BearItAll wrote:
> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>> What broke the Camel's Back?
[snip]
>> http://www.mymac.com/showarticle.php?id=2779
The important point of the article was that simply instructing
automatic updates to "not download or install" (through "Security
Center") is insufficient to guarantee you won't be "downgraded" by one
of Microsoft's stealth bombs.
And before anyone cries "pirate", this laptop came pre-installed with
XP (of course, don't they all?), but to ensure the integrity of the
system (as far as that is possible with Windows), I've had to
*disable* the "automatic update" and "background intelligent transfer"
services, using the Services MMC, just for some peace of mind.
Users scared of their vendor! Nice. Only in the Proprietary World, eh?
Strangely, one has to re-enable those services when doing a *manual*
update from Microsoft's website ... very odd. After all, why should an
"automatic update" service be required when doing a *manual* update
... kinda defeats the purpose don't you think. Then again, it's
probably Microsoft's inane method of disguising the fact that
Automatic Updates now = WGA Malware, or is at least inextricably
intertwined with it.
But ... better safe than 0wn3D, I say.
And yes, I'm also running a cracked version of WGA (legitcontrol.dll),
just in case Microsoft suddenly decides my legal copy of Windows
... isn't ... anymore, just like the angry hoard of users on their WGA
forum:
http://forums.microsoft.com/genuine
I've had a direct experience of that "worse nightmare" scenario coming
true, as I posted here some time ago, and duplicated on my Blog:
http://slated.org/windows_criminal_switches_to_linux
It's a sad day indeed, when one would trust an anonymous Polish
cracker before your OS vendor.
There should be a tweak for that pop-up bubble that reads "Your
Computer might be at risk...", to read "Your computer is now safe,
Microsoft can no longer automatically damage your system".
> I don't know why MS is worried about Blogs, its not as if anyone
> reads them other than the writer.
Haven't you heard? "Blogs are The New Journalism":
http://tinyurl.com/yxx3wg (oreillynet.com)
And an intrinsic part of "The Second Superpower" phenomenon:
http://tinyurl.com/qxmx (cyber.law.harvard.edu)
Since May of last year, I've had nearly half a million hits to my
Blog, only around one fifth of which were search-bots or attempted
spam attacks.
Certainly a lot in the Blogosphere is dross, but all these millions of
little rants at "what's wrong with the world" make an overall
impression, that's very hard for legislators and decision makers to
ignore. And every now and then, one of these personal rants gets Dugg
or Slashdotted, and becomes headline news, at least in IT circles.
> "I, the Blog writer, am a sad and misserable git and would like to
> share it with everyone around the world to make you misserable too'.
I don't deny it, however my intention is to make others aware, not
miserable. Perhaps then the causes of my/our misery might be dealt
with, and disappear.
--
K.
http://slated.org - Slated, Rated & Blogged
.----
| "We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support
| any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the
| success of liberty.â - John F. Kennedy
`----
Fedora Core release 5 (Bordeaux) on sky, running kernel 2.6.18-1.2849.fc6
01:12:37 up 47 days, 17:34, 3 users, load average: 0.01, 0.03, 0.00
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