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Security through exposure, yeah and I have a bridge for sale, cheap!

Windows security...
The ultimate oxymoron

Just wait till you try:

Windows Vista Ultimate Extra Secure All Doors Closed Enterprise Server Edition

I guarantee it will be secure. Promise. For real.

Re: Bill Gates
You forgot the Signature version, which throws in a couple of extra padlocks for keepsake.

The only secure version of windows is the one you leave in the box.

"I guarantee it will be secure. Promise. For real."

" . . . .But I'm going to need a $1,000 in cash today from you or you're screwed. For real. Do it now or I'll send my people out to fsck you up real bad."

On Yahoo! Answers, I'm constantly hearing from Windows users that there are many viruses on the Macintosh. They claim that no computer is safe from viruses. The more they say it, the more they start to believe that it's true. I keep on saying, "Six years of using Mac OS X and still not one computer virus." I can say it as much as they can.

If market share decides how many viruses affect a platform, how come there's not any viruses written for Vista yet? It has 5.41% share in 6 months. Intel Macs only achieved 2.61% in EIGHTEEN months.

Face it. Macs suck. Make an informed decision as an intelligent consumer and get a Windows Vista PC today!

"On Yahoo! Answers, I'm constantly hearing from Windows users that there are many viruses on the Macintosh."

I suppose proof is too much to ask? Or is that too painful?

Dear MDN,

I think it's time you remove ads from the "Add Your Feedback:" area of your pages, especially near the "Submit" button.

This is not a porn Free Preview page where viewers are tricked into accidentally clicking sponsor links through clever bait-and-switch link placement.

Your readers – most of us, anyway – don't deserve to be condescended to in such manner.

LOL

I bought a new OEM copy of XP PRO SP2 to use with Parallels when I bought a new 24" Intel iMac last fall.

I never found the need to instal it. It has been sitting in the box, with no anti-virus or firewall protection for 10 months and it is still malware free.

Wow!

vista pwns...It's sad when I see idiots like you
post on this site. You are so clearly deluded.
http://www.crime-research.org/news/05.08.2005/1407/

It's true that there have been 'exploits' on Mac OS X ...but in six years no viruses...
And it's true that the virus mentioned above
was on the Vista Beta...but it's early yet.

"No computer is safe from viruses."
True !
"There are many viruses on Macs."
False !
I'm pretty certain there are more than a couple of actual hackers (as opposed to Script Kiddies) out there who are trying to ruin OSX's reputation for being secure, but they have yet to succeed. This doesn't mean it isn't possible, it just has yet to happen. Maybe tomorrow, next week, next year ... next decade? It will happen. We've set foot on the Moon and rovers on Mars, someone will find the key to breaking OSX.
Yawn! I can wait. Somebody mention it. Someone I can believe. Someone not on the MS payroll. I can . . . z z z zzz ...

But Windows wasn't designed for the internet or security!!

You can't take a mega ton cruise ship like Windows that's installed on virtually every computer in existance and has zillions of developers who have very expensive investment in time making software and suddenly turn it on a dime.

Apple lost a lot of developers who were ambused by the switch to Mac OS X, to X-Code and then the Intel switch.

They were burned and lost a lot of money so they said goodbye.

Where are all the games for Intel Macs? Remember all the interest in 3D games when the PowerMac G5 was released?

No so now, Apple switching so much kicked them in the teeth, the 3D gamer market for Macs is now dead.

Everyone went to code for the X-Box and Playstation 3 especially for it's powerful Cell processor which the scientific community BEGGED Apple to implement in their Pro line desktops.

Apple could have sold tons of X-Servers and Mac Pro's with Cell procesors.

Now we are stuck with these has been Intel chips with their throttled bottleneck frontside bus.

I get beachballs and delays on my Intel dual core machine, not so with my dual processor G5.

LMFAO! I totally agree! Apple Macs running Intel are the most pathetic pieces of crap ever. The only Mac I've ever had was when the Mac Mini ran PowerPC and it was only $500. Good times. I got rid of it when they brought out the Intel ones for $100 more.

Windows Vista is amazing and Microsoft would never do something so stupid like Apple did. They've lost me as a user.

http://www.winsupersite.com/reviews/winvista_05b.asp

Read more about the amazing security features of Windows Vista. Get it today!

"Security through exposure, yeah and I have a bridge for sale, cheap!"

I think we'd better pony up and start building nicer bridges.

UNIX which is the basis and underpinnings of OSX has been in existence since the 60's and all computing was done on punch cards. Before M$ came along with it's crap ware it was and still is the basic operating system for the majority of mission critical hardware out there.
There is no obscurity hacker have had at UNIX since Jobs and Wozniak were building blue boxes to get free long distance from ma-bell. Hell it's how the word hacker was invented , which is a derivative from the word UNIX hack. One would think that there would be more virus attempts and hence inoculations on the basic structure and variants of Unix and being open source the tools are basically free to develop a hackers virus lab so how come OSX Unix and Linux have comparatively far fewer attempts.
You IT guys out there know this one. It is because M$ being of unsound design is shipped with ports open for invasion from virus code. M$ depends on the used to secure their system before putting it on line and have no vested interest in closing all the security flaws in their product because the end used ends up having to buy more software. Which industry is M$ in? Yeah ...you get it now?

