“Security” through buck-passing.

When I try to follow a link to a Word document in IE, I get the following message:

Some files can harm your computer. If the file information looks suspicious or you do not fully trust the source, do not open the file.”

Thing is, I followed that link because I believe the document has information that is relevant to my interests. Now I have to choose between not looking at it, and potentially getting h4xx0r3d by doing so. Neither of these is an appealing option. (See also: the helpful “Security Center” in Vista.)

Instead of spending the time and effort to have Windows warn me before I open a file that’s of interest so that MS can claim it’s somehow “my fault” for getting pwn3d, why on Earth didn’t they fix Word so that simply opening a document isn’t a massive security risk? I don’t have to worry about this crap if I open a Word doc in Pages on my Mac or OpenOffice Writer on my Linux desktop.

It wasn’t so long ago that we made fun of people for believing that simply opening a document could infect them with a piece of malware. Remember the Join the Crew and Good Times “viruses”? Thanks, Microsoft, for making what most technically-inclined folks thought was unlikely possible; “looking for my virus scanner” is sure where I wanted to go today!

Here’s a not-too-infrequent scenario:

What’s up with that file on my flash drive? I’d really like to delete it, but Windows keeps telling me “permission denied”. I’m pretty sure I have access to that directory.

Oh, I see. It’s in use by an application. Which one? Oh, it’s not going to tell me that.

Guess I’d better download a copy of Process Explorer.

Ah, there we are. That’s what’s holding that file. Ok. Terminating that program… Yay, now I can delete the file.

Now I’m just going to stop the drive so I can safely remove it…oh, look, the drive is still in use; it won’t let me stop it. Let’s see what Process Explorer says is in use on E:\…

Nothing. The drive isn’t in use after all. Yet I still can’t stop it.

*sigh* *yank*

…and now it’s bitching that I have to stop devices before removing them or risk data loss. Thanks, Windows!

What is it with virtually every application you install, plus Windows itself, wanting to put crap on the desktop? (Or worse, doing so without even asking you?)

The desktop is my workspace. Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine!! If there’s something that I’m likely to be using soon that I really want sitting there, I will put it there. Further, to all you developers who helpfully include a by-default-selected option to add a shortcut to your crummy app on the desktop: YOU’RE NOT HELPING. There’s no point in putting an application shortcut on the desktop. If I use the application frequently, it’s going to be in the frequently-used section of the Start Menu. If I’m always using it, I’ll set it to start up when I log in. If I don’t use it frequently, there’s no conceivable point to having it on the desktop.

And why on Earth does Windows make it so blasted difficult to remove “My Computer”, “Recycle Bin”, etc. from the desktop? I don’t know of any way to do it short of registry hacking or using TweakUI. Gah.

</rant>