Fed Up with Microsoft!

Congratulations, welcome to the world of owning a computer. If you go
with Windows, understand that, as the one with the largest home
computer deployment, every script kiddie in the world has their
bullseye on it, because it will make the biggest impact. The Blaster
virus...you think that would have been such a huge event if it had
been written to hit, oh, say, Red Hat instead? Hardly.

Listen to the other posters. It doesnt matter WHAT OS you use. You
have to take some responsibility in educating yourself on if and how
you are protected while online.

For god's sake, a computer is a pretty expensive purchase. You don't
buy a car and not educate yourself a little on how it works, do you?
Wait, don't answer that...I've seen how some of my neighbors drive!
Eeep!

What the others posted is correct. Switch to Linux or some free
utility software out there.

To give you an idea as to what free software is out there for a
Windows PC, http://www.grisoft.com for AVG anti-virus. Avast is good
too.

If you want to solve 99% of your problems, dump Internet Explorer and
use Firefox.

You have options that will not cost hundreds of dollars. As a matter
of fact, I think Symantec's products are absolute garbage.

System restore? I ran that for a grand total of 15 minutes. Had to
install some other software before I disabled it.

It's sort of Microsoft's fault for designing low-end software programs
and security features. But the hackers out there focus on Microsoft
products because they're so popular.

I had constant problems with my windows computer. Then I got Linux,
and haven't had a single problem (or unwanted popup window) since.

Since you seem to be unwilling to properly protect the computer, go to
www.bleepingcomputer.com

They have a list of free replacements for common commercial
applications I repeat free tested and free of adware, spyware and
viruses. They also have tutorials on how to use the computer and keep
it free of malware.

You have not run across apple's greed yet. MS provides Service packs
free of charge apple updates the OS and then charges for it ($129.99
for the latest)

was when I accessed porn sites that had a lot of spyware and viruses
built in. I had to buy some "protection" to clean things up. That
was years ago.

Since then, the one porn gateway I use has a "no-spyware/virus"
policy, and if a sponsor is found to have this junk on their site,
they get blacklisted. For anyone interested, it is Thumbzilla and is
quite excellent in this regard. No pop-ups, viruses or other malware.


I haven't had anti-virus sowtware on my computer for 4 years, and I am
running fine. I am careful to open email only from people I
recognize, and I don't click on ads.

Your own behavior goes a long way towards keeping you safe. Happy
surfing!

Got Apple?

I use Avast Home edition on my computers. It's free and it works.
Also it gets on with it without any real input from you, so you won't
be spending too much time fooling with it.

You can get free virus software, that is very good. AVG is a good one.


Microsoft offer Windows Defender, which is OK and free.

For spyware try ad aware and Spybot search and destroy.

All free. You should be able to find them at download.com.

I'm not a computer genius but I do know that if you're going to access
the Internet it's important to have virus protection software and that
it doesn't come as part of the operating system package. Maybe you
don't feel you should have to spend "hundred of dollars" on additional
software but obviously Mircosoft feels differently. And calling
people greedy isn't the way to get what you want.

Head on over to
www.redhat.com
or
www.opesuse.org
or
www.ubunto.com

Try linux.. it wont cost a thing to try, and you wont have to worry
about viruses and spyware.
And dont listen to other responces here saying it is the user..It isnt
it is the opertaing system
I switched 2 years ago and i haven't looked back.
Safe secure and sound...
:)

I'm in tech support, and I know how hard it is to get that infected.

Plus, System Restore getting turned off? To me, that's a good thing.

I'm going to laugh when the United States government comes on PFB
because one of their programs gets hacked. And this guy thinks that
there is a fixable solution to everything? Somebody will find a way
around it if they really want too.