Lab Notes

It would be funny if it weren't true: Raymond Chen describes some of the lengths that hardware vendors will go to avoid the warning Windows XP gives that their drivers may be untrustworthy. The comments tell even more nefarious ways of getting around the warning dialog, like having the installation program take over the mouse to click the dialog's OK button before the user has a chance to read it. My favorite is the developer who describes how his former employer's installer disabled the dialog without re-enabling it, allowing not only their own driver to be installed without warning, but every subsequent driver, regardless of its source.