[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Protecting Against the Rampant Conficker Worm here

[MikePlacid]

There is a much better way to protect yourself against such nasty things: buy a Macintosh already...

[Repo]

Or a linux based netbook.



Anyone, who uses an inferior operating system like Windows XP (which allows by default automatic execution of programs on removable media) on a network, is risking becoming the next statistic.



Do yourselves a favour and get a Mac or linux system for surfing the web (and you can keep your windows box as an expensive gaming machine....).

[WinTard]

Hey you Mac fanatics, since the worm doesn't affect OS X with less than 2% of the PC market, why don't you stop your partisan nonsense. And make sure you don't actually boot Windows unpatched (as of last October) on your Mac's that are only glorified PC's after all using the Intel x86 processor like any other PC's except at 4X the price. Another way to look at it is 1/4 the performance of a common PC... Quad core included.

And a PC can boot any Linux. Personally, I use the latest Knoppix liveCD whenever I need to.

Oh have you looked today at the stock investor's downgrade of Apple's Jobs less recommendations? US$70. From the glory days in Aug 14 2008 of US$179.42 per share?

While I regard Steven Jobs as a visionary and great thinker, do you remember Next Inc, and the pirate flag logo? And the BS that that Sculley's then Pepsi's CEO hired by Jobs that stabbed him in the back? Lisa days?

I wish Steven Jobs the all the best with his fight with cancer (sincerely), but a company losing so much market capitalization over one man, equivocate to a LOT of hype don't you think?

And for the unfortunate Windows users that are at risk, give credit where credit is due:

Back on Oct. 23, 2008, Microsoft released a critical security update for Windows: MS08-067

But no, some users are so clueless, that they don't auto-update their systems...

None of this is happening to the majority of Windows users that are following 'automatic' recommendations for critical security patches.

And no need to overspend on a Mac hardware at all...

Remember, you can also boot any Linux / FreeBSD on any real PC... For free!

An ounce of prevention is better than ten pounds of cure!
~ An age old proverb

[Theseus212]

Uhh-Huh, And watch M$ stock when Windows 7 hits the market.

[garyoa1]

Tired of all the Mac hype, I bought one. Imac 20 when they first came out. Intel chip, 2g ram, yada yada.

Now, if you have an older pc (2-3 years +) you might like it. At least speed wise. (Provided you can get used to everything working backwords) Old PC vs Mac... toss up.

But if you have a new PC and buy a new Mac... no comparison. New PC vs new Mac... well, it's like buying a 3 year old PC. Macs are slow, clunky and bizarrely outdated to work with. And contrary to popular belief, you can crash a mac if you give it too much to chew on at once. PC's are made to chew a lot at once. Yeah, the mac doesn't blue screen. It just pops up a message saying you're screwed.

And probably due to ridiculous but popular tv ads lately, virus progs are beginning to show up for the mac. The only thing I hate about windows (the program I love to hate) is that every release gets closer and closer to the mac gui. You know, the one I detest?

[WinTard]

Or is it the other way around?

Don't forget Windows was there first. Yes first. It wasn't pretty but neither was the original MacIntosh. And the real first discovery / invention of a windowing system including the first mouse, was done at Xerox Palo-Alto Research Center PARC.

And when 2% of a market tells the rest that THEY are the elite, well, the 2% might as well remain in ignorance believing it's own delusions.

Have you considered this historical perspective?

FYI a Mac is merely a PC (in disguise)
Funny over time, reality is that the entire Apple / Mac 'Raison d'être' has changed from:

- We're better just because.
- This Motorola 6502 is better than the Intel 8080.
- This Motorola 68000 is better than the Intel 8086.
- This Motorola PowerPC is better than the Intel x86.
- This Intel x86 of ours is better than yours...

As for the OS:
From the first Mac OS to the 10th 'generation' OS X now happens to be based on BSD, and specifically for the x86 chip architecture, called FreeBSD (originally available for any PC {for free} back in 1992).

Oh the wisest move by Apple IMHO was to adopt the ubiquitous Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) Intel x86 CPU PC processor, since now you can actually boot Windows and Linux on a Mac! (Without virtualization that is).

