This is gonna be an entry that fellow geeks may find interesting, but I assume the majority of people will find quite boring. However, even for them, there may be a lesson to be learned.
I just installed the new beta release of the Secunia Personal Software Inspector (download here : Secunia PSI beta) and the initial scan scored my system at 89% up-to-date. I had a few insecure programs installed, and some others got an end-of-life warning. Some uninstalling, rebooting and installs later, I managed to get my rate up to 97% - which is much better, but still not perfect. (Update on July 26th : I'm up to 98% now, with just two end-of-life programs left)
Two tools I currently use - not regular though - have gotten an end-of-life warning and one is plain insecure and should get a service pack applied asap. I don't recall why that hasn't been done yet, I guess I tried it before and it failed back then, and I forgot about it. I'll see if I can patch it and remove or replace the two programs that are no longer supported. The less vectors for attack and intrusion, the better.
Please feel free to run and download the tool yourself and post your initial score in a comment. Then install as many updates and patches as possible, and post your new rate. The one who manages to score best will get... absolutely nothing. Well, not from me anyway, but they'll get to work on a more secure system that is less prone to getting abused. Which should be all the incentive you need :)
Comments
Waw! What a program! My score is: 65% up to date.
(22 insecure, 7 end-of-life, 53 up-to-date) Not too bad for someone who doesn't upload on a regular base.:-)
Posted by: Hilda at July 25, 2007 12:35 AM
I am both curious and afraid of my score :-D
I'll try and think about it later when I turn on my "home pc"
Posted by: Nadia at July 25, 2007 11:28 AM
Thanks for your initial score post, Hilda. I'm looking forward to seeing your final score be posted here soon, and would like it to be well over 90%.
Nadia, it's funny to see you both curious as well as scared, I guess you know upfront how well or bad your machine is gonna score :)
Posted by: ServMe at July 25, 2007 7:51 PM
Initial score: 72 % utd, 14 insec., 3 eol and 43 utd.
After updates (mainly office 2000 pro):
78 % utd, 10 insecure, 3 eol and 47 utd.
Didn't take the time to further investigate.
Posted by: Boobke at July 26, 2007 5:09 PM
It shouldn't take too much effort to get most of those 10 insecure patched, or updated to the latest release. The three EOL's could prove more difficult especially if you don't like the replacement programs.
Posted by: ServMe at July 26, 2007 10:58 PM
not doing too bad it seems :-)
73%
10 insecure
0 EOL
27 up-to-date
I'll let you know what I get once I try and sort those insecure ones out
Posted by: Nadia at July 27, 2007 11:17 AM