Re: Microsoft to release a new Outlook Security patch

[jra () BAYLINK COM (Jay R. Ashworth)]

On Monday, May 15, 2000, at 9:16:30 AM, you wrote:
> Business Week is reporting that Microsoft is preparing patches
> for Outlook 98 and Outlook 2000 to help prevent Email worms like
> LoveBug and Melissa.  The article is available online at:

>    http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/may2000/nf00515d.htm

> The patches will do 2 things:

>    1.  Prevent users from running VBScript and other executable
>        programs that come in as Email attachments.

Alas, not exactly.  The patches, enumerated more fully in several
articles pointed to by my Metafilter posting on the topic a few days
ago <http://www.metafilter.com/detail.cfm?link_ID=1699>, cause Outlook
to automatically at least hide, and possibly delete outright, *any
executable attachment at all* that the mail program ever receives.

This "throw the baby out with the bathwater" reaction is so typically
Microsoft; the people whom it inconveniences won't blame *Microsoft*,
they'll blame people like me, who were complaining about the problem.

"It's your fault: if you hadn't bitched about this, Microsoft wouldn't
have done that".

Shyeah.  Right.

Cheers,
-- jra

--
Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra () baylink com
Member of the Technical Staff
The Suncoast Freenet
Tampa Bay, Florida     http://baylink.pitas.com                +1 888 806 1654