Well, reality is that 17 years later, every OS has significantly improved. But realize that Windows also has access to all the technological improvements developed by all the good people of open-source, including FreeBSD, Linux, and everybody else... In addition to a US$250 Billion dollar company behemoth resources in R&D, that may or may not be put back into the public-domain.

Like it or not, there is no available superiority in any modern operating system from anybody. Period.

Because nowadays, a MAC is just another PC.

Funny how things end up as...

"If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck."
~ The ubiquitous Duck Test.

Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true.
~ Demosthenes

We don't see things as they are; we see them as we are.
~ Anais Nin

PS: ISA doesn't mean the ISA bus... Doh! And some fanatics should check out this cool website: http://www.hackint0sh.org/

How about the origins of Microsoft?

Windows NT has been designed from the ground up as a networking pre-emptive multi-tasking multi-user re-entrant operating system. It utilizes the best of breed technology, and was in fact invented by Dave Cutler, the architect of VMS from Digital. VMS and its derivative OpenVMS were predecessors to Windows NT. For your edification, the first OS by Microsoft was a full and complete high-performance port of Bell Labs AT&T UNIX and the only real UNIX back then to the 8086 16-bit processor. That OS came before DOS 1.0. This means Microsoft also had the full UNIX source-code back then. The result was Microsoft Xenix. As a matter of fact, the Apple Lisa was a port from Microsoft Xenix to the 68000 Motorola chip architecture. And for the record, the largest software provider for Apple was and still is Microsoft. Nowadays, OS X is based on FreeBSD the Darwin kernel, which was available in complete source back in 1992, for the x86 platform. And is still available today (albeit) 17 years later. Interestingly, Linux and other variants of UNIX look alike (Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, and others) became mainstream and the most popular ones are available in open-source format. This implies that any 'superior' technology at the source-code level is available today to ANYBODY, including Microsoft. The reverse however is not true. And any technological developments in the proprietary NT is not necessarily available to just anybody. Microsoft being the largest software company in the world today has immense R&D and financial resources behind it, twice that of IBM's. Apple's doesn't even compare or is in the same class as Microsoft. You can look at it anyway you want, financially, market-share wise, or intellectually. Nowadays, anything that can be done with any existing operating system can also be done with Windows. And vice-versa. That is the state-of-the-art of technology today. Don't overlook the fact that today a Mac is a mere PC in disguise, locked in hardware so OS X can only run on a Mac, yet a Mac can boot any x86 based operating system, including Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, QNX, or other variants as well. Because a Mac is a PC. Mac fanatics won't like this bit of news, but it is all true, and verifiable. Don't deny it. Just Google it.

Back to topic. When the 'critical mass' is reached, Macs will become as much of a target to viruses as Windows PCs, and that is the best thing that could happen to Apple, because that will also mean, they've become a significant force, rather than an insignifcant one as it is today.


Don't tell me that the world owes you anything. It was there FIRST.
~ Mark Twain

[publicmenace]

Most of the Conficker-infected computers are in enterprise networks. The Mac and Linus religionists are just wasting bandwidth screaming on sites like PC world about their favorite gods because few here are vulnerable, i.e. we use patched MS systems. The Mac and Linux people should take their preaching elswhere, like Network World.

Good luck with that, because for whatever reason, MS has a lock on corporate networking, where patching isn't automatic and timely.

Average Joe PC user, who doesn't patch regularly and doesn't know what a patch is, doesn't read PC World, anyway. So, no point in posting here, Mac and Linux sectarians.

Go to Mac World or Linux World.

[Evildave]

Just install Linux.

It's not just security through obscurity. It's security through decades of tried and tested security. It's just damned hard to write one executable that will attack 'any' version of kernel and all the optional things that get attached to it. And 'optional' includes the GUI, and all things attached to it.

Windows XP, by default, runs all apps as 'Administrator', which means any 'hole' in any app is a potential root kit.

The 'UAC' they added to Vista to address this is widely disabled. Do a web search for 'Disable UAC'. Even when enabled, people get into the habit of clicking it away (granting permission) without even looking at it, allowing 'anything' to happen. So as a security measure, it's a complete failure. Botched top to bottom. In a way, Windoze is only trying to catch up to where Unix-like operating systems were in the 1970's.

So what if we're <1%? We're the 'Mensa' 1%, not the other 99% who are dumb enough to PAY FOR buggy, insecure versions of better software that they could have and share for free.

