When is a not-virus a virus

Post #25,297 by andread 1/23/02 2:10:21 PM Reply	When is a not-virus a virus Windows did not infest his machine he installed it Windows did not replicate itself it has a license that forbids that Windows did not damage his software or hardware you can call your elbow a rhinoceros if it makes you feel better but no one will want to see it in the zoo A Play I Some Music w/ Papa Andy Saturday 8 PM - 11 PM ET All Night Rewind 11 PM - 5 PM Reggae, African and Caribbean Music [link\|http://wxxe.org\|http://wxxe.org]
Post #25,302 by drewk 1/23/02 2:33:43 PM Reply	I'll take this one Let's say I have Win 95 and I install RealPlayer. I then download an Internet Explorer update. (Since MS testified under oath that it is part of the OS, this is fair game.) RealPlayer no longer works. So their software, without my approval or consent, silently disabled other software that I installed. And there is no way of determining in advance that this will happen, nor any reliable way of preventing it. It did damage my software. I discover the problem, and try to uninstall the "update". It doesn't uninstall cleanly and I go to support.microsoft.com to figure out how to fix it. While there, the (silently installed) update agent sees that I don't have the latest version of something. It silently re-installs the update. It did replicate itself. Sounds viral to me. We have to fight the terrorists as if there were no rules and preserve our open society as if there were no terrorists. -- [link\|http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/05/opinion/BIO-FRIEDMAN.html\|Thomas Friedman]
Post #25,308 by jb4 1/23/02 2:54:54 PM Reply	Nicely Done, Drew! jb4 (Resistance is not futile...)
Post #25,340 by bbronson 1/23/02 5:24:17 PM Reply	[tweeeeet] Point - Drew.
Post #25,363 by andread 1/23/02 8:03:16 PM Reply	Re: I'll take this one Your scenario may entertain the faithful but it is not valid The writer who called Windows a virus clearly stated that it was a virus to him when he could not do what he wanted with his computer not when he was silly enough to use every default known to man or MS I've been running Windows (many and/or all flavors) at home and as an administrator for years. Nothing of mine silently updates, not did I have to config the registry or do anything complex other than use a mouse to get it to run the way I wanted it to. The writer did not give an example of 'viroid' behavior and you did not give a legitimate one So.... A Play I Some Music w/ Papa Andy Saturday 8 PM - 11 PM ET All Night Rewind 11 PM - 5 PM Reggae, African and Caribbean Music [link\|http://wxxe.org\|http://wxxe.org]
Post #25,372 by Ashton 1/23/02 8:37:06 PM Reply	Fine, lets be punctilious And go with [?s] sig Microsoft Outlook - one giant macro virus attractor (We could list other add-ons with regular access to root, but I get writers cramp) Oh - are ALL your M$ pieces patched consecutively to 1/23/02? (And if you don't lie.. and they really Are.!.) Care to estimate the % worldwide that are: A) Ever patched, from monopoly preload day 1? B) Patched ~ 1/10th of available ones (IF you use IE at M$.com, that is - else it is apt to bounce you sans any patch until you "upgrade" - remember?) C) Worldwide: patched 100% thru 1/23/02 ??? Rest case. For now. (We won't go into what else gets broken after a patch - all those C-pointers that got lost in the er compiler?) Maybe we can just settle on it being Toxic Toy Software?
Post #25,436 by andread 1/24/02 8:23:15 AM Reply	punctilious? Ashton we obviously have our differences but my stuff is not all patched have no idea what % worldwide is have run patches the day I installed a new product but this all has nothing to do with a) the article that was cited at the beginning of this thread b) my request for a legiitmate example A Play I Some Music w/ Papa Andy Saturday 8 PM - 11 PM ET All Night Rewind 11 PM - 5 PM Reggae, African and Caribbean Music [link\|http://wxxe.org\|http://wxxe.org]
Post #25,672 by Ashton 1/25/02 7:57:56 AM Reply	Well.. to be really punctilious - I'd agree with your complaint. That is, Windows is unlikely to be downloaded onto someone's machine via Back Orifice or whatever.. and to replicate itself attached to e-mails etc. But as metaphor.. ya gotta admit (??) that the number of worldwide hours/$ spent thus far - repairing Windows anomalies on all scales - approaches that of rebuilding the Great Pyramid, with the (missing) outer sheath of limestone replaced with Gold. No? Ashton (it's hard to find adequate words about Windoze and its spawning matriarchs - those mothers..)
Post #25,472 by marlowe 1/24/02 12:23:29 PM Reply	Windows runs the way I want it to, too. But only when I'm playing Solitaire. As soon as I try to do anything useful with it, it starts to give me grief. The more I try to do with it, the more resistance it gives me. It wasn't always this way. Windows 2.01 didn't do a whole lot, but at least it got out of my way and let me do things myself. I only use Windows when my job forces me to. And I don't install it myself. It comes preinstalled. [link\|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/index.html\|http://www.angelfir...e/index.html] Sometimes "tolerance" is just a word for not dealing with things.

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