This is something
that I need to explain to almost every
new customer; so it makes sense to write it down – finally.
For technical purists: I know my
wording is not always technically 100% correct but this blog is written for totally
non-technical people; their understanding of the concepts is more important to
me than expressing my thoughts technically fully correct. I ask your
forgiveness.
In the 1990s
Microsoft developed a programming technology known as ActiveX. This technology naturally
is widely used in all major Microsoft products. ActiveX programs require the so called “ActiveX
environment” on any given computer to be able to work. Consequently all major
Microsoft programs contain and supply an ActiveX environment.
In December
2009 Microsoft operating systems powered more than 92% of installed computers
according to this ArsTechnica
article. This market share has somewhat shrunk but I believe I still can
say: Since ActiveX was introduced Microsoft has become a world encompassing
monopoly.
According to
Internet World Stats currently
there are over 2.3 billion Internet users worldwide. Around
80% to 90% of these people use a computer that is run by an operating system
from Microsoft.
What is a
crook going to do if he wants to (ab-) use your computer for his purpose? What
programming technology or programming language is he going to choose? Likely he
will choose the programming language that will give him access to the largest
number of computers, machines run by a Microsoft operating systems.
Around 2006
there were estimates that about 75% to 80% of all viruses were written in
ActiveX. I have not found current statistics but that percentage is lower now. By
my personal estimate currently ca. 50% to 60% of viruses are still written in
ActiveX.
My
conclusion: Just by not using certain
Microsoft programs we can easily avoid common ActiveX viruses! Microsoft programs
that I avoid are primarily:
- Internet Explorer
- Any and all Microsoft email programs
- Windows Media Player
- MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint when I need to tap into Internet connected features
- Microsoft Messenger (a chat program)
How do I “get
to the Internet” and write letters and so on you ask? The alternatives of my choice are all free, free as in no money at all and safe as far as malicious ActiveX programs go:
- Mozilla Firefox (web browser)
- Mozilla Thunderbird (email client)
- VideoLan VLC (media player)
- Libre Office (office suite)
- Pidgin (a chat program)
As usual I
welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.
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