Jason Levine
Premium
join:2001-07-13
USA | reply to hedyd4u
Re: People I know (of).....
I guess I'm lucky. My wife is computer savvy and knows enough to keep the computer clean of spyware (or come to me if there's something she's not sure of).  |
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Hall
Premium,MVM
join:2000-04-28
Dayton, OH | reply to hedyd4u
How many of those "spyware hits" were (harmless) cookies ?? |
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hedyd4u
Premium
join:2003-12-16
Schenectady, NY
| reply to Jason Levine
On a trip to my brother-in-law's this weekend, I took it upon myself to clean his computer system. He had 474
spyware "hits" as found by Ad-Aware and 300+ as found by Spybot after Ad-Aware was done. This amounted to at least 8 different spyware programs (4 running at the same time). I lost count after a bit. He also had a trojan horse virus.
A co-worker of mine had 1200 spyware hits computer was moving at snails pace. I agree with user error being the biggest problem. That is why my wife can not use my computer and I get the joy of fixing hers. |
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Jason Levine
Premium
join:2001-07-13
USA
| reply to A Better OS
Sorry, but it's not so much the OS as it is the person using the OS. I run Windows and remain virus and spyware free because I know how to practice safe computing.
On a trip to my brother-in-law's this weekend, I took it upon myself to clean his computer system. He had 474
spyware "hits" as found by Ad-Aware and 300+ as found by Spybot after Ad-Aware was done. This amounted to at least 8 different spyware programs (4 running at the same time). I lost count after a bit. He also had a trojan horse virus.
He hadn't updated the anti-virus program that I set him up with, or installed any Windows Updates for awhile. He also went to Golden Palace casino and downloaded some software from them to gamble online a bit. (He thought they were a reputable company.)
Now if he were to wipe his drive clean and install Linux, would he be 100% secure? The answer is no, because he would likely leave unneeded services running, run unknown programs (e.g. trojans), and generally follow unsafe computing practices. Not being on the "target of choice" OS would afford some protection, but his unsafe computing practices were the root cause, not the OS he was running.
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-Jason Levine
http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/
http://www.PCQandA.com/
http://www.urateit.com/ |
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Wills
join:2001-01-03
Port Charlotte, FL
| reply to A Better OS
Yay! Another Linux pimp that can't stick to the topic.
Why should we all change to linux? It's obvious that it causes adult A.D.D. and a shortened attention span.
I mean, it has to, because all you unregistered Linux whores seem to jump off topic at around 7 to 8 posts...
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Abit VP-6 twin 800EB's @ 1002 Mhz.Proud member of the XDC. |
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hedyd4u
Premium
join:2003-12-16
Schenectady, NY | reply to Imogen8
Must everything turn into an os war? |
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toddinpal
join:2002-09-18
Palatine, IL
| reply to Imogen8
Hahahaha... That's funny. A frenzy? More like "It's about time Microsoft started paying more attention to security and the impact their traditionally buggy software has had on the computing world!!!" The only thing Gates has done is to figure out to put out crap software with just enough features to keep customers coming back. Oh yeah, and he also learned to mimic IBM's tatics of the 60's-80's of squelching the competition. |
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Imogen8
join:2001-11-04
UK
| reply to A Better OS
Linux... designed by hippies for hippies...
Long live Bill Gates, the man who's done more for personal computing than anyone else in history (more than the rest put together actually.....
Do you ever see the computing World go into such a frenzy when and upgrade to Linux is released........... lmfao |
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Winerin
Premium
join:2002-03-30
Woodland Hills, CA
 ·Pacific Bell - SBC
| reply to A Better OS
All of my software does not run on anything besides Windows. And guess what, I like Windows. It works for me. Does what I want it to do. Gives me little or no troubles. If I did nothing but maybe browse the internet, enjoy networking, troubleshoot my hardware to work, then perhaps I would be using something else.
And I bet if a good majority of people switched to a "better" OS, all the virus, spyware, worm, etc. writers will jump on there. Nothing is security proof. These people only exploit Windows because this impacts the most. |
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Thaler
Premium
join:2004-02-02
Encino, CA
| reply to A Better OS
Uh-huh. Replacing an operating system with another that is incompatible with just about every program to advoid spyware...that's rich.
Since M$ has the monopoly on the only easy (ok, RELATIVELY easy) to use OS that runs just about every program out there under the sun. Linux still is in a "good for servers & expert PC tinkerers" faze...kinda been in that rut for a while. It has yet to actually touch the home PC market, where your average Joe consumer will actually contimplate running Linux on their home PC.
Yes, Linux is an awesome OS, but it requires a huge investment in researching your stuff, scouring tons of message forums for your incompatibility problems, and selectively searching out for software that did your old Windows tasks. Personally, paying M$ a bit of money for an OS that doesn't take a master's degree to use, and simply requires good PC use habits, well...it's a good investment IMHO. |
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A Better OS
@verizon.net
| reply to Hall
Everytime I see a spyware article I have to laugh. Everytime I read about people *PAYING* for a popup blocker or paying for antivirus...or spyware removal tools...LOLOL
Why bother worrying about spyware at all? It's called Linux or Unix. Google if you're unfamilar with the terms.
Why do you people put up with an inferior operating system designed for the lowest common denominator...an idiot? ROTFL.
Raise your standards. Demand better. If M$ can't provide it then find somebody who can. There is absolutely no reason why you should have to put up with spyware, popups, virii, or spam. There's no reason why you should have to spend your hard-earned money FIXING an operating system by purchasing anti-virus or spyware solutions. |
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