Hello again! This week's newsletter is about computer viruses — protecting yourself from.

I take the stability of my clients' computers as my responsibility, and in light of recent events, I feel the need to explain something to you.

If you were to go to http://www.microsoft.com/security/ and look on the lower half of the page on the right-hand side — you would see that every virus listed under the heading "virus alerts" "Affects Outlook, Outlook Express, and Web-based e-mail programs". Note here that the most used program to run "Web-based e-mail programs" is, by far (85% or greater), Microsoft Internet Explorer.

So why is it that most viruses are attacking these computer programs?

First off, the obvious reason is the vast number of computers using these programs. It's a large target.

To shed more light on the subject though, a few bits of history:

1. Since Microsoft's Office 97 and Windows 98, Microsoft has included Windows Visual Basic, an EXTREMELY simplistic programming language, in every version of these programs.
   
   
2. It was reported that in 1997, Lauren Weinstein went before a U.S. Congressional Committee and reported that Microsoft's Windows product was a security risk to the nation due to Visual Basic's capabilities.
   
   
3. Within a few years' time, virus writers narrowed in on writing large amounts of viruses in Visual Basic, mainly because it is so easy to write that 10-year olds could write viruses in it. And, since Microsoft's Office, Outlook, Outlook Express and Internet Explorer were wide open to this vulnerability, 85% or more of the computers on the planet became targets for 10-year olds. (Mentally anyway.)

Won't anti-virus programs help me?

Now, let me explain Anti-Virus Programs here. These programs evolve this way: a programmer looks at a particular virus, finds a piece specific to THAT virus, and adds it into the list of viruses the program is to look for. This is easily shown as true — take a look at your program's Help, About screen, box or web page — somewhere it will brag about the "65,742 viruses" it protects you against.

So ... guess what happens to your computer when you get a virus that was written yesterday, or any day after your most recent virus definition update? That's right. It's not protected by newer computer viruses.

In 1999 alone, an estimated 200 new computer viruses were written EVERY MONTH. The bottom line is that anti-virus programs alone cannot protect your computer system from all viruses.

So, why after years of security alerts do the EXACT SAME KIND OF PROBLEMS keep re-occurring in "Outlook, Outlook Express, and Web-based e-mail programs"?

Who is at fault here? The virus writers (of course), or — MICROSOFT — for building in such a simple way of allowing viruses to trash your system?

Ok, now after all that wonderful news, do I have a solution for this problem?

Yes. And without having to give up on Microsoft's Windows or Office, either.

Call us today at (714) 336-8018 to find out what we can do to rid you of these problems.

Cheers!
The Editor
Aleutian Computer Solutions Computer Networking News
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