Stupidity as its own reward.

[reddragdiva]

"Doctor, I get viruses when I do that."
"Don't do that, then."
"But it's tooo haaard! You're just an arrogant IT geek! I WANT MY CRACK!"

Anyone still browsing with Internet Explorer or still reading their email with Outlook or Outlook Express and who does not have a corporate gun to their head deserves everything they get. 'Email virus' means Microsoft virus and nothing else. I have no sympathy whatsoever for people who try to justify their stupidity after their machine has been sodomised. Perhaps they think they're fooling themselves.

(I would be interested to know why these people start screaming abuse like junkies in danger of being cut off when you point out they've done it to themselves.)

Remember: people using Microsoft email programs are the fuckwits facilitating the spread of Sobig and flooding even those of us who do know better with attachments the size of a planet. I was greeted this morning with one hundred and twelve Sobig.F block messages. DON'T BE ONE OF THOSE FUCKWITS.

And if you browse with IE and dare whine about popups, porn links on your desktop and Start menu, massive security holes and how it takes the whole machine down with it when it crashes ... well.

Mozilla Firebird is about the finest web browser going. If you don't like that, or have less than 64MB memory, try Opera. For email, Mozilla, Netscape 7.1 (which is pretty much a nicely-packaged Mozilla 1.4 - best way to start if you're not technically confident) or Mozilla Thunderbird have the Best Spam Filtering Ever. And Opera and Eudora are also perfectly nice and not susceptible to viruses. Stop fucking yourself over.

If you get an email virus and you voluntarily use Microsoft email software, I will point and laugh at you, and encourage all others to do the same.

Any questions?

Update: Here is how to transfer your OE messages to Mozilla or Netscape, and here is how to set up the l33t spam-filtering in Netscape 7.1 or Mozilla 1.4. For Firebird or Thunderbird, all the support is on the Mozillazine Forums.

Update 2: Next week will be even worse. If your inbox has been flooded, call your ISP and tell them they need virus filtering on the mail server.

Update 3: A wonderful rant from NewsForge. "Dear Outlook users: Please remove me from your address books." And the complete explanation of the psychology of Windows defenders.

Comments

[neenaw.livejournal.com]

Yes. What do you recommend I send my e-mail with instead? I use Opera for browsing, but the mail client sucks tits.

[reddragdiva]

Eudora is pretty nice really. Mozilla Thunderbird is an 0.1 release, so don't expect lots of shiny things - but it has the Bayesian Spam Filter, which really is that bloody brilliant. (Get Steve to rant at you about it.) If Thunderbird is a bit lacking in shiny things, the full size Mozilla is a bit fat but usable.

[flickgc.livejournal.com]

Eudora++ but it can't cope with LJ comment emails - the click here to post your reply button doesn't work.

[lnr]

"Home users can avoid infection by updating their anti-virus software and by being suspicious of unexpected e-mail messages they get from people they do not know well." (says BBC).

That's not paranoid enough if you ask me.

At the moment I'm using IE every so often becauses windowsupdate won't talk to Mozilla, and if you're stuck running windows for whatever reason it's wise to keep it up-to-date with critical patches at the very least, or you get stuck with things like the Lovsan/Blaster RPC worm instead.

virus advice

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

"Home users can avoid infection by updating their anti-virus software and by being suspicious of unexpected e-mail messages they get from people they do not know well." (says BBC).

Uh huh.

'Cause nice people don't catch diseases.

*rolls eyes*

[http://users.livejournal.com/_nicolai_/]

Of course, all servers need patching...
So you can summarily patch all your Solaris machines that normally require mind-numbing amounts of trouble ticketing, maintenance planning, etc,
cough

[sheepthief.livejournal.com]

I take exception to that.

I use OE, and I am satisfied that I am perfectly safe. I have been using OE for many years and have never been infected. I was already prepared for the current crop of viruses well in advance.

The problem is not with the software, it is with the users. Whether you can expect the average user to have a clue is another matter entirely.

[yaruar.livejournal.com]

+ when enough people actually start using alternative clients virus writers will expend money in writing stuff that exploits them.

