If you’re still running Windows 2000, then you need to update your PC or server right now with the latest Microsoft patch. That was it. The Windows problem this patch fixes exists in other versions of Windows, but there it can’t do much harm. But, at the same time, Microsoft admitted that the version of Adobe Flash they’ve been shipping with XP until recently is hopelessly outdated and is totally insecure.
Really? Adobe Flash 6, circa 2002, which Adobe hasn’t supported in years, isn’t safe? Who knew!?
How dumb can Microsoft be? You and I might have immediately updated our copy of Flash to the latest version — Flash Player 10.x. But how many of the people who would have picked up a new XP computer in the last few years are likely to assume that software that came with their ‘new’ operating system was dangerously obsolete? I’d bet that a lot of them, especially those with new netbooks with XP Home, haven’t even thought about updating Flash.