Today I reinstalled Windows

[Odd]

Conrad Knauer wrote:
> On Sat, Sep 19, 2009 at 5:55 AM, Liam Proven <lproven at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> More generally, for all that we tend to knock it, Windows actually is
>> a pretty good tool. Since W2K, it's done everything important old
>> Windows did: 3D, games, PnP, power management, etc. etc. - but it is
>> actually a pretty stable, reliable OS if your hardware is good, you
>> keep the system clean and free from malware & don't burden it with
>> crapware.
> 
> That last caveat is the thing; what I've found is that it boils down
> to 'Windows is fine if you don't let it online' ;)  If Windows is run
> as a standalone machine, then there really isn't too much need for
> anti-virus software either...

That's true in 99.9% of cases. But there's a way to use Windows
on the net, if one is paranoid enough. Use a browser with no market
share to speak of. Opera is a good candidate. Turn off Flash, Java
and Javascript.And last but not least, stay away from shady sites.

> Unfortunately, people seem to want to use their Windows boxes to
> access the internet.  Crazy, I know O;-)

Unfortunately, most people using Windows have no clue about
the dangers. That Windows has a broken security model does
not help.

Even Linux is vulnerable if people behaved the same way they
do with Windows. They would gladly download a "screen saver"
and install it with root privileges if they got half a chance.

-- 
Odd