There have recently been a spate of articles about the Downadup / Conficker Worm in the tech media and regular media.  Upon first hearing about the worm, I was impressed with its abilities.  There was a patch to prevent the worm put out by Microsoft, so I thought that it would be interesting to see how it propagated.  If a system was updated and patched, there shouldn’t be a problem.  Any security expert worth their salt will tell everyone to keep Windows systems updated and patched.  Many even recommend that a novice allow the Automatic Updates download and install the monthly updates automatically, without user intervention.

The security researchers at F-Secure have stated that this worm has the potential to infect up to 1/3 of Windows PCs.  This is due to the systems having not been updated, even though the patch was available in October.  That is a lot of computers.

Now for a personal perspective.  4 out of 4 of the systems that have been brought in my store in the last week, have been infected with this little beauty.  It becomes pretty obvious when the AV / Malware products that the customer is using will not update.  Of course, none of the system had been updated for quite some time.  One I believe had not been updated since purchase.  So I guess the message has not gone mainstream.  Only the “geeks” update their systems.

The question is, “How do we get the ‘average joe and jane’ to keep their Internet connected Windows PCs updated?”.

This woman brings her grandkid into the store on an irregular basis.  In other words, every once in a while.  The kid is a complete little asshole.  I mean it!  He may be young, but his manners, even for his age, are complete shit.

The only reason they every come to the store together is to rent movies and occasionally a video game of some kind.  Today the kid came in and began a campaign of destruction in the video section of the store.  The grandmother did nothing.  An employee asked if he could not move all the video cases around the store.  OK!

The kid finally picks out a couple of movies.  The total is $4.70.  He then proceeds to pull out a change bag and dumps it on the counter.  WTF?  That is mean.  The clerk holds him temper and calmly counts the change, which happens to be all nickels, and the total is $2.95.  The kid starts to argue that he thought he had $3.00.  FINE!  In either case, the kid doesn’t have enough money for the movies.  So now he turns on the charm.  He wants grandma to fork over the money for the movie.  Of course she does.  This despite the fact that the entire time he was here, he was a disrespectful little …..

I want to know WHY people don’t start taking responsibility for their kids?