Whats your story????

[risc]

You obviously dont know much of what a firewall does

LOL I'm a System Engineer and I work with Windows 2000 Server and 2003 Server daily. You sure are funny wako

 

[risc]

The difference:

XP: The user must take care of the OS. (The OS is dependent on the skills of its user. It is like a car which can only be driven by an mechanic )

OSX: The OS takes care of itself.

Well said. Does that make Windows broken? IMO very much so! Why should I have to buy software to protect myself from browsing the web?

 

[mpw]

When I looking to buy a new PC in 2001 Apple's iBook was the cheapest option for what I wanted, only Sony's laptop's came close feature-wise and were more expensive.
I'd only used Apple's once before 10years earlier so it was a leap of faith but happily I not looked back despite the few little niggles that really annoy.

 

[wako]

LOL I'm a System Engineer and I work with Windows 2000 Server and 2003 Server daily. You sure are funny wako

sweet, now i know what a back up job can be for me

 

[d_saum]

Man it sure is hard going to the registry and deleting the folder...

Again Apples and Windows is different. With Windows if you actually use it properly (and do the defragging and scans) you wont have a problem. Sure it might be easier to use a Mac because you dont have to do them, however thats just how Windows works. If you know how to use it, it wont bother you. Obviously you arent to educated in the Windows field.


I been using Windows for a long time and had a few crashes, all of them were my fault because I was being reckless but were easily fixed because I knew what I was doing. Most people do not.

LMAO.... I never said it was hard to uninstall, I said the registry gets corrupted. Something in which you dont have to worry about with OSX. And yeah I am educated in the windows field. And the Unix Field. And the Linux Field. And the OSX Field (I know..OSX is Unix). And yeah I use windows EVERYDAY.

My point was that I can just turn on OSX and go. With XP.... I have to make sure the "baby" is ok and doesnt need a diaper change. When you get a brand new pc from a vendor, or build one, or do a clean install, you simply cannot just start using it without worrying about spyware, viruses, etc etc etc. Everytime I set up a pc for friends and family, I install the following:

1. Zonealarm
2. Spywareblaster (to prevent spyware from getting on)
3. Ad-Aware
4. Spybot Search and Destroy
5. AVG Antivirus (free edition)
(I also HAVE to setup the updates and make sure it has service pack2)

Whenever I set up a Mac for someone, I do the following:

1. Turn it on.
2. wait... thats it...there is no step 2...hahaha.

OSX vs XP
The difference:

XP: The user must take care of the OS. (The OS is dependent on the skills of its user. It is like a car which can only be driven by an mechanic )

OSX: The OS takes care of itself.

Exactly!

I don't know if I should be laughing or crying after reading that last post!

Windows is broken, sure it's getting fixed with stuff like SP2 - oh wow lets turn the firewall on by default, and close some ports! Um why were they open in the first place?

I could make a huge list here of reasons why Windows gets viruses and other OSes don't but I'll leave that to someone with time on their hands.

hahaha... my thoughts exactly. Thanks!

Oh yeah, one more thing, you talk about most websites going down due to linux/unix getting hacked.... Eeerrrnnt (funny buzzer sound) Sorry! Wrong answer. Yes, they are most likely running on linux/unix or maybe even windows server, but when a site goes down, 99% of the time its because its a Denial Of Service atttack, not that the servers got hacked.

 

[ITASOR]

Uhh when I was 3 years old my dad said, "Come here and play shoot the ducks on the IIe." Yeah..progressed a bit since then!

 

[biohazard6969]

since i was a wee one (15 years ago) i've used macs, there has never been a pc in my house until my parents separated and my moms bf started bringin his dell over once in a while. damn him

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

My first computer was an Apple //e (IIRC), and liked the way Apple did things. I always "lusted" for a Mac since 1984. Then in '94 I was working for a government reseller that had an NIH BPA. We added Apple to that contract, and was given special pricing. I got a 7100.

Once Apple went the OS X route, I was swayed back to the Wintel camp because of price. Back in 2003 I was doing ad layouts in MS publisher. My now ex, suggested that I move to a Mac and Quark or InDesign. So they "bought" (long story - I ended up paying for it in the end) for an early Xmas gift.

Now that I am here, I can not seeing going back. For my truly Windows stuff, I have the Toshiba notebook that I bought for them in 2004 (since the classes they were taking, required a Wintel unit).

 

[jiv3turkey748]

my dad was always a mac user and when we moved he put our imacg3(running os 7.6) in my room and it broke one day so i decided to get a pc since thats what everyone else had like a month after i got the pc it was full of spyware and all that crap so i ended up using his ibook all the time and i fell in love with osx so then i sold my pc at a garage sale for $100 ,a year after pay $600 for it,and my dad brought me home an old imac from work and im currently saving up for a powerbook or imacg5 (not sure which one to get)

 

[FFTT]

Why? Its simply because hackers can find the exploits and instead of making viruses for Linux or Unix it would be more damaging if they made it for Windows because it would have a larger effect.

