A while back there was the Love bug and Melissa viruses.
They were spread when an unsuspecting
person viewed an infected e-mail with MS Outlook.
Not open an attachement, just viewed the message mind you.
The mechanism used
was the automatic execution of a macro. No other mail client has
this mechanism. Thus these viruses can only be spread by MS Outlook.
This macro mechanism is turned on by default. To blame
the average user for not knowing to turn off this obscure
preference seams a bit of a cheap
shot. Not all of us follow all the latest MS Security bulletins as
you do Greg. But then your response is typical of a geek
I touched a nerve of yours and your many fellow geeks on the list
when I mentioned one could get a bit of added security
by not using MS Outlook. Doing so helped me
avoid the above viruses. I was amongst
the non-geeks that did not know to
turn off the automatic macros. At least I didn't during
the outbreak of the above viruses.
However, it did not matter because I
had protected myself by not using MS Office.
Several geeks such as yourself
told me can do this
and that, install this patch and that and in
doing so you could make MS Outlook secure.
I don't doubt you a bit. However I would rather
spend time under the hood
of my various LBCs than following the
latest security bulletins on the Microsoft site.
As far as flames go, one geek named Tim claimed he
knew more about
MGs than me because he has a Healey and also
I only have two hits on the MG list archive search engine
and he had 99. First of all everyone knows
the archive search function doesn't work right.
Second I've never claimed to know more about
MGs than any Healey owner.
I have received spam that
had a disclaimer saying "this isn't spam".
So you are saying the same applies to flames.
You're the geek. I will defer to your expertise.
I think you and Tim and the other geeks on this list
should form your own list.
Call it "geeks-with-mgs". You can talk amongst yourselves
about your great knowledge of Microsoft products.
To me a computer is a tool just
like a socket wrench. And I would rather use a socket
wrench on my MGs than MS Outlook on my computer.
You and your fellow geeks obviously feal the opposite.
Now point your browser to
www.Microsoft.com
and quit wasting my time.
Greg Bass wrote:
> Sorry for a late response but I didn't check my MS Outlook yesterday since I
> was out of the office. :-) anyway...
>
> I don't believe anyone has flamed you for your choices. But your analogy is
> the same as blaming the sun for people getting sun burn. Don't they have
> some responsibility in that they should take preventive measures? the other
> thing that you fail to realize is that most people have no control over the
> software that they use in an office environment. The company dictates that
> and they don't allow the user to pick and choose at will, for a bunch of
> very good reasons. There are some issues with MS products, but there are
> issues with EVERY software that I am familiar with! We use MS products
> extensively in my company. There are also very strict, thourough antivirus
> proceedures in place. Additionally a usage policy for all computers must be
> adhered to by all operators. In my 2 years here we have never had a virus
> infection on anuy of our 400 or so workstations and servers. Oh, by the way
> I am the system admin for the network so I have first hand knowledge of
> this.
>
> Anyway blame is with the user (and not with the software,) hackers and the
> people who write the virus in the first place. And failing to place the
> responsibility where it belongs in book is a cardinal sin and of late it
> also seems to be government policy! ;-) 'nuff said.
>
> Greg
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