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> Actually reminds me of how you absolutely should not install Windows XP with the ethernet cable plugged in back when more home computers were directly connect

> Actually reminds me of how you absolutely should not install Windows XP with the ethernet cable plugged in back when more home computers were directly connected to the Internet. That thing would be chock full of worms within minutes, so you had to first install a software firewall while offline. So same as windows 10 then, just a different vendor for the malware?

chrisan 4y ago
I'm in no way going to say win10 is a bastion of security but I don't know anyone who has had a virus with 10 compared to ENDLESS battles from back in the day helping fix friends/families infected PCs. Not sure if people have just gotten smarter, or some of the default stuff is better, or both - but it is a markedly different time than before.
- tuetuopay 4y ago
  You have Microsoft Defender to thank for that. You now basically have an antivirus bundled in the OS, with the widest install base, that has become shockingly good.
- Sakos 4y ago
  WinXP was vulnerable to a lot of remote exploits out-of-the-box. If you just connected WinXP to the internet after a new installation (and without SP2 and up-to-date patches) and walked away for 24 hours, you could expect it to be infected by the time you got back. This was, of course, a much bigger issue back when we were directly connecting our PC's to the internet with dial-up. WinXP behind a properly configured router isn't at risk in the same way.
  - water8 4y ago
    Yes DMZs are unsecure. Not really specific to windows as any software with an unpatched CVE in a DMZ can be attacked
    - Sakos 4y ago
      Not quite. It needs to be an RCE vulnerability that can be used remotely against a system without user interaction. XP had a lot of those. There aren't a lot of those now. Afaik, most RCE's nowadays require a user to download a hostile file or view a hostile site. It's part of why we don't get worm attacks all that often like we used to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaster_(computer_worm) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaster_(computer_worm) > The worm spreads by exploiting a buffer overflow discovered by the Polish security research group Last Stage of Delirium[5] in the DCOM RPC service on the affected operating systems, for which a patch had been released one month earlier in MS03-026 and later in MS03-039. This allowed the worm to spread without users opening attachments simply by spamming itself to large numbers of random IP addresses. Four versions have been detected in the wild.[6] These are the most well-known exploits of the original flaw in RPC, but there were in fact another 12 different vulnerabilities that did not see as much media attention.[7]
      - water8 4y ago
        Fair, although SMB has had a few noteworthy ones recently. And lets not forget log4j
- rightbyte 4y ago
  I think the point is that MS install adware and spying viruses on your computer with Windows 10 instead if hackers.
- layer8 4y ago
  Viruses nowadays are most commonly uses to establish botnets and steal credentials, so virus writers try to not disrupt the host and to remain as invisible as possible. The one exception being ransomware.
water8 4y ago
I mean unless you’re physically connecting to your modem and using your WAN Ip as your computer IP, Who exactly is sending you the worms when you plug in the ethernet?
- Schroedingersat 4y ago
  Microsoft. Stealing personal information, forcing ads into the OS, installing software without permission, hijacking private network and computing resources for profit or for state actors, uploading user files and deleting them from the system, and making the system unresponsive are all things we used to call malware.

chrisan 4y ago

I'm in no way going to say win10 is a bastion of security but I don't know anyone who has had a virus with 10 compared to ENDLESS battles from back in the day helping fix friends/families infected PCs. Not sure if people have just gotten smarter, or some of the default stuff is better, or both - but it is a markedly different time than before.

tuetuopay 4y ago
You have Microsoft Defender to thank for that. You now basically have an antivirus bundled in the OS, with the widest install base, that has become shockingly good.
Sakos 4y ago
WinXP was vulnerable to a lot of remote exploits out-of-the-box. If you just connected WinXP to the internet after a new installation (and without SP2 and up-to-date patches) and walked away for 24 hours, you could expect it to be infected by the time you got back. This was, of course, a much bigger issue back when we were directly connecting our PC's to the internet with dial-up. WinXP behind a properly configured router isn't at risk in the same way.
- water8 4y ago
  Yes DMZs are unsecure. Not really specific to windows as any software with an unpatched CVE in a DMZ can be attacked
  - Sakos 4y ago
    Not quite. It needs to be an RCE vulnerability that can be used remotely against a system without user interaction. XP had a lot of those. There aren't a lot of those now. Afaik, most RCE's nowadays require a user to download a hostile file or view a hostile site. It's part of why we don't get worm attacks all that often like we used to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaster_(computer_worm) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaster_(computer_worm) > The worm spreads by exploiting a buffer overflow discovered by the Polish security research group Last Stage of Delirium[5] in the DCOM RPC service on the affected operating systems, for which a patch had been released one month earlier in MS03-026 and later in MS03-039. This allowed the worm to spread without users opening attachments simply by spamming itself to large numbers of random IP addresses. Four versions have been detected in the wild.[6] These are the most well-known exploits of the original flaw in RPC, but there were in fact another 12 different vulnerabilities that did not see as much media attention.[7]
    - water8 4y ago
      Fair, although SMB has had a few noteworthy ones recently. And lets not forget log4j
rightbyte 4y ago
I think the point is that MS install adware and spying viruses on your computer with Windows 10 instead if hackers.
layer8 4y ago
Viruses nowadays are most commonly uses to establish botnets and steal credentials, so virus writers try to not disrupt the host and to remain as invisible as possible. The one exception being ransomware.

water8 4y ago

I mean unless you’re physically connecting to your modem and using your WAN Ip as your computer IP, Who exactly is sending you the worms when you plug in the ethernet?

Schroedingersat 4y ago
Microsoft. Stealing personal information, forcing ads into the OS, installing software without permission, hijacking private network and computing resources for profit or for state actors, uploading user files and deleting them from the system, and making the system unresponsive are all things we used to call malware.