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Rather than join the Microsoft enrichment plan, I kept on with 3.1 until a year ago. Contrary to what most thought and MS would have you believe, 3.1 worked fine for internet use unless you accessed a website where some script jockey got his rocks off. Then I bought a used Mac G3. Now while others with XP are fighting off the daily virus, I just keep plugging along.

If you regard a computer like a car as something basic, the bells, whistles and chrome are wasted money. As long as it gets you from A to B who cares what it looks like. Likewise, while Microsoft would have you believe you must buy into nirvana through successive levels of purification (upgrade hell) it isn't necessary.

Telling that to someone who was so excited when they finally got their hands on 95 that they wet their pants and then shelled out for 98, 2000, and now XP all in the hope of finally getting something that exorcised the blue screen of death, won't make you a new friend.

Then I bought a used Mac G3. Now while others with XP are fighting off the daily virus, I just keep plugging along.

Do you recommend everyone get a Mac? Because if they do, hackers will focus their attacks on THAT OS. Plain and simple.

Attacks will be focused on the most popular software packages because that's where they have the ability to do the most damage. If power=popularity=quality (etc), then whatever cream that rises to the top will suffer spoilage thanks to hacker efforts.

Soooo... saying Macs are great security-wise is like comparing WTC to your local Wal*Mart. One is simply a more appealling target.

Telling that to someone who was so excited when they finally got their hands on 95 that they wet their pants and then shelled out for 98, 2000, and now XP all in the hope of finally getting something that exorcised the blue screen of death, won't make you a new friend.

meatloaf,

Thank you for that reply!!!

The Blue Screen of Death...initially, we were lulled in to a false sense of security because our first Windows 95 machine was an Acer Aspire P I 166MHz, purchased by our daughter.

AS fortune would have it, Acer had built their own Graphics User Interface called the Acer Computer Explorer for Win 3.1, and perhaps DOS prior to that.

We couldn't stand that GUI, so we always had the Acer start in Win 95 mode, with the Cloudy sky, etc.

But, here is the important part...apparantly, Acer built into their ACE software a Wizard, or a Deamon type program that handled the Interrupt generated by a General Protection Fault, and especially the Blue Screen of Death!!

A message would appear, informing of the problem, and an Amber colored Arrow would slowly move accross the taskbar from Right to Left, approaching the Start Button but bouncing off of it three or four times!!! The whole thing lasted no more than 20 seconds.

But, and here is the neat part, the system DID NOT FREEZE, and you didn't have to touch the Start Button...just do the EXACT same thing that caused the Blue Screen of Death and Voila!, no BSD, just continue processing!!!

In other words, Acer implemented a Operating System Supervisory Program that repaired Windows on THE FLY!!!

During that time, I acquired a Compaq Presario 4850 which had a Motherboard that was design defective, and the Blue Screens drove me nuts!!!

Well, the upshot of it all is that Acer dropped out of the desktop market in 1999.

My darghter acquired an iMac in 2000 in college and is happy with it!! The old Acer is still around, but with hard drive bearings on their last legs.

We would love to repair it, BUT having NEVER had to rebuild the System, we are missing Win 95 and the Code we would have to insert when starting Win 95 for the first time.

Why other Computer Manufacturers [or even Microsoft] never implemented that Repair on the Fly Supervisory program is beyond me.

Within two months I will have a 17" Flying Scaucer type iMac!!