The Conficker worm, which spreads by infecting Windows computers who are not properly kept up-to-date, was supposed to make a big splash on April 1, but that day passed with a deafening silence on the Conficker front. Since then, there has been some movement by the worm, and data gathered from enterprise users of Sophos' Endpoint Assessment Test indicates that 10% of Windows machines have still not been properly patched, leaving them wide open to a Conficker infection.
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Member since:2005-07-22
Updating is needed because of defective parts in the software. You can't really map it to car fuel, which would be much like electricity to the hardware. Updating would be more like updating your car's microcomputer firmware. Imagine how you would feel if you had to manually patch the firmware all the time. Wouldn't you say "this car sucks"?
Member since:2005-07-06
Maybe, maybe not. But I damn sure wouldn't argue that it's my responsibility to take action on public safety issues with my property... That's precisely what these vulnerabilities are btw, public safety issues to the internet and if the end user can't be bothered to get off their ass and patch their systems in a reasonable amount of time then you're goddamn skippy I want to see them held 100% accountable when some three month old exploit causes their system to DDoS something.
If you can't be bothered to educate yourself on the use of something to at least a basic level you have zero business having it in the first place.
Member since:
2007-01-03
But the analogy works when you consider updating as a regular maintenance task which is what it is. It is *exactly* like having to change oil, tires, etc, these are all part of regular maintenance of your device.