Windows Aggravation #132

“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!

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