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 defences.
If you run Firefox like I do, you should check for updates regularly; its new-found 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 favourite 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 MB 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.
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This article was originally published by CyberArmy.net in the CyberArmy Library.
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