Had to chuckle

I'm a Network Admin for a Bank....today I had to laugh after talking to a customer having trouble accessing our internet banking site...

He was entering his userid and password and was prompted to microsoft.com to upgrade to a newer service pack for security reasons....he called the bank very upset...

I asked him typical troubleshooting questions ....here's how the conversation went...

Are you using a PC or MAC? PC
What version of Windows are you running? I'm running ME because it is the last SECURE OS that Microsoft ever made...
Me Pausing trying not to laugh...
What Browser are you using, Netscape or IE? I refuse to use IE for anything, its so full of security holes I can't believe people even use it...
Again, I pause...
What version are you running? 4.68 because future versions are not secure...this was the last secure version Netscape ran...

What do you tell someone like this. He had obviously been fed a bunch of lies by someone that claims to know about security...the guy went on to say that ME was more secure than any other operating system because it had the fewest number of patches....

Well yeah, that's because Microsoft does studies showing which OS's are used most and put more folks on the job to secure those OS's before older obsolete versions...

To my knowledge - my views of ME are that it sucks...because it was out for a whole 6 months prior to WIN 2k PRO and they never went back and fixed half of the major problems with the OS. As for security - FAT32 more secure than NTFS? Well - like I said - what do you say to someone like that....

Of course, maybe I'm in the wrong, I'm only an MCSE, MCSA...

I believe the question is wrong, what you need to know is that encryption protects data, not FAT32 or anything else.

Any way security issues Microsoft never fix.

NTFS compression is more secure than FAT32...that what he's trying to say.

LOL funny story...I've had a few encounters with ignorance like that too sometimes. I only worked in a bank for 3 years as a teller/assistant sys admin and had to deal with a few people like that :D. My gf uses ME lol. <-----No Pun INtended :D

My stupid bank won't let me connect to it with Mozilla, unless I set my user agent override to "Mozilla/4.78 " which is the lates netscape version the bank support....

Maybe the guy was in charge of IT security at my bank!

Steve

I have been to a few security briefing at Microsift. They ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS, start by apologizing for ME. Lol.

why is bongpilot getting APs for being rude? His post was nothing but complete bullshit nothing productive came out of it. No1 here has the right to tell ANYONE to stfu!

AngelofRevenge thought it was the encryption that made them safer....just because he has 2 red dots doesnt mean he's a freegin jerk who needs to be flamed for a perfectly decent post.

I negged him for it, wish I could do it multiple times. there was no need for that at all.
The only reasons I can think is:
someone hates Angel, therefore anyone who is rude to them gets greenies,
someones stopping the thread from going suicidal and has poor taste in who they give those greens to...
or for some reason dont want him banned?

I can understand what bongpilot is saying, although I do not think it's fair to tell anyone to stfu on a site like this which promotes freedom of expression. I negged angel on another thread, and when I saw that comment there, considered negging him again (not that my negs would actually do anything). I didn't because it just seems like he doesn't understand what people are saying; like he's a bit naive.

I won't give bongpilot any positive antipoints, but I do agree that what angel said was a bit pointless. It's just annoying when someone writes something that seems to be saying that they are totally right about something (add a "thing" in there), and what they are saying is incorrect.

Bah...I can't explain it properly. Anyhow, when I negged angel on the other thread, it wasn't out of spite, he just appeared to be contradicting someone in a negative fashion (whatever that means), and got on my nerves.

ac

....his post is not pointless. There's nothing wrong with contradicting neither. Its not about sucking up to teh guy with the most greenies and just agreeing with everything they say (Unless its Gore :D). As for bongpilot being a little apwh0re...he deleted his post to save himself from further negging.

Also...If you negged someone Once....there's no need to get them every post that they make unless they really deserved it. Contradicting someone does not deserve to get negged every ****in post that they make!

Can you explain yourself gothic and tell all of us how angel's post was pointless...but somehow My post, steve's and roadclosed's posts are not pointless? I didn't think so!


Edit:

Here's some of angel's posts where he's been negged. I personally cannot find any reason why he should get negged. And I defenitely dont know how he earned so many negs:

http://www.antionline.com/showthread...882#post729882
http://www.antionline.com/showthread...854#post729854

Did he really do so much harm or offend someone that bad that he is almost getting banned!?!?!

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Originally posted here by RoadClosed
I have been to a few security briefing at Microsift. They ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS, start by apologizing for ME. Lol.

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Yeah, I know what you mean.

In my spare time I do my best to fix & secure systems to a reasonable level that belong to friends or family..

