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On Thu, 2009-05-28 at 05:20 +0100, Simon Waters wrote: > kevin wrote: > > > > I advise all Windoze users to Switch off updates for just this reason. > > I strongly feel you do them a disservice with this advice. 90 % of my work with users PC's is Broken windows BSOD after some sw change. Mostly by MS or virus. > The rate of infection for older unpatched Windows boxes is so high every > email server on the planet is daily bombarded with thousands of attempts > to send dodgy emails from crooks who control networks of many tens of > thousands of PCs, many infected because people hadn't run Windows update > yet. Security updates are fine but the update applied in this particular case was altering the /etc/fstab file with no prior knowledge of the devices installed. > Sure updating carries a slight risk, but for Microsoft Windows this risk > is far less than not updating for almost all users. Windows update is > also used to distribute fixes for current threats, otherwise it is > merely a monthly update. > Microsoft's security team have the advantage of receiving information > from threats to a large number of Windows users. They don't schedule > updates lightly, as can be seen from the large number of bugs they don't > fix. They will update out of schedule if they consider the threat > sufficient. They do, unlike us, have the information available to make > this assessment, and the time available to dedicate to analysing it > appropriately. > > Microsoft offer Free unlimited technical support for running Windows > update. > > It is harder to make this call for other operating systems purely on the > basis of security, but I for one have spent too much of my life > discovering bugs that have already been fixed to want to waste any more > time doing it than necessary. For that fully patched Debian boxes meet > my own expectations nicely. My rule is still get a fully patched system running and leave it until you have a problem. Regards Kevin Lucas Minions Post Master(Sub) reprieved (possibly!) Po House, Minions, Liskeard Cornwall PL14 5LE 01579363386 -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html