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Even Bill Gates can’t avoid Windows malware; Mac users surf the Web freely
Sunday, October 03, 2004 - 05:29 PM EST

"Microsoft plans to offer its own anti-spyware software, Chairman Bill Gates said Friday. Gates said Microsoft will offer software to detect malicious applications and that the company will keep it up-to-date on an ongoing basis. He did not say when the software would be available or whether Microsoft would charge for it," Ina Fried reports for CNET News. "Although progress is being made against spam and viruses, Gates said the adware and malware problem is getting worse. 'This malware thing is so bad,' he said in a speech at the Computer History Museum here. 'Now that's the one that has us really needing to jump in.' It's also a problem that has affected Gates personally. He said his home PCs have had malware, although he has personally never been affected by a virus. 'I have had malware, (adware), that crap' on some home machines, he said."

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: We've never had a virus or adware or spyware or malware on any of our Mac OS X computers. Never. For our Windows-only friends, if even Bill Gates can't avoid it, can you ever hope to? Perhaps you'd like information on smoothly adding a Mac OS X machine to your computing arsenal? It can be found here.

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Reader Feedback: ( = registered)

Oct 03, 04 - 05:39 pm Comment from: mr angry

It should be programmed to remove winblows xp that would help.

Oct 03, 04 - 05:56 pm Comment from: MS Blaster

"smoothly adding a Mac OS X machine to your computing arsenal?"

I see this sentence in just about every other article, and I have to wonder: Is the MDN site run by actual people who can write an original response, or is it just a scripted autoreply system?

Oct 03, 04 - 06:09 pm Comment from: JB

They put it there for the retards that are still running Winblows despite the constant reminders of why it's ignorant to continue to do so...

Oct 03, 04 - 06:10 pm Comment from: mac zealot

MDN has an amazing talent for restating the obvious flaws with Windows. This "report" is not even news among Windows users, so it makes me wonder what MDN's purpose is for recycling headlines like this.

In fact, reading more of the same old Microsoft canards is tiresome. I would prefer more information and reporting about what Apple is doing to improve OS X and Macintosh design.

Oct 03, 04 - 06:13 pm Comment from: hellstudios

Windows is Malware

Oct 03, 04 - 06:31 pm Comment from: Bill gates

keep up the windows bashing MDN!!!!! you're doign great!

Oct 03, 04 - 06:31 pm Comment from: Jo Jo Zep

Mac news please.

Oct 03, 04 - 07:24 pm Comment from: Hey YoU with the FaCe!

Let me get this straight, a company with a defective product is going to provide a extra product to protect the defective one.

With SP2 numerous PC techs have claimed Windows still isn't secure as it leaves too many doors open.

Shut the doors and Windows doesn't work, shut the doors and the viruses can't come in, so Microsoft is going to provide extra software to allow Windows to keep the doors open, but attempt to keep the viril out.

Of course 10,000 anti-virus programmers and personel and their buisnesses just got handed their pink slips with Gates statement.

Of course in Gates eyes it's all these anti-virus companies that are making Microsoft look bad, so if M$ runs them out of buisness then nobody knows about the viril because there will be no one paid to look for them except M$ stoogies with a non-disclosure agreement slapped on their mouths.

$5 says 5 years from now M$ will be suing people who announce a Windows virus.

Oct 03, 04 - 07:47 pm Comment from: Altos

To Windows Users :

Don't let Microsoft fool you into thinking that viruses, spyware and adware are something they eventually need to "jump into". They are flaws in design and implementation of their product and Microsoft needs to take full responsibility for them. Correction of these flaws is the only acceptable solution. A separate monitoring software to detect/prevent abuse of these flaws is not.

Anti-virus software only exists as separate entities because of Microsoft's complacency. They did not exist before Microsoft came in and will die after it goes out.

To Mac Users :

Keep a close eye on Apple and on the way they handle this kind of stuff when it eventually appears. Will they be more responsible that Microsoft is at the moment ? AFAK, so far it's been OK but let's not take it for granted.

AV software on the Mac only exists because of psycholgical transferance of fear that comes out of the Windows PC market. When the virus issue on Windows is closed (either by a new Windows or no more Windows), anti-virus on the Mac will disapear as well.

