Comments on: Conficker Now Instructed To Steal

Identity Theft A Concern For Those With Infected Computers

[p_syrus]

Microsoft is the target because it is the most widespread program, and because of an irrational hate Microsoft attitude among a small segment of the population. The army has run programs based on Unix and linux and they actually seem to be more prone to crashing than standard Windows programs.
Posted by J_G_H

Microsoft is a target because it's software is crap and the company is a convicted criminal enterprise with a lengthy history of using coercive & deceitful practices in marketing its products. The M$ business model is to achieve customer "lock in" on its products and then milk those customers for fees on an annual basis for maintaining access to the customer's own data.

All versions of windows I have ever had occasion to use, all up to and including XP & Vista, crash regularly. Microsoft systems are designed to maximize revenues for the company. They are not designed to meet customer requirements or the principles of reliability engineering.

I have several computing systems. All run some version of Linux. They do NOT crash. :-)

Thanks to u.s. political preoccupation with benefiting the "home grown" monopolist M$, Asian & other software developers are likely to completely eclipse developing u.s. computing capabilities in the coming decades. They will do so on Linux platforms which have the distinct advantage of being "open source". Because of the GPL & similar FOSS licenses, many of those advances will be available to those companies & individuals who are not structurally "locked in" to the M$ corporate business model.

[krauq]

OK Apple! You win! Stop! Please?

[dbstevens]

So can't they find the perpetrators by finding out where that $50 went?

[J_G_H]

Microsoft is the target because it is the most widespread program, and because of an irrational hate Microsoft attitude among a small segment of the population. The army has run programs based on Unix and linux and they actually seem to be more prone to crashing than standard Windows programs. I have XP on my laptop and Vista on my desktop. I have an occasional program lock up but recover is much quicker and smoother than the Windosw 3.1, Windows 95 days, although even then I did not have that many crashes. I suspect a lot of the problem comes from performance shortcuts from the gaming world.

[incog-nito]

This just in! A new worm more dangerous than Conficker has been detected. It goes by the name Motherficker.

[omega39-2009]

Get yourself a good firewall and set it up so that anything requesting access to the network requires user intervention. Zone Alarm and Comodo are both free and do a good job.

[geminispyder-2009]

Only they get new names so now Microsoft can make you buy them AGAIN! :-)

Sucka's.
Posted by caligula1--2008 at 9:20 AM : Apr 13, 2009

You are arguing that buying a Microsoft OS once every 3-4 years for a few hundred bucks each is definately more cost-efficient than buying a $2500+ mac that would need to be thrown out every 5-6 years b/c of obsolecence.

Idiot.

[geminispyder-2009]

"Conficker Now Instructed To Steal"

As opposed to the countless other viruses/worms that don't get as much publicity but can do the exact same thing?

Once again, CBS proves it's ineptitude at news reporting as opposed to news-making by trying to salvage a two-week old dead topic.

[incog-nito]

I have modified Conficker and instructed it to make me a cup of coffee every morningl.

[kcits]

windows, firefox, almost all of them sooner or later leave an opening for hackers or whatever. thinking that when these people, whoever they are, are caught they should be executed immediately. there is no severe punishment and many are hired by security firms at great salaries further encouraging the hackers. people do need to keep computer updates current and subscribe to mcafee, symantec, or some such company for ongoing security protection. it's money well spent.
Posted by longtree-2009
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No, the difference between say, Window and say Firefox is that happens when an exploit is found. Mozilla Firefox is patched within days to a week. Microsoft, its more like months, if ever. The poor security model is to blame, Windows thinks its possible to have security by obscurity, or hiding the code. I much prefer security by FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) applications like Firefox. Where the code is given to everyone, its looked at and a million eyes test it.
An example
Windows its like taking the code and putting in in an apartment in America and not giving anyone the address except to 5 people. They hope no one finds a flaw because only a handful of people (if we are lucky) are allowed to work on it along with other things.
Firefox, the code is published in USA today and everyone tries to find the flaw. Those found are fixed.