True, and I agree to a certain extent, but lets face facts - there are a huge number of small/medium size businesses running MS Windows with little or no in-house IT-skills who would be seriously affected by virus outbreaks. The government knows large outbreaks hurt the economy, and are taking steps to reduce the effect.
You might argue that businesses would have learned their lessons after Code Red, Blaster, etc, but it just isn't a priority. A sad state of affairs really.
Firstly, it's worth reminding them if you are on a do not call list. In the UK it's the TPS (telephone preference service). Usually they apologise and hang up. I've never actually gone as far as reporting any companies but we don't get that many calls.
But the thing to remember is that tele-marketers work from a set script that is structured to make it difficult to refuse (do you want cheaper ?) or hang up without being rude.
To get them off the script I like to answer their question with completely illogical and surreal answers, at which point they will get the hint and give up.
Or, I once took about 20 minutes going along with my new "free conservatory", until the inevitable payment question came up (well, you didn't think it was really free!).
"Before I pay for my 'free' conservatory, tell me how your company has overcome the technical challenges of building a conservatory on the outside a 2nd floor flat ? It must be quite a feat of engineering."
"Pardon?....did you say....." *click*
I learned many lessons like this after working beside an ex-salesman, who knew every trick in the book.
The funniest call I heard him on was a kind of bizarre "reverse telemarketing". This woman phoned up thinking she was through to the local ticket-sales number, and nothing would convince her otherwise. About 3 or 4 of us were standing round his desk at this point to find out what the hell was going on. She was so belligerant that he ended up 'selling' her two tickets for a Kylie concert - classic!
This was at the American Airlines security counter, on a BLANK piece of paper, administered by an American Airlines rent-a-cop
I had the same thing from a Continental airlines rentacop going from UK to US. Twenty questions on why I had a laptop, twenty more questions on why I had a Middle East country stamped in my passport. And then the same again at US immigration. If I hadn't the exact address of the hotel on me most likely I would have been thrown on the next plane home
The whole process of being treated as a potential criminal at every security checkpoint makes travelling unbearable.
Like many other non-Americans, I'm not going back to the US whilst there is misplaced paranoia over terrorism, even for business. Don't misunderstand, it's not anti-Americanism - I just don't like the current neo-conservative policies.
Ironically, even though all the metal detector scans, luggage searches and shoe/bomb searches, nobody found the Swiss Army Knife that I'd accidentally put in my hand-luggage
Good job, security! I take my hat (shoe?) off to you!
Re:Somone get these ppl some free software!
on
Given Up to Spyware?
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· Score: 2, Insightful
This is a common misconception I've found trying to convert friends/family/colleagues to open source alternatives eg. Firefox when their machines are so rafted from spyware/adware/IE etc.
It takes more time to convince them that there is no catch - "a better product for no money" seems too good to be true, so therefore it must be false.
One time I spent 30 mins trying to explain to a friend how linux was "free" - "but I saw it for sale it a shop..."
"you get nothing for nothing", except for open source!
This guy is making the assumption that people want to download shows in the first place
Me, I'm going the other way because it just occurred to me I'm paying £XX/month for:
Far too much 3rd rate trashy "reality tv" crap
Far too many "foreign" programs bought in (no offence to the US intended)
20 mins of adverts per/hour. If I pay for it, I shouldn't have to watch adverts.
Even with 6 zillion channels there is never anything on
on-screen graphics, (and the possibility of this space being used for advertising)
reaching for the remote to turn the volume down every time the adverts come on. I'M NOT STUPID OR DEAF. IT WON'T MAKE ME BUY YOUR STUFF.
Just recently I've found myself watching program A, then the adverts start. Rather than watch them I channel-flick and start watching program B. Then forget I was even watching program A until more adverts come on.
Yep, I my dad had the same problem on a laptop he bought when working in Holland
Some of these things are a b*stard to get rid of, way beyond the novices (and possible some sysadmins too)
The "WinRebates" spyware was particularly difficult to get rid of, the only removal instructions I could find were out of date.
It consists of two processes WinRebates.exe and WinRebates1.exe which constantly poll for each other. Kill one, and it starts again immediately. Remove the registry startup entries, hit refresh and they have already been re-written.
I used the NT resource kit "kill.exe" utility, write a batch file containing the PID's of each process, that was the only way to successfully kill both processes quickly enough so they couldn't restart each other. Once the registry startup values were cleansed and executables removed, Ad-Aware was able to do the rest of the cleanup.
Another bit of spyware (can't remember which one) used some special debug-mode I never even knew existed, which meant it couldn't be killed from Task Manager even when logged in as Administrator. Again, the Kill.exe utility was the only way to kill it.
It's fair to say my dad has a new-found appreciation of keeping anti-virus software and firewalls up to date. In fact I've set him up with a router/hardware firewall and am gradually converting him to Open Source apps before I switch his OS to *nix, it's the only way!
It's true, clicking on a link from MSN Messenger will launch Internet Exploder even if the 'default browser' option is set to Firefox/Mozilla/Whatever. I use Trillian for instant messaging instead.
I tried to use the 'Set program access and defaults' applet, but it hung every time I tried to save the new non-MS configuration
I use a XP/Fedora dual-boot setup at home, but XP I have every MS product that can't be uninstalled barred from accessing the internet in ZoneAlarm.
I eventually gave up.
