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

[Rob Gillespie]

It just proves that there are still people working out there that don't deserve the jobs they have.

I'm not sure that's entirely fair. With so many companies outsourcing IT work it's often down to the understaffed outsourcer department to do with a handful of staff work originally done by many.

Also, with several thousand PCs to upgrade, you need a reliable deployment method and a well-designed, well-maintained network infrastructure to keep things running smoothly.

There's a lot of big companies being caught out by this. Much of the fault lies with the bean-counters who see IT as an unnecessary burden on the $$$.

 

[John_Berger]

Much of the fault lies with the bean-counters who see IT as an unnecessary burden on the $$$.

Hear, hear!

 

[MickeS]

So explain to me... if this guy was "brilliant" why did he write a virus that would do a DoS attack, when none of the infected computers would be up and running for it to work?

From Symantec:

Due to the random nature of how the worm constructs the exploit data, this may cause computers to crash if it sends incorrect data. This may manifest as svchost.exe generating errors as a result of the incorrect data.

The effect we're seeing is a bug, not the intended effect.

 

[MikeAlletto]

Much of the fault lies with the bean-counters who see IT as an unnecessary burden on the $$$.

There is that but the fault lies a lot with IT people for the accountants having that opinion in the first place. IT people tend to exagerate what they need just to get it, alot of them tend to cause more problems than solve also. A lot of them tend to upgrade for the sake of upgrading just so they have something new to play with. Then when something horrible happens they turn around and blame the users when its the IT persons responsibility to keep things running. Now granted its not all the IT persons fault but they aren't without blame. A lot of them put themselves in the situations they are in either through no action or wrong action.

 

[Cees Alons]

Uhmm.. I hope that y'all understood that my use of "brilliant" in relation to the creator was utterly sarcastic.

He or she didn't prove anything, (s)he didn't invent anything ... (s)he just read Microsofts's own message and used it as quickly as (s)he could (which was slow).

If ever I could admire some of those hackers (not likely), than certainly not this ... this ... < how do you people call a kid who fraudulently copies an answer in an examination from the kid sitting next to him? In Dutch there's a clear term for such a guy. >.

Cees

 

[Rob Gillespie]

There are already two minor variants of this virus now in circulation. Keeps those defs up to date folks!

 

[John_Berger]

IT people tend to exagerate what they need just to get it, alot of them tend to cause more problems than solve also. A lot of them tend to upgrade for the sake of upgrading just so they have something new to play with.

That's a vicious cycle in a hell of a lot of companies.

Many bean counters and technologically-ignorant higher-ups have a tendency to undervalue the need to get new systems. As a result, many IT people have to overexaggerate the value of the system just to get the upper echelon to listen. While I don't deny that many upgrade for the sake of upgrading, many others do that because they know that if they don't upgrade now they probably won't get the funding to do so later.

In many government positions, the rule is that if you don't spend your entire budget this year then obviously you don't need the same amount of money next year. (Oh, yeah. That really makes a lot of sense!) But I saw it year after year when I was working for the Commonwealth of PA. As a result, we'd have to buy new equipment and software just to make sure that we could secure the budget amount that we needed for the following year!

 

[Rob Gillespie]

Then when something horrible happens they turn around and blame the users when its the IT persons responsibility to keep things running

True, but generally users are total dimwits. Tell them in big 72pt bold typeface not to open unknown attatchments and they'll open them anyway.

A lot of the companies being hit just don't have any reliable way of getting several thousand PCs service packed and patched within a short timeframe. It's often down to a 'guy with a CD'. Plus we've already come across at least one major issue with the patch on certain machine configurations - something we have absolutely no control over.

We run several clients from our office - these are big companies, one of which runs most of the UK's nuclear power stations. That one is tight on security and we never get any real virus problems on that system. But one of the others is a total freckin' nightmare. They have no security policy, they allow users to take laptops home and 'mess about' on the internet through their own ISPs and then bring that machine back onto the network. And yet they wont accept recommendations to get things sorted out - but when the shit hits the fan like with this virus - yes, it's all OUR fault.

 

[John_Berger]

I hope that y'all understood that my use of "brilliant" in relation to the creator was utterly sarcastic.

His statements are most likely in response to my use of the word "brilliant", which I still stand by. It's pretty clear that he did this for the express purpose of bringing attention to the problem of Microsoft security or lack thereof. (After all, his message clearly asks why does Microsoft allow code like his to be successful.) Whether shutting down systems was intentional or was a bug in his code, you can't deny the impact that his exploit has, which is far more than an e-mail virus that you can just delete from your Inbox.

