[Leaplist] A most serious reason to dump all MS, and switch to GNU/Linux!

[patrick]

Many folks are coming to me and asking me to help them solve their
computer issues of sudden reboots, or massive slowdowns, by helping them
to reload their Microsoft Windows 98, XP, or 2000.

I resist with the simple fact that I can load Linux for them, immune to
the million new Microsoft virus./malware/trojans/exploits in about
20 minutes while the vulnerable Windows will require at least two hours,
and I won't waste my time if they won't run an IPCOP box firewall.

Now, there has been, for about a year, a most serious reason to dump all
MS, and switch to GNU/Linux!  It is the "Storm" virus/worm/bot rootkit
for all Microsoft OS computers!

This worm/virus/trojan/bot has run for at least a year, and is
difficult, if not impossible, to stop, as it has been updated several times!

http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/storm.asp

Security experts state there is no solution to permanently repair and
kill it in the Microsoft Windows environment, because it:

A. keeps a low profile,

B. only 20 - 25% of infections pop up, as it is 'smart',

C. It is being manipulated, updated, remotely, after it is installed and
functional,

D. Storm bot net is purportedly run by active Russian programers who are
very apt, on behalf of crime families.  Nobody seems to know who is
paying the big bucks.

E. It has a random operational cycle.

F. The combination of mutation, updates, randomness, and social
engineering of naive Windows users are powerful

G. It is a sophicated rootkit/worm/virus/bot

http://www2.csoonline.com/blog_view.html?CID=32845

"I uploaded the attachment to Virustotal.com, which uses many different
antivirus programs to scan uploads. Of 31 programs, only 4—ClamAV,
eSafe, Kaspersky, and Symantec—reported a virus."

"According to Postini, double-clicking the attachment unleashes a
succession of modern malware attack methods. First, a rootkit will
attempt to hide the malware from both human and antivirus scans. Then
the worm will attempt to disable antivirus programs. Next, the worm
connects to a custom peer-to-peer network used by the worm’s creators to
issue commands. Those commands might be to download additional malware,
send spam, or transmit personal data stolen from the victim computer.

Finally, to spread itself further, the worm searches for e-mail
addresses on the victim machine and sends itself to any discovered
addresses. The worm is self-mutating, according to Postini, changing
e-mail subject lines, attachment file names and malware characteristics
in order to evade antivirus and antispam programs.

Cloudmark, another e-mail security company, says it sees similar
outbreak numbers. Today’s flood is 10 times as large as one this past
Sunday, which also involved the virulent Storm Worm."

On top of the WGA fiasco, that forced 500,000 Microsoft users to fax to
Redmond proof of purchase before they could reactivate their computers,
and then the one week shutdown of WGA servers over Labor Day, added to
the Vista failure, lack of drivers, then to cap it all, the IE6/7
vulnerabilities that run even when the user is in Opera or Firefox, this
issue that requires a disk wipe and reinstall is a total waste of
resources, time, and money!


These are just some of the arguments I present to my friends, family,
and clients.   There is no fix for "stupid", so some have to be let go
from my world of happy computing, to roast in the Hell of the Evil
Empire of Redmond, when they insist that they 'like' the absolutely
broken Microsoft malware, and that they aren't 'pwned'.

Yes, I even show them the logs of 1,477 or more infestations in their
'Microsoft' computers!  I think many humans are genetically linked to
Lemmings, except the Lemmings only migrate over cliffs occasionally,
whilst humans seem to do so repeatedly, and pay up to $100 for the
privilege of a repeat performance!