After the more-or-less positively received "You find it, you keep it" television advertisements, it seems as if Microsoft is quickly falling back to its previous mistakes of relying on easily countered FUD-like tactics. We already discussed the blog post regarding Linux on netbooks, which was easily countered on virtually every point made. However, it gets even worse: Microsoft has ordered a study detailing what the company calls the hidden "Apple tax" that you are supposedly paying if you go Apple. Now, I'm the first to state that Apple simply doesn't provide the optimal pricing for everyone, but this Microsoft sponsored study is so completely and utterly ridiculous it makes me wonder just who on earth would look at it and go "Yeah, this looks pretty convincing!"
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Member since:2007-01-13
a) You are very unlikely to get malware if you use the free MS update service.
b) Most malware is from downloading pirated software and music or visiting dodgy Russian porn sites.
c) There is very rarely any need need to wipe and reinstall a home system in the case of malware. The MS patches nearly always work properly.
d) simply using firefox and bit of common sense is enough to remain problem free in most cases.
Member since:2008-07-15
Oh, please. Porn and warez sites aren't the only source for malware and not even the most common one that I've seen.
You know where most malware comes from? Those little fake greeting cards or other similar emails taht say things like "click here to read." You know how many of those are circulating and how many people click on them without thinking? The trojans and other payloads these carry often blow straight past even an updated antivirus and, even if part of their payload is caught, something almost always gets through.
Blaming all malware on porn sites is a rather old FUD tactic itself, as it's simply not true. Now, services like gmail filter out most of these emails, but there's a lot of people using services like hotmail and Yahoo mail which do not, not to mention ISP-provided email services. A good internet safety lesson would help educate the public, but sadly most really don't want to listen or will forget what you tell them five minutes after you've said it.
Bottom line: Malware cannot be blamed on porn and warez exclusively, far from it.
Member since:2005-09-14
While you make some good points,
a) You are less likely to get malware, but there are occasionally zero day exploits. Keeping patched will stop a lot of stuff, but it doesn't stop the stupidity of the user.
b) What user doesn't do at least one of these things? And of the ones that truly honestly do not do any of this, there are still other sources such as spam.
c) The patches stop viruses actively trying to get into your system like worms, but they are worthless when the user downloads a trojan because they think it is some cool thing they want. At that point God knows what else has been done to that system. You can run a virus scan all you want, but it may or may not find everything. I would not feel remotely comfortable with using that machine for anything. Would you clean a machine of malware and then log into your bank's website? I sure as hell wouldn't.
d) This is completely true, but find me an end user with common sense. If you do, then they probably aren't what I would call a typical end user. On top of this, a lot of people don't know what Firefox is or even care. They bought a computer and they should be able to use what it came with.
Member since:
2005-09-14
I would not consider someone saying they need to reload from scratch after malware as being a drama queen. If a machine has been compromised by malware, then you should probably assume the worst and reload it from scratch. There is no telling what other malware or rootkit is on the machine. Virus scanners don't find everything. I sure wouldn't trust a machine once I know it is infected with something.