I read somewhere that an unprotected Windows machine on the internet takes about 20 minutes to get infected.
Last week my hard drive died. I got a new hard drive and ran IBM’s Rescue and Recovery on it, which basically restored it to factory defaults.
I figured the next Good Idea would be to run Windows Update, since it didn’t even have Service Pack 2 on it at this point. I had forgotten that the firewall wasn’t enabled by default prior to SP2. About 2 minutes after enabling the wireless connection, I started getting Messenger pop-ups. I disabled the Messenger Service. Fifteen minutes later it was infected with Blaster (the worm that reboots your computer every 60 seconds). Charming.
So the next morning I ran Rescue and Recovery again. Then I enabled the firewall. Then I installed Norton Anti-Virus. Then I connected to the internet and kept my fingers crossed while Norton updated its virus definitions from 2003. Then I installed Ad-Aware and Spybot S&D. Then I ran Windows Update.
It took most of the day to do all that (well, it was interleaved with about 5 loads of laundry). I don’t understand how non computer people manage.
I’m a computer person, and I decided that I’m not going to cope anymore. I was tired of it. Sick of the crashing every time I tried to use my drawing software, sick of the infections, sick of the 38 programs running to keep the machine from being infected, sick of getting infected anyway.
I bought a mac.
Dualcore G5 2.3.
I couldn’t be happier with it.
Uh…we DON’T! Cope, that is. Speaking only for myself..I snivel/whine/shudder and RUN for help, trying verrrry hard to never wear out my welcome and…bring baked goods along.
It’s a dangerous world out there on ther internet. I think non-pc ppl hope that someone in the family knows what a tsr is and invites them over for dinner once a week.
I love spybot s&d. I run it weekly. Everything at work is just fine, its my home machine that I worry about most. My precious things are on it.
I wish I could just buy a mac, but the GIS software I run just doesn’t work on macs.
nazila
I’ve had several dual-boot machines and am thinking maybe linux is the way to go, now that some of the Office clones are more mature. My son has a Mac, and so far I can’t seem to grasp how to use it.
Ahhhh, gotta love them Macs! You really can’t figure out how to use it? I have always been a Mac person, but I can find my way around both. Since Windows is based on the Mac system, it should be pretty easy to figure it out. Give it some more time and you’ll do fine.