DavidWhite
Final Approach
I built a computer that was significantly faster than the most powerful desktop Mac for 60% the cost.
New Computer Virus - serious business
- Thread starter CT4ME
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onwards
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FTFY.
NoHeat
Final Approach
Microsoft also provided backup software with XP that is useful. It's different from the one that comes with Windows 7, but it's there. You can learn more by googling it.
us AAirways
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If forced to answer at gunpoint, I'd have to say probably yes. Mac OS generally keeps itself tidier and has better memory and filesystem management than Windows < 7. I daresay this would result in less caching, less fragmentation, and therefore less wear and tear on the drive.
That being said, physical hard drive failure causes only a fraction of system crashes. Far more are caused by software issues. On Win NT / 2K / XP, I'd say that more than 95 percent of crashes I responded to were OS-related. On 9x / Me systems, I'd say that number was closer to 99.9 percent. Even when the crashes were, in fact, hardware related, the HD controller or some other mobo component were at least as likely to be the culprit as the hard drive itself.
Macs dramatically reduce the OS-related crashes, and I think they also reduce mobo-related hardware problems because of better overall quality control. So crashes tend to be rare on Macs. But when they do go down, they go down in a blaze of glory.
-Rich
denverpilot
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Actually I believe the failure rate of SSDs is still higher than spinning platters but it's highly dependent on usage. I'd have to check that, they may have finally swapped.
Palmpilot
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Turns out it was on the Purple Board:
Agree? Disagree? If the latter, what significant issues do you see with what he suggested?
CT4ME
Cleared for Takeoff
'Can't agree. But I've only been doing IT for 30+ years.
But First, back to the original post... here is a FREE program that protects against CryptoLocker... no link (that wouldn't be safe, would it?)... go to Foolish it.com (bad name, stands for Foolish IT). Download the CryptoPrevent program. Free.
*** note website name does NOT have a space in the name. The system blocks it if spelled corretly...swearing *****
MAYBE five or eight years ago there was an argument that one browser or the other could protect you more. Back in the day when viruses actually attacked your OS or your browser. But those days are LONG GONE. Today, most viruses attack YOU. Social engineering turns out to be so much easier than all the expertise it takes to attack security holes in software.
When XP support ends, the criminal syndicates (and script kiddies), will start to toy with direct attacks on XP again, as there will be little protection. Especially with a combined attack using software and social engineering. They'll exploit newly found holes and create new ones. Any person who does on-line banking, or on-line shopping should get away from XP. For legal liability reasons, most businesses should get away from XP, or risk exposing your business information to the outside World.... 'worse yet, your Clients' personal information.
I've never believed Firefox was any better than the alternatives. There have always been security problems, but they weren't as open about talking about them. These days, the stupid add-ons (add-ins, extensions, whatever) for all browsers are the vectors for many virus/malware attacks.
But First, back to the original post... here is a FREE program that protects against CryptoLocker... no link (that wouldn't be safe, would it?)... go to Foolish it.com (bad name, stands for Foolish IT). Download the CryptoPrevent program. Free.
*** note website name does NOT have a space in the name. The system blocks it if spelled corretly...swearing *****
MAYBE five or eight years ago there was an argument that one browser or the other could protect you more. Back in the day when viruses actually attacked your OS or your browser. But those days are LONG GONE. Today, most viruses attack YOU. Social engineering turns out to be so much easier than all the expertise it takes to attack security holes in software.
When XP support ends, the criminal syndicates (and script kiddies), will start to toy with direct attacks on XP again, as there will be little protection. Especially with a combined attack using software and social engineering. They'll exploit newly found holes and create new ones. Any person who does on-line banking, or on-line shopping should get away from XP. For legal liability reasons, most businesses should get away from XP, or risk exposing your business information to the outside World.... 'worse yet, your Clients' personal information.
I've never believed Firefox was any better than the alternatives. There have always been security problems, but they weren't as open about talking about them. These days, the stupid add-ons (add-ins, extensions, whatever) for all browsers are the vectors for many virus/malware attacks.
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coolbreeze
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MS was hit with another security flaw earlier this week, Microsoft Security Advisory (2896666). It will probably get patched with their Tuesday patch release. MS is the big kid on the block, so it gets picked on a whole lot!