Despite being security concious and priding myself on having a clean PC I still got infected with the CoolWebSearch hijacker. That was running AVG / ZoneAlarm, the latest patches, and IE security settings on high, and all unnecessary services disabled
I ditched IE for Firefox about 4 months ago. Haven't had a single piece of spyware since.
Now I'm ditching W*ndows for linux!
Slashdot Mirror
True, and I agree to a certain extent, but lets face facts - there are a huge number of small/medium size businesses running MS Windows with little or no in-house IT-skills who would be seriously affected by virus outbreaks. The government knows large outbreaks hurt the economy, and are taking steps to reduce the effect.
You might argue that businesses would have learned their lessons after Code Red, Blaster, etc, but it just isn't a priority. A sad state of affairs really.
Firstly, it's worth reminding them if you are on a do not call list. In the UK it's the TPS (telephone preference service). Usually they apologise and hang up. I've never actually gone as far as reporting any companies but we don't get that many calls.
But the thing to remember is that tele-marketers work from a set script that is structured to make it difficult to refuse (do you want cheaper ?) or hang up without being rude.
To get them off the script I like to answer their question with completely illogical and surreal answers, at which point they will get the hint and give up.
Or, I once took about 20 minutes going along with my new "free conservatory", until the inevitable payment question came up (well, you didn't think it was really free!).
"Before I pay for my 'free' conservatory, tell me how your company has overcome the technical challenges of building a conservatory on the outside a 2nd floor flat ? It must be quite a feat of engineering."
"Pardon?....did you say....."
*click*
I learned many lessons like this after working beside an ex-salesman, who knew every trick in the book.
The funniest call I heard him on was a kind of bizarre "reverse telemarketing". This woman phoned up thinking she was through to the local ticket-sales number, and nothing would convince her otherwise. About 3 or 4 of us were standing round his desk at this point to find out what the hell was going on. She was so belligerant that he ended up 'selling' her two tickets for a Kylie concert - classic!
This was at the American Airlines security counter, on a BLANK piece of paper, administered by an American Airlines rent-a-cop
I had the same thing from a Continental airlines rentacop going from UK to US. Twenty questions on why I had a laptop, twenty more questions on why I had a Middle East country stamped in my passport. And then the same again at US immigration. If I hadn't the exact address of the hotel on me most likely I would have been thrown on the next plane home
The whole process of being treated as a potential criminal at every security checkpoint makes travelling unbearable.
Like many other non-Americans, I'm not going back to the US whilst there is misplaced paranoia over terrorism, even for business. Don't misunderstand, it's not anti-Americanism - I just don't like the current neo-conservative policies.
Ironically, even though all the metal detector scans, luggage searches and shoe/bomb searches, nobody found the Swiss Army Knife that I'd accidentally put in my hand-luggage
Good job, security! I take my hat (shoe?) off to you!
This is a common misconception I've found trying to convert friends/family/colleagues to open source alternatives eg. Firefox when their machines are so rafted from spyware/adware/IE etc.
It takes more time to convince them that there is no catch - "a better product for no money" seems too good to be true, so therefore it must be false.
One time I spent 30 mins trying to explain to a friend how linux was "free" - "but I saw it for sale it a shop..."
"you get nothing for nothing", except for open source!
Me, I'm going the other way because it just occurred to me I'm paying £XX/month for:
Just recently I've found myself watching program A, then the adverts start. Rather than watch them I channel-flick and start watching program B. Then forget I was even watching program A until more adverts come on.
Damn.
Yep, I my dad had the same problem on a laptop he bought when working in Holland
Some of these things are a b*stard to get rid of, way beyond the novices (and possible some sysadmins too)
The "WinRebates" spyware was particularly difficult to get rid of, the only removal instructions I could find were out of date.
It consists of two processes WinRebates.exe and WinRebates1.exe which constantly poll for each other. Kill one, and it starts again immediately. Remove the registry startup entries, hit refresh and they have already been re-written.
I used the NT resource kit "kill.exe" utility, write a batch file containing the PID's of each process, that was the only way to successfully kill both processes quickly enough so they couldn't restart each other. Once the registry startup values were cleansed and executables removed, Ad-Aware was able to do the rest of the cleanup.
Another bit of spyware (can't remember which one) used some special debug-mode I never even knew existed, which meant it couldn't be killed from Task Manager even when logged in as Administrator. Again, the Kill.exe utility was the only way to kill it.
It's fair to say my dad has a new-found appreciation of keeping anti-virus software and firewalls up to date. In fact I've set him up with a router/hardware firewall and am gradually converting him to Open Source apps before I switch his OS to *nix, it's the only way!
It's true, clicking on a link from MSN Messenger will launch Internet Exploder even if the 'default browser' option is set to Firefox/Mozilla/Whatever. I use Trillian for instant messaging instead. I tried to use the 'Set program access and defaults' applet, but it hung every time I tried to save the new non-MS configuration I use a XP/Fedora dual-boot setup at home, but XP I have every MS product that can't be uninstalled barred from accessing the internet in ZoneAlarm.
I eventually gave up. Despite being security concious and priding myself on having a clean PC I still got infected with the CoolWebSearch hijacker. That was running AVG / ZoneAlarm, the latest patches, and IE security settings on high, and all unnecessary services disabled I ditched IE for Firefox about 4 months ago. Haven't had a single piece of spyware since. Now I'm ditching W*ndows for linux!