Fixing WinME for one of my friends recently took the biscuit, as I couldn't believe how many times it crashed when I was applying the MS updates (8 times from a completely unpatched ME instal if my notes are correct) :p

And it was infested with 120 bits of spyware, and two vicious viruses to boot, which included keyloggers, and hijacking programs :eek:

On a more serious note, you'd be surprised how many people in the UK are running Win98 or WinME with no firewall, AV scanner etc.

Look, Cybr1d. I wasn't trying to get angel banned or anything, and I didn't neg him for that post, nor did I neg him before because I don't like him. The reason I had negged him in the past is because he had made a post that really annoyed me for some reason (I'll attempt to find it).

I actually tried to give him a positive anti-point earlier today, but I can't because he was the last person I assigned points to. I don't have a problem with angel...I wouldn't neg someone just cause I had a problem with them. I'd just ignore them.

And what was that "I didn't think so" about? I didn't see you giving me a chance to explain myself after asking me to. Can you explain yourself? Didn't...oops :P

Also, are you unable to read or something? Did you not read the part of my message that said that I didn't neg him there. And do you not understand that that perhaps means that I don't neg people every time they make a stupid post.

FFS, I didn't even need to post that...I just wanted to explain to people my point of view, and that bongpilot wasn't necessarily totally wrong. And about it being ok to contradict people...I don't believe it is ok to contradict someone when you don't seem to understand what it is they're talking about.

ac

[edit] found it. This is why I negged him: http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=255863
I negged him for that because I didn't feel like it added anything to the discussion. [/edit]

dude...are you some kind of retard who just starts **** for no reason? His post was Completely legit...there was no reason for getting negged like that! I'm refering to the link you provided. How can you say that his post didnt add anythign to the subject. You still didnt answer question. Did you find my post, or steves or road closed's post informative in any way!?!?


How would you feel if someone negged you everytime you dont understand something completely? Get your head out of your ass for a chance will ya?

Do you understand the point of this website? We're all here to learn...

You're not trying to get angel banned...but if everyone negs him a little by little...he will get banned automatically if he reaches a certain number of negative Aps... "300 I believe".

I apologise if my previous post seemed to be aimed just at you. It was actually aimed at all the ****tards that have nothing better to do but neg others for completely legit questions.


BongPilot was 100% wrong. His post didn't add anything to the thread, he was rude and offended someone. You're telling me you'd rather neg someone for :

Quote:

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communication of that type is easy to access, use a packet sniffer, like a port sniffer, except reads packets.

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but you dont find this wrong:

Quote:

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AngelofRevenge: stfu

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Quote:

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I don't believe it is ok to contradict someone when you don't seem to understand what it is they're talking about.

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Yes its OK to contradict. If you understood completely what the other person is saying you wouldnt be contradicting in the first place.... dont neg those pple for not understanding...you teach them the right way

Cybr1d & gothic_type: Why are you hijacking this tread? You are having a difference of opinion -- so do it in PM's. I can understand the first post about this by Cybr1d, but to carry it on in an open forum is a bit redundant, and surely doesn't contribute to the thread.

ME is/was the worst OS I have ever dealt with, but I have also ran across some who think it is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I don't know where they are getting their information from, and when I questioned one person, he said 'someone' that knows what he is talking about(?). Nothing I could say would even dent their conviction. Even showing them different documentation only irritated them. Guess it is like the old saying about teaching a pig to sing.

I'm sorry...I got pissed off.

I'll stop now :)

/where did I leave my books on Acupineology and Zen Relaxation Techniques???

Hey

Who deleted my post?

Stop rambling about stupid outlandish ****, angelofrevenge.

Someone deleted my post? That i consider rude.

And if anyone is wondering who negged bongpilot.......I did. He earned them.

I deleted that last post of yours, bongpilot. I don't mind seeing a discussion, but your last post was way off.
If you think it's rude of moderators to delete your posts (I believe your other post got deleted by MsMittens after it had been reported), then maybe it's time to consider changing your posting-behaviour. Single posts on AO only get deleted for sound reasons.

Can we get this thread back on track now? :)

Thanks eveyone for that, my main security consideration is cryptography, that's where I seem to excel in. I find that the contents of drive should be encrypted in a business situation to prevent hakcers etc. That should explain some of my posts.

Also, why should people be bound to support one view in this free (both ways) forum?

Quote:

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Originally posted here by elrey103

To my knowledge - my views of ME are that it sucks...because it was out for a whole 6 months prior to WIN 2k PRO and they never went back and fixed half of the major problems with the OS. As for security - FAT32 more secure than NTFS? Well - like I said - what do you say to someone like that....

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This is my take on this. I knew exactly what you meant.

