Microsoft opens window for new Vista test

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Ubuntu Linux defaults to no ports open. XP (and any other version of Windows) defaults to leaving ports open for greater usability....yes you can close those ports if you know how or do a bit of research. How many AVERAGE Windows users do that research?

As of XP SP2 (out for more than a year now?), a firewall with no ports open is the default. The average Windows user no longer needs to do any research, their ports are all blocked by default. End result is that any hacking based on open ports is as likely to fail against a default XP SP2 install as it is against a default Linux distro install.

Stupid users in Linux are far less likely to have their system taken over by a worm, trojan, virus, than Windows users. Just because holes aren't left there by default!!

Well, yes and no. Linux home users are far less likely to be targetted by a worm, trojan, or virus because it has no marketshare. If you are comfortable living with the few disadvantages of using a low marketshare OS then I suppose it is an advantage but most who are able to download and install Linux would probably be able to keep themselves 100% secure on XP. The few who have friends/family who can setup Linux for them are the lucky ones but they would probably be better off with OSX anyway.

Besides, very little malware gets in through open ports or technical vulnerabilities anyway, it gets in through email attachments using social engineering. You can have the most technically secure bank in the world but if the bank owner unlocks and opens the door for anyone who asks, money will start disappearing!

The two things I will currently hold MS accountable for are:
1. All users are administrators by default. While I've written in the past that this feature by itself isn't the security holy grail that some make it out to be, there is no reason why this shouldn't be the default. XP is more than technically capable of handling restricted rights users (I am, as are all my friends/family) so just make it the default.

2. The default version of IE should not have ActiveX support. I'm not suggesting it should be disabled by default, it shouldn't be in there at all. Corporations with intranets are pretty much the only organizations that use ActiveX anymore and they have the technical ability to install a different version of IE that has ActiveX in it. Firefox is a really great alternative so this is also an easy issue to mitigate even if MS doesn't do anything about it.

Posted by: NonZealot   Posted on: 02/23/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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