now im sure ill get flamed by some but im just to annoyed to care and needed to vent to all of you about my windows 7 bootcamp problems... iv been a mac user forever and cant understand why anyone would use windows aside from playing games, which is the main reason i wanted to install it personally i wanted to set up an eyefinity setup and play some games, thought thatd be cool...so long story short i install windows 7 which took me about 3 times using disk utility and a usb because something was messing up...finally it worked.. get it up and running and i use 3 tb displays, come to find out windows doesnt work on all three it just works on two. so then i install parralells 8 which i think was awesome and i get all 3 screens running...awesome...right away being use to mac I'm looking at the windows interface and it just plain looks like crap, files are all over the place, folders are everywhere, everything takes ten steps which you can do in a keyboard common on mac in one step...then i decide to deal with it, two days later i get a virus and had to uninstall the whole thing.. never once had a single virus in all my years ruinning mac...ahhhhhhh feel little better, thanks for listening guys, flame on those of you who love windows im ready
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Windows 7, and BootCamp sucks!
- Thread starter bill phillips
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What on earth were you doing to get a virus in 2 days?
Windows and OSX are useful for different things, in my opinion. Knowing how to get the best out of both is important.
That being said, whenever i install Windows i have a set of things which i always do.
1. Run Windows update
2. Install a decent browser
3. Install Adblock and Noscript
4. Install Anti-virus
I've not had any problems with bootcamp. In fact i think it works better than Windows on a Windows PC. That being said i only use it for Office and to do some light gaming.
Windows and OSX are useful for different things, in my opinion. Knowing how to get the best out of both is important.
That being said, whenever i install Windows i have a set of things which i always do.
1. Run Windows update
2. Install a decent browser
3. Install Adblock and Noscript
4. Install Anti-virus
I've not had any problems with bootcamp. In fact i think it works better than Windows on a Windows PC. That being said i only use it for Office and to do some light gaming.
/ facepalm.
And yes, what the hell have you been doing to get a virus within 2 days, moreover one which required a re-install!??? What virus was it? I seriously doubt it required a clean re-install. For crying out loud, looks like you're attempting to shift the blame for your computer illiteracy onto microsoft. I got 1 very minor virus (which was instantly recognized and quarantined by AVG free protection) in 2 years of using Windows. (And that one was passed onto me by a computer illiterate idiot who has an infested PC, per e-mail)
Win 7 is a rock solid OS. If you aren't completely clueless, you can even run it without any slowdown for years and years.
May I recommend:
AVG free
Make sure Windows firewall is enabled.
For extra awesomesauce, get AVG PCTuneup and optimize / scan your system for registry / HD errors every month. Defrag registry every few months. 5 minutes of effort every month, and you're good.
And that's the problem with Windows (Bold), but about this and others more later.
I have to agree a bit with the OP, Windows is still Windows, although I thought Windows 7 is rock solid it still has many things which are not well though off.
I installed Windows 10 days ago on My MacMini on a separate Partition and had lots of "issues" with it.
Several examples:
I started to update Windows and there's plenty wrong with Windows update, the progreass bar clearly sux, I am a slow internet and the progress bar soon jumped to 20% but this was no way true, it also failed to install updates multiple times and in the logs it shows failed yet these updates ddon't show up again in Windows Update, WHY?
Also a very strange thing which happened a few times is that the update stopped as soon as I changed my TV which it is connected to to another HDMI input, I could see it stopped from my routers software.
In windows you can see if you are connected in Network, it several times says no connection yet when I opened Internet Explorer it just connected without problems!
Several bootcamp drivers did not work, the keyboard and my wireless Apple trackpad both refused to start, reinstalled them, now they work, the wireless driver still does not work.
Plenty of other problems with Windows, it's based on outdated software, I thought MS would be smart and build up a new OS from scratch based on *nix but they didn't, they will one day get stuck with this crap.
Virus scanners is another problem, they use to many resources and most of them are plain crap, Norton is the worst, AVG used to be good but this one install plenty of crap now as well.
