What is Digg?205 Comments
- cquinnd, on 05/23/2008, -11/+85"PC Tools maintain that OS X is not immune from online threats. Further research and analysis has confirmed our contention that additional third-party protection is absolutely necessary for all Macintosh users..."
That's what I would expect it to say if any other OS was in a similar market position to where Vista is now. I would assume that PC Tools has more than a minor interest in the continued use of third party protection tools for Windows users.
Do I feel safer from malware running Vista than I did running XP? Yes, but I am just as careful about how I use my computers on and offline with Vista as I was (and still am on some computers) with XP. No operating system makes me feel "safe" from malware because part of the task of keeping it safe is up to me, the user, to be mindful of what the system is doing and what I am being asked to do in response.
Is third party software "absolutely necessary" to secure a system? No, but they can sometimes be a good idea to have a second opinon on top of user education and awareness. That also holds true for any OS or applications they might choose to work with online. - coheedcollapse, on 05/23/2008, -8/+65I think as long as you're not a complete idiot or surfing for Bulgarian fart porn you're not going to have to worry about malware. I've kept my computer running fine on Vista and XP before that for years without anything spyware past a tracking cookie. I run Spybot and Ad-Aware once every month or so along with Clamwin Antivirus just to be safe, but I've never had any problems.
- Snakedal337, on 05/23/2008, -0/+52There is no patch for human stupidity i'm afraid.
- sputnike, on 05/23/2008, -6/+55Y'know what? I do feel safer. Also the fact that I use my computer carefully.
- thelastcivilian, on 05/23/2008, -1/+41"Vista less secure! Buy our security software!" - PC Tools
- hokie47, on 05/23/2008, -8/+40Oh ***** not another vista sucks pissing contest.
- OaklandNative, on 05/23/2008, -2/+34So what should I do then? American fart porn just doesn't cut it for me.
- FutureGuy, on 05/23/2008, -7/+33"Is Mac OS or Linux any better? "
Answer to get more diggs: Yes obviously.
Something closer to truth: Mac OS NO, Linux maybe
Like it or not when it comes to security Vista is a pretty solid OS. - n0odles, on 05/23/2008, -37/+61***** no!
- ExRe, on 05/23/2008, -4/+26"17% of all threats found on Vista machines involved in the research were Trojans, while worms accounted for 5%, spyware for 3% and viruses for 2%"
So, what makes up for the other 73%?
Vista is safer than any previous MS OS, but it won't prevent idiots from opening exe's sent to them in emails. - bumcheekcity, on 05/23/2008, -19/+37Buried for being yet another piece of lame, inaccurate Vista-Bashing with no sustinance or credability. Nothing is 100% secure from online threats, if you don't like UAC turn it off, and please stop this irritating habit of bashing an Operating System which millions upon millions of people are using with no problem.
- deaftly, on 05/23/2008, -6/+24http://i31.tinypic.com/ojk035.jpg
- cotaskmemalloc, on 05/23/2008, -8/+24I've been running Vista for over a year without 'protection'. I love Vista. I personally feel it's the best OS MS has ever put out. I've never, ever had a problem with malware on it.
I'll tell you what I don't feel safe doing - running ***** malware protection/virus scanning software in the background, wasting my system resources, doing who knows what over the network. - eternal464, on 05/23/2008, -0/+16japanese girls puking in each others mouths
- jmkiii, on 05/23/2008, -3/+17*Horribly
Considering the subject of your comment... - Nephrastar, on 05/23/2008, -2/+16No OS is immune to online threats. Common sense is.
- twiztidsinz, on 05/23/2008, -2/+16Please do.
- Dylson, on 05/23/2008, -6/+18Yes because I know how to internet.
- inactive, on 05/23/2008, -6/+18Vista is a lot safer than XP period. So obviously I do feel a lot safer when running it in comparison to XP. With that said, I have UAC running in "silent mode" (no popup messages but sandbox effect in IE8 and other apps still function properly). I also have Kaspersky AV running which has features similar to UAC to prevent unknown registry modification, automatic execution, etc.. The features in Kaspersky AV for system protection work much better than UAC.
- Dumbledorito, on 05/23/2008, -2/+14No OS is safe from malware; they all have humans using the OS and humans like "free smileys" and "handy toolbars." Until you can eliminate stupid, malware is nigh unstoppable.
- Dewbs, on 05/23/2008, -3/+15Well since running it since RTM (with UAC disabled), both x86 & x64, with no 3rd party ***** on my home laptop & workstation and not having any malware - I'd say yes!?!
- YodaJones, on 05/23/2008, -1/+12Is the whole Ziff-Davis organization in a coma or what? You folks need to get out in the real world a little more.
- victorc26, on 05/23/2008, -3/+13I've been running Vista for more than a year now and it has been running great since. I just have an AVG installed, run Ad-Aware along with Defender, and run behind a router.
The best and final course of action is using common sense. - inactive, on 05/23/2008, -3/+13The vectors aren't the OSs as much as the third party apps installed.
- QsheiK, on 05/23/2008, -1/+10Dugg for Bulgarian fart porn.
- digitalarcanum, on 05/23/2008, -1/+10I run XP with Common Sense 2009 RC4.
All ***** "common sense" jokes aside, no OS or computer is immune to malware in way shape or form... unless it's turned off, the hard drive spindle is encased in concrete and/or the network ports are disabled.
