Windows XP Security issues

Long and good essay on security issues with Windows XP along with some excellent ideas for securing your computing environment. From Futurepower

Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going.
You have a right to know.

You have a right to all the information you need to make an informed choice about any product you buy.

The author wrote this article because of the need to give his customers fundamental information about the direction Microsoft wants to take them. Few people have the technical background to understand fully the advantages and disadvantages of software as complex as an operating system. Without fundamental information, it is difficult for non-professionals to understand the advice of professionals.

The author is not anti-Microsoft in any way. There appear to be management problems at Microsoft, but the author would like any problems to be fixed, rather than have the entire world suffer through Microsoft doing poorly. Because he has spent considerable time trying to understand the problems, and because he cares deeply about fixing the problems, the author is, in that sense, "more pro-Microsoft than Bill Gates".

One idea that I really liked is based on the thought that you do not need a powerful computer to read email and surf the web. The author (Michael Jennings) wrote:

There is a solution to problems with network security of Microsoft software that involves using two computers for each user. Use an old computer to connect to the Internet; it does not matter if it is slow. Run the Linux operating system and the Mozilla browser and email client on the old computer.

Use a new computer for all other tasks. Use a KVM switch to connect one Keyboard, Video monitor, and Mouse to both computers. Run both computers simultaneously. Remove the TCP/IP protocol software from the new computer running the new Microsoft operating system, so that it cannot possibly connect to the Internet. For file sharing, network the computers together using a protocol like NETBEUI or IPX, or other means. IOGear makes KVM switches that have no video degradation at high resolution.

Very clever idea. I use my main machine for Photoshop and Music software. I do not need the power of this box for email or web surfing and I certainly do not need TCP/IP for the household network. The box that runs the weather station does need to upload it's files to our Brown Snout Farms weather station page but that can be done in several different ways (copy the files to the email/web machine and have a daemon FTP them from there every 15 minutes.) The article was written a few years ago but it is still current and has lots of useful suggestions for securing your box.