http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/s...re/default.mspx

fireball et al, check out the beta release from microsoft its very efficient and covers more than what adaware and spybot do combined.

 

^Nice works even better than adaware! WOW! MIcrosoft has a great product here. My guess is it's intended to help stop brower share loss to firefox etc..

 

Well, if you need to know, Unix and Solaris aren't PC OS's. Linux variants (which Lindows is) require lots of diy work to run maint free, so when it comes to easy to use PC OS's, you only really have Windows and OSX. Of course, OSX avoids a lot of Windows problems b/c of its Unix-based OS, and there's a ton of free software support out there since a good portion of OSX is based on opensource, free BSD, of course. Thus, in this case, Apple is the solution to all the problems in this thread.

 

I can't argue that OSX isn't a nice OS (it certainly is!), but what do you mean by "Unix and Solaris aren't PC operating systems"? By PC, are you referring to the CPU or something else? Reason I ask is Unix runs on just about anything regardless of CPU... Solaris is more limited (and I can't see why a typical user would ever want to touch the damn thing ) but still works with x86 CPUs (and of course Sparc/UltraSparc).

As for Linux requiring maintenance to run trouble-free, that may have been true in the past, but it's quickly changing. The installers of the major distributions are now super duper friendly, and so long as you observe simple rules, such as "always Shutdown and don't just turn the system off", you're generally okay for a long time without any additional work. Even the desktops are getting way better (never thought I'd hear myself say that).

 

Well, PC stands for "personal computer", so I mean the types of computers individual people use. You basically have PCs and servers in this world, and servers mainly are used by PCs, so to speak. Unix and Solaris are mainly for server application. You don't want to run UNIX on a PC to check your email unless you really like cli.

Linux distros can be incredibly insecure out of the box. I wasn't referring to driver and software resources at all, because there are Linux releases that come with the necessary packages now, but they are hardly well integrated or widely available - except for OSX.

Apple's OS is basically a Linux package (like Redhat) that runs on proprietary hardware, and comes with all the security, drivers and custom software you need - its the best Unix variant I've ever seen. Other Unix variants (Linux packages) can ship with security holes ala Windows, so the average user has to go and shut things manually to be safe. Linux is way up the food chain from Windows though - you won't get such kiddie things as browser hijacks.

fwiw, I've never heard of Firefox on Windows being hijacked - just the IE code that you can't remove from Windows being hijacked and effecting Firefox, so in a way it is hijacking. Spyware for Firefox on Windows (not Linux or OSX) is rumored to be on the horizon though.

Spyware and phishing is pretty easy to identify and avoid no matter what OS, but the real threat on the way is Pharming (not phishing). This is where legitimate URLs are intercepted at the OS (URL toolbar in your browser) and/or DNS level - in the latter case, your pretty much screwed since the hijacking takes place remotely, but the former is just another case of having a crappie OS. China already uses a pharming technique to keep its citizens from seeing anti-state web sites, so its only a matter of time before someone uses it for their own purposes.

 

^Ah ok, gotcha. Since you're talking about server versus desktop/workstation use, then I agree completely.

IMO, whether or not a particular browser is affected by spyware is related in large part to the size of its user base. People who develop malware, spyware, and the like are going to want to target software that has the most users. That's why IE is the most heavily affected at the moment (at least partially). As other browsers like FireFox become more popular, I wouldn't be surprised to see them targeted by more malware.

Personally, though, although it is admittedly the least secure and stable of these OS's, I've got to say that I'm a big fan of Windows for the typical computer user. It's easy to use and has great software support. And it's hard not to admire the feat that Microsoft has accomplished in delivering an OS that people everywhere - many of them computer-illiterate - can use.

In the end, Windows is what it is, and its weaknesses are the same as its strengths. It's easy to write Windows software using the platform SDK and Win32 API, as opposed to writing for Unix/Linux in C or some proprietary library. Most things in Windows can be accomplished using standard function calls, and there are many shared components and dependencies (IE being a major part of the latter). This makes it easy for everyone to write Windows software, and that unfortunately includes those with malicious intents.

I guess this mini-rant originates from the fact that one of my pet peeves has always been when people flame Windows for being insecure and prone to spyware without fully understanding why it is that way (not saying you're doing this). While that's true, it's due in part to how widespread Windows is. Without Windows' weaknesses/strengths, many people arguably wouldn't be computer users at all.

That having been said, OSX is indeed a very nice OS. Having used a few earlier Apple OS's, I was very pleasantly surprised. I just got my hands on an OSX box this year, so I'm still feeling my way around it, but so far it's been awesome, and a great choice. My only gripe with it at the moment is that its software support doesn't compare to that of Windows, but that's perfectly understandable for such a new OS, and I'm sure that'll change once more people jump on the open source bandwagon. Hell, years ago it would've been ludicrous to imagine Office on anything other than Windows.

 

Yeah, I agree. Firefox is already expected to get attacked in 2005 in search of spyware vulnerabilities, so its reached that threashold. Now that virus and spyware writers are making real money selling zombie Windows computers to spammers, you will only see an increase in attacks on computers - already an alarming % of Internet traffic is zombie pinging.

I can undserstand why you'd get upset with some hack just spouting off against something, because it bugs me too! I don't blindly flame Windows, I do so as a computer and technology professional who makes a living off Microsoft's horrid products, as opposed to its good ones.

I agree that Apple has less support than MS, but I don't think Apple's OS needs anywhere near the level of support Miscrosft does, but that's just me and my view of the world. Apple's support site is easy to navigate, and Apple has all the forums and tools MS does on its sites.

Apple's OS (X, not the so-so stuff that came before), its stability, and the iApps are a great basic setup for the yeoman computer user - its the system I've migrated my entire family to, if for no other reason than now I don't have to spend holidays fixing their systems anymore!

Wow, this thread has been completely hijacked now, huh?

 

Turning the computer off works for me