In Windows XP, Only Hackers Can Hear Your Cries For Help
It should come as a surprise to no one that I have a very low opinion of Windows XP; I still maintain that any other modern OS is better. It seems like Microsoft’s security bulletins are only looking to further my point.
Latest in the XP Bug Saga: F1, the universally known help key, has fallen victim to malicious hackers on the internet. Evidently pressing F1 on certain websites in Internet Explorer exposes the user to any code a person seeks to run on their PC. The detailed security bulletin from Microsoft is as follows:
“The vulnerability exists in the way that VBScript interacts with Windows Help files when using Internet Explorer. If a malicious Web site displayed a specially crafted dialog box and a user pressed the F1 key, arbitrary code could be executed in the security context of the currently logged-on user.”
Microsoft’s current advice? Don’t press F1 if a website tells you to. My advice? Ditch IE and Windows XP. The Internet and web developers around the world will thank you.
Via Gizmodo, image via Wikipedia.