The Microsoft shills are certainly getting more strident. They sound like creationists.

[WinTard]

Or perhaps, could it be the reverse?

Perhaps what is wrong is people who have the audacity to judge what is right and what is wrong.
~ Unknown Source

Don't judge a man by his opinions, but what his opinions have made of him.
~ Georg Christoph Lichtenberg


Some of us will do our jobs well and some will not, but we will be judged by only one thing: the result.
~ Vince Lombardi


Judge not the horse by his saddle.
{Chinese Proverb}

When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.
~ Wayne Dyer, American motivational Speaker and Author of self-help best selling books. b.1940

8D

[WinTard]

Another apropos bit of actual history:

"Mr. Gates and Mr. Jobs announced that Microsoft would inject more than $150 million into Apple and take other steps to guarantee Apple's near-term survival."

Source:
The Apple of Microsoft's Eye
Published: August 8, 1997
http://query.nytimes...75BC0A961958260

Or Google the terms "apple bailout by microsoft" as of 2009.01.17:
Results 1 - 10 of about 539,000 for apple bailout by microsoft. (0.20 seconds)

How do you like them apples?

[WinTard]

Yep, it can only go UP! If with the 'dismal' performance of Windows today (have you checked the stocks lately specifically MSFT vs APPL?) with the new best ever Windows 7 appearing soon, my prediction is UP, UP, UP!!!

YES! 8D

[tenney67]

I glad i'm not the only person who sees the truth with Apple. Those TV commercials burned me up when Apple cmputers have the same hardware as PC's. Why doesn't Apple just take a page from Microsoft and just sell the Apple operating system seperate from the hardware like Microsoft sells it's windows operating system and let's see which one wins?

[zachary1193]

haha ya ill watch microsofts stock not go up either down or no where cause it seems that now a days they cant do anything right not the xbox nore zune everything they make gets messed up some how and the xbox problems they knew about them and didnt fix them cause they dont care about it they just want to sell you a piece of junk and get their money

[rb3m]

Oh, dear! Another virus, another "Get a Mac! Get Linux!" thread.
It's hard to argue that if everybody switched to Macs then no one would get viruses. Average computer users would still click on files sent to them by IM, would still give their passwords to strangers and would still disable their OS security.
With Linux I agree a bit more, because of the many kernel variants; but I doubt that Linux will make it to the masses without a specific version coming on top in user preferences. Maybe Ubuntu, maybe Mandriva, but making it easier for virus developers to find a large target.
Anyway, I've been a Windows user for 15 or so years now. I have never used an antivirus and have never been had a virus (at least not by accident). Of course, I always patch and am very careful with what I download and keep a close eye on everything that runs on my computer.
I know that the possibility of being infected is still there, and I'll probably get infected some time in the future (that's why I keep back-ups), but for using a "buggy", "inherently insecure" and "inferior" OS I think I've had a very good run.

[Evildave]

I had similar near virus-free experience through 15 years of Windoze use, prior DOS use, and 'other things' before MS-DOS through simple caution. My experience was that antivirus was more destructive than viruses. What drove me away from Windoze was Vista's shockingly bad performance on my new Dell, and to be fair, Dell is on my $#!% list, too for even offering that OS, certainly knowing how badly it worked with their notebook.

Over the years, I've had to 'rescue' a LOT of other people's Windows PCs. One memorable one took a very long time to boot. When I finally got far enough in that I could get a click in edgewise and install 'Spybot S&D' on it, and let that run, it found over 4,000 pieces of malware (actually, probably a lot fewer - Spybot calls out every hook a piece of malware uses). But it was an impressive number however you want to measure it, and that was before I could install and launch AVG to check for the rest. It was a 'family' PC and the teen daughter downloaded pretty much anything she liked, and since it was a 'Home' edition of XP, there wasn't anything I could do with permissions. I'm confidant that not long after I sorted that thing out, it became just as full of crap as if I'd never been there.

[techie4fun]

Actually, DOS was introduced LONG before Windows.

