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from the Alt-right-plot-to-rule-the-world-through-Windows-exploitables dept.
This was just too funny not to submit. Do you not have the latest keyboard-logging Windows 10 on your, um computer? Not your computer, you know. But now, it turns out, according to the formerly great tech journal ZDNet, you are at risk! "Awake! Fear! Fire! Foes! Awake!"
But, wait for it, only if you run Windows.
Over half of applications installed on Windows PCs are out-of-date, potentially putting the security of users at risk through flaws in software that have already been patched by vendors.
Around 55 percent of software installed on PCs across the globe is in the form of an older version of the application, according to research by security company Avast — and that number has risen from 48 percent in their previous report.
Based upon anonyimized[sic] and aggregated data from 163 million devices around the world, Avast's PC trends report also suggests that almost one in six Windows 7 users and one in ten Windows 10 users are running out-of-date versions of their operating system, also leaving them open to exploitation of system-level security vulnerabilities.
Some of the programs most commonly left out-of-date include Adobe Shockwave, VLC Media Player, Skype, Java Runtime Environment, and 7-Zip Filemanager.
Putting off installing updates and running outdated applications can cause bugs and incompatibility problems for users, but more significantly, running out-of-date software can provide an open door for hackers to take advantage of holes left in programs that haven't had critical security updates applied.
Well, there it is. If you run Windows, you are running a security risk. Funny they would think how current your capitulation to the "Dark Side" is would make any difference. But on the other hand, the advice in general is good, just do not run anything out of Redmond, where the Dark Lord rules, and keep up to date on security patches. Except on my Android Phone. They ask me to do security upgrades, and I think, "Why?" I cannot remove the goddamned bloat-ware they put on goddamned thing, and they want me to approve upgrades? Hell no! I will rot in hell with my aging Android phone, with a version of Android nearly as old as I am, because the bastards will not allow me to upgrade to a more current version!
If Linux did shit like this, systemd aside, I would be BSD all the way. Sorry, too much commentary for a submission. But, really? Am I wrong?
P.S. When exactly did ZDNet take the tumble? Does anyone remember? Was it with the review of the new Microsoft Disk Compression Utility?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 23 2019, @08:56AM (4 children)
I needed to test something on windows so booted up that partition and started installing/running it. I left the room thinking I'd come back to see it complete in an hour or so, but instead saw the computer had rebooted. I can only assume this was an "update". How do people use this for real work?
(Score: 4, Funny) by MostCynical on Wednesday January 23 2019, @10:25AM (2 children)
With much embarrassment, when you get a 5-minute restart warning part-way through an important presentation..
Savvy users spend the day before these sot of meetings forcing updates, just in case they get lucky, and make it through half a day without those pop ups. Note, they only appear during imptant meetings and prsentations. Normally, you can go a whole week without your computer restarting itself.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 5, Touché) by Gaaark on Wednesday January 23 2019, @11:10AM (1 child)
Savvy users...don't use Windows! :)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 5, Insightful) by MostCynical on Wednesday January 23 2019, @11:27AM
I use whatever the company paying me allocates to me, That way corporate email, share drives and 'special' software all work*, and nothing I have "done" on my own machine can be blamed for any "issues" - using their machine, with their IT support, means you are not going to get blamed when email borks, or your share drives disappear. As few corp IT people can diagnose much (reboot, reinstall, maybe force BIOS update) and even fewer know anything about networking, putting a *nix box on their network is just asking to be blamed for, well, *everything* that goes wrong on any device attached to the network, even after you've left.
Best just to use their box, with whatever OS (usually WIn7 or Win10, these days) and just make sure you include an allowance for pain and suffering when you negotiate your day rate.
* as well as any of it works, no better or worse than any other person working at the company
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 4, Touché) by Gaaark on Wednesday January 23 2019, @11:14AM
I used to wonder that: Does the richest man in the world (back then a bit) REALLY put up with this blue screen shit? Then watched the video of his presentation where Windows blue screened on him and thought, Wow...what a luser.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---