A story mentions that 4 minutes is all it takes for a computer when first connected to the Internet. Four minutes! That’s not even enough time to download the latest patches that you need to protect you from those hackers.
I just read another story where this guy visited a single web site and it installed 16 different programs on his PC. All through security vulnerabilities present in an unpatched version of Internet Explorer. And this story talks about a vulnerability in Java that leaves even my beloved Firefox at risk. What am I to do?
For the first problem, I just pray a lot. For the second, I’ve stopped using IE except in rare situations, when I can be relatively certain that I won’t have a problem. And for the third, I uninstalled the Java virtual machine from my PC. Probably not the best decision, but I’m curious to see how it goes. I survive perfectly fine without flash (for the most part). There are a few sites who use it in their navigation and don’t offer alternatives, but most will allow you to get around even if you don’t use flash. I’m hoping that I’ll be okay without Java, but we’ll have to wait and see.
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2 responses to “Software Vulnerabilities”
Oh, I know. In fact, I downloaded it. Then I decided that I’m just tired of trying to keep up with the latest release of this and the latest release of that. I actually removed the JVM a week or so ago, and I haven’t needed it yet. Perhaps I’m just turning into a luddite. I’m set, so don’t change anything!
I think that the point is that every time that we turn around, there’s something else that’s required. I’m just tired of it. Consider this my version of Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff… and Most Software is Small Stuff.
Well, for the third problem, all you need is to get the latest version of the Java Virtual Machine that fixes that (1.5, or even 1.4.2_06 if you need the 1.4.2 line). Just like for Firefox, you need the latest stable release, as security problems do happen, and fixes are released. Don’t get too paranoid… 🙂