Easy to be ridiculous

There's a site, we'll call it site A, from Australia that claims to be an independent reporting site dealing with IT news and related questions.

Their latest first page, reviews the most dangerous software, you could have installed on your computer (by the term computer, they understand a PC running Windows). They give a list classified in order of vulnerability.

They didn't build the list themselves. They actually "borrowed" it from another site, we'll call it site B, a site from Cambridge, Mass., who identify themselves as "the first company to solve the problem of unwanted software". In other words, they sell one of the thousands of the so called solutions, for your Windows nightmares.

Employing the most sophisticated scientific methods, they specify that each application on the list is chosen up on the basis of the following characteristics:

• is well-known in the consumer space and frequently downloaded by individuals;


• is not classified as malicious software by enterprise IT organizations;


• contains at least one critical vulnerability registered in the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) official vulnerability database;


• has a severity rating of between 7.0 - 10.0 (high) on the CVSS scoring system;


• relies on the end user, rather than a central administrator, to manually patch or upgrade the software to eliminate the vulnerability, if such a patch exists.

The reporting site, site A, is flooded, all by a coincidence, by huge Microsoft ad blocks, praising Microsoft made tools of Security. (Microsoft security tools to resolve Microsoft Windows security problems!). If you find your way, in this Ad land, you can see the famous list of dangerous software yourself.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Most Dangerous Never To Install Software is...

1. Mozilla Firefox 1.0.7

followed by:

2. Apple iTunes 6.02 & Quicktime 7.0.3
3. Skype Internet phone 1.4
4. Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.02, 6.03
5. Sun Java Run-Time Environment 5.0 Update 3, JRE 1.4.2_08

So, now you are warned! Never again this unwanted software on your machines! Only the good old safe and reliable soft, that came with your Windows PC!

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One thing, I'll agree with these guys, is the advice they give to the IT department pros:

Boys, stick with Microsoft and you'll never run out of business!

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P.S. Oh No! Of course I'll won't give their urls! I'm not going to promote such crap!

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