Originally Posted By: Mark_M
Originally Posted By: James_Van_Artsdalen
Originally Posted By: Jeff_M

Sorry, but I won't be plugging any unknown usb drives into the ambulance's computer,

Even if Windows is banned from ER and ambulances to fix the security/virus problem, there's no way to expect anyone to know what to do with any material other than printed English text.


Admittedly, plugging an unknown storage device into a mission-critical system, regardless of operating system, is dangerous. Nevertheless, if a Windows system is configured properly, there's no reason why it is any riskier than plugging into any other OS-based system. But I digress...

Plain old .TXT files can be read on any OS. JPEG is natively supported on all OS's for image files. These days, Adobe PDF is ubiquitous enough to also be a universal standard for documentation. If you are concerned about Adobe Reader's security flaws, the free FoxIt PDF viewer is a simpler, and accordingly safer, alternative.

I just had a thought. What if ambulances and emergency rooms had a laptop with a duel BIOS and no hard drive? USB drives would need to include the DOS command.com and a text file. Without a hard drive the laptop is OS independent, hence not venerable to viruses.

If by some chance a USB drive has a malicious code to wipe out the primary BIOS, the secondary BIOS can restore the primary BIOS.

Jeanette Isabelle
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I'm not sure whose twisted idea it was to put hundreds of adolescents in underfunded schools run by people whose dreams were crushed years ago, but I admire the sadism. -- Wednesday Adams, Wednesday