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I hate to be the one to say this, but we need to stop being so naive.
  technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

T e c h n o f i l e
Windows users who just don't get it are to blame for the virus mess


August 24, 2003


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2003, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2003, The Post-Standard

   Whatís going on here?
   Imagine trying to explain Earthlings to someone from another planet.
   On Earth, there are Good Guys and there are Bad Guys. Bad Guys burn down buildings and create computer viruses. Earthlings never really know why the Bad Guys do this. Maybe it's because they need a life, as in "Get a life!" Maybe it's because they are bored or jaded. Or maybe because they are simply evil.
   Good Guys are all around us. They are firefighters who run into burning buildings and teachers who stay after class day after day to grade papers and keep up with their own instruction. They're police offers who risk their lives to protect the rest of us. They're Mom and Pop, who worked double shifts and extra jobs to make sure we got an education.
   Good Guys are easy to understand. It's the Bad Guys who have us mystified. I suspect that most of us were taught the wrong thing when we were kids. Not wanting to hurt our young and tender sensitivities, our teachers described history the wrong way. There were no Bad Guys in the way history was taught to us. There were just events.
   World War 1 happened because the royalty was aloof. World War 2 happened because Germany wanted to expand. The Korean War happened because nobody really understood the Chinese. The list goes on and on. There were no Bad Guys.
   Before long, somewhere in America somebody's kid is going to come home from school and explain that the World Trade Towers were attacked because we didn't understand the problems of the oppressed and the poor.
   No Bad Guys. Just events. Just blips in the time line of history.
   Children who are "protected" in this way learn only a sanitized version of history. They're shielded from ideas that might frighten them or make them think. They grow up in a world that does not match reality. They become adults who lack balance.
   Balance is much more important than we might assume. There is, in our world, light and dark, cold and hot, high and low, good and evil. Good and bad. But many of us are clueless.
   Get this. Make a note. Engrave it on your mind so it will never go away:
   Bad Guys are out to cause you harm. If you remain clueless you will never get the point. The latest worldwide computer virus attacks make that clear. Clueless people let the latest virus get into their computers, and that allowed it to spread to other computers.
   Blaming the Bad Guys is like leaving your doors unlocked and blaming the burglars when someone steals your jewels. Most computer users left their PCs unprotected, even though there was an easy, free and simple way to protect their computers. Microsoft, maker of Windows, warned us. The government even warned us. Web sites that specialize in computer topics warned us.
   Guys like me warned anyone who would listen. I've even worn out my welcome in some places. When I'm asked to come and talk to a local group, I always insist on talking first about security and computer safety before moving on to the topic of the day. That's how strongly I feel about this.
   A lot of good it does. The next virus will do the same thing. And so will the one after that, as long as we remain unconcerned and unprepared.
   What has to happen before we wake up? A virus can easily invade an unprotected Windows PC and use it as the staging ground for an attack on other computers. If thousands of infected Windows PCs do this at the same time, they could bring down big Internet sites one after the other. They could shut down emergency services in any part of the country or even knock government sites offline.
   This isn't kid stuff. It's what Bad Guys are doing. We need to do something, too. We need to make sure our computers are protected -- by firewalls, antivirus software and strict controls over e-mail attachments -- and we need to change our attitudes.
   I hate to be the one to say this, but we need to stop being so naive. Windows is a security nightmare and it practically invites viruses in. But most people use Windows, even though there are two families of computers that are much safer -- Apple's Macintosh and the many types of Linux computers. Microsoft has a grip on the PC market that even the government can't shake loose, and so, like the family that's stuck with an unwanted brother-in-law, we're stuck with Microsoft's Windows and its many frailties.
   So we have to deal with it. If you use Windows, make sure you have a firewall. Get good antivirus software. Teach everyone in the family that they aren't allowed to open attachments that they did not ask for in the first place.
   Wouldn't that make a difference? The Bad Guys win when the rest of us pretend nothing is wrong. But we all know -- or ought to know -- that something is terribly wrong with computer security. Unless we change our attitudes, we're simply inviting our own destruction.