[Tutor] Major computer warning.

Jonathan Hayward jonathan.hayward at pobox.com
Sun Jun 27 21:33:32 EDT 2004


The following is from another list. I've verified it from other sources, 
including http://slashdot.org. What it means is that if you have a PC, 
it is VERY DANGEROUS to use Internet Explorer now.

I reccommend using http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ .

Brethren,

The following news articles describe a potentially serious threat
to PC's because of a flaw in Internet Explorer.  There isn't a lot of
detail at this time, but given the history of problems, what they
are describing is certainly possible.  Two articles:

http://www.theregister.com/2004/06/25/virus_hits_websites/
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,123712,00.html

The best way to limit your risk is to use a browser other than
Internet Explorer.   There are several good options available:

Mozilla Firefox:
http://mozilla.org/products/firefox/

Opera:
http://www.opera.com/download/index.dml?platform=windows

Netscape:
http://www.netscape,com

Any of these three will limit the risk you have when surfing the
net.  Be sure you enable their pop-up blocking immediately after
you install them.

It's also very, very important that you have anti-virus software
installed and running on your machine, and update it on a
daily basis.

You might want to also consider getting a firewall like Zone
Alarm or Black Ice.

Finally, you should, from time to time, scan your machine with
AdAware, which will find malicious programs:

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

It does a good job of finding and removing malicious programs,
untrustworthy cookies, browser hijacks, etc.

This problem does not affects Apple Macintosh or Linux systems.

-- 
++ Jonathan Hayward, jonathan.hayward at pobox.com
** To see an award-winning website with stories, essays, artwork,
** games, and a four-dimensional maze, why not visit my home page?
** All of this is waiting for you at http://JonathansCorner.com




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