Software Security Concerns
Software Security Concerns
<snipped for length concerns>
Thank you. I know my IBM PCjr has BASIC since it has a BASIC cartridge.
[So this old computer actually supports DOS and would that only be IBM DOS or
both IBM DOS and MS-DOS? ---- question for you --- rest mainly data] <aside
-- does anyone know if 98 Guy still testing Windows 2000 patches and using
them on his 98 Second Edition machine --- I stopped doing that a long time
ago and he was always the leader in that area> I remember the two companies
were really competing against each other for a while especially before
Windows 3.1. I read about how Microsoft had two lines of source code and one
was the NT (New Technology -- early Microsoft engineers joked it was Not
There due to the lack of a maintenance operating system like DOS --- I read
about this in a book about Microsoft's history and Chris Quirke, MVP has
frequently talked about this topic in this newsgroup) I was pleased to see
how he had posts from mine previously about the problems with XP Professional
and vulnerabilities due to the amount of services thus providing a greater
hacking potential and because of the problems of remote access and insecurity
in that area. Please see more at:
http://cquirke.blogspot.com/
and especially
http://www.spywarepoint.com/forums/t26963-p7-microsoft-zero-day-security-holes-being-exploited.html
also see:
http://secunia.com/
and compare security of XP Professional to 98 Second Edition
http://secunia.com/product/13/ -----
Vendor Microsoft
Product Link N/A
Affected By 32 Secunia advisories
Unpatched 9% (3 of 32 Secunia advisories)
Most Critical Unpatched
The most severe unpatched Secunia advisory affecting Microsoft Windows 98
Second Edition, with all vendor patches applied, is rated Less critical
http://secunia.com/product/22/
Vendor Microsoft
Product Link N/A
Affected By 188 Secunia advisories
Unpatched 15% (29 of 188 Secunia advisories)
Most Critical Unpatched
The most severe unpatched Secunia advisory affecting Microsoft Windows XP
Professional, with all vendor patches applied, is rated Highly critical
<Less Critical in 98SE compared to Highly Critical in XP --- hmm --- let's
see which one to choose --- note the blantlenly sarcastic tone>
and now for home version of xp too --- this will hurt the xp fans if they
ever bother looking in this newsgroup
http://secunia.com/product/16/
Vendor Microsoft
Product Link N/A
Affected By 172 Secunia advisories
Unpatched 16% (27 of 172 Secunia advisories)
Most Critical Unpatched
The most severe unpatched Secunia advisory affecting Microsoft Windows XP
Home Edition, with all vendor patches applied, is rated Highly critical
Now let us compare browsers ---- shall we:
version 5.01 of MIE
http://secunia.com/product/9/
Vendor Microsoft
Product Link N/A
Affected By 72 Secunia advisories
Unpatched 8% (6 of 72 Secunia advisories)
Most Critical Unpatched
The most severe unpatched Secunia advisory affecting Microsoft Internet
Explorer 5.01, with all vendor patches applied, is rated Moderately critical
version of Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5
http://secunia.com/product/10/
Vendor Microsoft
Product Link N/A
Affected By 70 Secunia advisories
Unpatched 9% (6 of 70 Secunia advisories)
Most Critical Unpatched
The most severe unpatched Secunia advisory affecting Microsoft Internet
Explorer 5.5, with all vendor patches applied, is rated Moderately critical
Now version MIE 6.x
http://secunia.com/product/11/
Vendor Microsoft
Product Link View Here (Link to external site)
Affected By 118 Secunia advisories
Unpatched 18% (21 of 118 Secunia advisories)
Most Critical Unpatched
The most severe unpatched Secunia advisory affecting Microsoft Internet
Explorer 6.x, with all vendor patches applied, is rated Moderately critical
The "great" MIE 7 -- at least it has 256 bit encryption in Windows Vista
like Mozilla Firefox provides for even 98 Second Edition users
http://secunia.com/product/12366/
Vendor Microsoft
Product Link View Here (Link to external site)
Affected By 18 Secunia advisories
Unpatched 56% (10 of 18 Secunia advisories)
Most Critical Unpatched
The most severe unpatched Secunia advisory affecting Microsoft Internet
Explorer 7.x, with all vendor patches applied, is rated Highly critical
<highly critical again for Internet Explorer 7 --- shocking to me at least>
only going to provide web-link for latest Mozilla Firefox due to length
concerns of thread:
http://secunia.com/product/12434/
Vendor Mozilla Organization
Product Link View Here (Link to external site)
Affected By 14 Secunia advisories
Unpatched 43% (6 of 14 Secunia advisories)
Most Critical Unpatched
The most severe unpatched Secunia advisory affecting Mozilla Firefox 2.0.x,
with all vendor patches applied, is rated Less critical
Now let us tie this all up soon and here is Opera which I do not like
because the interface annoys me but it seems to be secure:
http://secunia.com/product/10615/
Vendor Opera Software
Product Link View Here (Link to external site)
Affected By 9 Secunia advisories
Unpatched 0% (0 of 9 Secunia advisories)
Most Critical Unpatched
There are no unpatched Secunia advisories affecting this product, when all
vendor patches are applied.
<Still because Opera Web Browser has such a small market share -- I wonder
how many hackers have tried really hard to break in because of its small
market share>
Oh Yeah -- almost forgot -- Windows Vista
It seems like all the volunteer beta testing really helped harden this new
Microsoft operating system
http://secunia.com/product/13223/
Vendor Microsoft
Product Link View Here (Link to external site)
Affected By 12 Secunia advisories
Unpatched 8% (1 of 12 Secunia advisories)
Most Critical Unpatched
The most severe unpatched Secunia advisory affecting Microsoft Windows
Vista, with all vendor patches applied, is rated Not critical
The detailed analysis of the one unpatched vulnerability in Vista
http://secunia.com/advisories/24245/
finally NT data which to Microsoft's credit is fairly secure like 98 Second
Edition:
http://secunia.com/product/15/
Vendor Microsoft
Product Link N/A
Affected By 39 Secunia advisories
Unpatched 15% (6 of 39 Secunia advisories)
Most Critical Unpatched
The most severe unpatched Secunia advisory affecting Microsoft Windows NT
4.0 Workstation, with all vendor patches applied, is rated Less critical
http://secunia.com/product/19/
Vendor Microsoft
Product Link N/A
Affected By 56 Secunia advisories
Unpatched 11% (6 of 56 Secunia advisories)
Most Critical Unpatched
The most severe unpatched Secunia advisory affecting Microsoft Windows NT
4.0 Server, Terminal Server Edition, with all vendor patches applied, is
rated Less critical
http://secunia.com/product/18/
Vendor Microsoft
Product Link N/A
Affected By 57 Secunia advisories
Unpatched 11% (6 of 57 Secunia advisories)
Most Critical Unpatched
The most severe unpatched Secunia advisory affecting Microsoft Windows NT
4.0 Server, with all vendor patches applied, is rated Less critical
As for me all these reasons is a fantastic reason to have a dumb computer
terminal that is not hooked up to the web. For me that is a 486 with a cool
Roland MT-32 music card and lots of old DOS games and some Windows 3.1 games
on it. I also am able to use DOS 5.x nicely. Thanks for listening and have
a great day
http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_os.asp
http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp
<I am not responsible for anyone clicking these web links and they are just
provided as a courtesy to the web user who wants to see them. Personally, I
do not care if you look at them or you don't look at them. Have a nice day!>
Dan Weiser