Why do I even have virus protection for my pc?

[jennielynn1970]

Get an Apple computer. We have had iMacs for 10 years now, and have never had a virus.

I know, anything is possible, and one of these days . . . . . . . I'm just saying that for 10 years life has been good.

You beat me to it!!! I've had Macs since 1991, and LOVE THEM!!! I've had Norton Antivirus on them before, but I never got anything virus or worm like, and never used it. I haven't had virus protection on my computers in years. YEARS.

Hope I don't need it anytime soon, either, lol.

LOVE MY MAC!


You may pay more initially for your computer, they are more expensive than PCs, but they are well worth the $$$.

[pomtzu]

I've had my Dell for almost 5 years and never had a problem. I have Norton which I'm not thrilled with, and Lavasoft which is free, and never had a virus. Knock on wood! I don't go to unknown sites and mainly use it for banking, PT, shopping, email and photos. I don't download anything that I have the slightest doubt about, and if I receive an email with an attachment that has to be downloaded to view, then it just gets deleted - I don't care who sent it to me!
My son has NO spyware protection on either of his computers and has never had a virus in the 10 years plus that he has had them.

[lvpets2002]

Yes I heard this morning on the Today Show that virusess are to get much worse & alot less to be detected.. They say hackers will do anything now with computers for trying to steal personal indenty..

[Hellow]

That's what my son says. He plans on getting a Mac as his next computer. The one I have is only 2 years old so I'm reluctant to buy a new one right now w/taxes coming up, etc. However, when I do finally buy another one, it'll more than likely be a Mac. Question: I've heard that transferring everything to a Mac is a hassle. True or false?

Sort of. Macs are proprietary, which is both good and bad for the end user. The good part is that Apple can design the OS knowing that it will be running on their own hardware only. The bad part is that it is a royal pain to get anything else to work on it/with it.

[jennielynn1970]

Reggie, they're a lot less worse than they used to be. You can have almost any application that runs on a PC by Microsoft on a Mac. They have come a long way. Plus, there are so many apps that Mac makes now that rival the PC apps, it's really not an issue.


PS...
Was watching 48hrs mystery the other night on NBC (I think), and saw the case about the guy who invented the Linux system who killed his Russian wife and buried her in a hole a few miles away. I was shocked! I had no idea he had done something like that! He had some real mental issues, wonder if it was one of those where you're so brilliant, and then you just sort of crack.

[Randi]

Mary, it sounds like your son is a bright guy! I don't think you need to worry, I've had Office on my Mac for at least 6 years without a problem. I can assure you that it's a lot more pain getting anything to work properly on a PC, AND clumsy too!

[Medusa]

Was watching 48hrs mystery the other night on NBC (I think), and saw the case about the guy who invented the Linux system who killed his Russian wife and buried her in a hole a few miles away. I was shocked! I had no idea he had done something like that! He had some real mental issues, wonder if it was one of those where you're so brilliant, and then you just sort of crack.

Computers can do that to ya. I nearly cracked and buried mine in a hole a few miles away. LOL

[Hellow]

Was watching 48hrs mystery the other night on NBC (I think), and saw the case about the guy who invented the Linux system who killed his Russian wife and buried her in a hole a few miles away. I was shocked! I had no idea he had done something like that! He had some real mental issues, wonder if it was one of those where you're so brilliant, and then you just sort of crack.

If you mean Hans Reiser, he was the person that created the ReiserFS, which was critical in the early years of Linux. No, the original creator of Linux was Linus Torvaldes. He whom keeps a nunchuck under his bed and prays to penguins.

[Alasse]

If you are an avid downloader of files (especially from non certified places), then alot of times viruses ride in with the download. If you let it in its hardly the Antivirus programs fault *L* That is the risk you take unfortunately

[Puckstop31]

The reason PCs have more viruses is not because Windows is more vulnerable for a design standpoint. Windows is actually the most secure OS out there, if you look at security updates. The problem is they are by far the biggest target. OS-X, etc, all have the same buffer overrun flaws that allow bad code to run, just nobody has taken the time to attack Macs yet. Not enough people to piss off to bother I reckon.

Now, Macs are wonderful for home use or if you are a graphic/web designer. Want to run a real business though? Forget about a Mac.