You have to hate the methods, but admire the point that he's trying to make - Microsoft needs to start focusing on security and stop looking at ways to integrate their crap into the operating system, and people need to start keeping their systems up to date. Getting more e-mails than you should due to a virus is one thing; having a server and employee PCs shut down during production hours is quite another.

 

[John_Berger]

And yet they wont accept recommendations to get things sorted out - but when the shit hits the fan like with this virus - yes, it's all OUR fault.

Have you heard the one about the manager in the hot-air balloon?

 

[Cees Alons]

True, but generally users are total dimwits. Tell them in big 72pt bold typeface not to open unknown attatchments and they'll open them anyway.

If you have a bare copper wire with, say, 100,000 Volts on it, running through a corridor, just out of normal reach - that's no danger to anyone.

Attach a clear sign saying "// Danger! Don't Touch This Wire. //", and you'll soon find a pile of dead bodies lying underneath.

(Where are the fingerprints and smears on drying paint? Next to the "Caution - Wet Paint" note.)


Cees

 

[John_Berger]

(Where are the fingerprints and smears on drying paint? Next to the "Caution - Wet Paint" note.)

There's a computer supply super-store over here called CDW. Their commercials focus on an IT worker called "Fred" who has to deal with stupid users. The commercials are so-o-o-o freaking funny!

Old lady with horned glasses and empty-headed smile: "I opened up that e-mail just like you told us not to."

"Fred, I sent out an e-mail about the e-mail being down."

"I think I fried the motherboard ... and the fatherboard."

"It's 3 in the afternoon. Time to fry another hard drive."

 

[John Watson]

Rob, the sad truth is, it's dim to give complex technology like this to dim people.

On the observation that the beancounters hold back the appropriate investment in IT, the demonstration of IT boosted productivity is waaay overdue.

I often found that the push to upgrade was equally explainable by a desire to deflect attention from the disaster with the last upgrade.

Nothing like dealing with fresh crises to attenuate accountability.

 

[Steve Enemark]

I think this poll on CNN says it all. I can hardly blame MS too much when 40% of people are this stupid.

On the other hand, people like that are great job security for IT hacks like me!

 

[John_Berger]

This is one of those things where I don't know whether to or :rolleyes.

 

[DaveGTP]

The worm got my fiancee's PC on Monday (maybe earlier). I spent some time researching what it was a few days ago, did the RPC-restart service fix, and purged it out with the virus protection, and patched it up. She never updates her stuff, I swear, maybe I will turn on the accursed automatic update services for her.

We just got broadband again last month. I've been waiting for a good deal on a wireless router, but I haven't done it yet. Serves us right, I guess. A purchase for this month, now, I see, not "later".

That poll is hilarious. It's one thing not to know about it, it's another to say "Oh, a nasty virus spreading like wildfire? I will do nothing".

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Steve, that is as sick as I heard yesterday. I guess they will only learn when they get hit from it. If you split the 19% and add it to the 40%, that's close to the 50% that I heard.

If I have this right, this is a patch for the Windows Media Player, which MS said was fantastic when it came out, but which I don't use. It is too intrusive for me and I have a better management of my media anyway. This almost makes me think that the jerk that started this was right, they just come out with this stuff and don't think about the holes that it leaves open in computers.

Anyone that is on 24/7 should really think about what they are (almost) handing out to anyone in the world to see. I am by no means paranoid about my privacy but how can anyone not think that having their system connected like that isn't going to leave them open to some jerk doing something strange?

Imagine what would happen if the jerk that did this used to work for MS and warned them about it when XP came out, and they let him go?

Glenn

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

I bought my computer at home from Dell 18 months ago. Came with Windows ME installed with a free upgrade to XP. I never got around to installing the upgrade. Today I found out how lucky I am.....

 

[Curt_Dennis]

Hey Dennis, I sure wouldn't call you lucky for using Windows ME for 18 months. ME was one of Microsofts worst Operating Systems to date. 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. I'm the director of IT operations at my company and to see the poll with 40% doing nothing, that really doesn't suprise me considering some of the questions I get here even from IT staff.

 

[AllanN]

bought my computer at home from Dell 18 months ago. Came with Windows ME installed with a free upgrade to XP. I never got around to installing the upgrade. Today I found out how lucky I am.....

Today you got lucky, but my experience supporting ME, it is the most unstable, bloated, useless Microsoft operating system to date. It's a rushed release so Microsoft could get some more money out of users after they realized that bringing a NT based OS to the home desktop was not viable option for Windows 2000.