Toolkit

Story: Windows Update flaw 'left PCs open' to MSBlast

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It IS tempting to simply put on a smug smile and say "I run Linux".....as I do: - but there is an issue here beyond the fact that lots of people in the know are taking that path.

The point is that Windows itself is fundamentally flawed because it does not inherently address the question of isolating damage. Even on a "home" computer I have a clear delineation between my user and administrative accounts. So if a virus or worm were to attack my Linux box it would be very unlikely to spread beyond that account and affect the whole OS. Even in Windows XP the "administrative" account is not protected by default- most users probably don't even realise the dangers of running, in Unix terms, as "Root".

In the future perhaps viruses for Linux or Mac might become more common, but it's doubtful whether they could ever wreak as much havoc as the Windows varieties...

Not to mention the built-in firewalling that most Linux distributions ship with "out of the box". Far from perfect - but in contrast, when XP was released it was shipped with "raw" ports... and Microsoft can't really build in a decent firewall without foregoing the "phone home" behaviour of their default installation.

I suspect that the vast majority of home users on Windows don't even run a firewall. They become repositories for Denial of Service " bots" without even knowing that they are being bad internet citizens. Yet most of the arguments about Windows versus Linux centre on usability issues and other trivial concerns.

Windows is broken. Only a complete redesign could fix it.

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