1. Ubuntu
    2. Firefox
    3. Chrome
    4. OpenOffice
    5. VLC

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
  3. Really? by Random2 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I didn't realize IE was downloaded so frequently.

    --
    "Our goal each year should be to increase the number of goals we set for ourselves!"
  4. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  5. Well, in fairness ... by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Despite Microsoft's attempts to completely nanny people, they've almost taken it too far ... which means that people start ignoring/disabling the warnings.

    The other week I launched IE on a new server install ... the very first warning message is "You are about to access the internet, and people can see what you do" -- which gets a "do not show me this again" before I dismiss.

    As soon as you submit into a search engine, you get told "You are about to submit something on the internet, are you sure" -- which also gets a "do not show again".

    By the time I tell it I don't want it to save passwords, autocomplete forms, and that, yes, I really do want Google as my default search ... well, I've stopped listening to anything "helpful" IE is telling me.

    I rank the utility of the stuff that MS has "designed" to make IE safe right up there with the error messages that amount to "something bad has happened, contact your admin" --- oooh, that's informative. And, since I'm the admin ... give me some f'ing idea as to what went wrong so I can try to fix it.

    Microsoft build in really pedantic and lame safeguards, which get turned off and/or ignored for the rest of time since they don't actually do anything useful.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  6. The proposed solution, by HeckRuler · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is to block every 14th download, thus making Windows malware free!