So how exactly does Xupiter get into one's system to begin with? That's the detail I'm not getting here.

Sloppy clicking on my part, I'm guessing. Read the Wired articles for their speculation on th various methods by which it gets in, including feeding off of the NY Times and LA Times sites, both of which I visit often.

Eric, thanks for the e-props!

Apparently there is a flaw in some of the older versions of IE that could allow this to install WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION. Of course, many of the net-heads on Slashdot would tell you to just use Mozilla to be safe... :)

Then again, were all programmed to ignore the little security warnings (I laughed myself silly the fist time I saw "Always trust software from Microsoft Corporation" on one of these) and EULA (license agreements). Most people just blindly click through. Don't feel bad, but be more aware.

I predict that 'personal' computer security is going to become a hot issue in the coming years. Dell, Microsoft, AOL, et al. don't tell their millions of customers how to protect themselves against all of the nasties out there.

Anti-virus and hardware firewall are a good start. They need to be kept up to date. Can 'average' users do this? With more difficulty that necessary. I find that even most small businesses are vulnerable. This process has to become automatic, or most won't do it.

Vendors could go a long way in automating this process for users. Microsoft has their 'Automatic Update' feature on their newer operating systems, and that's a good start. But I need to remember to manually fetch and upload firmware to my firewall. Too hard.

I guess I shouldn't complain too much, it keeps food on the table :).

Kurt Greiner