So we agree, Unix boxes are not impenetrable. That’s all I was saying. If Linux was the dominant OS, it would be the target like Windows is.
And Windows sucks by the way, I’m not a defender of Microsoft...believe me. I only run it because I’m a gamer and most of my games won’t run happily or at all on Linux.
I’m happily running XP and I’m very good about security and not doing the things that get malware onto your machine. And I’m avoiding Vista like the plague.
Regardless of the OS you run, as you said firewalls and smart computing are the way to go.
Yes we do agree :) I never said “impenetrable”... what I said was “one word, Linux”... and why? Because 85% (or so) of the people out there use their computer for two things. Reading email, and browsing the internet. Some others play music, others like me GAME a lot (I DO use windows machines, so don’t get me wrong and I use Windows rather than Linux-Wine because I would rather GAME and play, than to spend all my free time hacking various parts of a kernel and fixing things that break trying to run windows apps under linux).
If Linux were the dominate OS - which it might have been except for Bill Gates getting lucky with stealing the radio shack OS... oh I mean WRITING it, yeah, that’s it.... then linux/Unix might have been the dominate system - in which case definitely there’d be a lot of people attempting cracking, rootkitting, etc. There’s already MORE script kiddies out there than there are computers lol
So you and I are in the same boat. Linux is great, won’t easily run our games, and yet, we stick with XP. (No Vista for me). I run Windows XP Pro, make sure my updates are correct, I HIDE my ass behind more than one firewall and machines that are on my network (multiple and plenty) are checked daily. I’ve routinely set up cool little honeypots and made many “captures” for fun. It’s awesome to watch, and cooler to track, but I prefer doing other things these days now....
Now... I’ll say this. Again. “Linux” - and ANYONE who is doing the email/browsing exclusively, would do themselves a great favor by grabbing an OLD lap top and sticking, say a copy of Ubuntu on it, setting up their machines to pop their email and run firefox on the machine. Stick to it for a couple months, read up a bit on security, and put yourself behind even a very simple firewall (like say a linksys router and turn off your wireless etc for now) and you will find yourself 100% more protected than someone with a random windows machine.
(If you’re stuck with windows, then STILL go with a firewall, even two, hardware and software, and you’ll increase your changes drastically against getting messed up with crap)... and good God, stay off of PORN sites and crap :)