A friend told me to be careful, because there were tests using “honey pots”, Windows machines thrown online without security patches, where the computers were hacked in less than two hours. My experience was more like five minutes. I was on a dialup connection, using a brand new installation of Windows XP Home Edition. I just went to Control Panel, made a new connection to my dialup ISP by entering their number, my username, and my password. Less than five minutes later, a window popped up. It was one of those hacks that exploits Windows Messenger Service, which is turned on by default. And, of course, since I didn't have other tools turned off and didn't do my security updates, it was hacked completely.

Once I rebooted the machine, all the spyware and adware was already in full effect. Of course, many people aren't putt off by this kind of problem. They just go online and download some free anti-spyware software or perhaps some well known anti-adware and move on. Ignoring the potential risks to their privacy and data, they don't bother concerning themselves with the complexity of what may have actually happened: that someone likely took over their computer.

Many of the computers that spread viruses, trojans, and other exploit tools are actually owned by victims, personal computers that have been exploited. Spam is largely propagated by computers that are under the control of third parties. Usually, these are personal computers on broadband connections. But, they don't have to be on broadband. Dialup computers are as likely to become victims of exploits as anyone. Additionally, dozens of updates are necessary to keep Windows safe. If you use Microsoft Office, you need to update it and patch it separately. If you try to operate your computer without daily updates, you will undoubtedly become an exploit victim very soon.