Or alternately, this is YOU when you install "security" product from the number one security hazard.
Posted on 04/19/2010 10:48:28 AM PDT by Gomez
Many PC problems can be very frustrating to find and fix Microsoft has launched "Fix It" software that keeps an eye on a PC and automatically repairs common faults.
The software basically adds the automatic diagnostics system in Windows 7 to older versions of Microsoft's operating system. The software, currently available as a trial or beta version, is intended for users of Windows XP and Vista.
The package also tries to anticipate how security updates will affect a PC before they are installed. Bug watch Once installed, the software gets updates about known issues with Windows or any connected devices, and regularly checks to see if a host machine has fallen victim. Once fixes become available it will tell users they are ready or attempt to apply them. The software has onboard fixes for about 300 of the most widely encountered problems that stop Windows working as it should. The software also maintains a list of the hardware and software on a machine so if the automatic fix does not solve a problem, it will be able to help users supply detailed information to Microsoft's support staff about what has gone wrong. Those signing up and downloading the Fix It software can use it on several different machines. The free software can be downloaded from Microsoft's support pages. Windows XP users wanting to use it must have Service Pack 3 for the operating system installed.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
GM could have used this program in the 70’s. That Microsoft is certainly forward thinking.
“Referring to Apple, Maiffret said,”It’s even a little scarier with them because they try to market themselves as more secure than the PC, that you don’t have to worry about viruses, etc. Anytime there’s been a hacking contest, within a few hours someone’s found a new Apple vulnerability. If they were taking it seriously, they wouldn’t claim to be more secure than Microsoft because they are very much not. And the Apple community is pretty ignorant to the risks that are out there as it relates to Apple. The reason we don’t see more attacks out there compared to Microsoft is because their market share isn’t near what Microsoft’s is.”
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/security-hacker-os-x-windows-7-flash,10205.html
Or alternately, this is YOU when you install "security" product from the number one security hazard.
I don’t understand all the problems these folks experience with XP. I’ve never experienced a single problem with MS XP nor have I had to deal with malware or viruses. BTW....I’ve been utilizing XP since the official version came out.
Personally, I don’t think it is as much the holes that are open rather than the possible attack vectors. When an email exploiting bad code in paint that also effects sql (or some such nonsense like that) can bring down an organization, something is just plain wrong about that.
Looks like they learned from their Windows OneLiveCare debacle: Don't charge extra for features that should be included in your friggin' OS in the first place!
Ooohh, FREE software from Microsoft. No strings attached! How great is that! /s
Seriously now, I have not had any significant problem with Win XP Pro in many years. It does the job and I’m happy with it. I’ll keep using it as long as possible.
But given the Orwellian times we live in, this particular offer raises a “Spyware/DRM” red flag with me.
Thanks, I’ll pass! No need for Trojan horses here!
That's because it's a headline when a Mac is compromised. Nobody gives a damn when Windows is compromised quickly -- it's not news. Duh.
Please don't be so superficial -- I'm sure you know that the speed with which an exploit runs has nothing whatsoever to do with the difficulty. All the exploits are pre-scripted and rehearsed long in advance of the so-called competition. And knowing that headlines are about Macs, of course they attack the Mac first.
Those so-called competitions are nothing but trumped-up ad campaigns for the tech journals who sponsor them. Regardless of the outcome, they're just a bad joke. And boring, boring, boring...
You just keep believing that crap, go right ahead.
Apple/Unix have had a target on their back for many years. See earlier comments about the so-called exploit competitions. They can be compromised. It's just that it's damned difficult, and you have to have direct access to the machine, or compromise the USER, who then compromises the machine.
There are around 50,000,000 Macs on the net now, none of which have even rudimentary anti-virus software, all of which are operated by users running with full administrative privilege, most of whom are not technically savvy. That's enough to build hundreds or thousands of useful botnets, if a virus could be written that would work on a Mac.
And no competition from other virus writers -- it's a totally open fertile field! FIFTY MILLION COMPUTERS with their legs spread wide on the Internet saying, "Take me, I'm yours!! Come on big boy!!"
And yet no such viruses exist. Why not?
You believe it's because virus writers are ignorant of the potential of a multi-million-machine botnet.
I believe it's because writing a successful Mac virus -- a self-replicating one that turns the machine into a zombie without alerting the user that they've been compromised -- it just too damn difficult. Windows is a much softer target, and always will be.
It's not a popularity contest. It's about which operating system is easier to screw. If it was the Mac, you'd see Mac viruses. Simple as that.
It’s a headline because Apple believers believe they are more secure because of their OS and system not because of the marketplace. Which is what he says. Don’t be upset at the truth. Apple is in an enviable position. They don’t need to be overly concerned over security or patching holes for hundreds of thousands of drivers like truly open hardware systems. THe ecosystem is so tight and narrow and the market so small on the global scale for Apple that security is almost guaranteed by its obscurity, The hackers and others gleefully point out that it is a false security.
The first Mac virus that self-replicates and compromises half-a-million of the nearly 50,000,000 Macs out on the internet will be news. THAT will be news.
Fifty million unprotected machines is a HUGE target, and the only reason it appears small is that the market percentage is small. But the fact is that the first virus writer who writes a good virulent Mac virus that doesn't give itself away to the user, will have free run of the world. And yet not one such virus exists. Not one.
Who gives a damn what the percentage marketshare is? That has ZERO effect on the fact that there are fifty million unprotected Macs out there begging to be compromised.
The "security by obscurity" argument is crap regardless of whether it's used by Apple or by anti-Apple. What counts to a botmaster is the NUMBER OF MACHINES, not whether they represent 10% or 1% or 0.1% of the marketplace.
Seriously, man. Think about it. The percentage-market argument is just a joke. Flogging that dead horse makes you sound silly.
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