The Patch Of the Month

I swear that Microsoft issues a new "patch" every time a new flavor of coffee comes out. Microsoft recently announced that it will start issuing it's security patches once a month to "make things more predictable and manageable for customers" (story).

The company says it fixes five vulnerabilities it deems "critical." Three of these flaws could be used against any recent release of Windows, while the other two apply to Windows 2000, used mostly by corporate customers, and versions of Microsoft's Exchange Server products. The flaws could be used by malicious coders to create new worms or "Trojan horse" attacks, but Microsoft said it doesn't believe any hackers have taken advantage of the security flaws . . . yet.

Dan Ingevaldson, engineering manager at Internet Security Systems Inc., an Atlanta software firm, recommended that Windows XP users download and install the 2.7-megabyte patch (windowsupdate.microsoft.com) immediately. "This affects a lot of home users," he said.

So, I will be heeding their warning and checking my system out right after I post this entry. The bigger question in all of this is this: Why do Microsoft products have the need to be patched all the time? UNIX, Linux, and other operating systems don't seem to be plagued with this problem nearly to the extent of Windows-based products. I've heard Windows compared to "swiss cheese" when it comes to security vulnerabilities. Perhaps the initial model that the operating system is based was flawed?

Then of course, there's the satisfaction I suppose that a hacker would get knowing that he brought Microsoft down a notch or two off that pedestal that they so enjoy. That's been happening a lot lately. If history has taught us anything in the technology arena, it's that everything can change very quickly. Just ask IBM. They were once thought to be invincible as well.

In regards to Microsoft, the market is just waiting for a less expensive (wouldn't be difficult) product that is more stable (wouldn't be difficult), that has a workable office suite of products for business (on the way), that wouldn't be such a target to hackers and those pissed off over Microsoft's arrogance (wouldn't be difficult).

Nothing annoys be more than to be working along (as a home user on Microsoft XP), receiving a "critical update alert" on my screen that reads something along the lines of "get out of what you are doing... save everything.... and do this update NOW!!! or you will be at the mercy of God knows what!" Then, to rub the salt into the wound even more, I have to restart my system (pain in the ass) two or three times if there are multiple updates to be made. The problem is, it happens a lot, which makes me wonder... am I going to be working along and one day the whole thing just crashes? Of course, this happens all the time to users. They crash and ultimately, they end up reloading their swiss cheese operating system Microsoft XP operating system again.

Me... I've been lucky. Still, I'm fanatical about making backup of everything important. I've been in IT-related work for the last 18 years and the golden rule I have always lived by is this: How upset would you be if you lost that data? That should clarify if you should back it up or take a risk.

If you are like me, everything is important!

By the way, you can check to see if you need any updates by going to http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp.