How long?

In "BillW50" wrote:

Oddly enough it never got infected from not
doing security updates.

So far as you know, anyway.

"Microsoft: US government is an 'advanced persistent threat'"

Microsoft's EVP of Legal and Corporate Affairs outlined the
company's new data protection strategy on the basis that the US
government is an "advanced persistent threat" — a label used
for cyber criminals.

http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-us-go...at-7000024019/

--
St. Paul, MN

In ,
Bert typed:
In "BillW50" wrote:

Yup, one of them is called a sandbox. Ever hear of it? Whatever is in
a sandbox stays there and can't get into your OS system.

Unless you run inside your sandbox all the time, you're still
vulnerable to whatever your third-party protection doesn't know about
yet.

You would think, but I have found otherwise. Just a stealth firewall and
a reliable updated antivirus is a huge help. And I have found that OS
security updates are pretty lame for protection. And if you need more, a
sandbox is the way to go.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core2 Duo T5600 1.83GHz - 4GB - Windows XP SP2

In ,
Bert typed:
In "BillW50" wrote:

Oddly enough it never got infected from not
doing security updates.

So far as you know, anyway.

"Microsoft: US government is an 'advanced persistent threat'"

Microsoft's EVP of Legal and Corporate Affairs outlined the
company's new data protection strategy on the basis that the
US government is an "advanced persistent threat" - a label
used for cyber criminals.

http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-us-go...at-7000024019/

What you are worried about government cyber attacks? I have heard rumors
that Windows 8 has NSA backdoors already installed. I never heard rumors
about earlier versions of Windows. But I don't doubt for a second that
they can't be there.

I never worried too much whether or not the government is spying on me
too much. As I never do anything illegal except going a few miles over
the speed limit. But then I heard it doesn't matter if you think you are
wrong or right. What matters is what the government thinks. Now that is
a bit scary if you ask me. As the government can change what is legal
and not whenever they want. Heck they could suddenly say flushing the
toilet at 2PM is illegal and throw me in jail or something.

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - OE-QuoteFix v1.19.2
Centrino Core2 Duo T5600 1.83GHz - 4GB - Windows XP SP2

BillW50 wrote:
In ,
Bert typed:
In "BillW50" wrote:

I don't care what anybody else thinks, if I can stay clean for 20
years, I am sticking to my methods. If somebody can do better, I am
listening. If they are worse, then why bother me.

During those 20 years, did you install the updates, patches, fixes and
new versions of software distributed by Microsoft?

Do you think that doing so was a waste of your time?

I thought that way until around '07 when Microsoft and Asus forced me to
do otherwise. As Asus sold netbooks with just 4GB of disk space with XP
SP2 on them. And Microsoft sold them a license to do so. So I blame both
of them for this. And there was no way to install say SP3 without lots
of trickery and external hardware.

So I figured just making backups would be far faster and if it get
infected, just restore. Oddly enough it never got infected from not
doing security updates. This runs contrary to everything I have been
told. So since I have a lot of computers, I decided to take half of them
and not to update them. The other half I would and then see what
happens.

Oddly enough, none of them have any malware at all. The only difference
is the updated ones sometimes got screwy. Meaning sometimes an update
broke something. But the ones that wasn't updated run just fine like
they always did.

I must be the only one here who doesn't really find it "odd". I haven't
been downloading the updates, and I haven't been infected, despite being
online a fair amount (but I do shut down the computer at night). The times
I have been infected is when I went to some untrustworthy sites looking for
some old cracked software that's no longer available anymore. But that was
my own fault, since I knew I was taking some chances. :-) But I also had
an image backup of my system prior to this to get me cleanly out of that
jam.

I also run a somewhat older version of an antivirus program (Avira), because
the newer versions are more bloated (like all software), although they
obviously they can offer better protection. But I try to watch where I go
and what attachments I open.

I guess to make a long story short, I think the best protection lies within
ourselves and in our own usuage habits. Like in not going to "untoward"
sites, and not opening suspicious emails or email attachments, etc.

But let's face it. Nothing is guaranteed 100%, even if you do decide to
install all the patches and updates (and hoping none of them create some
"other issues"; I have been burned before on installing some of those
so-called updates and patches. So that was that, at least for me. :-)

For most folks though, I can't really argue that's it's probably a better
idea to go ahead an install them, however. So that's my obligatory
disclaimer. :-)

In "BillW50" wrote:

As I never do anything illegal

Unlikely. You probably commit at least one federal felony every day.

--
St. Paul, MN