I am suggesting that if the user did not click on the activex control to allow it to install, if the machine appears to be functioning normally, and if an AV and spyware scan with current definitions show the machine is clean, then it might be hasty to suggest he has to blow out his computer and start over.
[rant]While I'm not trying to beat a dead horse, since SB does not use (and in fact is incapable of using) RDS or any other ActiveX controls with the exception of Flash, any request to use ActiveX controls during a browser session with SB would indicate that the user's computer is already compromised. If the computer were not compromised, there would be nothing trying to load RDS and there would be no message.
The entire "virus" problem and the incessant "Do you want to allow this?" popup business in Vista is nothing more than lip service from Microsoft to make it look like they're doing something. Most users have no idea if they should allow "XYZ" to load or access the internet, so eventually, they get trained to ignore the warning and just say "yes"
In reality, there's no reason for computer viruses to even be possible. My hardware should only run applications that I install. It's not rocket science, and in fact, is one of the reasons why Unix and Linux have been relatively secure: normal users and user applications don't have the rights to modify system settings or software, and anything you download is just data until you mark it as executable.
However, Microsoft has no need to actually secure their OS, since they're effectively a monopoly (yes I know about Apple, but it doesn't represent a real threat to the Microsoft sales ). In fact, by promoting each version of Windows as "more secure" the continuing virus threat encourages frequent upgrades where no real (business/user) need exits. The AV software vendors have a vested interest in an endless supply of new viruses, since without them, they would have no recurring revenue stream for AV subscription updates. The virus writers accommodate this with an endless stream of new viruses, each of which is undetectable for anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, and are now well organized businesses that infect machines and sell the distributed processing and network capacity to spammers.
In fact, the latest batch of viruses provides a fluid, undetectable, untraceable, encrypted computing and network resource that's effectively the most powerful and failure-proof on the planet.
It's an entire interdependent ecosystem built from different groups that all need each other to survive, based on users never learning that they can actually step off the treadmill by abandoning Windows and Microsoft products.
Terry[/rant]
