North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Art Petrzelka <art@complum.com>]

On Sun, 2003-08-03 at 19:05, Greg Miller wrote:
> Just what is it that people want me to do?  I don't have the power to 
> do the single most effective thing, which is make all of the users of 
> this list use UPDATED anti-viral software at all times, so I am left 
> with imperfect, easily-defeated solutions.
> 
> Maybe in the laissez-faire spirit of the list I should just let the 
> attachments (infected or otherwise) rain down where they may?

I vote for nothing. Using the Internet entails some responsibility.

As a system administrator for the last 14 years and computer user for
almost 30 years, I can assure you that you are fighting a never-ending
battle. And if you are successful, there will be nothing to show for it.

Let everyone watch out for themselves. If you have cable or DSL and
don't have a firewall running on your PC, your computer is being used
RIGHT NOW to bombard the rest of us with spam, porn and script-kiddie
attacks.

I can say this with impunity, for now, as I don't run any Microsoft
products. Eventually, the virus writers will target my OS. But the worst
they can do now is wipe out my home directory. The computer will still
be running. I just have to log in as root and restore my home directory
from backup, and I'm in business again.

HP has started selling business desktops with Linux. Those who are tired
of paying the Microsoft tax may want to investigate it. At $319, it's a
real bargain. Walmart has Linux PCs for sale on their website, but not
in their stores yet.  Or buy a Mac.
-- 
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Art Petrzelka
Amana, Iowa, USA