Oct 03, 04 - 08:34 pm Comment from: rickmoen

Was Mr. Gates' comment about "that crap" referring to spyware or windoze?

Oct 03, 04 - 08:39 pm Comment from: meat of moose

Bill Gates suggesting that only Microsoft can solve the problem of malware is evidence enough that Gates has either (1) lost touch with reality or (2) has made an unqualified admission to the utter failure of Windows ever being protected by third party programmers.

I suddenly have a picture in my mind of a mangled drunk driver car wreck victim (Windows) carried by gurney into the Emergency Department (third party anti-malware programmers). Suddenly the drunk grabs the scalpel from the attending physician and slurs, "I can do this (i.e. perform emergency surgery)." and starts slashing his body frantically with the blade.

Well, Windows fans, you may have to wait yet another 10 years for Longhorn as Bill Gate’s crew of intrepid programmers devote another decade of time, money, and manpower to make Windows as secure as OS X. Face it, Windows losers, Bill Gates must make Windows relatively safe to use otherwise Windows will be replaced. This security concern is Gate’s new high priority, not Longhorn. So forget about ordering Longhorn (64-bit with WinFS) for yourself, order it for your grandchildren.

Oct 03, 04 - 09:22 pm Comment from: amyhre

In all fairness, one of the first viruses was written for the Lisa.

Oct 03, 04 - 10:11 pm Comment from: Spoon Lick

Yeah, and Lisa was one of the first computers available to the masses.

Oct 03, 04 - 10:12 pm Comment from: Red Wings

I love the confused look people give me when I tell them Im not affected by viruses, worms, trojans, malware... That alone gets people to visit apple.com.
Now if I can learn Cocoa and put my $maker idea into action.

Oct 03, 04 - 11:28 pm Comment from: Sum Yung Gai

Cute, amyhre.

Last time I checked, Lisa didn't run Mac OS X. Nobody's claiming that zero viruses have been unleashed on Mac OS (or on the Lisa Operating System). Just on Mac OS X.

Oct 04, 04 - 12:01 am Comment from: Jack A

I think Gates may have hit on a new way to milk the windows using public for more case. It's brilliant. Sell them a crappy swiss cheese OS and then sell them the software to make it slightly less crappy.

Oct 04, 04 - 12:10 am Comment from: Andreades

Yes,

It seems unca billionaire Billy's becoming a bit more concerned about his fortunes lately, with the rapid ascension of Apple Computer displacing slots in the Windows monopoly and evoking discomfiture across the BIG TABLE at Redmond. Who'd have ever thought it?

C'mon... a spyware remover from Micro-shark? Want a wild, albeit wry guess as to how that might pan out? Let's see (don't tell me)- after downloading and installing the new MS spy killer and running our first scan... Windows is deleted. Right?

On the other hand, if Windows ISN'T deleted, then we should know that unca Billy's latest palliative is worthless, like all its predecessors.

Is the fox now offering the chickens an apology?

Does the addict now relinquish his opiated $ugar-teat? ...Very doubtful, as yet.

That would be a real-life analog to the [top secret] govenment holocaust- very hush hush, you know- connected with Dr. Shoal's Odor-Eaters (now banned IN the US Congress), whereupon certain AIPAC lobbyists and their pocket-stuffed beneficiaries, who had installed said devices in their shoes, were suddenly disappearing! All that remained were some slimy $1500 brogans and a few wisks of thin, yellow fog! Extremely vexing to investigative officials.

Yes, speculation on the phenomenon had at first been rampant as to whether the sudden disappearances marked a beginning of the much anticipated catapulting heavenward of saved souls from among the eternally-condemned wicked, which, as prophesied by religious pundits, is slated to occur at the start of the Second Advent.

But it was soon realized, to the chagrin of Reverend Jimmy Swaggart and messianic thinkers everywhere, that the scenario bore much greater mundanity than at first surmised.

If one stores sardines in an oaken keg and then replaces the contents with parfums de paris... what will he end up with? -- Ans.: A fishy-smelling mess, and a subpoena from Christian Dior's attorney.

It will have to be a completely new, spyware-free operating system, replete with fool-proof registry, no more tricky dlls, and no more back-engineered P.R.O.M.I.S. architecture. Why not rename it... 'Doors?' (No offense to Jim Morrison.)

