Replies to post #4580 on Dream Machine

[lostcowboy]

Hi Doug you said Does Bruce need extra short cycles in his cpu because
the application programs he runs to trade the markets:
- are too complex, doing too many calculations
or
- are poorly written (algorithms) to get a "job" done
?
None of the above, Bruce is doing it just to see if he can, and may be for bragging rights.

I haven't been to Silicon Investor yet, but I'm trying
to show that security issues addressed on that CL thread
have turned it into a "HELP, I've been attacked" type place
that has replaced computer learning with computer protection.

Imagine a cooking food board where using the hardware of pots
and pans and other equipment, and the ingredients needed for
a mixture to create a food item, and the steps in cooking
have been replaced with the warnings about short circuits
and mixers having blades fall off.
You are right, for the last year and a half, all computer help of any type have been bombarded with "HELP, I've been attacked" type messages. This only goes to show the size of the problem!
I hope that some of this will slow down when SP2 gets here. It used to be that if someone got a virus or Trojan type program it was easy to determine that they had been to a steamy site or had been hunting for illegal software or cracks or registrations codes on the net. I think our attitude was If you lay down with pigs you can expect to get up smelling like one. Then the viruses got smarter, you didn't have to go to a web site and download a program and run it. You just have to be on the internet and have a open connection! The same thing apply's to adware, used to be you had to download and install some freeware that was really adware. Then we started getting tricky popup ads that tricked you into installing the adware, now a days we have these drive by web sites, where you didn't see anything but all of a sudden you have popups. The viruses and adware are merging.
A lot of the problem is people thinking it will never happen to me! But a lot of the problem lays at Microsoft's feet also. Ever since IE4 came out the browsers have been improved to make it easier for the web masters and ad companies to do things. Who in his right mind wants a popup ad in his face! The web masters have had to accept them, due to the ad companies paying so little for banner ads, and now we have flash ads! Also in windows XP you have wizards that set up your internet connections, did they ask you if you want windows XP's firewall turned on, no they did not. So a lot of people got viruses due to that right of the bat. Well listen to me rant, but you get the idea.