[vox] [OT] Length of time to infect a Windows computer?

[Robert G. Scofield]

Richard Crawford wrote:

>(and if I had more time I'd wipe
>Windows and slap SuSE on it); as it is, I simply recommended that she
>take the computer to CompUSA for a clean sweep.
>  
>
Cool.

>It led me to wonder: how long does is the average Windows PC on-line
>before it's compromised?  I'm sure that it has to do with the user's
>browsing habits and all that and the tightness of the original
>installation, but surely there are numbers on this somewhere?
>
>  
>
I don't know the answers to any technical questions, but I just want to 
add some facts.  Last weekend we took our son down to start school at 
U.C.S.C.  We got him connected to their Res Net without a problem.  He 
later e-mailed us saying that all Res Net computers had been 
disonnected.  (Res Net is the ethernet connection for dorms.)  On move 
in day, after U.C. Santa Cruz students connected their computers online 
to the Res Net system, one third of them became infected with a bad virus.

I don't use XP, but U.C.S.C. is requiring all XP users to download 
Service Pack 2.  After a while the U.C.S.C. Res Net will not allow any 
users of XP to connect without a Service Pack 2 install (which is over 1 
gig).

Bob