Fair enough. Spam, in all of its forms, is really the symptom of a problem, not the problem itself. So yes, this idea isn't really going to help long-term.
The only long-term solutions I can think of would be: 1. Never give out your e-mail address until you read and approve of the privacy policy or receive confirmation that it will not be sold or given out to spammers. Also, make sure that the server you give it to is secure enough to store your personal information so that it would take a reasonable amount of time for some rogue cracker to gain access to the database. 2. Don't use Outlook if you can help it. Chances are if you need Exchange Server than it would be for your work address, which you really shouldn't be giving out to Web sites anyway, even if rule #1 is satisfied. Avoid using your Outlook Address Book to store addresses so that worms can't affect your contacts.
I don't know much about botnets, so I can't think of any specific anti-botnet solutions other than using patched software and security tools.
Yeah. General rule of thumb to tell these people: stay the hell away from any container formats that can have embedded licenses. The files themselves were probably clean, but when WMP looked up the license it was able to execute code on the machine. I've seen that happen before.
The key is getting them to use the alternatives. My sister, for example refuses to use Pidgin instead of AIM, despite me telling her that the OSCAR (AIM) protocol works almost perfectly in Pidgin, save for video and file transfers.
Of course, I was able to get her to sucessfully adopt OpenOffice.org, but only because her laptop didn't have a Microsoft Office license and our only copy was already activated on another machine.
Be careful though. A less popular free software P2P client may still bundle spyware or viruses with its binary releases, even if you download from the official source. When in doubt, compile.
That's because the idiots probably downloaded software on LimeWire that had a virus on it. LimeWire itself is malware-free, assuming it was downloaded from a safe source.
1. - "Why install Ubuntu when I can just use Windows for free?" Note that by "free," I'm referring to the presumption that it was free with the purchase of a PC, not infringing copies.
This is why IE won the browser wars. Before the integration of IE4, Web browsers either had to be installed manually or were provided by the OEM. The OEMs usually bundled Netscape. Microsoft integrated IE into Windows and changed the OEM licensing so that Netscape-bundling OEMs were punished. You could still download Netscape manually, but why would you want to? Most non-nerds don't care about the browser but rather whether or not it is there at all. It is nothing short of a miracle that Firefox campaigns have been succeeding in getting ordinary folk to install and use Firefox over IE, especially after IE7 came out.
2. - "Windows is just fine. Why bother switching?" This one is all too familiar to Mac evangelists as well as free OS advocates. This, along with ridiculous prices, is what keeps Apple in the minority. My statement about browsers applies equally to operating systems: people just don't care. They will most likely choose whatever runs what they need at the cheapest price. Ubuntu and other distributions have gone a long way in fixing this, but in order to "convert" someone you would not only need to get them to install Ubuntu but also get them to use Firefox instead of IE, OpenOffice.org instead of Microsoft Office, GIMP instead of Photoshop, Thunderbird instead of Outlook, etc. Yes, you can run most of this stuff in WINE, but the experience is so much smoother with native apps, and users will notice this quickly. Additionally, if everything they run is just run in WINE, there isn't really much of a point, from their perspective, of running Ubuntu over Windows. Windows gives them better compatibility than WINE and is already bundled by almost all OEMs. Might as well stay with Windows.
No need. Spam can easily be fought at the ISP level by having the mail server bounce back all spam e-mails. If enough ISPs do this it will flood the spammer's inbox, or at least convince the spammer that the address doesn't exist and isn't worth soliticing. Problem solved.
Of course, there is the problem with false positives, so the server would have to bounce back the e-mail but still send it to the subscriber's spam box. If the e-mail is legitimate the subscriber can submit that address and the ISP will not bounce those e-mails anymore.
Keep the "good" sites in a whitelist. Unlock them once and they remain unblocked for eternity. Block everything else. You can also just allow all session cookies. In my experience this works just fine with a lot of shopping sites.
The vast majority of sites don't need cookies, yet many place them anyway. I've been whitelisting my cookies for a while now and not having any major problems.
Do you need compatibility with MS office? IF so then you will need Windows and MS Office unfortuntately.
I know I will probably get modded down as a troll for not advocating openoffice and linux, but I am going to say its not fully compatible and writer is nearly useless for my papers in the apa format required for college. Excel compatibility is my concern too and I need the real version of MS office. Then use it in WINE. If that doesn't work get CrossOver.
No, it's not. The Asus eee suck at web broswing I'm typing this from a MacBook and its 1280px horizontal size is NOT ENOUGH for some sites. So, a screen that's 800px wide, for web surfing? They're CRAZY. 1. Invent time machine. 2. Go back 8 years. 3. Use eeePC when Web pages were designed for 800x600 screens.
So children never associate with adults that aren't their parents or teachers? They never greet a friend of their parents whom they've never met because to them that person is a "stranger"? They've never had to interact with adults outside of the home or school who they don't know personally (not necessarily by themselves, but the concept is still the same)?
In many ways, "don't talk to strangers" is a warning dating back from the days when abduction wasn't so hyped up and parents could actually feel comfortable letting their kids play outside without constant supervision. Now they follow the child everywhere. I ignored it because my parents never let me out of the house without one of them watching me during my elementary school years, so it never applied because I trusted that their judgment could substitute for mine in the case of "strangers."
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Fair enough. Spam, in all of its forms, is really the symptom of a problem, not the problem itself. So yes, this idea isn't really going to help long-term.