Okay, Mr. Gates -- you've got your walking papers. Now get cracking!

Andreades

Oct 04, 04 - 12:12 am Comment from: s

first virus on Lisa? I thought first worm was written for BSD (used a hole in sendmail, if I remember correctly).

Didn't DOS have virus before Lisa was even on the market (or may be DOS was the "virus".... It spread like one didn't it? It also caused computer crashes like one. raspberry

Oct 04, 04 - 02:17 am Comment from: One guy from Finland

Never personally affected by virus?
Try flu.
He should buy a F-Secure´s newest virus detecting program that finds over 90 000 viruses out of Windows.

Oct 04, 04 - 06:41 am Comment from: Mr. Bungle

The easiest solution for MS would be a simple script that pops up everytime spyware is detected. It would scroll across the screen the message "Get a Mac, Dumbass!" Problem solved.

Oct 04, 04 - 07:03 am Comment from: Thorpedo

I'd like amyhre to support their statement:
"one of the first viruses was written for the Lisa."

Unsupported statements have little weight.

Furthermore, if one compares the sheer number of viruses and other malware for Windows platforms compared to the Mac OS/ Mac OS X platforms, it is obvious where the security problems are.

One may knock other qualities of MacOS (pre OS X) but when it comes to Internet security it has few peers. Some of the more aware here may remember the competition run for hacking a Webserver running under MacOS ... nobody could ever collect since it was essentially unhackable (aside from the usual social engineering path!).

Oct 04, 04 - 07:12 am Comment from: feeze

here's an article that might be of interest.

http://www.viruslist.com/eng/viruslistbooks.html?id=16

It's the history of the computer virus.

Oct 04, 04 - 07:19 am Comment from: feeze

Correction it's not the history of the virus, it's a "Chronology of Events" until 1998. I have only briefly read it but it appears that the Apple was first infected with a virus before the IBM PC (Although the IBM PC virus caused more havoc).

But it'a also should be noted that the majority of the latter half is all Microsoft.

Oct 04, 04 - 10:18 am Comment from: treadlightly

The concern with m$ getting into the game is what we have seen with browsers. They put competitors out of business and then move on to other fields of play. Their AV software will end up 5-10 years behind. That is simply a frightening prospect.

Oct 04, 04 - 10:18 am Comment from: mac dood

Thorpedo...

".....Some of the more aware here may remember the competition run for hacking a Webserver running under MacOS ... nobody could ever collect since it was essentially unhackable (aside from the usual social engineering path!)......"

I remember that "contest" taking place at least once a year..... and I dont remember anyone ever succeeding...

Do you know if the contest still runs?? and if so...where ??

Oct 04, 04 - 10:42 am Comment from: K

MDN - keep it up!

If you want real technical news, visit MacSurfer and it will point you to other web sites.

If you want to laugh at the silliness that infects Microsoft Corporation and all the Windows users of the world, and cheer on the Apple team, stay here!

Oct 04, 04 - 10:42 am Comment from: John C

I just realized why I enjoy reading Mac Daily News so much. It's not just the frequent updates or the Mac-friendly news and spin. It's the snippy attitude I like, and I miss from the original MacAddict magazine. I had that subscription for years, and loved the rebel attitude they had. I have kept those original years' and CDs preserved in cases. Of course the information is only helpful today for our LowEndMac friends, and the mag today is just a MacWorld clone of ads and kissing up to advertisers. Gone is the devil-may-care attitude.
So, keep up the great work, MDN.

Oct 04, 04 - 11:25 am Comment from: Seahawk

The only time Microsoft will not release a product that doesn't sucks will be when they will enter vacuum cleaners market.

A company sporting the idiot monkey dancer Ballmer by definition sucks. K, only when they do not sell vacuums.

By the way, someone should hit the monkey with a cream pie and call him "true thief", for every $ they steal poor Windows users.

Oct 04, 04 - 11:51 am Comment from: mac zealot

If Bill Gates was a doctor he would purposefully infect and reinfect a healthy person with a number of deadly pathogen then withhold the cures until you paid him an outrageous sum of money every 3 months.

However, if a person willingly let Dr. Gates infect and reinfect them this would make them...stupid, perhaps?

