25 years of (computer) viruses!!

Hitboxx · 07-12-2007, 06:57 PM

Quote:

Some birthdays just aren't happy events. Science is noting the 25th birthday of the first documented instance of malware. The magazine uses the occasion as an opportunity to both track the evolution of the virus and its relatives (trojans, rootkits, etc.) and discuss why the problem is likely to still be plaguing us when the 50th anniversary rolls around.

Most of us were first exposed to the concept of malware with the arrival of the Morris Worm in 1988, which spread worldwide through the Internet, which existed primarily as an academic resource at the time. But the authors note that the Morris Worm was a relative latecomer. 1982 saw the first computer virus, Elk Cloner, the product of a Pittsburgh high school student that spread through Apple II systems via infected floppy disks

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Come to think of it, if not for viruses, malware etc, would most of us have been using Linux?! Interesting thought that.

On the other hand, thank heavens for viruses, for personally I would not have discovered the gem called Linux

Jeebizz · 07-12-2007, 07:26 PM

It is true that virusses contribute to most people moving towards other platforms, such as Linux/*nix/Mac, but I don't think it is the only thing. I myself never really had much of a virus/malware problem under windows, why? Because I never worked as admin, and I was careful of what I was doing. I started using Linux for other reasons, such as better stability, the freedom, and yes the least most important for me, virusses, only because I did not want to have to run some damned av software in the background sucking up resources.

Jorophose · 07-12-2007, 07:44 PM

Wasn't there a virus embedded in a PC war game or something?...

sundialsvcs · 07-12-2007, 10:07 PM

I agree: I've run Windows for many years and I have never encountered a virus.

I also do not run any sort of virus-"protection" software.

The Microsoft Windows system is extremely well-protected against viruses ... except for one wee small thing: on millions of deployed systems, all of that security is switched off!

And all of those sitting-ducks are sitting on the Internet, basically just waiting to be ..

ed.

How to stop them, dead in their tracks? Easy!

Look at it this way: you cannot stop these vagabonds from showing up at your doorknob, but you can keep them from strolling through the front door as though they owned the place and giving orders to all of the house-servants! And how do you prevent that?

That's got a sweet, one-sentence answer: Never run a Windows system as an Administrator (or a Linux/Unix system as root).

Jeebizz · 07-12-2007, 11:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by sundialsvcs
That's got a sweet, one-sentence answer: Never run a Windows system as an Administrator (or a Linux/Unix system as root).

Spoken like a true prodigy. Unfortunately this is the fault of three entities: 1. Microsoft, for not having the user setup a NON admin account. Each time you setup a 'user' in the initial windows setup, that user has admin rights, along with the administrator account, so now you have TWO admin accounts.

2. Developers, mainly game developers. Their games are not properly designed, i.e. they do NOT take advantage of windows' features of user rights, and so most of their games, will not work right unless the user is in an administrative account. 3. The user. They are complacent and often insistant that they need administrative rights to do everything, and pointing them to the 'run as' feature, only makes them say, 'yea but its just quicker to be admin already.'

SlowCoder · 07-13-2007, 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeebizz

Spoken like a true prodigy. Unfortunately this is the fault of three entities: 1. Microsoft, for not having the user setup a NON admin account. Each time you setup a 'user' in the initial windows setup, that user has admin rights, along with the administrator account, so now you have TWO admin accounts.

2. Developers, mainly game developers. Their games are not properly designed, i.e. they do NOT take advantage of windows' features of user rights, and so most of their games, will not work right unless the user is in an administrative account. 3. The user. They are complacent and often insistant that they need administrative rights to do everything, and pointing them to the 'run as' feature, only makes them say, 'yea but its just quicker to be admin already.'

Too true, and much better than I could have said it.

Also add Microsoft's dumbing down of users, and software integration issues that open up all sorts of holes, even in normal user mode.