Of course, this applies to Windows users only…
…especially those who own pirated copies, who therefore have no (or little) access to Windows Updates, which of course includes their security patches.
Anyways, just weeks ago the company where I worked with got swamped by a worm infection (Conficker). The funny thing was this worm was nearly a year old already, and it only struck us now. I remember when it first came out I issued a notice to switch all the company’s browsers to Firefox since the worm exploited a vulnerability in Internet Explorer 6. With that, I thought we were safe.
Apparently, only after the attack did I come to realize that IE 6 was tightly integrated with the Windows system, and because of that just having IE 6 installed in one’s computer is already a vulnerability in itself. I also noticed that the PC’s I installed IE 8 on were not bothered by the worm, as well as the Vista units which had access to Windows Updates.
Therefore, if one’s running XP right now, I suggest you get IE 8, even though you’re using another browser (like Firefox or Chrome), just as a precaution, and to further protect oneself from future exploits.
Just to really be sure, make sure to check updates of your other software particularly:
- Browsers (they are like daily portals to the dirty world of the Internet
- Antivirus (especially virus definitions)
- Media programs (iTunes always checks the internet so its pretty vulnerable to this
- Plugins (especially Flash, Java, etc.)
- Any other program that you know connects to the Internet