Get your Windows 2000/XP patched up (1 Viewer)

[MikeAlletto]

I find that poll result interesting. The people that aren't going to do anything are just going to have their PC's reboot every few minutes. Won't that get annoying? What are they going to do just buy new PC's? It doesn't make any sense.

 

[GordonL]

That poll doesn't show/ask which version of Windows people are using. It's possible that that 40% are using 95/98/ME.

 

[chris_everett]

Glenn, it's not a windows media player patch, its for the remote procedure call subsystem of windows NT and it's variants (windows 2000 and XP) It's part of the core OS.

That 40% figure really scares me to. Honestly, what scares me the most is that few of these people are behind a properly configured firewall, something that there should be no excuse for at this point. I will not hook up broadband without a firewall. Period. I can understand why a patch doesn't get installed on every computer in a company where there may be hundreds of systems, and I can understand why a home user on a modem does not want to download it, but the patch should really be secondary protection to the firewall.

For those who have not installed the patch yet, keep in mind that while this worm is only an inconvenience, the next one could send a complete copy of everything on your computer to the hacker. No joke. Critical patches from MS should be installed quickly. The others can wait, and are optional, but the critical ones should go on right away. Microsoft has gotten good about testing these in advance, and their are rarely problems. The windows media update was in the recommended section, not the critical section.

Also, Every OS has updates. I get them for my PC, I get them for my Mac, and I get them for my Linux box. None are hard to install, and windows is probably the easiest if you have automatic updates on. Microsoft has gone out of it's way to warn users about this problem. As far as I can tell they sent e-mails to every single address that they have to warn them. Now, I'll bash Microsoft to no end when they deserve it, but they are trying, and they have gotten better.

btw, Any accountant who has turned down a request for a firewall in the last month should be fired, right along with those network admins.

 

[Cees Alons]

Microsoft have a reason to push very hard to have as many users install the patch as possible: all those non-installing wiseguys are going to take part in the DoS-attack on MS-servers on the 16th of this month (2 days, if the worm works as expected).

And anyone of those who panics not before that moment, may have severe problems even getting the patch.

Cees

 

[Joseph S]

You should diffently upgrade and if people would just stay current on their updates (can be done automatically, and even still it warns you when new ones are available) and use a firewall, they'd be fine.

Staying current doesn't mean installing every update within the month. Not everyone can afford to have banks of computers suffer from an untested/unknown glitch or app conflict in the patch. They need to flag more than "Critical Updates" at this point. People need time to let not-so-critical updates be adequately tested, yet know what is of utmost priority. Should patches need to be applied ASAP they must also come with complete un-installation options available if there is a glitch in the patch.

 

[Steve Enemark]

Last night at about 10:10pm (PST) the Windows Update site was definitely offline. There was a short message there extolling the virtues of Windows Update, and thanking the user for visiting, but no links to anything helpful. Then, I checked again ten minutes later, and the site was acting normal. Was this the DoD attack in action?

 

[Scott Wong]

I did hear the virus was to be activated on Saturday, Aug. 16th? Is this incorrect? If not, what happened?

scott.

 

[Cees Alons]

Was this the DoD attack in action?

More probably the users trying to download the patch, I guess.

Cees

 

[BrianW]

I wouldn't be too concerned about the 40% who won't do anything. I took a similar poll, and I placed myself in the "Do Nothing" category simply because I run Windows98 on one machine (which is used only to run Legos Studio - which won't run on any other OS - and will never be connected to a network or to the Internet again), and two Linux systems. There's really nothing I can do.

Incidentally, MS is running an increasing number of its own servers on GNU/Linux platforms, including their Windows Update server.

While many have adopted "MS-Bashing Mode" and claimed that this should be construed as Microsoft's endorsement of GNU/Linux as the ultimate security patch, I refuse to stoop that low. If Linux ever attains significant market share, it will surely be increasingly targeted by virus/worm/trojan writers, and they will have to eat their words. Linux may actually be more secure, but it's also true that being a big target simply draws a lot more fire.

On the other hand, I'm sure glad I run Linux on my desktop.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Nothing like that KLEZ nightmare was

The only problem with Klez was that it wasn't much of a problem. I had it on my system for weeks, not knowing what the slow down was, before doing a virus scan from symantec's website and removing the virus manually. If you have even basic knowledge of folder structure and the registry, it's more of an annoyance.

Blaster was much worse... I tried to end the tasks in task manager, but it would freeze and/or reboot everytime before I could make it. Fortunately, from the F8 startup menu, I hit Last Known Good Configuration or whatever and that worked. Than I ran Symantec's scan and Microsoft's patch. The TCI/IP filtering blocked my internet access however, so I had to disable that.

 

[John_Berger]

Should patches need to be applied ASAP they must also come with complete un-installation options available if there is a glitch in the patch.

In reference to that one XP patch that when installed severely crippled or in some cases removed network connectivity completely, no doubt.

 

[Rob Gillespie]

Here's a new one:

http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_100559.htm

Exploits the RPC vulnerability, kills MSBlaster and then attempts to download the MS patch to close the hole.

Is this a virus or a utility? Now I'm confused.

 

[John_Berger]

Is this a virus or a utility? Now I'm confused.

In a very weird and twisted sort of way, that's actually kind of cool. But although it's good in an overall sense, it doesn't solve the problems of (A) Microsoft's lack of security thereby allowing these bugs to be so damaging and (B) people refusing to act responsibly by patching their system and providing protection for their system via a firewall (hardware, software, or both).

People need to realize that, just like cars, operating systems need routine maintenance. If you don't change the oil in your car, you car's not going to last very long. If you don't keep up to date with virus signatures, system patches, and so forth, the same thing will happen to your computer eventually.

It would be much more apropos, however, if the "worm" popped up a message after applying the patch saying something like, "Because you ignored all of the warnings that were given out by Microsoft a month ago and you refused to patch your system, I decided that rather than risk the stability of computers around the world because of your negligence I would apply the patch for you. Please do the world a favor and go back to the Commodore 64."

 

[Rob Gillespie]

That new virus is going to cause us an even bigger headache that we already have.

On the main client I work on they have a large number of Compaq Evos to which we cannot apply the MS patch. It's to do with some weird issue with the build and until that build is re-done those machines will be wide open.

So if the virus gets onto those (as it surely will because this particular company doesn't give a toss about security or controlling users) it will try and download the patch and woof!

 

[Patrick Sun]

Last Thursday, one of my crowns came loose after chomping down on what had to be the hardest cashew nut known to man. I knew it as soon as I felt the pain shoot through my tooth and into my jaw when it happened.

Okay, so I get my crown re-cemented on by my dentist this afternoon. I was going to be charge some amount, but then I noticed the receptionist was having fits with their PC. I quickly diagnosed the MSBLASTER worm being the culprit. I suggested how to fix the problem, guided the receptionist through all the steps needed to clean up the worm (plowing through the registry) and patch their Windows 2000 operating system files. And for my help, I was comped on the re-cementing of my crown. This has to be one of few times where I profited from this worm...

 

[Greg*go]

So if the virus gets onto those (as it surely will because this particular company doesn't give a toss about security or controlling users) it will try and download the patch and woof!

Well Rob, maybe they'll learn the hard way to care about PC security since the computers will start breaking down.

 

[Rob Gillespie]

I wish they would Greg. For such a big company their lack of security and policies is shocking. Really shocking.