Warning unpatched PCs compromised in 20 minutes

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by goldoni

In my wisdom (which is not a lot) I purchased a Packard Bell laptop and the OS is pre loaded with no Administrator options, the section is there but you need a password which neither Packard Bell or PC World will divulge, which Iâ₠¬ÃƒÆ’¢â€žÂ¢m a little hacked off with because if the OS goes A-wall I am unable to repair as it asks for the password so the only options are format C or set-back. So if anyone knows of a workaround on this one???

Does Windows Update work (either selecting "Start", "Programs", "Windows Update" or typing http://www.windowsupdate.com in the address bar in IE)?

If you look at the Windows Update website, the Administrator Options should be listed in the bar on the left of the window.

[goldoni]

Thanks for the info. I have now got a CD full of updates, never knew you could do that. Anybody out there in CF land knows how I can get into the Administrator account on my computer ????

[Ramrod]

Originally Posted by scastle

Does Windows Update work (either selecting "Start", "Programs", "Windows Update" or typing http://www.windowsupdate.com in the address bar in IE)?.

ermmmmm.....why is microsoft now asking me to install and run 'windows update'?.............it's never done that before

[dilli-theclaw]

Originally Posted by Ramrod

ermmmmm.....why is microsoft now asking me to install and run 'windows update'?.............it's never done that before

Were you on update v4? The new one is v5 - so it could just be asking you to update.

[greencreeper]

Originally Posted by scastle

As Bifta says (above), I suspect the main reason that Windows is the most compromised operating system is not because it is inherantly any less secure than any other OS, but simply because it is the most popular.

That's illogical though - it doesn't follow that a popular OS is more likely to be hacked. The reason Windows is a target is (a) it's full of holes; and (b) everybody (apart from CF posters ) hates Microsoft - it embodies everything that is bad about capitalism. Are Apache webservers constantly being hacked? Is Apache full of security holes? Nope - but it is the most popular webserver.

With open source everybody can see the source, see the bugs, and fix the bugs - no reliance on a company to be honest and to provide a patch. It's a better system and hopefully, one day, all software will be open source and companies will make their money out of supporting the software.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by greencreeper

That's illogical though - it doesn't follow that a popular OS is more likely to be hacked. The reason Windows is a target is (a) it's full of holes; and (b) everybody (apart from CF posters ) hates Microsoft - it embodies everything that is bad about capitalism. Are Apache webservers constantly being hacked?

I don't doubt that the fact that Windows has security holes (and, sorry to say this, it's not the only OS that does) and the fact that people hate Microsoft has persuaded some hackers to turn their attention to it, but the fact is that hackers (particularly script kiddies) are more likely to go for the more popular OS (whatever it happens to be at the time). This is simply because any exploits for it are more likely to publicised. I personally think the same would apply if Linux were the predominant O/S.

[Shaun]

I've just tried to create a slipstream disk but the update file in SP2 doesn't seem to like the /s suffix!