Oct 04, 04 - 12:56 pm Comment from: darknite

So, MS is offering its own anti spyware?

OK, I'm in the mood for radical conspiracy theories, If billy is offering anti spyware, is it really anti spyware? Or does it just direct the flow of information back to MS, where they can collect it, and then sell it back to the original inventors of the spyware, thus insuring yet another windows monopoly based revenue stream?

(and yes, this post is a waste of bandwidth that poorly attempted humor, but I couldn't resist)

Oct 04, 04 - 01:21 pm Comment from: Republican Right-winger

Bill Gates says that he, too, suffers from malware on his PC. Is his statement supposed to engender consumer loyalty and spur consumer spending for Windows?

If Bill Gates admits that Windows is garbage, chock full of male ware, and his company cannot do a damn thing about it, well, this is hardly a rousing endorsement of his leadership or Microsoft's products.

Consider this, if Chevy announced that their cars leaked gasoline, spewed oil, were held together by Elmer's glue, and had no radio how willing would you be to buy a Chevy?

Oct 04, 04 - 01:26 pm Comment from: mac zealot

When Bill Gates says he has malware on his PC he is telling all Windows users to shut up and enjoy it.

If Bill Gates tolerates malware on his PC what makes you think he really cares about you and your PC?

Oct 04, 04 - 01:34 pm Comment from: Seahawk

Gates is trying to pass this message: "Dude, malware is a part of being on internet. I had it too so who are you to complain". Many lemmings will reason along these lines: "If Gates himself had it then I really should not complain, it is a matter of PC life. Get over it".

Is Gates shrewd or are Windows users idiots? I still am not able to answer this.

Oct 04, 04 - 03:09 pm Comment from: Mac Beth

ms blaster if it makes sense to show that link after a lot of the articles why shouldnt they?

Oct 04, 04 - 07:04 pm Comment from: Thorpedo

Mac Dood, I haven't kept up with any progress of current or past challenges.

For accounts of Crack A Mac" challenges (there are many others) consider the following:

$10,000 Macintosh Web Security Challenge in 1995
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=01107

the Crack A Mac" challenge held in Sweden in 1997
"The contest offered prize money - eventually more than $13,000 U.S. - to anybody who could alter the contents of a Web page served by a standard Macintosh-based Web server. "
" The best attack was pure social-engineering."
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=02166

TidBITS Internet Security Challenges! (Meant in Fun!)
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=04796

This intrinsic Mac security caused some migrations
"U.S. Army Moves to Mac OS-based WebSTAR"
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=05552

A recent article refers back to these events titled "U.S. Department of Homeland Security Standardizes on Macs"
http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07616

Oct 04, 04 - 07:58 pm Comment from: Perfusionista

Altos: "When the virus issue on Windows is closed"

That's when me and Mr Satan are going to strap on our Salomons and head for the moguls...

Oct 07, 04 - 10:20 pm Comment from: trippah

Creates jobs in the security industry. What good has Apple done for this society?

Is Gates shrewd or are Windows users idiots? I still am not able to answer this.
The same can be said about Jobs and OSX. Why is OSX soooooo "user friendly"?!?! I still am not able to answer this but I have a theory, mabe the mac users have no clue either?

Putting up with Mac users is as bad as Windows users IMO.

Oct 08, 04 - 01:15 am Comment from: Thorpedo

'Creates jobs in the security industry. What good has Apple done for this society?"

Gee ... what a no-brainer! Duhhh!

"Is Gates shrewd or are Windows users idiots? I still am not able to answer this."

Depends on your definition but I'd guess no and partly yes! (not so much idiots as unaware!)

"The same can be said about Jobs and OSX. Why is OSX soooooo "user friendly"?!?! I still am not able to answer this but I have a theory, mabe the mac users have no clue either?"

Gee ... "user-friendly" = idiotic users? I don't think so. More like users who want to use an efficient tool!

"Putting up with Mac users is as bad as Windows users IMO"

Obviously some opinions are not worth much.

May 11, 05 - 04:45 pm Comment from: rosie

The reason why PCs r better target for viruses and spams to attack may be cos all of these bugs r made by mac users and PC haters! PC users have some better works to do!

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