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[Op-Ed] On a Good Day


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Posted by Author 1746 On 2007-04-29 10:02:17




View and vote on the article here: On a Good Day


On a Good Day

Category
Op-Ed
Summary
Is it just me or does it seem that at least half the content on the Web these days is about Google? Ads by Google, what Google might do to take over the world, Microsoft fears Google, Google Bars, Google it...A sizeable amount of the remaining content has
Body
Since Windows operating systems and browsers have exploitable flaws reported at an approximate rate of three per week, I feel duty-bound to report to Windows Update at about the same rate to remain reasonably safe. Add to that the time spent updating and running the various applications necessary to remove the run-of-the-mill detritus one inevitably picks up while surfing, and the time spent investigating the plethora of new "anti-" applications which range from somewhat effective to downright malicious,and you've got yourself a considerable amount of time gone.

On a good day, I receive one or two phishing e-mails and always try to forward them to the appropriate "Spoof" department. On a bad day, there are half a dozen of them to forward, plus a full page of spam to delete. By then I have the responses to the spoof forwards to delete as well. Some day, if I find the time, I'm going to count the clicks necessary to do routine browser maintenance, clearing the cache, deleting history, and the inevitable search and destroy for suspicious cookies that slip through the defenses.

If you run Firefox like I do, you should check for updates regularly; its newfound popularity means its security will be ever- increasingly tested. Between security updates and active development on the Fox, new versions appear at an astonishing rate, necessitating a new download and the associated scramble to try to keep my favorite extensions and themes. This can happen in as little as a week or two. As long as I'm in the mood, I might as well check my other applications to see what's been updated...oh look, Adobe just released a new Acrobat, and while the fifteen meg file is downloading I can grab lunch!
. . .

While I'm using my new Acrobat to read the U.S. Federal Trade Commission Report to Congress regarding the attempted prosecution of a certain notorious spyware perpetrator, I can almost understand why it's taken them four years to get this far...


1746


This article was imported from zZine. (original author: 1746)


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