Security
Valentin Guillen
From your headers I see that you are using a m$ operating system and Outlook
Express.
The fact that you are using these products indicates that you either don't
understand the nature of the "security problem" you face or worse.
If security is of importance to you, you will change which operating system you
use. Of all possible choices out there, you are using the most insecure of
all. And generally speaking, the security minded user would NEVER use
shareware, ESPECIALLY anything downloadable from the internet!
Security comes from action based on hard work and research. And the more you
probe into this field, the less likely you are to use Microsoft products. If
you are truly serious about the security of your machine, and more importantly,
of you data and your privacy, you will become a TCP/IP expert. That is the only
way to ensure your security and privacy. And the first thing you are likely to
do as your knowlege increases, is to dump the operating system and the software
used to post the message I'm replying to.
I sincerely hope that this message does not offend you, as that is not my
intent. My intent is that you start to become aware of the risks you expose
yourself to by using this company's products. An example, for starters, can be
read here:
http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/20493.html
This is but an example of what Microsoft users expose themselves to by
persisting in using the "security hole-of-the-week" software which this company
writes.
I hope that you do continue to inform yourself, and make the best choices for
your situation!
Best Regards
Valentin Guillen
myzer73 wrote:
> I know this question has nothing to do with laptops but, this is the only
> newsgroup I visit. Anyways, my question is :
>
> I just got an ADSL connection ( Ethernet connection to internet up to 2 meg
> per second download ), with this line I'm hooked up to the internet 24hours
> a day - I want to be able to get some sort of shareware/freeware that will
> prevent hackers getting into my system. Anyone know of reliable software ?
>
> Please e-mail responses directly to : rob...@nt.net
Rikk Streng
mighty, Windows9x is pretty immune to "hacker" type attacks. It has no built-in
telnet or ftp or mail daemons to misconfigure, and is single-user. Disable the
binding to file and print sharing on the network card and you end the only potential
hack-in problem. I mean sure Win9x can be ping flooded or ICMP'd or whatever, and
the box may crash, but intrusive attacks are not so common.
WinNT on the other hand, yes, I concur that it needs strong firewall action in front
of it, cuz it's basically swiss cheese. But then again there are other OS's out
there that are just as fragile. http://www.rootshell.com is proof of that. Whether
an OS is made by Microsoft or freelance programmers or anyone else doesn't mean it's
foolproof, or totally useless on the 'net. All come with some level of strength and
weakness. This particular user has chosen a route which he feels comfortable with,
as you have yours.
I think NT's weaknesses are more pronouced because of the large number of users they
affect, rather than because NT exploits are any more common or lethal as any non-MS
OS-based exploits. If your OS was as visible in the marketplace as NT, it would get
it's fair share of criticism just the same.
-Rikk
RëBøøT55
> With all due respect, I find your post either amusing or very naive.
>
> From your headers I see that you are using a m$ operating system and Outlook
> Express.
>
> The fact that you are using these products indicates that you either don't
> understand the nature of the "security problem" you face or worse.
>
> If security is of importance to you, you will change which operating system you
> use...
blah blah blah......
Obviously you don't practice what your preach.. your also using WIN95 and Netscape
4.02 or maybe you don't care about "security". My general rule of thumb is to
simply strong encrypt all my sensitive data on my HD.. with something like PGP 6.0
or blowfish or TRIPLE DES with 448 bits key length that way I don't have to be
paranoid about whose looking at what.. at this moment I don't really care.. there
isn't anything worth looking at now except all my installed bloatware..
--
Al ԿԬ
Vision is the art of seeing things invisible
echo_email = fake
echo_reason = too much spam
echo_contact = NG post only
Valentin Guillen
> blah blah blah......
>
> Obviously you don't practice what your preach.. your also using WIN95 and Netscape
> 4.02 or maybe you don't care about "security".
Unfortunately, when I sat down to respond to the original message, I was closest to a
nasty, Win9x box. However, I'm now back on my favorite box, and I invite you to "read
my headers, baby".
You are quite correct, that encryption is a very useful and necessary tool these days.
The unfortunate aspect of encryption is the added time it takes to accomplish tasks, if
you encrypt everything.
Best Regards
--
Valentin Guillen
vguillenNO-...@mindspring.com
------------------------
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Valentin Guillen
I run Red Hat 5.1, DR-DOS, and OS/2 Warp 4 on this laptop, and almost never insert my Win9x
hard drive, which I bought with this laptop. I do still keep that hard drive around in my
carrying case, because invariably, I receive files to read or work on, and in the business
world, you MUST have windoz. But not because it is any better. ONLY because the masses use
it.
The masses drive chevys and fords, but no one in their right mind would even compare them with
a finely crafted and engineered Mercedes Benz. Same analogy applies.
I have, of course, a nice Alpha box which I run NT4 server on, but it dual boots with linux, as
well. That's the basis of my home network. I have sundry other desktop boxes lying about, my
favorite of which has the BeOS. Killer OS!!
Funny, I run most of my apps on the OS/2. Not Office, of course. Anything I ran before on 3.1
win I still run on Warp, along with many native apps. But between the Linux and Warp, I can do
virtually anything I need to without paying the M$ tax.
And I can feel very good about myself!!!
Best Regards
Rikk Streng wrote:
> Oh my god..
>
> Mozilla 4.04 [en] (OS/2; I)
>
> Fight the good fight.. Still, I miss it sometimes.
>
> -Rikk
Rikk Streng
Mozilla 4.04 [en] (OS/2; I)
Fight the good fight.. I used OS/2 from 1993 to 1997. I ran a DOS-based BBS under it and
the first time I saw it work two nodes, I was quite impressed. I think Warp4 was kinda
weird, but Warp3 was an excellent system, and the GUI was alot better than Win98. When I
took the BBS down and realized I couldn't run *anything* useful, I had to give it up.
Not to mention those damned Fixpaks. Who thought up the ieda of forcing people to ONLY use
floppy disks to install fixpaks? Hauling around 18 disks for the OS fixpak, 5 or 6 disks
for TCPIP, and 6 more for the network client. Not viable.
Still, I miss it sometimes.
-Rikk
Valentin Guillen wrote:
> > blah blah blah......
> >
> > Obviously you don't practice what your preach.. your also using WIN95 and Netscape
> > 4.02 or maybe you don't care about "security".
>
> Unfortunately, when I sat down to respond to the original message, I was closest to a
> nasty, Win9x box. However, I'm now back on my favorite box, and I invite you to "read
> my headers, baby".
>
> You are quite correct, that encryption is a very useful and necessary tool these days.
> The unfortunate aspect of encryption is the added time it takes to accomplish tasks, if
> you encrypt everything.
>
> Best Regards
>