Full FeedGadgetell Experiment: Naked Windows week 2 update
If you didn’t know, I am running an experiment using two Windows machines. Both are not running any antivirus or anti-spyware. One machine will be used in a limited fashion—going only to “safe” sites and being very cautious. The other machine is being used as if the user was an idiot. Week 1 went without a hitch. How about week 2? Keep reading.
The cautious Windows user
At this point in my computer experience, I have some ideas of where to go and how to search for safe things. I downloaded some programs from Download.com and, of course, the files were clean. I go to lots of video sites like Hulu, YouTube, and a variety of network television sites. There is no antivirus or anti-spyware running on the machine. All scans are via online scanning. I had to run a Symantec online scan since my other machine would not load Trend Micro’s online virus scanner. 67641 files scanned, 0 files infected.
Win Idiot
The machine I use to just act like an idiot is a virtual machine running on VMWare. Doing simple Google searches like “free antivirus” brings up a lot of legitimate antivirus programs and their sites. To download an evil antivirus program would actually take work. Live.com seems to bring up some sites I am unfamiliar with. My theory is that an “idiot” would be lazy as well. They would be clicking the first links in the search results pages. Similarly, searching online for Internet Explorer add-on brings up lots of Microsoft sites first. Surprisingly, using a decent search engine may be a good way to stay safe.
I downloaded a couple of programs. I looked up “free DVD player” since XP doesn’t come with one. Again, the top Google search result actually is information on DVD Decoders and VLC, the free swiss-army knife of video players. That site has a link to the official VLC download page. Again, it still takes work to do something dumb. Trying to download instant messenger clients is the same. Checking on Live.com brings up plenty of reputable sites again.
A weird thing happened when I tried to use Trend Micro’s free online antivirus scanner—I kept getting an error in IE6. I grabbed Firefox to see if it would allow me to use the service. No go. I had to use Symantec’s online antivirus scanner which only worked in IE. 21554 files scanned, 0 files infected.
Now what?
I’m thinking about just opening up my spam e-mail account and now clicking on everything and see what happens. It seems unrealistic to intentionally search for virus infected software. What suggestions do you have?
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How about some Torrents or P2P files sharing like the old ShareBear and Limewire? Everyone needs free/illegal stuff. (just don’t get caught)
on May 15, 2009 at 03:03 PM - LINKThis is the best pretty security system but entire world and users want some thing for free, so some time their it should be for free for few months as Microsoft Has released Windows 7 as beta and Windows 7 RC 1 for 13 months for public use.
on May 18, 2009 at 07:58 AM - LINKfor more assistance ...http://www.iyogi.co.uk
Limewire is a good suggestion…
Instead of idiot, think teenager. Free games, click ‘ok’ to anything just to get that annoying window off your screen, and let’s be honest… porn.
on May 19, 2009 at 01:18 PM - LINKMaybe I’ll go after some public domain stuff on P2P or something. Porn has been suggested and we’ll see how that goes.
on May 20, 2009 at 10:01 AM - LINK