• observantTrapezium@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    16
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    2 days ago

    Looks like it’s equally a Windows problem as it is an LG problem. Why the fuck are you automatically installing shit off the internet when peripherals get connected?

    • rabidhamster@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      2 days ago

      Microsoft being Microsoft. In the 90s and 00s, Windows used to auto-launch programs from CDs when you put them in the drive. No check, just looks for an .exe, and silently runs it. Really good way to get a rootkit installed on your machine.

      • tiramichu@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        5 hours ago

        Autoexec makes sense in historical context.

        If you were a PC user in the 90s and put an application disk in your PC, you did that because you wanted to run what was on it.

        You were going to run it. All autoexec did was save you some clicks.

        CD burners weren’t a thing in the 90s and only corporations had sufficient resources to get CDs pressed. So the logic goes that if you were big enough to make CDs then your software was legitimate.

        Not to mention that pre-Internet there was basically no financial incentive to make viruses. The threat landscape was different.

        But the world changed. CDs became common, malware exploded, even big companies like Sony demonstrated they were untrustworthy, and automatically running executables suddenly seemed like a terrible idea.

        So yeah. I blame Microsoft for this current Windows Update malware vector because they shoukd have learned by now. But I don’t blame them for Autoexec.

    • brucethemoose@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      2 days ago

      It’s an abuse of the Windows Update “contract.” It’s supposed to be for installing drivers so devices function, but manufacturers have been abusing it to autoload bloatware for years.