Macs = Play
PCs = Work

More or less.

PCs can be configured to run well, be safe and do what they are supposed to. Problem is, that means staying off Limewire, Facebook, Myspace, etc...


So Mac people... Pound your chest all you want, but the reason there are no Mac viruses is just because nobody has written one yet. Now, as Mac gains market share..... Lets just say that the first Mac virus is going to be a hoot. LOL Understand I say this knowing my next machine for home is going to be a Mac.


Oh and as for Dell. My company is a Dell partner. My one simple piece of advice... Stay away from Dimension and Inspiron machines. Those are the products targeted at the retail market and they SUCK. Buy Optiplex desktops of Latitude laptops. These are the business line of products, use better hardware and have a MUCH, MUCH cleaner OS install.

Buy from http://outlet.dell.com Save about $400 per PC. Same warranty, same hardware. (NO, my company has zero vested intrest in this site. I nor my company make any money off this site.)

[Hellow]

The reason PCs have more viruses is not because Windows is more vulnerable for a design standpoint. Windows is actually the most secure OS out there, if you look at security updates. The problem is they are by far the biggest target. OS-X, etc, all have the same buffer overrun flaws that allow bad code to run, just nobody has taken the time to attack Macs yet. Not enough people to piss off to bother I reckon.

Microsoft designed their OS so that, by default, the first user on the computer is the administrator. One of the large flaws in Windows. Another one is the fact that their firewall defends against incoming, not outgoing, attacks. Yet another one is proven by the large list of security patches they release weekly, that their OS is full of holes. Mac OS X and Linux/Unix are probably the most secure OSs out there, if only by design. OS X is based off Unix, and Linux is based off Minix which is based off Unix. All of them have the best firewall ever seen on the face of the earth integrated into the Linux/Unix kernel. So far, I have gotten about 2 security updates this week, and one was from firefox, the other being from a small hole in a lib file. The last major security breach in Linux/Unix happened a few months ago, from PGP keys being exploited. They fixed that in about 2 days, and I helped on the Ubuntu side. It is a few years back when something like that has happened in Linux, and that seems to be discovered weekly/monthly in Windows. Linux/Unix is the most popular server platform there is, so it is attacked millions of times daily, and they still have not found anything major or most anything minor wrong. Windows is /not/ the most secure OS .

Heh, I tend to get way too passionate about these types of things .

[Puckstop31]

Microsoft designed their OS so that, by default, the first user on the computer is the administrator. One of the large flaws in Windows. Another one is the fact that their firewall defends against incoming, not outgoing, attacks. Yet another one is proven by the large list of security patches they release weekly, that their OS is full of holes. Mac OS X and Linux/Unix are probably the most secure OSs out there, if only by design. OS X is based off Unix, and Linux is based off Minix which is based off Unix. All of them have the best firewall ever seen on the face of the earth integrated into the Linux/Unix kernel. So far, I have gotten about 2 security updates this week, and one was from firefox, the other being from a small hole in a lib file. The last major security breach in Linux/Unix happened a few months ago, from PGP keys being exploited. They fixed that in about 2 days, and I helped on the Ubuntu side. It is a few years back when something like that has happened in Linux, and that seems to be discovered weekly/monthly in Windows. Linux/Unix is the most popular server platform there is, so it is attacked millions of times daily, and they still have not found anything major or most anything minor wrong. Windows is /not/ the most secure OS .

Heh, I tend to get way too passionate about these types of things .

I hear ya... Fair enough I reckon. I do this stuff for a living but am VERY UN-passionate about it. Just counting the days till I can get back to the farm. LOL

So this is the part where curse Bill Gates for being, IMHO, the smartest businessman EVER. He took a product that was not the best and made it the world business standard....

[Hellow]

I hear ya... Fair enough I reckon. I do this stuff for a living but am VERY UN-passionate about it. Just counting the days till I can get back to the farm. LOL

So this is the part where curse Bill Gates for being, IMHO, the smartest businessman EVER. He took a product that was not the best and made it the world business standard....

I semi-develop stuff for Linux mainly. I also run personal Linux servers and my own desktop, which is this (Its also Linux, Arch Linux to be specific). I support macs only because of the fact that they based Leopard off the Unix kernel, otherwise I would be drilling them into the hole along with Windows .