Having just installed some AVG anti-virus software and low an behold, there were 6 viruses on my computer. Well, not that any of them were actually running... And here's where we get into the interesting part.
Background - I'm pretty paranoid, and I never execute questionable files on my computer without checking them for viruses. So, back to my virus story.
One of the "viruses" was actually something that I downloaded knowing exactly what it was. I only wanted to check if it came with source code, which it didn't, and I never deleted it. Well, that was number 1, and not very exciting. Oh, and I never ran the executable so it never infected my computer, but that wouldn't have mattered given the nature of the malware.
The next 5 viruses... well... they're a different story. All of them were Java from web sites. All were saved deep down in a Sun directory. I never actually run Java applets on web pages, but never-the-less, there they were.
What I find funny is that everyone is always spouting off about how insecure Internet Explorer and Microsoft products are. I guess that's just a cool band-wagon to jump on. However, none of them got onto my computer from Internet Explorer - I use Firefox.
I've got a bunch of friends (that will scream at me when they read this) that either pray at the Alter of *NIX or the Temple of Apple. And they always like to lecture me on just how bad MS is and how wonderful and peachy anything non-MS is. My question is, now why is it that the only viruses on my computer (that I never ran) came through non-MS, open source, *NIXie type places?
Java is from Sun Microsystems, one of the premiere UNIX manufacturers while Firefox is from the Mozilla foundation.
Not that there's anything wrong with Sun or Firefox. I certainly won't stop using Firefox at all, and I wouldn't hesitate to use stuff from Sun if I need it. (I do use Open Office that has it's roots at Sun.)
What I find irritating is that there are far too many people jumping on the "I hate MS because their software is a security risk" band-wagon without giving an accurate portral of the situation.
The fact is that no matter what software you use, if you are connecting to a network - you are at risk. But with some simple to follow practices, like never opening email attachments, you're pretty safe.
Cheers,
Renegade