 As fresh as a Daisy
Sunday, 16 October 2005
If you’re running one of the numerous flavours of the Windows operating system, you’ve no doubt experienced the continuous and systematic updates or hotfixes you’re having to apply to your computer just to keep it secure. This is normally done via Internet Explorer, via the Tools > Windows Update menu or by pointing your browser directly to the Microsoft Windows Update website.
However, due to the nature of the underlying technology, Microsoft will only permit you to run the update via Internet Explorer. If you goto their Windows Update website with any other browser, you get this message:
“Thank you for your interest in obtaining updates from our site. To use this site, you must be running Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or later.”
However, it’s no secret that Internet Explorer is the least secure browser out there.
See the “Catch 22″ here?
What Microsoft are effectively insisting on is that we use the least (and most attacked) browser to download patches for security flaws which, in a lot of cases, affect their insecure browser.
There is an alternative. Marc DeBonis, from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University has released an intelligent alternative called Daisy. From the website:
“Daisy is a program that reviews your system for service pack and OS level, determines what hotfixes the base OS needs, and downloads and installs them in a correct and consistent manner. It checks that the hotfixes installed on the system are installed correctly.”
Download it here. Fo those wanting to learn more, including which versions of Windows and applications Daisy can patch, see the online documentation page.
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