There was a shirt I saw online once: "social engineering, because there is no patch for human stupidity." if you just replace social engineering with phishing, warez sites, free porn gimmicks, etc, it spells out the same thing. you have to be responsible for your own actions. - DeadPlasmaCell, on 05/23/2008, -1/+8"Does running Vista make you feel safe from malware?"
My browsing habits make me feel safe, no matter which Windows OS I'm using. It all starts with the user. If you don't visit shady sites or download stuff you really shouldn't be, then you don't put yourself at risk. Now I realize nothing is 100% protected, so I do have spyware & anti-virus programs on hand that I run once a month just to double check, but I've never had a virus or have had any spyware issues ever before. I'm currently running Vista, with all security features off and no firewall. I did it with XP and never had an issue, and I've yet to have an issue with Vista. Like I said, it starts with you. - GliTCH82, on 05/23/2008, -1/+7Well, if you read the rest of it you would see that he debunks the "statistics" put out by PC Tools, a company that undoubtedly creates system repair and recovery or tuneup software and would want computer users to feel insecure regardless of what OS they choose to use.
- smoger, on 05/23/2008, -2/+8hrmm... thats actually a fairly accurate comparison
- PleaseJustDie, on 05/23/2008, -0/+6With windows Vista all applications run with that user's access. If you want to run with higher access you have to right click and select "Run as Administrator" and authenticate with an admin username/password. So even if you run from the mail client you are still executing it with your own permissions.
- rdubya44, on 05/23/2008, -4/+10Cant we all just get along?
- Crosshare, on 05/23/2008, -6/+12OMG, somebody write this down! It spells out common sense. At least somebody has a brain about these things anymore rather than writing something that says Vista needs spyware protection...WTF?!!!11!111!!! Alert the media!
- CAPITALLETTERS, on 05/23/2008, -5/+11"but it won't prevent idiots from opening exe's sent to them in emails"
Same applies for every operating system, your point is? - cquinnd, on 05/23/2008, -0/+5Actually there is, but you first have to start the services for "understanding" and "interest in learning" and do a kill -9 on "willful ignorance" and "fear of change". Then you "might" be able to apply a patch.
- BorsKaegel, on 05/23/2008, -4/+9Why does this article reference Vista and feature a promotional image for Microsoft Server 2008?
- cquinnd, on 05/23/2008, -1/+6If any MS OS had half the backdoors people claim are there, I would have expected some hacker group(s) to have taken advantage of them long ago.
- noahhoward, on 05/23/2008, -12/+17Does running malware make you feel safe from malware?? What kind of a question is that?
- fr34k5h0w, on 05/24/2008, -0/+5Because you don't have to do it for common tasks such as deleting desktop icons and start menu items. You can also make profile changes without having to enter a password (system wide stuff is unlocked with the padlock icon). UAC is overused which conditions people to just click Allow to anything that pops up.
- Retrospekt, on 05/23/2008, -2/+7What ***** OS is immune? Vista is a good operating system. It has hiccups just like any other OS, and those will be worked out over time...
Most people complain about driver problems. That's not Vista's fault, its the product manufacturers fault for not keeping up to date. *Cough* Creative *Cough* - inactive, on 05/23/2008, -7/+12He's going to get buried for having common sense.
That is not allowed on Digg.
You have to love Apple, kiss it's ass, and bash anything related to Vista even when you've never used it or XP in your life! - cotaskmemalloc, on 05/23/2008, -6/+11rmxz, do you really believe that *****? Take the aluminum foil hat off, dumbass.
- aimhelix, on 05/23/2008, -2/+6Been running Vista X64 for almost a year now and now that my drivers are well updated and compatible, I love it. I dont visit fishy sites or try to get 'free software' or music and I don't visit illegal sites or take ridiculous free offers online. Basically, I use common sense and so far so good. My system is flawless even though I refuse to install an AV on - just a hardware firewall.
- eitup, on 05/23/2008, -4/+8My would anyone want to write malware for an OS that no one uses?
- wukillabee, on 05/23/2008, -3/+7simple solution: quit going to pr0n sites and stop dling attachments with MILEYXXX.JPG.EXE
when using keygens: scan with virustotal even though 99.9 of scene keygens are safe anyways so no problem there.. - KibibyteBrain, on 05/23/2008, -0/+4Still, there are always threats that can compromise any machines. For example, it is in theory possible that an injection attack could be launched against a tech news blog or other trusted site that causes the trusted site to put malicious code on its pages and compromise lots of "holier than thou" users who think they can magically avoid security disasters because they know more than average about computers. And of course worms on zero-day are always possible too.
- victorc26, on 05/23/2008, -0/+4The first mistake you made was downloading an ISO from a pirated game. That's one of the big No-No's in system security.
- mrinsanity, on 05/23/2008, -6/+10This have to be joking. Dugg up commint for it's intelligense!
- Gohan5052, on 05/23/2008, -1/+4Most people say that about mac and linux.
- skidooer, on 05/23/2008, -2/+5Maybe not malware, but if I was a virus writer, Linux or OS X would be my target. Being the first to implement a largely successful virus on one of those platforms would be much more rewarding than writing yet another Windows virus.
- JMRinier, on 05/23/2008, -0/+3The best protection is keeping idiots away from computers.
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