Like a lot of people who have worked in the business, I find myself in conversations about computer security with people who are having problems or know people who have problems. I wrote this to save me from explaining the same thing over and over again to different people, and to save them the trouble of having to make notes as we talked. It was meant to be something you could give to a 'naive user' and have them be able to read and follow it more or less unaided, and while not being a complete guide, at least be something that made them more secure than before they got it.
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Member since:2005-11-10
You need to do much more then Spyware scans, you must also pay for and update virus scan, you must spend time trying to figure out if emails even from your friends can contain malware.
And how can you be productive if your machine is always having problems. The end user should not have to worry daily about if your PC is secure!
And what about this current WHM hole, no patch for that and it's a BIG hole! What do you do with that.
I don't see how people can say that windows is good. No other product known to man has as many problems as Windows. I mean here we are in the first week of the year and there are several major problems! You dont see that with any other piece of software on earth!
The kicker is that Microsoft has 50 billion in the bank! There is NO excuse for this crap!
Member since:2005-11-15
"You need to do much more then Spyware scans, you must also pay for and update virus scan, you must spend time trying to figure out if emails even from your friends can contain malware."
This is a weak argument. Since HTML itself cannot be executable, all you have to watch out for are the attachments. However, in this day and age, if you're dumb enough to click on an attachement without making sure that it's safe... well, you deserve to have your system borked by malware; maybe that'll teach you the lesson of being careful online.
Secondly, periodically paying for an update to your virus scanner isn't exactly a huge time-killer, since those subscriptions last a long time. Once again, with most of those services, you can schedule the frequency of getting the updates and scanning your system. Those processes will be run in the background, thereby not affecting your overall performance due to the fact that Windows is a multi-tasking OS. Your argument still doesn't wash.
I will give you the WMF vulnerability. It does sound quite scary. Overall however, it fails to prove your point that Windows is hard to maintain periodically. Every OS is bound to have its "scary virus" once in a while.
I'm not going to bother replying to the emotionally charged anti-Windows ranting and raving that constitutes the rest of your post. I don't like using Windows, but emotional appeals have nothing to do with logical reasoning.
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The Tizen Greek Community has some screenshots of a very recent build of Tizen running on a Samsung GT-i8800. It looks wholly unremarkable.Joint statement to The Next Web from Microsoft and Google: "Microsoft and YouTube are working together to update the new YouTube for Windows Phone app to enable compliance with YouTube's API terms of service, including enabling ads, in the coming weeks. Microsoft will replace the existing YouTube app in Windows Phone Store with the previous version during this time." Good to know these children stopped acting like little pricks. Can we have full Google support in Windows 8 now, please?
Yahoo is acquiring Tumblr, the microblogging and social networking website, for $1.1 billion USD. Tumblr offers little revenue but lots of eyeballs if Yahoo can monetarize them. Now Yahoo is bidding for Hulu, the streaming video service. After years of ineffective responses while Google, Facebook, and others took large chunks of the online advertising market, Yahoo is fighting back. Can Yahoo reignite the momentum it had at the turn of the century? What do you think?
"Sources have described iOS 7 as 'black, white, and flat all over'. This refers to the dropping of heavy textures and the addition of several new black and white user interface elements." I couldn't be happier.
"Ilja van Sprundel, a security researcher with IOActive, has discovered a large number of issues in the way various X client libraries handle the responses they receive from servers, and has worked with X.Org's security team to analyze, confirm, and fix these issues."
"Google is facing a new antitrust probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission into whether the company is using its leadership in the online display-advertising market to illegally curb competition, people familiar with the matter said." Sucks to be Google today, apparently."In the midst of the major press blitz surrounding its annual I/O Conference, Google dropped some unfortunate news about its instant messaging plans. In several places around the web, the company is replacing the existing 'Talk' platform with a new one called 'Hangouts' that sharply diminishes support for the open messaging protocol known as XMPP (or sometimes informally Jabber), and also removes the option to disable the archiving of all chat communications. These changes represent a switch from open protocols to proprietary ones, and a clear step backward for many users." That's why I always say: only suckers trust companies."The wave of departures is a sign of internal struggle, but amidst all the bad news, there is a glimmer of hope. According to an anonymous HTC executive cited by WSJ, the crucial HTC One is selling 'pretty good so far'. The executive revealed that HTC sold about five million One units since launch, a performance that is deemed encouraging. However, sales have been limited by the persisting supply issues that still plague the production of the HTC One." Finally some good news for HTC. Five million units amidst supply constraints is very impressive.
"Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. Weâll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that itâs usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms. On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques." AnandTech does its usual in-depth thing.
Member since:
2005-11-15
"Spend more time reading how to cover your own butt because Windows sucks then you do actually enjoying your PC."
Umm... no. Depending on how "filthy" the machine is, it might take some time to clean it up and lock it down, but after that weekly anti-spyware scans should be enough. Contrary to what your trollish screen name claims, Windows is a decent platform that allows users to be productive and enjoy their PC. Security, after all, exists mainly between the chair and the keyboard.