@vista pwns

Is that you Paul Thurott? I'm still not going to click on that link, but good try.

I'm still running PowerPC Macs, but the new Intel ones look awesome, plus you can run that crapfest OS (Windows) if you really need to. I don't need to though.

@Not a Windows Apologist

With all of their transitions, Apple maybe did make life harder for developers in the last few years, point taken.

Your comments about the Cell processor's power might be true, but your entire perspective misses the point.

Apple just sold more Macs in a quarter than it ever has, arguably because it is Intel, not PowerPC, that gives Mac users the most flexibility, and that's something that can't be argued.

Industry gurus go on and on about FSBs and RISC/CISC all day and never agree, but the fact is that Intel Macs open doors for Apple - they don't leave it "stuck" with "has been" chips.

Maybe Apple could have seen it your way, rejuvenating the Pippin, which would of course use these Cell processors. No one buys MacBooks, anyway.

@ChrissyOne

Thanx for trying to derail this astroturfers delight with your comment on bridges. I live in Minneapolis and Wednesday's tragedy is constantly playing through my mind. My wife and I were on that bridge just the night before.

Thanx for pointing out what is truly important. My thoughts are with those that have lost their lives and for those who have lost loved-ones and friends.

@Vista Pwns,

Yep its Paul Thurrotts alright. And doing such a bad job of it too. Here is a comment he made on that listed site above:

"A new Windows Vista feature called Address Space Layout Randomizer (ASLR) will virtually eliminate remote system attacks for the first time on the Windows platform. (A similar technology is currently employed in Linux and various UNIX versions.) This feature, first disclosed here on the SuperSite for Windows, ensures that system files load at random (1 in 256) memory offsets at every system boot, compared to previous Windows versions where system files always loaded to the same offset memory location. Because of this change, most (approximately 99 percent) remote attacks will simply fail on x64-based Vista versions because attackers can't rely on files being in the same location. Bravo."

Yep, you read it right. You need the x64 based system which we just read about how scarce they are. LOL Buy the best from M$, but there are no drivers and no one uses it. Paul, you are so "paid to be" funny.

Windows is like a prison death camp.

It doesn't so much have customers as inmates.

MDN "standard" as in Windows sets the new standard in aweful.

"I have a bridge for sale, cheap!"

I need a bridge, I'll pay cash on delivery.

Minneapolis residents...You have my sympathy, please make all your officials accountable for their inactions since they were aware of the need to do something about it not just a while ago but seemingly some years back.

Turn the loss you have suffered into a power for the good of your community & others at large.

Condolencies ....

Where's the MDN Take? I want my money back!

Well,

Windows Vista is the «most secure» version of Windows ever. That is, it gives unbeatable job security to the vendors that sell Windows antivirus, antimalware software. You just can't get job security like that from anyone but M$. An entire industry depends on Vista (non)security.

Thurrotts parroted claim that "Address Space Layout Randomizer (ASLR) will virtually eliminate remote system attacks for the first time on the Windows platform" is laughable. Yes, it's a "good thing"^&tm; to do. BUT - there's still a launch table in active memory and it can still be read and exploited. So "virtually eliminate," sure, and I've got some nice ocean-front real estate in Nevada I'd like to sell him...

I've stuck by this position for years, and unless there is drastic change for the better within Microsuck, it will be true throughout the foreseeable future. If you have to set up a Windows system for someone new to computers, do them a favor and inform them of the best, most fool-proof way to secure it by following this one simple step: steal their power cord. This is the best way to secure a Windows system out there. Hear that Norton Antivirus and Macafee? To doubly insure the security of this user, feel free to also implement these security measures.

1. Remove any and all drives by which external devices may be connected to the computer. This includes optical drives, PCMCIA slots in laptops, archaic floppy drives, and USB, Serial, SCSI and Firewire/iLink/IEEE 1394 ports by which external drives may be attached.
2. Remove all possible connections to the Internet. These include Ethernet connections as well as wireless, Bluetooth, and even infrared.
3. For the greatest possible security, you should also try removing the keyboard, mouse/trackball/trackpad, monitor, hard drive and input styli in they have them.

Congratulations! You have just done what Microsoft with its 70,000+ employees, billions of dollars, and supposedly some of the smartest minds in computer science and programming could not. You have full secured Windows from all possible attacks, all enemies foreign and domestic.

P.S. Uncle Sam still wants you.

My IT manager admitted today that many IT managers simply m ake up shit for their company to do simply to justify their own existence. Most IT people suck ass. Computer == Windows to them. Myopic f-faces.

He's interesting, and always makes some good points, but he gets important things wrong as well.

This doesn't fit the topic of the article, but I don't know where else to post it--now that the WSJ has been taken over by Rupert Murdoch, what is going to happen to Walt Mossberg's columns?

I fear he will be at the receiving end of Rupert's long tentacles and that he will be forced to tow the Murdoch/Right Wing line. Anyone else concerned about this?

Sorry. Instead of "tow," I should have written "toe."

I'm afraid Rupert Murdoch will want MS-friendly articles only, and all evidence suggests he will completely change the tone of what was once a great newspaper.

What the F*** is a newspaper? Is it like those ancient information sharing devices we used back in the previous millennium? Those are still needed by bird owners, right? Why do you insist on clinging to the obsolete? 21st century here we come, maybe?