I honestly fail to see how Adobe would have any legal recourse here. It's an Apple product with an Apple platform, therefore, they get to set the rules. Sure, the rules suck and are rather dev-unfriendly, but it's hardly illegal.

I'd trust a proven risk far more than an unknown risk. At least with the former, we know its limits.

That's just it. They have to have local admin access. I work at a college, and the professors have to be able to install whatever specialized software they need to do their jobs (grading apps, SPSS, ArcGIS, Mathematica, etc.). I'd love to limit their access, but it's just not feasible.

1. Don't use Internet Explorer. I swear that most of the infections I've run into are from compromised websites using exploits that target IE.

2. Don't install anything- ANYTHING- from the internet unless you know exactly what it is. Even then, you might want to run a quick scan on it. Most virus scanners add an option to the right-click context menu to make this simple.

3. If you see anything saying "your computer may be infected" or something along those lines while browsing the internet, ignore it. It's a downright lie. Even if it looks legit. When in doubt, call a tech.

4. In the event that you get infected, call a tech, or if you're brave enough, follow the steps I outlined in my previous post here.

I work for a IT department here in California, and we get about three fake-antivirus-infected computers every week. Lately, the malware's been getting more difficult to remove- it's been hooking into system processes so that it can continually replace itself if part of the program gets deleted.
Thankfully, we've found a fairly nice remedy that doesn't force us to wipe the hard drive. Don't bother with Ad-Aware or Spybot S&D anymore- they've become very ineffective as of late.

First we hit it with a scan from Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, a free scanner you can download here: http://download.cnet.com/Malwarebytes-Anti-Malware/3000-8022_4-10804572.html?tag=mncol

Then, on the infected computer, we download and run (in safe mode) a somewhat obscure free program called Combofix, which is available here: http://www.combofix.org/

After that, we run one more follow-up scan with Malwarebytes to ensure that the computer is clean.

So far, this combination of steps has eliminated the infections that we've come across.

Usually I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but what if he was bribed to essentially throw his own case in order to set some kind of legal precedent? I mean, it takes a special, special brand of stupid to plead guilty in circumstances like these. I honestly wouldn't put it past the RIAA to pull something like that, considering their track record (MediaSentry's constant flouting of the law comes to mind).

My coworkers and I have been dealing with AntiVirus XP and its variants for the past few months, and it seems to infect computers in exactly this way. Badvertisements. It's hardly a new phenomenon, but it's nice to see the press pick up on it. Better late than never.

Off. Site. Backups. Textbook example of why you need to secure your backup data in a secure, non-networked location.

This is assuming that someone is utterly brain-dead enough to put vital, important data on a machine that they know will lock up on them in a year.

The more I follow the story of the fate of internet radio, the more I boggle over the collective stupidity of the Copyright Royalty Board.

By raising the rates, they're practically ensuring that they're not only pissing a lot of people off (almost everyone I know uses Pandora, for instance), but they're taking their revenue stream and choking it to death. Tons of net radio broadcasters are going to be forced to shut down over this, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if it means that, despite the increased royalty rates, they actually make far less in fees in the long run. And that goes doubly so for Pandora, which is one of the best ways I've seen for music fans to find new artists and new styles of music they may never have considered before. So much for that revenue-boosting avenue.