I think AngelofRevenge misunderstood or more likely didn’t understand the point that was being made.
Using any version of Windows, FAT32 has absolutely no in built encryption support.

However, NTFS does (in 2Kpro or XPpro), and it is fairly good encryption as well.
If you mange to use one of the hacks to reset the admin password, when you don’t have admin authority, then the encrypted data is not readable, which rather defeats the purpose of the exercise.

And I would strongly take issue with his comment that :

Any way security issues Microsoft never fix..

Have you worked in the real world as a sysadmin?
This is a ridiculous comment to make, and I would consider it valid to neg you for that alone.
They do fix them, but perhaps in not as timely a fashion as some of us would like.

IMHO the main problem with WinME was that it was used by MS as a beta test for some new ideas they were trying out, like system restore for example. Which does work correctly with WinXP :)

I've had dealings with virtually every other version of Windows in the past, and I was astonished by how bad ME was.
Strongly suggested an XP upgrade, or a linux dual boot, but I don't know if my advice will be heeded.

Like a lot of people, they do need Windows to play their selection of games :D

I am under the impression that ME was released as a stand alone OS, designed specifically for the home user, to play games and type their letters on.
It was also capable of net access, but was never intended to be a full time?? browser support.

As W2K was released within a couple of months of the ME, I think this shows the way that M$ were thinking. ie: the biggest? users of the PC were/are computer illiterate, and that they could have the 'cheap' version,
for those that demanded? a little more from their system, the option was for W2K (Home / Pro) which is an OS designed? to be a little more stable / secure / user changeable?
The proof of this, is that W2K does NOT support ALL games (my Red Alert is a distant memory, and remains the ONLY game that I ever completed < wipe tear from eye>)

Anyway, to conclude : ME is not the 'best' most secure (LOL) OS, because IMHO it was never designed to be, it was just another ploy by M$ to fill a niche that until that moment hadn't even existed.

My 0.02c worth

edit< as another chuckle item. Friend from the same IT course, day 1 of new job, ATM machines, working in bank, manager asked him for some advice. He wanted to know where the 'ANY' button was located, as in 'press any button to proceed' ?????????>end edit

Interestingly, MS did get it right with WinXP for the average home user.

What they did was to use Win2K (which is just a version of NT anyway, in the same way that XP is NT 5.1) as the starting point.
At least NT is a decent reasonably secure OS that doesn't crash all the time.

They then added in the interfaces developed for the Win9x line, which included a few things that didn't work at all in ME!

At home, I do have a large selection of games, some of which are 10 years old, and were written to run under MS/DOS.
Much to my surprise everything, which does include Red Alert - just re-installed that one to check :) works perfectly under WinXP.

The real problem is that speaking from personal experience, there are a lot of people who are using Win98 or WinME to access the net without taking any precautions. Which is the main reason why the latest worms & viruses are so successful.

Red Alert runs in XP cos XP emulates ?? ( I am open to be corrected) the requirements for the game.
Call me stupid (not too loudly, please) but I like W2K Pro AND XP Pro, mainly through usage, but I would never defend them at all costs, as there is always a different path (no pun)

and to return to the thread, people scare me now, before, I was Jo Public, no interaction with anyone on a professional level, now, I'm starting out, and I've already seen / heard enough to make me wonder whether it is worth it. My aunt had a problem, sticky E key?? she tells me after an hour fiddling with the sys that "it worked OK until I washed it " !!!!!!!!
I took the suggestion from my 'career path' thread about starting a family / friends help desk affair, now everyone and there dog has a PC that "doesn't understand them"!!!!!!
And I've found that RTFM only works with people who read !!!
Fortunately I've still got that same old feeling whenever I sit at this desk and surf / game / play with the new toys from various sites (NMAP is an eye opener to me [total noob at ANYTHING outside the OS] and reading here is a godsend, I'm not the only one with problems and people EVERYWHERE are ****tards when it comes to IT (thank God, otherwise this new career would hit the skids pronto ? ) Foxy :D

Quote:

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Originally posted here by foxyloxley
Red Alert runs in XP cos XP emulates ?? ( I am open to be corrected) the requirements for the game.
Call me stupid (not too loudly, please) but I like W2K Pro AND XP Pro, mainly through usage, but I would never defend them at all costs, as there is always a different path (no pun)

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Yes, quite correct (hence my comment about including interfaces from Win9x), and it will work on either WinXP home or WinXP Pro.

As to your more general point about whether you should help out other people, this can be a good idea, as believe me, you can see a lot of systems that are seriously shagged.

Which will also help you, as you will hopefully get experience as to what tools you should use to fix the problem.

RTFM is a big problem, as most end users would never dream of doing that :p