[sparklielizard.livejournal.com]

Same here. I use both of them because they do what I want, and well, in my opinion. If anything, I am probably more clued up on security than a lot of people using alternative packages because they assume they are safe.

I too have never had a nasty, in fact when the entire office here got infected with Welchia yesterday, nobody was using either of them. Complacency with the firewall was to blame, so it didn't matter which mail clients/browsers we were using.

[reddragdiva]

"The problem is not with the software, it is with the users."

I believe that was precisely my point.

[reddragdiva]

"These hair-trigger bear traps that everyone uses as doorstops are PERFECTLY safe if you jam a bit of wood in them, as I do. It's all the stupid users' faults!"

OE stands of Occupational Entrance

[(Anonymous)]

OE is good for learning how to type.

Anyway, this is all bascially a mute point as the serious Microsoft Viruses are worms exploiting the latest greatest sub-standard offerings from MickeySoft. The best solution is to get off Microsft. If you still need your crack you can use a Mac. It is a hundred times better than any microsoft computer but it is still a toy. Have not tried OSX yet though. It could be that Macs are real computers now.

[mofette.livejournal.com]

yes

I was planning to ask later on next week when I'm at my own house with a fast internet connection, but I'm fed up with outlook express, as it won't let me reply to lj comments [I'm not daft enough to get an e-mail virus, or get one through irc. I quit]. I use windows as the things I use my computer for haven't got viable alternatives in linux, and I don't use my computer in the right way to use linux.

I want to export all my mail to the new programme, and it would be great if it can run by itself, not in an explorer window.

Any ideas?

[reddragdiva]

Netscape 7.1 is pretty much identical to Mozilla 1.4, but all the plugins come in the package. Here are instructions on importing the OE mail.

So, then...

[grumpy-sysadmin.livejournal.com]

... is it wrong of me to point and laugh at the Windows Support Caste for being suckers based on their chosen line of work? 'Cause, um, I do. :^>

Incidentally, there is a gun to my head, but I ignore it. (Metaframe makes Outlook go good enough to accept appointments I've already seen through mutt's IMAP client, thanks. Look, ma, no Windows PC in cube!)

In general, I agree with reddragdiva's web suggestion (bearing in mind that all web browsers, like all operating systems, suck; but all web browsers really suck in that "could have done a better job over a free weekend" kind of way while operating systems are a touch more complex), but browsers make, in my experience, categorically bad mail and news readers.

Going on the assumption that nobody actually reads Usenet in its native environment any more, I'll stick to mail. I like mutt a lot, but if you don't live on a command-line, forget it. I often advocate Eudora as the Best GUI Email Client Out There. Hey, look, it does IMAP with SSL and STARTTLS for SMTP these days too.

The spam filtering thing... I strongly believe that this belongs on the server side. I'm probably eventually going to be doing IMAP from somewhere where I'm paying by the minute (ahem, cell phone), so I'd really rather never download mail that's actually trash. SpamAssassin does this decently, and communicates with various Bayesian softwares, Razor, Pyzor. If you're still getting spam (I am, but I haven't done the Bayesian training step yet), go make a white list.

There is, in this day and age, very little excuse beyond laziness for not having control over your email server or at least sending and receiving email through an email server owned by someone with a clue whom you know personally. (And yes, if anyone reading this can claim they know me personally, go ahead and ask.)

Re: So, then...

[fluffymormegil.livejournal.com]

"Usenet in its native environment"? I certainly read assorted rec and alt groups with trn.

mail readers

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I uses to use Eudora, and it downloads all attachments into a seperate folder. The only aggravation was the risk of accidentally clicking on something while deleting it.

the_axel convinced me to try Pegasus and it's lovely -- I can set it up under several different user ID's, and it's very virus-resistant.

Re: mail readers

[greylock.livejournal.com]

I use Eudora, and have had no problems with it, aside from a little bit of index confusion.

I used to use Pegasus at work, imposed.
Hated it. Daily.

Then IT shifted us over to OE. I installed Pegasus.

[atommickbrane.livejournal.com]

Aaaahhh Microsoft. I remember when I had Microsoft stuff... and things worked... aaah back in the day &c...

