On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 22:03:54 -0000, in <alt.privacy.spyware>, "Dick
Hazeleger" <Dick@post_it_in_the_newsgroup.com> wrote:
>
[snip]
>
> It is strike two, I agree, Jay, but I was pointing the OP's attention
> to the fact that - like many AV and AT programs - they need to be
> updated immediately after installation.
>
[snip]

All well and good; but that is beside the point(s) that I was attempting to
get across.

> I DISagree however that the program is "useless", perhaps for you...
[snip]

Actually, I said "essentially pointless"; and I stand by that assessment.

> but for thousands of others who don't want to dig in their system this
> a fine and free solution...
[snip]

It's not a "solution" to *anything* -- it merely hides one of the symptoms
of a much larger underlying problem. In that sense, it can be reasonably
argued that it is *worse*than* useless.

> Wake up Jay, the world doesn't contain only
> "experts" (as the last few weeks have shown all too clearly).
[snip]

All the more reason to NOT give them misinformation, or imply that treating
a symptom is equivalent to (or an acceptable substitute for) curing the
disease.

> Experts
> who tell people that a firewall is usefull only for cable and xDSL
> users...
[snip]

Whom or what might you be referring to here? I know that *I* never said
that.

> Yeah.. well, I saw an "open system" being infected with
> blaster seconds after the connection to the Internet was made... that
> says enough IMNSHO!
[snip]

Based on your fuller description of that incident elsewhere, I'd say that
was more an indictment of the system setup (specifically including, but not
limited to, the use of Windows XP) than anything else.

> IMO one can better be too conscious than too
> ignorant!
>
[snip]

I'm sorry, but my parser just broke while trying to make any sense out of
that sentence. Care to try again?

--

Jay T. Blocksom
--------------------------------
Appropriate Technology, Inc.
usenet01[at]appropriate-tech.net


"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-- Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759.

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