Your Computer ~~ Your Responsibility
Responsibility ~ Yes, you're responsible.
You are sitting at your computer, surfing the web, when your computer declares “You have a VIRUS”. Suddenly twenty to thirty pop ups appear, and your 'Homepage' is reset to 'Mikes Porn Site'.
Of course, you immediately start cussing the skiddie ~ the malware author ~ or the advertiser that dumped fornicating horse pucky on you. But who is ultimately responsible ------- YOU ARE OF COURSE!
You didn't protect your self, enough. You have endangered your computer, your identity, and your money. You have thrown a couple of hundred on the bar of a busy bistro, yelled for a drink, and then left to visit the bathroom -- expecting you money to remain where you left it.
If you are a part of a network, you have also endangered everyone else on it, and even the network its self. The same as if you handed a precocious 10 year old a loaded weapon and then left him alone.
You are responsible for all your actions, and inactions. You are responsible to update virus and malware definitions, for updating and configuring your firewall, for installing the latest patches for your operating system. You are responsible for me being out of beer ~~ well ok, that is going a little far (unless you slipping in to my house and nipping a bottle or three).
A little background.
In the last few months (some of you 'might' have noticed my absence) I have been restructuring my life, and doing quite a bit of malware cleanup on various computers, networks, and systems(?) that were trashed by users who assume that MSN, AOL, Dell, and anyone (or everyone) other than themselves are responsible for protecting them. They not only want their cake, and to eat it also......but also some one to spoon feed them too.
Now I realize that I'm preaching to the choir, but perhaps one or two of you might suddenly remember to update those definitions you forgot last week, and save all of us a possible headache next week.
moxnix