USA which has the most Internet trolls defending M$ also has the most infected PCs which are going to have their backup DNS servers disconnected Monday, knocking them off the web. Hundreds of thousands of PCs will seem to disappear.
USA has about 10% of the world’s infected machines. China which has about the same number of on-line users has 1/7 as many infected PCs as USA. India which has four times the population of USA has 1/3 as many infected PCs. To keep the problem at home in USA, the world should just stop using that other OS. It’s not needed and not worth the trouble it causes. I recommend the world use Debian GNU/Linux. It works for you and not M$, its “partners” and malware-writers.
17489
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23940 
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11725 
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Surely that is a tempest in a teapot, Mr. Pogson. As the article states, there are but “thousands of PC system worldwide are still infected with the DNSChanger malware, and when the servers are shut down these systems will no longer be able to resolve URLs to IP addresses”.
The price to be paid for dragging one’s feet here is simply to have it fixed finally. Perhaps someone of your skills and public service motivations could offer to take care of that small task for any friends or neighbors so afflicted.
I don’t actually know anyone who still runs that other OS. Some family are using smart thingies for everything and a few run MacOS. I suppose I could put up a sign at the mailboxes. Odds are that there is an infections in my neighbourhood (9000 in CanadaX1000 people in my neighbourhood/30million people in Canada = 1/3 person in my neighbourhood affected) .
Thanks for the idea. I will write up a memo ASAP.
I think a better solution to the problem than redirecting DNS and then cutting it off would be redirecting requests to an information/solutions page.
Clarence Moon wrote:
“The price to be paid for dragging one’s feet here is simply to have it fixed finally.”
That’s the Cult of Microsoft’s alternate reality speaking. It says, “The only malware that exists are the ones we know about.” That’s the fool’s adage.
The ones dragging their feet aren’t any worse off than the one’s with the latest anti-virus updates. It’s a game you can’t win if you are using Microsoft’s Windows. It’s not designed with security built in, it’s layered on. Their code is hidden and vulnerabilities will always be discovered by the wrong people.
I wish they hurry up and do it, getting tired of reading about it.
Windows (insert number here) Most Secure version ever!
http://www.pcworld.com/article/258863/microsoft_readies_fix_for_windows_flaw_under_attack.html
Doh!
I convert old M$ boxes (long useless) to fully-functional computers and save customers money.
I feel ya, man. I’m getting tired of hearing this about everything.
“The only kitchen appliance you’ll ever need!”
“The safest automobile on the road!”
“The greatest movie of all time!”
“The drug that provides 100% relief!”
“The perfect Linux distro is here!”
“The only diet that works!”
“The best mortgage value on the market!”
and on, and on, and on…..
Fully-functional? Consider this: To a blind man, a television with a broken display can be a “fully-functional” television.
Today my Windows 7 VM accused me of being a thief and told me I must buy a new activation key even though I have a fully purchased and perfectly legitimate copy of Windows 7. Ubuntu has never done this to me nor any other Linux distro.
Of course the truth is I don’t need to purchase a new activation key at all. I just need to go through the process of calling an 0800 toll free number to Microsoft. Enter a 48 digit security code that Windows activation generates which then in turn generates another 48 digit activation code that I need to type into my VM copy of Windows 7. Activation or rather re-activation complete.
While I find the ideology of free libre software compelling and attractive. Not to mention the freebies. That’s not why I switched. I was always perfectly happy to pay for quality software.
The reason I switched was the user experience.
Fox news says you were wrong:
As of Sunday night, there were about 41,800 in the U.S., down from 45,600 on July 4. Worldwide, the total is roughly 211,000 infected. An estimated 2.3 billion people around the world use the Internet, according to Internet World Stats.