On another note though its not like Linux and Unix systems dont get hacked. Why do you find websites/servers down? Most of them use Linux or Unix...

And its not even the firewall that closes them, its the simple networking tools that Microsoft made that is left on. You obviously dont know much of what a firewall does

Wako,

It's quite pointless for you to defend Windows in these forums, especially
if you haven't lived with Mac OS X for a reasonable amount of time.

You might enjoy reading this article at Extreme tech

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1824855,00.asp

 

[d_saum]

Just found this in another thread... and Im sorry... I dont mean to turn this into a OS shootout, but I have to share this with wako.

http://www.xvsxp.com/

 

[Compile 'em all]

Why? Its simply because hackers can find the exploits and instead of making viruses for Linux or Unix it would be more damaging if they made it for Windows because it would have a larger effect.

On another note though its not like Linux and Unix systems dont get hacked. Why do you find websites/servers down? Most of them use Linux or Unix...

And its not even the firewall that closes them, its the simple networking tools that Microsoft made that is left on. You obviously dont know much of what a firewall does

Apache is powering 70% of the webservers on the internet you are currently using, and the number of worms/viruses that affected it are almost negligable compared to the nightmare that is MS IIS.
The idea that MS Windows is hit more by viruses/spyware/insert_you_favorite_malware_here makes no sense. For sure it means that adware programmers code almost exclusivley for windows to cause mass damage but this is no excuse why MS windows should be that easy to get infected.
There is currently no 100% secure OS and there will never be. But Please don't compare the security employed by MS Windows to any GNU/Linux based distribution. Each GNU/Linux distro ships (since the stone age) with a kernel-level firewall for crying out loud.
Remember this my friend, You can never compete with Free (as in freedom)

 

[ziwi]

First Family Computer was an Apple IIe, then the college I went to required Mac's so in 1986 I ended up with a Mac Plus - purchased a Hard Drive later 20 Meg for $500 - it is still in operation and used by my father. In 1994 Turned to the darkside with Windows 95 machine from gateway 450mhz, a few years later a Dell 850mhz, in 2001 I built an athlon xp 1600 machine and finally put together a shuttle box for my son for learning software (2.4Ghz pentium) - then I realized that he had a better machine than I did , but in making video's and DVD's for family handouts - it became a nightmare on the 1600 tower that was created for this purpose - the software constantly crashing, the late nights - I needed to get back and finally broke down and returned to the fold with a Rev. B DP 2.0 PM - I will be set for a while. Now I need to infuse the use back into my family.

 

[intrepkid21]

First Family Computer was an Apple IIe, then the college I went to required Mac's so in 1986 I ended up with a Mac Plus - purchased a Hard Drive later 20 Meg for $500 - it is still in operation and used by my father. In 1994 Turned to the darkside with Windows 95 machine from gateway 450mhz, a few years later a Dell 850mhz, in 2001 I built an athlon xp 1600 machine and finally put together a shuttle box for my son for learning software (2.4Ghz pentium) - then I realized that he had a better machine than I did , but in making video's and DVD's for family handouts - it became a nightmare on the 1600 tower that was created for this purpose - the software constantly crashing, the late nights - I needed to get back and finally broke down and returned to the fold with a Rev. B DP 2.0 PM - I will be set for a while. Now I need to infuse the use back into my family.

450mhz in 1994!??? I remember buying my pentium 166mhz gateway in 1997 lol

 

[DJC17]

My first computer experience was with an Apricot PC running Windows 3.0 or 3.1 (I can't remember). It had a green/black screen, no sound and was used for word processing on the whole. I was about 7 years old when I first used it and we had it from approx 1991 to 1995.

In late 1995/ early 1996 we decided to get something a little faster, and purchased a 133Mhz Pentium with 16Mb Ram, 1Mb graphics and 1Gb hard disk. It was running the obligatory Windows 95. Was a good computer for two years until it suffered a processor meltdown and the processor was replaced with a Pentium 75mhz. By this time I wanted my own computer rather than use a family machine.

Mid-1998 I purchased a Pentium II 450mhz. Windows 98. Wow. Was the fastest I could get at the time and I was very proud of it, ran games and did everything I wanted. I learnt a lot of stuff on that PC. At the same time my father purchased a Pentium II 400mhz computer with very similar specs.

A year later I purchased a 366Mhz Pentium II Sony Vaio laptop. Ran the two side by side until early 2001 when I did my first home-build system and moved away from Intel and based this PC around an Athlon 1Ghz and Win 2k.

That was replaced 2 years later by a new Athlon 2400 laptop (which I'm writing this on) running XP Pro. I also purchased an Athlon 2800 PC (Win XP pro) as a desktop but sold that 6 months later to my friend.

In the last 6 months my father has purchased an Athlon 2600 XP Home based NEC laptop and I've done another self built for my sister (Athlon 3000).


This is what became of all our computers.