The only reason thet I installed Windows was for certain programs which deal with rs 232 ports, but I think even those are available on a Mac.
Jailbreaking my iPhone on my older PPC was hard, now I don't need windows for that anymore, I used to do this with VPC or go to an internet ,café not anymore.
So, I most likely won't use it a lot.
Oh, and another thing, after installing most/all updates you get even more updates, in the beginning a service pack did not show up but after downloading several 100s of MB it shows up, strange, why not get all this crap in the Service Pack is beyond my understanding.
Oh, now about the bold, on a Mac you don't need all this maintenance, it just works and is built into OS X, doing all these chores is tiresome, most people don't even understand all this crap.
I've used Macs since 2005, but Windows 7 only since early 2011. In that time, no viruses. I keep the excellent MS Security Essentials updated without issue. That comes free with Windows.
I also find no need to actively defrag files in Windows 7. Its Disk Defragmenter can do it for you. Mine is set to automatically defragment every Wednesday when I'm asleep.
To check if your hard drive needs it, type defrag in Start menu. An option for Windows 7 to analyze your hard drive appears. In many cases you'll find that 0% of your hard drive needs defragging due to it being done in the background.
I prefer OS X for a number of reasons, but I find Windows 7 to be VG on the whole.
lol i really dont know what i was doing to get a virus in two days, the point was that i got one period...and no im sure it didnt need a complete reinstall but i found that easier to keep playing around with it to find the problem...But since then i have run the avg antivirus and the avg pc tune up, im running it on parralells 8 which i have to say im really starting to like the more i use it....That still doesnt change my feelings though on windows os, how can you say its rock solid only under the guise of "if you know what your doing" Ill give my brand new imac to my 3 year old nephew and let em do anything he wants to it and i guarentee you itll still be running properly when he's done
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im not sure of the name, and im not shifting the blame to anybody, obviously i did something i shouldnt have, im not saying i didn't...All im saying is i can do a million things i shouldn't do on my iMac and itll still be working, thats the difference im trying to point out.
Unlike "'nix", windows needs to be backwards-compatible for a plethora of reasons, don't know what makes you think it's any more outdated than say 'nix, which has been around for decades and decades as well... I agree I like say linux memory management better, but to say unix isn't as outdated is plain out wrong, quite the opposite, most of it is quite a clustereff from the past... hasn't changed since the early 80's. On a related note, wish teh communiteh sorted their stuff out and actually made more than ten applications run stable, instead of abandoning something still basically in beta and jumping ship in favor of the alpha release du jour.
But really, what concerns windows 7.. the stacks are all rock solid, the operating system is stable, don't really see why windows needs changed, at all. The Linux kernel being "secure" is a myth anyhow, only reason there ain't any viruses out for it is because nobody in their right mind would code one for a <1% desktop share hobby-class OS*. There's some glaring kernel vulnerabilities which have been disclosed for almost a year and not fixed. So much for "security in Linux".
Whatever MS does, the sheer fact that the whole world uses their OS will mean a plethora of viruses, regardless of what kernel / filesystem they use. Windows is the most secure OS, too bad it also attracts 99% of those who would code viruses, too. Using a different kernel won't somehow make that problem disappear.
* Even though so few people use Linux, there are indeed viruses for it, too.
Also, because I'm a defrag fan personally, I'm not saying it's necessary. You don't 'need' to defrag your registry or your HD's. (I got a cumulative 2% HD fragmentation on my raid 0 setup in 1 1/2 years. A defrag is recommended anywhere from 3% fragmentation upwards...) Besides, the idea that Linux doesn't fragment is a myth, feel free to google it. Is defragmenting once every 2 years asking too much?
Nah, which ever way it's turned, I'm not seeing it.
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There's quite a few good point you make here but saying windows is the most secure OS looses my credibility in lots of your statements.
For instance, saying the OS doesn't really need defragmenting, mmm, lots of people install and remove Programs and it is known that a registry defrag will greatly improve speed.
Windows gets slower and slower overtime, OS X does not, except if something is wrong and it does not 99% of the time, I went from 10.0 all the way up to 10.5.8 without ever reinstalling, no problem, try that on Windows.
