Microsoft: 1 out of every 14 downloaded programs is malware

You also probably have spam filters/ not aol. Most older people I know are using aol or yahoo and have tons and tons of spam emails. I would be that many of those emails are used to distribute malware.

 

Wow. Theres not much else to say.

Sul.

 

LOL again! Too funny

 

@Hungry Man: Your security setup doesn't look effective without common sense. Updating lists, setting up EMET, and especially answering UAC prompts requires that.

 

My security methods are not the ones I would suggest to others.

Besides, my MVPS host file updates itself, EMET is a one-time configuration that took 10 seconds, and UAC has 0 to do with prevention.

I'm quite careless... I visit sites that have been previously infected before. I'm not worried and I don't give a second thought to clicking links because the chances of something managing to infect me are ridiculously small.

I proudly exert no common sense whatsoever while browsing.

 

Which requires common sense, the security or the browsing?

So you browse without common sense, yet you have used common sense to create your security based off your sig.

Umm, you've lost me - when common sense is used your security has failed, don't use common sense, just browse where you want, BUT, do employ a few security schemes such as a HOSTS file, which is, umm, mainstream

Sul.

 

I assume that when people say "common sense" they mean "don't click on random links you don't recognize."

My point is that I can browse without common sense and enjoy my computer without worrying about links that I click. Obviously my education played into my setup, but a complete moron could use my computer and I doubt they'd manage to get a virus on it without deliberately trying to.

 

Not necessarily the scenario I envision. More like, don't click on email links, especially if they purport to lead to updating personal or banking information; don't click on random downloads suggesting, for example, a codec required to view a video; don't proceed to install and purchase some random antivirus generated from a sudden malware scan that advises you have 43 infections; don't download and install executables from questionable sources (although these could be scanned first and run in a vm or sandbox first for testing); keeping the O/S and programs routinely patched, and learning how to use and employ a backup plan, especially imaging, keeping a recent one on hand if something does wrong. There are people who will spend literally hours, and even days - often with someone trying to help out online spending equal time - attempting to clean a malware infestation, when restoring a recent image can take < 30 min. Common sense is only part of the security equation, but an important part of it.

 

Common sense is important in everything. A sense of balance and the ability to correctly assess our own capability are also important otherwise some of us may end up like Scotty. (I hope this link doesn't violate forum rules: -http://4brightminds.info/thurber/scotty_too_much.jpg-)