I have now spent about a week and a half trying to make email for linux!!! Argh. I would *love* even the *opportunity* for a virus...

[fluffymormegil.livejournal.com]

Find a friendly geek. Apply flirtation, offers of intoxicants, etc. as appropriate. Pay attention while zie does zir thing.

[lpetersson.livejournal.com]

Giggle.
Very true. Largely.
But remember, all OS's suck. The just suck differently.
Same applies IMO to Webbrowsers.
And pop-ups don't bother me anymore. They all point to 127.0.0.1 on my machine...

[damerell.livejournal.com]

Some suck more than others. It's important not to lose track of _that_, either.

[sciamachy.livejournal.com]

Well, I just had one of my periodic goes at setting up a non-LookOut email client to talk to our Exchange servers, and found that Thunderbird needs an SMTP server specified. I tried putting in the server address that I collect the mail from, which didn't work (Couldn't connect) then had a look at some mail headers from an outgoing mail I'd sent from Outlook, to see if maybe the server was further down the route. I tried each one, and got mostly "Couldn't connect" type errors, but in 1 case I got "Relaying Prohibited!" and in another I got "[server] is not set up to relay from [my PC] to [destination]". THat's exhausted the lot of 'em, so there's no smtp server I can use unless I run one locally, and then we're behind a firewall.

[reddragdiva]

Well, it sounds like they want viruses by corporate policy. You should be a good employee and not go against that.

(It's hardly like you've got work to interrupt ;-)

[redcountess]

As David is aware, we have to boot into windows and use IE when we want to do home banking, due to the anti-accessiblity policy of NatWest to render their internet banking site for only IE/Communicator. For this reason I have AdAware and Sygate personal firewall which is free and very good. I still have a subscription with EZAntivirus and run the definitions update as soon as I boot into windows. I also have the privacy settings set fairly high in IE. I don't use OE at all, and I use OpenOffice for word processing and spreadsheets.

[reddragdiva]

And now all we need to do is upgrade our bank ;-)

[gashinryu.livejournal.com]

Okay...running Firebird now. Seems alright, but I was using Netscape 7.0 before anyway, so there's not much difference so far.

Dowloaded Thunderbird and will try it later, but I have to say that I've never had any trouble with MS Outlook (yeah, I know...just because it's never been a problem...yadda yadda).

Thanks for the links David. :-)

[reddragdiva]

Firebird looks pretty much the same as Netscape 7, but it's smaller and faster.

If you're using Thunderbird, keep track of the Mozillazine Forums - that's where all the support is.

Regardless of email client

[loosechanj.livejournal.com]

I have never gotten a worm or a virus. Someone loved everyone else, all I did was clean up. :-\

[phelyan.livejournal.com]

Note that you can also use the preview pane on Outlook. Attachments will sit in a dropdown menu and will not be opened and JavaScript can't be executed by the preview pane.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

i'd like to take a moment to thank hellsop for pointing this out. I've seen your posts in a few other mutual-friend threads.

so, "hi there."

Nice rant

[agnte.livejournal.com]

Its really really ace.

The corpoerate gun is pointed at us for outlook use, but i plan to put mozilla-firebird set as default browser on as many machines as I can find around the office, that is one nice bit-o-software.

Re: Nice rant

[(Anonymous)]

[12:16] and sobigs interesting
[12:16] i havet had one
[12:16] but some please hit with it 100+ times
[12:16] i think the virsus checkr is doing its thign as well
[12:16] agnte : btw, your superior open source non-corporate-gun-to-the-head software has you typing in the wrong channel window.
[12:16] but its not letting me know about the sobig ones, just nuking the emails.
[12:16] think about it.
[12:16] haha
[12:16] it is

Food for thought.

Regardless, rage against the machine kiddies, fight the power through your software choices! I'm sure Che would be proud.

I'd love to join the circle jerk, but I'm just not passionate enough.

[karen2205]

*adds this post to memories* - I've been meaning to switch to Mozilla for ages, but just haven't got round to it.

Thanks for the lecture;-)