17-year-old Windows Flaw Affects All Since NT
Windows Virtual DOS Machine bug from 17 years ago affects Windows 7 users today.
We often hear of Windows security bugs that plague a recent version of the operating system that many are still using today, but rarely do we hear of a bug that reaches all the way back – 17 years – to Windows NT.
Tavis Ormandy, a security researcher at Google, discovered a security flaw in the Virtual DOS Machine that can allow a nefarious user to inject code into the kernal and possibly install malware.
Given that all modern versions of Windows still feature the Virtual DOS Machine, this is a vulnerability that still exists today.
"All 32bit x86 versions of Windows NT released since 27-Jul-1993 are believed to be affected, including but not limited to the following actively supported versions:
- Windows 2000
- Windows XP
- Windows Server 2003
- Windows Vista
- Windows Server 2008
- Windows 7"
Microsoft has yet to respond to the flaw, and until it does with a patch, Ormandy recommends the following as a way to mitigate the hole:
"Temporarily disabling the MSDOS and WOWEXEC subsystems will prevent the attack from functioning, as without a process with VdmAllowed, it is not possible to access NtVdmControl() (without SeTcbPrivilege, of course).
"The policy template "Windows Components\Application Compatibility\Prevent access to 16-bit applications" may be used within the group policy editor to prevent unprivileged users from executing 16-bit applications. I'm informed this is an officially supported machine configuration."

It has nothing to do with 32 vs 64 bit , but more so with MS-DOS compatibility. Disable DOS & you're fine.
I'm quaking in my boots...
Hahaha... What's with the inches sign? Who else noticed that?
32-bit windows users = only about 99% of all windows users
The tech guy said do nothing, maybe open another beer if you feel like it: P
If Carlsberg made operating systems......
My critical systems have been running 64-bit Operating systems for quite some time now, but my older, lower-end systems still use 32-bit XP.
Get it?
Most real software is never totally re-written (sans Mozilla). When you develop a new codebase you have to deal with many more times the bugs than if you had simply modified an existing one. Code that is constantly maintained typically gets better over time.
"Windows 7 Inches" sounds fine too...