The only long-term solutions I can think of would be:
1. Never give out your e-mail address until you read and approve of the privacy policy or receive confirmation that it will not be sold or given out to spammers. Also, make sure that the server you give it to is secure enough to store your personal information so that it would take a reasonable amount of time for some rogue cracker to gain access to the database.
2. Don't use Outlook if you can help it. Chances are if you need Exchange Server than it would be for your work address, which you really shouldn't be giving out to Web sites anyway, even if rule #1 is satisfied. Avoid using your Outlook Address Book to store addresses so that worms can't affect your contacts.
I don't know much about botnets, so I can't think of any specific anti-botnet solutions other than using patched software and security tools.
Yeah. General rule of thumb to tell these people: stay the hell away from any container formats that can have embedded licenses. The files themselves were probably clean, but when WMP looked up the license it was able to execute code on the machine. I've seen that happen before.
Snu-Snu.
The key is getting them to use the alternatives. My sister, for example refuses to use Pidgin instead of AIM, despite me telling her that the OSCAR (AIM) protocol works almost perfectly in Pidgin, save for video and file transfers.
Of course, I was able to get her to sucessfully adopt OpenOffice.org, but only because her laptop didn't have a Microsoft Office license and our only copy was already activated on another machine.
Be careful though. A less popular free software P2P client may still bundle spyware or viruses with its binary releases, even if you download from the official source. When in doubt, compile.
That's because the idiots probably downloaded software on LimeWire that had a virus on it. LimeWire itself is malware-free, assuming it was downloaded from a safe source.
Computers are already cryptic enough when they speak normal English. I'd rather not have to hear one say "Me get segfault. Me dump core."
1. - "Why install Ubuntu when I can just use Windows for free?"
Note that by "free," I'm referring to the presumption that it was free with the purchase of a PC, not infringing copies.
This is why IE won the browser wars. Before the integration of IE4, Web browsers either had to be installed manually or were provided by the OEM. The OEMs usually bundled Netscape. Microsoft integrated IE into Windows and changed the OEM licensing so that Netscape-bundling OEMs were punished. You could still download Netscape manually, but why would you want to? Most non-nerds don't care about the browser but rather whether or not it is there at all. It is nothing short of a miracle that Firefox campaigns have been succeeding in getting ordinary folk to install and use Firefox over IE, especially after IE7 came out.
2. - "Windows is just fine. Why bother switching?"
This one is all too familiar to Mac evangelists as well as free OS advocates. This, along with ridiculous prices, is what keeps Apple in the minority. My statement about browsers applies equally to operating systems: people just don't care. They will most likely choose whatever runs what they need at the cheapest price. Ubuntu and other distributions have gone a long way in fixing this, but in order to "convert" someone you would not only need to get them to install Ubuntu but also get them to use Firefox instead of IE, OpenOffice.org instead of Microsoft Office, GIMP instead of Photoshop, Thunderbird instead of Outlook, etc. Yes, you can run most of this stuff in WINE, but the experience is so much smoother with native apps, and users will notice this quickly. Additionally, if everything they run is just run in WINE, there isn't really much of a point, from their perspective, of running Ubuntu over Windows. Windows gives them better compatibility than WINE and is already bundled by almost all OEMs. Might as well stay with Windows.
This one's been discussed before.
No need. Spam can easily be fought at the ISP level by having the mail server bounce back all spam e-mails. If enough ISPs do this it will flood the spammer's inbox, or at least convince the spammer that the address doesn't exist and isn't worth soliticing. Problem solved.
Of course, there is the problem with false positives, so the server would have to bounce back the e-mail but still send it to the subscriber's spam box. If the e-mail is legitimate the subscriber can submit that address and the ISP will not bounce those e-mails anymore.
Keep the "good" sites in a whitelist. Unlock them once and they remain unblocked for eternity. Block everything else. You can also just allow all session cookies. In my experience this works just fine with a lot of shopping sites.
The vast majority of sites don't need cookies, yet many place them anyway. I've been whitelisting my cookies for a while now and not having any major problems.
It should be ported to BSD and called BDSM.
Oh wait...
Of course. Scientists are role models. Think of the children!
And if no one is selling it, the DEA will go out of business.
The only thing I learned from the Oregon Trail was never to ford a river.
Hell if I know. I'm still in college. I'm assuming it's important because I was required to learn them.
Well they aren't $100, but I wasn't trying to disprove your price argument.
I know I will probably get modded down as a troll for not advocating openoffice and linux, but I am going to say its not fully compatible and writer is nearly useless for my papers in the apa format required for college. Excel compatibility is my concern too and I need the real version of MS office. Then use it in WINE. If that doesn't work get CrossOver.
Macros don't work, for one.
2. Go back 8 years.
3. Use eeePC when Web pages were designed for 800x600 screens.
Oh, and
4. ???
5. Profit.
I'm betting his job sucks so bad that the 4 hours of commuting is the part of the day he looks forward to the most.
So children never associate with adults that aren't their parents or teachers? They never greet a friend of their parents whom they've never met because to them that person is a "stranger"? They've never had to interact with adults outside of the home or school who they don't know personally (not necessarily by themselves, but the concept is still the same)?
In many ways, "don't talk to strangers" is a warning dating back from the days when abduction wasn't so hyped up and parents could actually feel comfortable letting their kids play outside without constant supervision. Now they follow the child everywhere. I ignored it because my parents never let me out of the house without one of them watching me during my elementary school years, so it never applied because I trusted that their judgment could substitute for mine in the case of "strangers."