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Badtux the Snarky PenguinIn a time of chimpanzees, I was a penguin. Religious fundamentalists are motivated by the sneaking suspicion that someone, somewhere, is having fun -- and that this must be stopped. |
Wednesday, August 02, 2006Back to Windows (sigh!)I forgot that the firewall product I need to access the corporate network from home only works from Windows. Sigh! I can attest, however, that Ubuntu Linux runs perfectly on an HP Pavilion DV4000 laptop, and that installing Ubuntu Linux has the side-effect of wiping the disk clean for re-installing Windows XP so that you don't re-infect yourself right back again...So, I re-installed XP, re-installed the HP applications DVD, then let XP load its updates. Then I installed three products -- an antivirus product, an anti-spyware product, and a firewall product. None of these are from those %^@#$% incompetents at Symantec who made the Norton Antivirus that failed me (those morons aren't getting a dime from me). Then I started re-installing applications from scratch via CD or directly from the web site of the vendor (I did *NOT* install any files from the previous install, since the probability that anything was rootkitted approached unity). Rather than Firefox and Thunderbird, I am now using Opera and Eudora. Firefox and Thunderbird have over a hundred vulnerabilities listed in the last year alone, and over 20 worms and viruses have been developed to exploit those vulnerabilities. Opera has a total of 17 vulnerabilities listed in the last three years, of which only 4 would allow a system compromise (and none of which were ever exploited before Opera Software closed the hole). When I get home this evening, I am going to restore my data from my backups. Before I do this, I will first scan everything with the prophylactic software that I just accumulated to make sure there are not, e.g., any macro viruses that have been inserted into word processor files (%@#$ Microsoft! Data files are supposed to be DATA files, not executables!). Note that my backups live on a Linux server, so I don't have to worry about autorun auto-running a virus off of my backups... Will this stop my laptop from being compromised again? Of course not! Windows suckitude simply can't be patched no matter how many security products you throw at it. But dumping Symantec garbage and zapping Firefox/Thunderbird will certainly help... as for the rest, I will continue to maintain good backups, and foresee yet another system erase/restore cycle at some point in the future before this laptop is retired in May of next year in favor of a new one (mostly because I'm wearing it out -- the letters are starting to wear off of the keys, and the paint on the touchpad has been rubbed off all the way down to the plastic). Meanwhile, my Ubuntu Linux server simply keeps chugging along... I run apt-get from time to time to update it, and that's that. -- Badtux the "Windows sucks!" Penguin Posted by: BadTux / 8/02/2006 01:58:00 PMComments:I say it's time to celebrate. Fire up the grill and cook the Firefox. Then you can chase it down with the Thunderbird.As for the suckitude of Windows, well Badtux sweetie, the best we can do is pull the virus-battling shades and deal with it for now. # posted by : 2/8/06 2:55 PM
I forgot that the firewall product I need to access the corporate network from home only works from Windows. |
About Me
I am a black and white and yellow multicolored penguin making his way as best he can in a world of monochromic monkeys. ArchivesApril 2004 / December 2004 / January 2005 / February 2005 / March 2005 / April 2005 / May 2005 / June 2005 / July 2005 / August 2005 / September 2005 / October 2005 / November 2005 / December 2005 / January 2006 / February 2006 / March 2006 / April 2006 / May 2006 / June 2006 / July 2006 / August 2006 / September 2006 / October 2006 / November 2006 / December 2006 / January 2007 / February 2007 / March 2007 / April 2007 / May 2007 / June 2007 / July 2007 / August 2007 /
Cost of the War in Iraq
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"Keep fighting for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce." -- Molly Ivins, 1944-2007
"The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."
-- Plato
Are you a spammer? Then send mail to my spamtrack mailbox to get permenantly banned! Remember, that's iamstupid@badtux.org (hehehhe!).
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