Palmpilot
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Thanks for the info. How will the lack of OS updates make social engineering attacks more likely to succeed? Doesn't social engineering depend on the user typing in information that he really shouldn't be typing in?
I'm thinking about confining my Internet activity to an OS that's still supported, but that's a problem because some of the games I run on my highest performance machine have problems with Windows 7.
I have a Windows 7 notebook, but it doesn't have enough horsepower for playing online videos.
I'm also thinking about installing Linux on an older desktop machine and using that for banking and online ordering, since that's not an application that requires much horsepower.
CT4ME
Cleared for Takeoff
You could always continue to use XP and use one of those programs that reverts it back to a known configuration every time you re-boot. (Like Deep Freeze)
denverpilot
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Or just get it off the Internet. 
Palmpilot
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Or just get it off the Internet.
The problem with that plan is that only one of my computers has the performance required to run videos off the Internet and run games. (Some of my games don't seem to like Windows 7.)
CT4ME
Cleared for Takeoff
Deep Freeze allows you to define "thawed areas", for data or known areas that you want to allow change.
Palmpilot
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Thanks for the info. The standard version is only $45, and they have a 30 day free trial deal, so I will definitely check that out!
http://www.faronics.com/products/deep-freeze/
http://www.faronics.com/products/deep-freeze/
Palmpilot
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A couple of things I forgot to ask about before:
Is the possibility of a malicious link adequately dealt with by doing a mouse-over to see if it takes you where it should?
When doing business on-line, is there any way to detect if the company and/or Web site is still using XP?
Although Firefox may not be inherently more secure than IE, I would think that it would be an advantage if Mozilla continues to provide updated versions that run on XP. Any idea if they plan on doing so?
Is the possibility of a malicious link adequately dealt with by doing a mouse-over to see if it takes you where it should?
When doing business on-line, is there any way to detect if the company and/or Web site is still using XP?
Although Firefox may not be inherently more secure than IE, I would think that it would be an advantage if Mozilla continues to provide updated versions that run on XP. Any idea if they plan on doing so?
Homeland Security sent out an update about this malware yesterday. It was only partially correct, but it can be found at https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/alerts/TA13-309A.
Some of the incorrect or only partially correct things are under the heading "Mitigation." System Restore, for example, is usually useless for this situation, as is "Restore from Backup" the way most people do their backups. I'm not sure about the Shadow Copy service. It might also be vulnerable.
The most secure way to protect against this threat is to make a clone or image copy to an external drive, and to physically disconnect it (or turn it off if it has a switch) after it's updated. Yes, that's a chore. But it's 100 percent secure. The malware can't mess with the files if the drive's not connected.
There are software ways to disable the HDD, but obviously, they wouldn't be as secure as disconnecting it. They might be secure enough, however.
Another way, if it's any kind of network drive, would be to see if there's an option in the router to restrict the external drive's access to certain times when you usually run your backup, and disconnect it at other times.
The point, in any case, is that all of these cryptolocker variants are designed to find and attack backups, so the only absolutely foolproof safeguard is to make the backup medium inaccessible. The most secure way is to physically disconnect the backup from the system between backups. Any method short of that is at least theoretically vulnerable.
-Rich
Some of the incorrect or only partially correct things are under the heading "Mitigation." System Restore, for example, is usually useless for this situation, as is "Restore from Backup" the way most people do their backups. I'm not sure about the Shadow Copy service. It might also be vulnerable.
The most secure way to protect against this threat is to make a clone or image copy to an external drive, and to physically disconnect it (or turn it off if it has a switch) after it's updated. Yes, that's a chore. But it's 100 percent secure. The malware can't mess with the files if the drive's not connected.
There are software ways to disable the HDD, but obviously, they wouldn't be as secure as disconnecting it. They might be secure enough, however.
Another way, if it's any kind of network drive, would be to see if there's an option in the router to restrict the external drive's access to certain times when you usually run your backup, and disconnect it at other times.
The point, in any case, is that all of these cryptolocker variants are designed to find and attack backups, so the only absolutely foolproof safeguard is to make the backup medium inaccessible. The most secure way is to physically disconnect the backup from the system between backups. Any method short of that is at least theoretically vulnerable.
-Rich