> As Eric explains, you don't even need to browse the internet to catch something nasty on a Windows XP machine. Hackers can use tools to scan the web for computers running vulnerable operating systems. And once they locate one (like someone going online with a decades-old operating system, for instance), they immediately begin bombarding it with viruses. Sure enough, Eric leaves the system "to cook" for a few minutes, and once he returns, there are tell-tale signs in the Task Manager that something nasty has gotten in.
> Granted, Eric turned off the firewall on Windows XP before he started the experiment, but we have a sneaking suspicion that a security suite that hasn't been updated for at least a decade doesn't have much chance against modern tactics.
How would've they located or infected the machine with no user activity had the firewall been left on or even if the box was just behind a NAT router? Running that experiment might prove much less interesting. I've run many Windows XP VMs in recent years on firewalled networks without incident.
