Quote from: joepie91 on July 07, 2011, 01:45:02 PM

Quote from: JaTochNietDan on July 07, 2011, 01:28:04 PM

Quote from: joepie91 on July 07, 2011, 01:16:20 PM

Quote from: JaTochNietDan on July 07, 2011, 12:39:49 PM

-snip-

Of course I know about 0day exploits, the odds of you getting hit by one of those is very low. What kind of websites do you hang around in order to get hit by a 0day exploit? I don't really want to know, insecure websites maybe or else some black market websites that are suspicious in the first place. What are the odds you visit a large compromised website with a 0day exploit before either the website is fixed or your program has been updated?

Those odds are actually pretty large.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/major-online-ad-site-hacked-serving-up-exploit-cocktail/4885
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/businessweek-site-hacked-serving-drive-by-exploits/1902
And those are just two massive-scale examples, that I found in 5 minutes of Googling.

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Also I'm aware of the fact it's not the plugin that is exploited, but it is the main source of where people get exploited by it, because they click on a link to a malicious PDF file without even thinking about it, or even noticing that the link is to a PDF file. Also you can remove the plugin just fine after installing it. Also you're assuming that I use Adobe PDF Reader, when in fact you are incorrect, I use Foxit PDF Reader and have been for several years.

You mentioned Adobe PDF Reader in your own post. And do you honestly think that removing the PDF reader plugin is easy enough for the majority of people to do it? How many people do you think are even aware of the capability to remove it?

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Please spare me your conspiracy theories about Microsoft, they aren't giving you spyware like you said.

It's not a 'conspiracy theory'. There have been multiple articles that detailed Windows updates that were sending back more information than they reasonably should (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/02/28/windows_update_keeps_tabs/ , http://irregulartimes.com/index.php/archives/2010/10/22/important-windows-update-microsoft-privacy-bing-bar/). I have in fact seen two updates in the update list myself in the past few years, that explicitly mentioned the information they would be sending back... which was way more information than was reasonable for a system update (these were not even security patches, but 'enhancements'). Not to mention the WGA tool and the dubious privacy consequences it has (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/09/ms_wga_phones_home/ , http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9001540/Microsoft_faces_class_action_suit_over_WGA_tool?nlid=38&source=NLT_SEC). And yes, the WGA tool was automatically installed through Windows Update.

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Oh and in future when talking to me, please don't use such disgraceful language, I'm treating you with respect, I expect the same in return, even if you disagree with me. We're all adults here, so start acting like one by having a mature conversation rather than blatently attacking me verbally. If you do not start doing that, I will not respond to you again.

And what disgraceful language would that be?

I can see why you may be paranoid, but the way you're talking, it's like you're saying that just because your connected to the internet and using a web-browser you're going to get a virus, but it's just not true. It's giving people a false paranoia of how easy it is to get a virus, when really for most people who are PC savvy and not stupid, it isn't that easy to get yourself infected with something malicious. I've never gotten a virus in the several years of using this PC, I use a light-weight but powerful anti-virus of course, but that's not the point. I simply don't do the things that most people get infected by which are:

Download random software
Pirate software
Turn off automatic updates on everything
Give permissions to Java applets (or run Java at all)
Hang around on black-market websites or other websites with a malicious userbase

Although if I was keeping a large amount of BitCoins, I would probably secure it in a savings account which I have the all important wallet for stored in an encrypted key, just to be secure. Although there's no reason to start making everyone panic and think that they're just going to get exploited out of nowhere, there are steps you can take to prevent the chances of you ever getting a virus, some of which are common sense, some maybe not.

I've gotten viruses many years ago in a few different ways when I was still new to computing, but after learning how software exploitation works and what viruses are and so on...I've never gotten anything as far as I can tell. Of course you could say that I've been infected and I simply do not know, but if I have been, then they've done nothing with the vast amount of accounts I have and information I store on here.

And there you are hitting the crucial point. The vast majority of computer users is not tech-savvy. If we want Bitcoin to really succeed, it will have to be accessible and secure to a lot of people who are not tech-savvy. Knowing how software exploitation works should simply not be a requirement for using Bitcoin.

I agree with you there.