Safe Computing? (1 Viewer)

[John Watson]

Is there such a thing as Safe Computing?

National don't call lists, some jurisdictions making spam email illegal, and yet conning people to permit downloads of spyware, and outright high-jacking doesn't seem to be illegal. (I assume most of this stuff that rots people's computers comes from clicking something, after you have read "Terms of Reference." LOL)

I must admit that the number of cases that I read of in which this or that Spybot or Adaware or whatever doesn't help someone who has lost control of their own computer is discouraging. The vast majority of home users couldn't go to Registry to save our souls.

Can technology or legislation do anything serious to save us from this plague. Is Bill Gates' Safe Computing thrust anything but, hehe, Window Dressing

 

[MikeAlletto]

Why should anyone pass a law saying what you or I should be able to install onto our PC's? Afterall its my click that initiates the problems. I'd rather let myself decide, good or bad, what happens with my PC. If I screw it up, so be it, my problem.

Its all about personal responsibility. People don't want to admit that they really shouldn't have installed that software or really shouldn't have opened that attachment from someone they don't know or weren't expecting. Some people just deserve to have their computers taken away from them.

Its not Gates' fault, its not Windows' fault, its not even the virus writers fault. It's the users fault.

 

[John Watson]

As to leaving the average consumer at the mercy of the scumware trojan termites, should we give candy to babies too?

Seriously, implicit consent to things that will screw up your computer, especially when it's buried in tiny print that you have to scroll thru for minutes, seems to vitiate terms of fair dealing.

Bill Gates has actually launched some sort of campaign, with bounties on virus makers, tho I wonder if the complex MS Op System, with too much focus on speed in the performance of tasks, at the expense of time for considering whether I really want to do whatever ill-defined issue it is the computer is asking me to decide on ?

 

[Gordon Moore]

Is there such a thing as Safe Computing?

Yes. Well, sort of. It's not really a fair question because Joe Average doesn't understand the computer to the degree of the techie, geekie types....Nor should they.

That said, you wouldn’t get insurance for a break-in where you left the door to your house unlocked. People should share some burden of responsibility.

Many viruses, trojans and cons are weapons of social engineering and preys on human curiosity (or stupidity). You'll never completely eliminate that. It's impossible without regulation for who can and cannot buy a pc (would have to be a gov certified owner) and even then viruses would thrive because people make mistakes.

The computer should have been rebadged into just a piece of business office equipment and the home user should never been able to purchase one unless they were a business or university.

All the necessary tools for "safer" computing are available now but are either turned off by default or hard to understand/setup (for the average person) or harder to find. You could hire someone to set it up for you, but that costs money and people are cheap. If the government steps in and forces PC's to be locked down before purchase...the cost will go up (I'm talking DELLS and HP's not the DIY). Most of the necessary tools are free and that's a mind-blowing fact. Antivirus (AVG), firewall (ZoneAlarm, Sygate) on EVERY unsecure pc out there would probably eliminate 90-95% of the security problems (SPAM is a whole different kind of annoyance but not a security risk). The last 5-10% would be easier for security companies to focus on. Kinda like, if most people bought the club, car theft would drop dramatically (since joy riding is a major factor in theft), eliminating the unsophisticated "punk" (the majority of car thieves).

Yup the OS is full of holes and should just patch by default. Gates already made activation a permanent step, so why stop there? Push patches out automatically and install (no questions asked). Send the consumer a nice little message kindly asking them to reboot and life will go on. (The problem with this is that sometimes patches create bigger problems than they solve). Still, it's probably the lesser of 2 evils.

No clear answers, eh?


Convergence is putting the PC into the AV rack but it's taking time. To most average people (users is a dirty word) it's a glorified typewriter that let's them download email and surf the web...That's been done in a set top box several times but greed set forth and it didn't take off due to extra expenses for network service.

The PC is here and here to stay and it's slowly evolving.

If they can turn the PC into a set top box that one day turns on in one second or less. A PC that eliminates a persons ability to save information to it or saves it in a truly secured way for online shopping (newer algorithms required). If they can eliminate filemanagers and the rest of the complexities that plague Windoze run Pc's. If they can have more of an HP media PC or MyHTPC style interface and the owner is never allowed to enter "behind the scenes", then you may have "safer" computing. That's a bundle of "ifs". It ain’t' gonna happen though, because people don't like that level of control.

 

[John Watson]

A lot in your post Gordon, and I think your problem with my first sentence quoted is that there is too much in it too. Basically, I'm finding it bizarre that Gates shifts focus to the virus writers, rather than carefully testing his software, or in trying to educate the public to the advantages of a less fast and "integrated" Operating System.

I think we're becoming quite dependent on home computers, and that they should be a lot more stable and reliable. Instead, pc's rush on to greater complexity, and purported functionality and versatility, at the expense of user control. Kind of like building on sand. :frowning:

Among the rest of your observations, I certainly identify with the phrase "the necessary tools .. are available...but " are hard to set up or understand.

I admit "the public" may buy the promised candy of instant
gratification and ease of sending live videos to the granparents online, but the truth is many are sitting at home with virus clogged and unstable boxes that don't do a 10th of what's glibly promised.

 

[Gordon Moore]

Send the consumer a nice little message kindly asking them to reboot and life will go on.

Actually now that I think about it, find a way to eliminate that re-linking step. Get rid of the reboot phase of an install or patch (in Windows) and I'll have pretty much died and gone to heaven

We could all run linux (ideally) but in my case (and others) it's not possible. the Linux GUI is "amost there" but I'm not the only one who uses our glorified typewriter. So, it will have to be Windows for now, otherwise, I would get flack from my 4 year old if he couldn't play his Little Bear game.

Maybe we can convince everyone to switch to Thunderbird and Firebird...that might help too.

 

[Tekara]

oh switching this or that won't solve anything, once it becomes popular enough it will become the target of attacks and it will lose all of it's "security appeal"

I too am against laws being initiated against a lot of this. Though my basis is that current legislators are still too ignorant of current technology to make adequate laws. The current DCMA is great proof of this, it has been nothing but trouble.