Another reason to use Linux

[frrobert]

This is not the first story (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,369532,00.html) I heard like this.

It shows the scary side of running windows and not keeping your machine secure.

[LaRoza]

This is not the first story (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,369532,00.html) I heard like this.

It shows the scary side of running windows and not keeping your machine secure.

I have heard of other such things also, where computer evidence was found but wasn't actually the owner's fault.

[wootah]

This is not the first story (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,369532,00.html) I heard like this.

It shows the scary side of running windows and not keeping your machine secure.

Oh Windows minus firewall minus virus scanner minus latest service pack minus updates minus malware/adware software :(

[chris4585]

Now thats scary. Glad I don't have Windows on my computers.

[klange]

This is so totally a reason to use Windows. If you get caught with your kiddie porn you can blame a virus!

[mr.propre]

Wrong to blame windows for it.
So yes the virus was the reason for the pron but the end user is mostly the reason for the virus. If you use your computer properly you never have problems with it.

Edit: To use Linux safe you also need a firewall and the newest update and you also need tot think twice before entering an command.

[kazoo boy]

Unfortunately, nothing is foolproof. Fools are to ingenious.

[doorman]

Unfortunately, nothing is foolproof. Fools are to ingenious.

Long live Murphy!

[holiday]

You know what? Using a computer is no safer than taking a walk down the street. You can get hit by a bus, mugged by a shrunken old man with a poison umbrella. Even if you look both ways crossing a one-way street you can not be assured of protection from misfortune. Smokers live to ninety, joggers drop dead at forty-five.

There are people who can hack into a unix system easier than they can into windows. They just know how. A good sysadmin can protect a windows system better than a Unbuntu noob can protect his.

There's no guarantee, but there is this: understand the value of your assets and take appropriate precautions. Put yourself behind a router, install a firewall... and hope.

[jrusso2]

Started using Windows in about 1990 with Windows 3.0. Since then I have used every version of Windows both dos and nt based and never had a virus, never had any spyware or malware.

For a long time I never used an AV either. I practice safe computing, use secure web browsers and email clients and I use the best of the free av and spyware and firewalls and never had a problem. A lot of Windows problems with malware is due to users ignorance.

[phaed]

It's not just that people use Windows. Most computer users are incredibly ignorant about privacy and security issues. They carelessly click on links, especially on social networking sites, that lead to malicious code. They download software (like Kazaa back in the day) without knowing what is being installed on their system. Believe it or not, some people take those 419 (Nigerian) scams seriously. The scammers wouldn't keep doing it if they didn't make any money. Even if only one person in a million is that stupid, if they spam 20 million people, well, you get that idea.

Then there are those people who are ultra-paranoid. My father won't do any online banking, even though the SSL security used in those transactions is top notch. I keep telling him that there's a higher probability that the waiter at a restaurant will record his credit card number (when he goes to scan it to pay the check, which has already happened to my father) than of someone intercepting a secure connection on the internet. He won't listen.

[days_of_ruin]

It's not just that people use Windows. Most computer users are incredibly ignorant about privacy and security issues. They carelessly click on links, especially on social networking sites, that lead to malicious code. They download software (like Kazaa back in the day) without knowing what is being installed on their system. Believe it or not, some people take those 419 (Nigerian) scams seriously. The scammers wouldn't keep doing it if they didn't make any money. Even if only one person in a million is that stupid, if they spam 20 million people, well, you get that idea.

Then there are those people who are ultra-paranoid. My father won't do any online banking, even though the SSL security used in those transactions is top notch. I keep telling him that there's a higher probability that the waiter at a restaurant will record his credit card number (when he goes to scan it to pay the check, which has already happened to my father) than of someone intercepting a secure connection on the internet. He won't listen.
Well be glad your father doesn't have the opposite problem.:lolflag:

[jrusso2]

It's not just that people use Windows. Most computer users are incredibly ignorant about privacy and security issues. They carelessly click on links, especially on social networking sites, that lead to malicious code. They download software (like Kazaa back in the day) without knowing what is being installed on their system. Believe it or not, some people take those 419 (Nigerian) scams seriously. The scammers wouldn't keep doing it if they didn't make any money. Even if only one person in a million is that stupid, if they spam 20 million people, well, you get that idea.

Then there are those people who are ultra-paranoid. My father won't do any online banking, even though the SSL security used in those transactions is top notch. I keep telling him that there's a higher probability that the waiter at a restaurant will record his credit card number (when he goes to scan it to pay the check, which has already happened to my father) than of someone intercepting a secure connection on the internet. He won't listen.

I won't do online banking anymore, not because of SSL but all day long there are hackers hammering away at bank sites trying to crack them 24/7 and trying to get your passwords.

[phaed]

I won't do online banking anymore, not because of SSL but all day long there are hackers hammering away at bank sites trying to crack them 24/7 and trying to get your passwords.

If that's the case, you're still not safe. Whether or not you access your bank records online, they are stored in data centers that can be hacked.

You should go back to hiding cash in your mattress.

[perlluver]

If that's the case, you're still not safe. Whether or not you access your bank records online, they are stored in data centers that can be hacked.

You should go back to hiding cash in your mattress.

No, that mattress can catch on fire. Then you lose all the money anyways.

[Can+~]

It's not just that people use Windows. Most computer users are incredibly ignorant about privacy and security issues. They carelessly click on links, especially on social networking sites, that lead to malicious code. They download software (like Kazaa back in the day) without knowing what is being installed on their system. Believe it or not, some people take those 419 (Nigerian) scams seriously. The scammers wouldn't keep doing it if they didn't make any money. Even if only one person in a million is that stupid, if they spam 20 million people, well, you get that idea.

PEBKAC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEBKAC)

Seriously, it's not that windows is unsafer (well... it does have a bigger instalment of viruses) but it has the biggest market share.

Now, I've seen a lot of people say that "if linux has a lot of market share it will become the target for viruses...", and they are right( I think in less degree than windows, since this is open source and it gets fixed in no-time (not gonna discuss about security by obscurity here)), but I think this is not the real reason:

If linux has a bigger market share, it will have a higher probability of having an ignorant on the chair, an ignorant that will download a bash script and execute it even after password prompt, that it will click on the dumb facebook apps and download any stupid thing. If we could do a "ignorant users / total amount of users" we could get, not equal, but similar results on any platform.

Using linux won't make you virus-proof, but it will surely help, since it's less likely that you'll run a dangerous windows-targeted virus, but it won't help against ignorance. The only way to fix security, is to have people with the know-how on the seat, but this is way harder.