Death of an old friend.....

[Archangel]

I own a Mac. People get mad when they just spent a fortune on hardware and you tell them to get a different computer.

So I was just being polite when I said "Linux."

:grin:

I'm away for a week and I come back and Dread is being polite, whooa.

Yes, Mac is the only way to go, NASA wants security, they use macs.

Those features you just installed? Pretty well standard on a Mac. My powerbook is five years old but I'll shut up now....

The only real advice I have for now is to use Firefox as a browser.

[Eujeankilt]

Blu,

I've been a tech for more than ten years and seen stuff come and go. I agree with Dread and Archangel. Macs are still the most trouble-free and easiest to work on, but since you just shelled out the kilt bucks on the machine....... (Sounds like a serious machine!)

I'm not a big fan of any of the anti-virus companies marketing ploys (subscriptions, infiltrate your machine, etc...). Symantec's AV is fine, but the System Security product seems to just get in your way and slow everything down. Personally, I use Symantec Anti-Virus (only), use Ad-Aware and the Yahoo Toolbar (with spyware protection). Also download and use Firefox and make it your default browser. You still may need Exploiter for some banking sites. Also, avoid Outlook Express for your email. Try Thunderbird. (Thunderbird and Firefox are available at www.mozilla.org) The other thing is to do all the Microsoft Updates religiously.

If you are using cable, buy and install a gateway router ($30-50 from Staples, Office Depot, etc.) If you have DSL, you should already have a gateway router. If you use dialup, you don't need a router.

Depending on how often you use the machine, run both anti-spyware programs and run the virus scan monthly, more often if you use the machine alot. Backup your critical data two to four times a year and be prepared to wipe and reinstall everything every other year.

The other alternative, like Dread said, is Linux. If you are seriously interested, google for a Linux Users Group in your area. They'd love to help. You'll need their help to secure the machine. Out of the box, it may still wide open, security-wise.

Dale
Die-hard Mac User

[Dreadbelly]

I'll stick my neck out here and say something dangerous.

It is my own opinion that the virus protection companies and M$ are all in cahoots with one another, each one having a black ops team that writes destructive viral infections to undermine each other's software thus keeping all of them in business and making PILES of money from people who keep shelling it out hand over fist.

Some viruses are so well written to take advantage of certain features that they could have only been written by somebody with inside information. I realise this is circumstancial evidence at best, but it's enough for me.

[GMan]

Blu,

Sorry to hear about the tech problems, modern tecnology can be such a pain.

However I will say that I am a MAC user with Mozilla, love them both.

And Dread, I do thing that your theory has some validity, now we got to prove it.

[Raphael]

It seems there are more than a few Mac users in the kilted world. I am also a Mac user and I wouldn't trade my iBook for a premium Pentium Notebook.

[Dreadbelly]

Wow, is this some sort of weird coinkydink?

Who would have thought that so many Mac Users would also be kilt wearers?

We DO like to be comfortable don't we, on many levels.

[KiltedBishop]

Keep your macs...I enjoy actually being able to find software for my computer! LOL
Just kidding guys I know how sensitive your apple boys can be. hehehe
Linux rocks, but the problem is finding (or making) drivers for your hardware, you can probably find alot in the various groups, but it is true your machine would be wide open. A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away their used to be two different machines, PC and Mac. Mac the best for graphics and music, PC was a number cruncher. Now...well six of one half a dozen of the other. As for the security of mac? well tell you what guys, give me your IP and I will have some less than reputable friends I know show you there does in fact exist several viruses that are not OS specific. The nasty ones you hear about nowadays are trasmitted through loopholes in outlook. but the best security is to be smart. Don't download anything you don't trust implicitly, unless your willing to risk it. Don't let anything install without knowing who and what it is. and if you get an e-mail from anyone you don't know, delete it, don't open it. that has served this former hacker well for many years. BTW if you are broadband get a firewall, zonealarm makes a good free one.

and for the record I am still convinced Bill is working with the devil, but like I said I like having software availible. ;) hehehehehe

[Archangel]

Wow, is this some sort of weird coinkydink?

Who would have thought that so many Mac Users would also be kilt wearers?

We DO like to be comfortable don't we, on many levels.

It is so scary to realize that not only are there other kilt wearers out there, but those people are also Mac fans, Batman fans, pointy thing fans, martial art fans, loud music fans. There's also a couple of bike fans, hard core Scotland fans and nice people fans. Oh, don't forget, Dread fans.

It's like a home away from home, sometimes.

[KiltedCodeWarrior]

I'll stick my neck out here and say something dangerous.

It is my own opinion that the virus protection companies and M$ are all in cahoots with one another, each one having a black ops team that writes destructive viral infections to undermine each other's software thus keeping all of them in business and making PILES of money from people who keep shelling it out hand over fist.

Some viruses are so well written to take advantage of certain features that they could have only been written by somebody with inside information. I realise this is circumstancial evidence at best, but it's enough for me.

Dread, I would like to subscribe to this theory, but I don't think that the facts support it. I am a big Linux fn, mainly because it is open source. This means that a hacker can identify a hole to exploit by reading the code, but somebody else can do the same thing to come up with a fix. In MS, the hackers do not necessarily have access to the code (but might), but the general development community also does ntot have access, so the correction has to go through a formal identification, testing, implementation, and fix process that open source does not require.

Again, I prefer Linux and Mac, but I am not sure there is a MS conspiracy/complacency for viruses because the fixes for those viruses takes away from the resources available to develop new functionality.

RJI

[jfellrath]

It is my own opinion that the virus protection companies and M$ are all in cahoots with one another, each one having a black ops team that writes destructive viral infections to undermine each other's software thus keeping all of them in business and making PILES of money from people who keep shelling it out hand over fist.

I don't agree here, though I do think there are probably Luddites within some of these companies (particularly Microsoft) who write viruses as their own form of social protest.

I think the thing that really gets MS in trouble, honestly, is that they are trying so hard to make Windows and Office do EVERYTHING that they leave it full of holes, holes that are needed to make it do everything and be open to everything.

Some viruses are so well written to take advantage of certain features that they could have only been written by somebody with inside information. I realise this is circumstancial evidence at best, but it's enough for me.

Having been in the IT business for going on 11 years now, I can tell you that there are plenty of programmers who are simply that good at this stuff. It's sort of scary.

I work with MS stuff at my job but have an iMac at home. Best computer I ever owned. Plus it looks like R2D2 with a TV on his head.