A Question for Windows Users 2
From the Inky:
CryptoLocker, is not a myth or rumor, says Snopes.com, and it makes files “as good as deleted,” unless you pay as much as $300 dollars or euros, according to Sophos, an Internet security provider.
(The article goes on to detail how to protect yourself.)
I have one Windows computer; it’s set to dual-boot with Linux, meaning that, at boot time, I can choose one or the other. Mostly, I run Linux (currently, I have Mageia installed), but I periodically boot into Windows to grab updates and keep my Windows knowledge up-to-date.
Thursday, I booted over to Windows.
Thirty minutes and two reboots later, Windows declared that it was updated. Yesterday, the AV declared that it needed to be updated; as part of the update, it wanted to add a search bar to my browser and other useless stuff to the program load. It also demanded a reboot.
Then Java demanded an update, and it tried to sneak McAffee on the computer. Finally, as I tried to watch a video, the video player I have been testing wanted an update; it tried to sneak four additional things onto my computer.
It was 30 minutes before I could start watching my video.
When you give Linux permission to update programs, the updates run silently in the background and no reboot is required and no attempt is made to smuggle unwanted stuff onto the box (the only time a reboot is required is when the Linux kernel itself is updated, so you can start using the new kernel).
So this is my question for Windows users:
Why the hell do you put up with this?
October 26, 2013 at 12:09 pm
Because of no options, can’t afford to replace what I have. A friend has mentioned he has a Mac he could give me. One learns to use a firewall that blocks anything from a PC that phones home. As it is, the Windows system that works far from perfectly and sometimes hardly at all. An acquaintance was struck by CryptoLocker a few weeks back. Over twenty years ago another few viruses did similar things. I was also surprised it did not become more mass appeal. Now it is but the twenty year slope to it does reassure a little in that it becomes obvious some -innovations- are not shared or can be forgotten.
October 26, 2013 at 9:26 pm
One doesn’t have to replace anything except Windows! If it’s an older computer, it will probably run better with Linux.
Linux is free, as well as open, but setting up dual-boot or even stand-alone for the first time requires some guts, even though most Linux distros have made their installers just as friendly as they can be. They will offer to automatically format the HDD; to install Linux instead of OR along side the existing load (Slackware is a notable exception–it expects user to partition the HDD). It’s still scary the first time you do it.
When I get into discussion with Linux geeks about why Linux has not caught on for the desktop (this includes laptops–it dominates everywhere else from phones the servers to DVRs to televisions to embedded systems), I point out to them that it won’t until it’s on the computer when it comes home from the store, because most persons never have and never will install an OS. It’s not magic, but it’s magic to someone who hasn’t done it before. That is why MS exerted so much behind-the-scenes pressure on Dell to make it stop selling computers with Ubuntu. (Dell still offers a few Ubuntu boxes, but they are hard to find on the website and tend to be high end.)
Remember the “I love you” virus? Good times.