Apricot = Died and thrown away.
Pentium 75 = Same as above.
Pentium II 450 = Semi-retired and used at my parents second house on the meditarranian coast.
Pentium II 400 = Decorating my wall in this room. (Well, the circuit boards are, the usefull bits such as the HD and Ram are in the 450)
Pentium II 366 = Now my mothers laptop.
Athlon 1Ghz = Web gateway and file server for our network
Athlon 2400 = My current computer. Soon to be replaced with an iMac 20"
Athlon 2800 = Sold to my friend. In semi use 6months of the year.
Athlon 2600 = Used daily as my fathers computer
Athlon 3000 = Used by my sister as her gaming machine!

Windows is OK. I've grown used to it over nearly 15 years. I know how to keep it running without crashing but I'm just lured into the Apple camp by the sleek lines of the latest range of computers and Mac OS X. I wanna be different!

 

[Typolad]

I started out on Apple machines, a IIgs to be exact. But then my sister needed a PC for her projects and we went Windows. I blanked out my IIgs days and became yet another Beige Boxer for my next 5 desktops and one laptop (I have a lot of computers)

Then, one day while moving apartments, I got into a conversation with a friend who was helping, a Mac user. He intrigued me. Then, when the Cube came out, I became fascinated. I turned into one of those “Apple-Watchers” – people who peek at Macs but don’t buy them. It was during this period that I paid far, far too much for an IBM Netvista that became obsolete within a month. Burned, I decided my next purchase would be a Mac.

Ironically, shortly after that someone donated an iMac to my job and my boss gave it to me to take home. Since then I’ve had oh… about 14 Macs.

And this is all in a 4 year span, too!

 

[stridey]

I've been using Macs for almost as long as I can remember. When I was in preschool my parents bought a Classic (the first computer I ever used), and I've been here ever since. And I'll continue using macs until I die or apple goes bankrupt.

 

[tuartboy]

I never quite understand why people's PCs are constantly crashing. What the hell do you guys do and not do?

What makes you think we did something wrong? Why should we have to do anything at all? Why can't their just ever be something that works without messing with it?

Windows is a GREAT operating system, that is if you know how to use it and take care of it. I think most problems occur is because due to lack of education. Windows is definately not for the weak hearted, you have to have a few years of experience before you understand how to use it properly.

Why? Why must we train the masses of civilization on basic windows maintenance when the OS should be made well enough that this is not necessary...

I dont know why the hell the computer does this but basically it makes your computer take much more time and resources to retrieve files.

You don't know how fragmentation occurrs? It's normal, my friend. Google it if you want to know more...

Its not Windows fault.

So it's mine? Whew, I thought maybe M$ might have programmed unsecure code. Glad you cleared that up for me...

 

[tuartboy]

Why? Its simply because hackers can find the exploits and instead of making viruses for Linux or Unix it would be more damaging if they made it for Windows because it would have a larger effect.

On another note though its not like Linux and Unix systems dont get hacked. Why do you find websites/servers down? Most of them use Linux or Unix...

And its not even the firewall that closes them, its the simple networking tools that Microsoft made that is left on. You obviously dont know much of what a firewall does

Please do not speak on unix security when you already said that you ditched linux becuase you didn't know your way around the command line.

Unix systems are inherently more secure because of the way their security is set up; mainly using something called permissions (soon to be Access Control Lists with Apple's Darwin core). Permissions allow access to files and operations based on your level of authority to make changes. 99.99% of the time, you are running as a user that cannot affect changes on important files. For example, you must give root passwords to instal or remove programs. This prevents malicious code from executing on your system unannounced.

Windows is open ground. Any software, user, or service has free access to the kernel and can do whatever the hell he/she/it wants. That, my friend is 90% of it all right there. Unix systems are virus/spyware free because even if the viri can make it there, it has nowhere to go...

Oh, and how can you tell if a webserver hasa been hacked? There are well over 100 reasons why you may not be getting a connection to that page, many of which can be client related. So explain that logic to me.

I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just tired of this battle of win/unix(mac osx) security. It's no contest.

 

[tuartboy]

450mhz in 1994!??? I remember buying my pentium 166mhz gateway in 1997 lol

ya, i got a top-o-the-line compaq 100Mhz original Pentium in 1995.
Built a rediculously fast 400K6-2 in 1998

Think you might have your years messed up

Oh, and my switching experience...

95-2003 = Win 95,98,XP Pro
03-05 = Slackware linux, Mandrake 9-10.1
Last week-from now on = see my sig!

 

[d_saum]

thanks for all the great replies. Since I started this thread, I've convinced 2 guys I work with to switch to Mac. One of them has always liked the mac style and been curious about OSX and the other is just SICK AND TIRED of spyware and worrying about viruses.

 

[simon-says]

Hmm, I had used OS 7-9 periodically with different Macs that I saw. I never really liked them. Then in my graphics design class in high school we got top of the line eMacs when Jaguar came out, and liked it way better than previous Mac OS's. I had just bought my desktop that is in my sig about 3 months before that. It's served and will continue to serve me well. I recently was part of a pretty big project involving my college and the med center, and recieved some money from it. I wanted to get me a laptop, and with the money I was given I decided to get a Powerbook. Nothing really special why I got an Apple. I work just as well in any environment, Windows Linux OSX.