The Family Sideways: Uff-da

Uff-da 8/16/2005 10:06:00 PM (See what I'm talking about)

So I'm in Chicago this week, and at my parents' place I inevitably have to cleanse them of more spyware than you can possibly imagine. My mom always insists that it's my dad or my sister, or a visiting aunt twice removed, but the very fact that she has no idea how to use a computer (not to mention the fact that she's the only one that uses it) implicates her easily enough.
Seeing as how I work with/use computers all day, every day, and somehow avoid to be massively infected (as they always are) tells me that either (1) I am extremely lucky, (2) they are extremely unlucky, or (3) they are nincompoops. (Who here knows how to spell that?).
Anyway, today I finally went into drastic mode. I uninstalled everything (even Java!). I ratcheted IE's security settings so high they couldn't get to google without clicking past a warning, and then I removed it (well, any easy way to access it, anyway). Firefox has been installed for ages, but now it's got the icon from IE. (Oh yeah, I'm that good).
OK, so it's sickeningly easy. Doesn't matter. From now on (I do this often), whenever I fix someone's computer (because they inevitably have way too much spyware), I'm not training them to use Firefox, I will simply replace IE with it. What could be easier?

There is no way they're going to F up this machine any more, unless they really try. I'm convinced that they keep getting duped because of all those pop-up-ad "error messages" that tell you you REALLY NEED to install some porn search engine if you want to secure your computer against evildoers.

The internets are a vicious place. One's parents should not be allowed to tread lightly.

I should tell them I did this for someone in Houston for 2 40-yard line tickets to a Texans game (I did). One more time and I'll just unplug the computer. See how long it takes them to figure that one out. Or - better yet - just unplug the DSL modem.

People like my parents are why there are so many exploits for IE still. Sigh.

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2 Comments:

Anonymous said...

actually,

it's the malicious emails i get that have me concerned most about ma & pa (the bumpkins). I get about 12 emails a day, which sneak their way through my filters, telling me 1) my ebay account is compromised or 2) my paypal account is in jeporady. a) i have no ebay account under that adress and II) my paypal acct is now registered under a cancelled credit card.

but im sure "someone" there is opening and clicking on stuff they shouldn't (install adblocker extensions too, but not greasemonkey, that can Only lead to problems). and maybe it's really just time we swapped out their gateway with a mac mini. or my old ibook ;)

posted at 11:54 PM

B.J. said...

I did the same to my parents pc...still working on it actually. I unistalled Java on my own home machine...we had more diseases than a French Quarter show girl.

posted at 11:19 AM