Off topic. :D

[jkurrle]

As far as the original NT goes, a good portion of the code was borrowed from OS/2 v1.2, which Microsoft cowrote with IBM. In fact, the original NT supported HPFS partitions and would run OS/2 scripts. There used to be a command to let NT know to process an OS/2 program, which was named, get this, OS2.
As far as the virus goes, whatever OS is dominant in the field is going to be targeted the most for attack. It's simple economics. If Mac's or Linux were the king of the heap, they would have the lion's share of viruses and malware directed at them too. So, you can be mainstream and deal with constant attacks, or you can be fringe and deal only with a small percentage of the malware out there. If you really want to be malware free, why don't you try BeOS or GeoWorks?
It really isn't rocket science to have a secure machine. Keep your MS patches on automatic update, install a decent virus scanner with automatic protection, install a good spyware/malware scanner with automatic protection, install a decent firewall, and if you want, use the malware immunization tools from software like Spyware Blaster, or Spybot S&D.
For the truly paranoid, use Firefox and install NoScript. You won't be able to run ActiveX, but that's the price you pay...

[WinTard]

I agree with you.

But why would anyone pay for a free operating system (FreeBSD)?

So the conspiracy is that Apple has to brainwash uneducated gullible people with the hyped-up concepts like 'We're the best, we're the elite, we're the underdogs, and the rest are imbeciles, just because we, Apple says so'. Thus gain a foothold onto a very lucrative business, which otherwise they couldn't; Disinformation for survival. The end justifies the means...

And part of that conspiracy, is now in order to sell Macs (hardware), mere PC's in disguise (yes everybody already knows), they have to tie it up with something 'superior' Mac OS X...

In the end, nobody cares, not even Apple about which type of processor, operating system, or whatever, but how many dollars on the bottom line they can sell. And the only way to sell overpriced (or sub-standard?) hardware is to lock it in with hype and style, since there's no substance.

Well they did reneged on all past attempts at feeding BS, such as the 6502, 68000, Z8000, PowerPC, finally conceding the best CPU was and still is the Intel x86 since day one. They've adopted the PC ISA architecture. They've adopted one of the many PC operating systems (FreeBSD).

Thus since the beginning, it's only been a hilarious and ridiculous series of contradictions to finally end up like a PC, running PC type operating systems ...

Bottom line reality is:
- Doesn't modern Apple Macs boot Windows, Linux, FreeBSD, and all others PC compliant variant operating system natively?
- Isn't the Mac hardware locked with 'security' chips so the Mac OS X can only boot on such locked-in captive hardware?
- Are there not a multitude of websites focusing on making OS X boot on ANY PC? (ie: hackint0sh.org)

Guys, what is a Mac? A Mere PC in Disguise. As for the bad, mean, despicable dark side of the force: Microsoft, after their bailout of Apple in 1997, suddenly, they've got access to the entire Apple user base, as a bonus! Stupid Microsoft guys eh?

Or who really is being stupid now?

[WinTard]

The first operating system offering by Microsoft was: Microsoft Xenix

Xenix was Microsoft's version of Unix intended for use on microcomputers; since Microsoft was not able to license the "UNIX" name itself, they gave it an original name. The -ix ending follows a convention used by many other Unix-like operating systems.

Microsoft purchased a license for Version 7 Unix from AT&T in 1979, and announced on August 25, 1980 that it would make it available for the 16-bit microcomputer market. The initial port of Xenix to the Intel 8086/8088 architecture was performed by The Santa Cruz Operation "SCO".

MS-DOS (short for Microsoft Disk Operating System) is an operating system commercialized by Microsoft. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems and was the main operating system for personal computers during the 1980s.

MS-DOS development originally started in 1981, and was first released in 1982 as MS-DOS 1.0.

The point here is that Microsoft had the full-source code to the entire Unix operating system 'owned by Bell Lab's AT&T' before they designed MS-DOS...

And the very reason FOSS movement started, was that Unix is a proprietary (closed, not open-source) piece of software engineering.

The conclusion is that if something is superior, and 'obfuscated though close-source', then Microsoft had all the goodies, secrets and techniques of the UNIX operating system BEFORE they started working on DOS or Windows... Then, all subsequent improvements and developments that occurred through FOSS, well, Micosoft also has access to ALL of them like anybody else as well...

So ??? Who has the exclusive God-given right of inherent born superiority?

Apple & FOSS fanatics, don't deny it. Just Google it.

PS: ehm, have you seen the devil logo of FreeBSD and what it does to Tux, the Linux penguin? ... Juvenile tards...