Re: [TCLUG:17297] More Love Bug

[Mike Hicks <hick0088@tc.umn.edu>]

Well, thanks to all who offered their opinions on mail software.  Sounds
like there are plenty of good options out there -- people can even still
have scheduling software (although how compatible that software is with
Outlook is still a bit of a question, though doesn't Outlook send that
stuff in a fairly easily decipherable text file or something?)

I've been digging around all over the place getting more information on
the Love bug..  I guess I have too much time on my hands.  Anyway, I
continue to be scared by what can happen because of viruses, worms,
macros, trojans, and other words that sound really bad to a system
administrator at two o'clock in the morning.  In the Intel world, I
think it should really be made a requirement to run computers in
protected mode (286/386+), where the operating system can halt many of
the machine-code viruses.  Even Windows NT provides a good measure of
protection.  This is also why I'm curious about (DR-DOS)/(CP/M) -- if
those operating systems were used instead of Microsoft's non-operating
system, I don't think viruses and other malicious software would be
nearly as common as they are today.  Multi-user systems provide yet more
protection, but with some costs..

While I think the Linux distribution vendors are somewhat better about
not running unnecessary services than they used to be, I'm not sure if
they have done enough (or anything at all).  Out of the box, most
systems still leave too many services turned on.  I've said it before
and I'll say it again (sorry for the cliche).  All I know is that my box
would have probably been cracked several times by now if I didn't know
that the /etc/inetd.conf file existed (and I really did get cracked two
years ago, plus my roommate's box was cracked last year).  I have
truckloads of friends and acquaintances that I probably would have
forced to get rid of Windows by now, but security concerns keep me from
doing so.  (okay, the fact that it's an entirely different operating
system with all sorts of weird (to them) commands does have a bit of an
impact on the matter..)

okay, enough of that rant for now.  I need some sleep

-- 
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[ Mike Hicks | http://umn.edu/~hick0088/ | mailto:hick0088@tc.umn.edu ]