*nix might be older but it sure is much better than the stuff Windows is based on.
Another thing, you said Windows can't go *nix, why not, Apple did it and so can Windows if they really want, too afraid they loose their no 1 position though, they are loosing ground slowly.
If it wasn't for the business world which relies on Windows they would loose ground faster than they do now.
Yes it is stable, W7 does a much better job than before but it still is Windows.
Explain to me why windows is not the most secure OS? Because it is, from a standpoint of the OS's built-in defenses. Windows has next to no known vulnerabilities inherent to the OS, as opposed to OS X and Linux. This of course is counter-balanced by the fact that there, like I said before, are a ton of viruses and different kinds exploits out there, many of which run through third party programs (e.g. java vulnerabilities) that have nothing to do with windows itself. From a software standpoint, windows is securer than both OSX and the various Linux distros out there. Reason why those "get less viruses" is STRICTLY down to the fact that there's a fraction of viruses even available for these platforms, if microsoft went unix, all the viruses would subsequently - and obviously - be coded to infect unix-based systems. (People who code viruses overwhelmingly code for the platform with the largest market share)
"W7 is still windows". "Apple does Unix"
So? You seem inherently convinced of the fact that a unix-based OS is a better OS, you haven't told me why yet, though. Security? Like I said before, no. If there were as many viruses available for mac OS as there already are for windows, you'd need an anti-virus software for your mac, too. Doesn't fragment? OS X fragments too. (Just one link, but really, google it, you'll find many more testimonials to the fact.https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4032)
Slowdown: See next point:
"Defragging makes it run faster"
Apart from the fact that defragging can make OS X run faster too because OS X *does* fragment files, in the case of windows the culprit for slowdown is mostly the fact that windows gives a downloaded application full access to every aspect of the operating system, meaning once you've agreed to let windows run the application, it can essentially do what it wants to do. This is largely to blame for the major slowdown, since users who download low quality bloat / shovelware 3rd party apps which create dozens of entries in the registry, shart all over your HD and auto-run, slowing the entire operating system down. It takes some computer literacy to keep this from happening, though again, it's not an inherent flaw, and microsoft could reduce the area of control a single application has, just like OS X does, without switching out their OS / filesystem.
There is simply no real need for Microsoft to switch, the few things microsoft can be faulted for are easily eliminated through simply tweaking the way it handles application permissions. (Note: OS X handles app permissions restrictively, this is not an inherent feature of unix though, it's simply a feature apple added to their OS)
However, the reasons NOT to switch to unix are obvious: believe it or not, but most fortune 500 companies, as well as countless others run windows computers, most of these value backward compatibility, microsoft would risk losing billions in revenue and temporarily crippling productivity on a massive scale, as everything would have to be essentially re-written and re-formatted for a different OS. As for eliminating the backward compatibility on consumer versions, yes, I agree they should do that, though even there plenty of private users value that, too. Switching anything at this point would be akin to shooting themselves in the knee, and switching to unix would just be stupid because, since, as aforementioned a.) unix DOES fragment, and b.) it is NOT more secure, and gets viruses just as easily as any other operating system, the benefit to the user is pretty much non-existent.
What microsoft should do, though:
a.) Introduce a version without backwards compatibility for those who don't need it (even though technically, backwards compatibility doesn't exactly matter to the average user, and won't make a difference in everyday use for them, if or not it is present), and;
b.) Introduce at least the option of restricting the permissions that applications have, even after being allowed to run, a.k.a. to save people from their own stupidity, like OS X does.
None of this has anything to do with unix itself so again, I don't understand why you believe Microsoft using unix would change anything, but I digress.
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I use boot camp all the time as I have applications (Games, Quicken) that only runs in windows. I never got a virus yet on my Mac running windows. I do use a anti virus so that's obvious that you need one.
I also use the boot camp utility vs using disk utility. You're more likely to break something using the utility then using boot camp itself.
