Windows Gank
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- arinya
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/techn…
Was at my friends house acouple weeks ago when he asked me to help clean up his PC. It's the family PC and his parents don't understand that they just can't go opening everything they get in their email. So the poor computer is infested with spyware and what not. So I start cleaning things out and checking removing trash when I noticed some folders that were locked. I asked my friend to unlock them and he had no idea what those folders where. No one in the family did. They were dated folders and had miscellaneious text docs. jpegs xls docs and even mp3s. Bizare and no one knew who's or what the files where. Finally the PC just died and I took it to another friend, he is and IT guy, to wipe it and start new. I described what I found and he said that it seemed someone had hacked into the PC and was using it to store stuff and possibly hack with. There were about 10 gigs of unknown files and what not. Crazy!
As far as computers are concerned I don't think we are ever going to be safe or at least have privacy. What do you guys think? And when is Microsoft going to take care of IE? I never use it. I start it up and bam I am hit with all types of spyware automatically! I'm gonna start saving up for a Mac. Use it here at work and not problems what so ever. But if Macs where as popular as PCs would it be the same deal? What do you guys think?
- moveinspace0
Windows computers make up most of the computers in the world that is why viruses and spyware is created for them....Why make a virus for 4-5% of the population? A viruses job is to propagate and the more hosts the better.Mac also speaks a different language than PC.
- moveinspace0
p.s. don't get a Mac to get away from viruses and spyware. Get one because they work better.
- instantok0
windows is moving in the opposite direction of fixing IE...in longhorn it becomes even more inextricably tied to the os...kinda dumb if you ask me
- saroose0
I read the title of this thread incorrectly and thought it said 'widows gank' and opened it quickly to savour what I thought would be some funny filthy humour of the profanisaurus variety. Unfortunately I was wrong. To avoid further disappointment, here's a widow related term:
widower's tears n.
The involuntary dribble of spunk from the end of a long-disused cock.
- arinya0
luv macs. always have. but never been able to afford one. luv pcs cuz I can build them. but what is up with Windows and IE? Just utter crap! FireFox 4tw!
- arinya0
jeezus. it's way too early in the morning to be reading that saroose.....sigh
Good Morning NT!
- imakedesign0
but what is up with Windows and IE?
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if IE had tabs i wouild switch back in a second, i hate the slow flash playback on firefox
- moveinspace0
IE is old and falling apart it has been I think 4 years since a update. In addition hackers have found this oudated browser a goldmine of backdoors...maybe I'll switch back when they fix it.
- moveinspace0
Also on my PC I don't use XP as a operating system.still using Windows 2000 Pro with no problems.
- fate_redux0
I like Firefox for what it is, but it falls short of what it should be.
I never understood the tabbed browsing thing. I have a taskbar across the bottom of my screen for a reason, to manage my open windows. I don't need 2 methods to do this. One works fine.
If there are so many windows that I can't read titles or it drops to another row, then I close some, because it's obvious I have too many open.
- SteveJobs0
all the problems your friend had on his pc could have been avoided by using a firewall, having virus protection and staying up to date with windows updates.
also, don't be a fool and open girlsgonewild.exe in your emails from random nigerian friends.
i havn't had a virus or even spyware in over a year because i follow these simple rules.
and yes, as mac popularity grows, so will its vulnerability to more serious attacks.
- arinya0
Also on my PC I don't use XP as a operating system.still using Windows 2000 Pro with no problems.
moveinspace(Jun 15 05, 06:41)
Oh i know what you mean. I switched to XP only because my wife was buggin me cuz she was more familiar with XP than 2000. Ever since then I have to check for spyware everyweek.
- arinya0
all the problems your friend had on his pc could have been avoided by using a firewall, having virus protection and staying up to date with windows updates.
SteveJobs
(Jun 15 05, 06:48)Agreed but lets take my case for instance. I was testing html and launched IE yesterday. The damn PC downloaded something. Some aurora BS and when i tried to uninstall it I had to DL a uninstaller and guess what. The link to the uninstaller was broken! Gimme a break! Why does PC allow things to be installed or downloaded on auto so easy? Are advertisers so desperate? Shouldn't this be against the law?
- SteveJobs0
and as for windows popularity, it breaks down like this:
WARNING: long read:
for businesses, it's cheaper to build/buy a pc than a mac, and it's especially true if were talking about a pc that needs only to run ms office or other simple business-related apps. huge corporations set hundreds of thousands of these types of machines up. if one of them fails, they are cheap to replace.
next you have to look at the choice of OS. windows beats linux in the corporate environment because it has tons of 3rd party business software available, not to mention MS office. many people are already trained on this software before they are hired on, so the windows OS is a no-brainer. also, when it comes to networking and administration, it's easy to find support for these systems and MCSE's that are educated enough to keep things somewhat stable. what they can't fix can be easily remedied by a quick call to MS Support. and MS support is no joke. they'll send someone to your business to fix your problem if it can't be fixed over the phone.
finally, think about all these millions of people who work for these corporations. when it comes time to purchase a pc for their home/family, it's a simple decision based on their familiarity of windows.
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if apple can ever put out products that can compete with pc pricing, more companies outside the graphics/media world will join the fray and soon you'll begin to see what the popularity of a computer/OS can do to its reputation on both good and bad ends.
- SteveJobs0
"I was testing html and launched IE yesterday. The damn PC downloaded something. Some aurora BS and when i tried to uninstall it I had to DL a uninstaller and guess what."
again, this would have been avoided if you had taken all the precautions i listed previously.
spyware can't install itself if you don't allow popups and make changes to your security settings in the IE Tools | Internet Options dialog box.
notice how IE has more security options available than any other browser. They just leave it open and less secure (for reasons i don't understand)
also, service pack 2 for XP solves a lot of spyware problems.
- arinya0
that is obvious but if it's that damn good why does it suck so bad? I agree they are getting hit alot cuz everyone and their mother uses it. But exactly for that reason it should not be so easy to get into. anyone else agree? or am i just being over critical?
- SteveJobs0
bad how?
i hear so many people attack IE and most of them are die-hard mac fanboys, who never back up their arguments. you'd think IE was a moniker for George Bush.
granted, if you're a mac user and don't know what you are doing on a PC, you should expect getting pwnd by attacks since you're ouside of your comfortable iEnvironment.
don't get me wrong, i love my mac and i love safari, and firefox is making progress (but not quite there yet). i love when other companies give MS competition, because it pushes them to make more quality products.
- moveinspace0
everything Mr. Jobs said is right. I currently run a firewall and run Norton Corporate as my spy killer. Also set up security policy under windows 2000. IT MUST ALL BE DONE TO PROTECT YOURSELF. and hopefully you do it all before you join the world wide web. P.s. also I disabled Outlook I only use web-based e-mail servers to cut down my risk even more.
- arinya0
Well bad in the sense that I use FireFox and never have any problems with spyware or even pop ups. I lauch EI, after months of not using it, and I get spyware! *groan* But it seems that as mac user I don't know how to take advantage of the security measures on a PC. Enlighten me what do I do to get rid of any hidden pieces of spyware and keep them off? I have Norton and I use AdAware and have the most recent Windows update and I am pretty careful about emails and very open unknown attachements. Why am I still in hell?
- SteveJobs0
i would recommend a clean install of windows XP with service pack 2.
set your security in your internet options to high so that it asks you before dowloading bizarro activex apps to your pc.
don't install adaware. you won't need it. i installed it and ran it and it found 1 cookie... on my machine that's been running for over a year now.
last year when i had your setup, it found like 140 objects when i ran it once a week.