I also use the boot camp utility vs using disk utility. You're more likely to break something using the utility then using boot camp itself.
dude come on.....i mean really...I dont know what it is with you pc guys, you get so defensive when these issues come up and you come up with these outrageous and complicated explanations that end up proving us osx guys even more right without us even commenting, basically what you just said was windows is more secure in hypothetical fantasy land scenarios, but when it comes down to real world results its not because of this that or the other thing...Well i dont know what planet your on but down here on earth the only thing that matters to me is real world results....ive used both windows and osx and i can say in an unbiased opinion without a shadow of doubt theres absoloutely no comparison whatsoever...Just like just perry said, i run windows for three days and it seems slower, i run my mac for three years straight, download every possible "trashy" third party software i can and its still kickin ass...case closed.
I ignored his reply, can't win, too tired to get into such a debate, actually it's not even a debate, he's right and even when he's not he still (Thinks he) is.
Case closed.....
To be fair, you can hardly have a balanced debate about Windows (or anything much) when spreading FUD about easily getting Windows viruses within 2 days, fragmented files, etc.
I suggest it'd be far better for the OP to accept at least some self-responsibility for being so careless in the first place, rather than blame Windows 7. - Cheers!
absoloutley, i already did accept the responsibility, you should reread all the comments, before you say that...I am 100% less familiar with windows for sure, and thats by choice which was just reaffirmed for me after i began using it again lol.
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this is true.
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yes i did newbie.
Fair enough! My apologies for overlooking it.
FWIW, I was never a fan of Windows pre-Windows 7. I still prefer OS X & that remains my OS of choice for doing most of my serious work in. I just get most things done faster in OS X. In the long term, that's a significant saving of my precious time & adds to my life.
However, since getting a PC laptop in early 2011, I've been pleasantly surprised by just how secure Windows 7 is, assuming reasonable safeguards.
As stated, I only use MS Security Essentials, which is free & does an outstanding job. I find it's really no bother to keep it updated. Even defragmentation is done automatically at a pre-set day once a week. However, I accept that for some people Windows will always seem too incompatible with their usual methods of working. That's only to be expected. Cheers!
"even when he's not he still (Thinks he) is."
Hmm?
I've got nothing against being corrected, I just wish you'd actually correct me where I'm wrong (which you're implying I am in certain cases), because until you do, I'm not going to believe you even have anything actually verifiable to back yourself up with. (If you don't, that's fine, live and learn, and I honestly don't care which OS people prefer, anyway, I was just correcting, not judging.) So if you're tired, let it rest.As for whoever said "no arguing with windows guys" I used Linux for a while, and mac OS for over 5 years, I still use 2 operating systems currently and use both an android device and an iphone. I've also thrown more money at apple throughout the years than I like to admit.
Thanks for the blanket assumption anyway Wrong. And misleading.
Windows 7 vulnerabilities, 266
OS X vulnerabilities, 797
The real statistic is exploits, not vulnerabilities. The total for OS X since 2009 is 6, and for Windows 7 it's 8.
Linux is just a kernel, so you have to be a little more specific about your vulnerabilities complaints than just saying linux. In any case the assertion isn't true.
Seeing as essentially none of the Windows source code id available, you can't actually say it's more secure. You have no metric to prove such a statement. The vast majority of OS X is also closed source. Only Linux distros could you go through with a fine toothed comb and put some sort of grade on how secure it is by coming up with a metric in advance.
NTFS and HFSJ are in the same era of file systems. The allocator for HFSJ is smarter, it does fragment less than NTFS, there is a separate process that does online defragmentation on OS X for HFSJ/X. The NTFS allocator has been highly optimized over the years to make it more efficient but the file system is fundamentally brain dead which is why Microsoft has included a defragmenter, and by the way they are changing their file system. If only Apple were doing this.
Using unix, no. But being more of an OSS citizen is benefiting Microsoft. And fortunately Microsoft is also an increasingly significant contributor to OSS, including making contributions to the linux kernel. Unlike Apple who at this point make rather insignificant OSS contributions compared to how much they've benefited from it.
Probably because this is a Mac forum
And in other news, the new Pope will be Catholic...