From: Noah Putman (mac_at_turbomullet.homelinux.org)
Date: Wed Oct 06 2004 - 19:24:48 PDT
On Wed, 6 Oct 2004 17:54:27 -0700, Martin Joseph
<martyNT_at_barknaturalpet.com> wrote:
>
> On Oct 6, 2004, at 4:05 PM, Puckdropper wrote:
>
>> I don't have antivirus software installed on my
>> IBM-compatible (A PC is a Mac--by definition)
> Actually I think you mean a mac is a PC by definition?
by the way it depends on whether you mean Personal Computer or personal
computer... if it's with the capital letters then no.. that's IBM's
computer from way back when and its compatible
>> but I do
>> use the built-in firewall. I've had only one problem
>> with a virus, and that was due to the fact the
>> firewall wasn't enabled by default.
> Firewalls will not protect to you from most viruses, this is a popular
> misconception.
>
>> (As of XP SP2, it
>> is.) If you practice "Safe Surfing" blocking most pop
>> up ads, deleting spam on site, using some browser
>> other than Internet Explorer, not opening executable
>> (.exe, .bat, .com, .pif are the main extensions)
>> attachments, you really won't have a problem with
>> viruses.
> True if you get rid of IE and are extremely careful with attachments,
> that goes a long way.
Internet Explorer is really horrible. On the PC side I reccommend using
Opera ( http://www.opera.com/ ) as it is an extremely stable and fast
browser with features Netscape/Mozilla users would kill to have, such as
mouse gestures. Also, Grisoft's ( http://www.grisoft.com/ ) AVG is an
exceptionally great antivirus program, which for me has worked much better
than Norton AntiVirus. For spyware/adware removal Lavasoft's
( http://www.lavasoftusa.com/ ) Ad-aware is great. I have found that using
Opera with it set on "Block Unwanted Popups" causes no trouble at all with
popups and an overall lack of malware being installed inadvertently.
Also, it's good to defragment your hard drive(s) every two weeks or so if
you use your computer a lot. Windows based machines require a bit of
regular maintenance to keep them up and running... whether you think the
extra time and hassle is worth the lower prices is up to you. Personally
I'd kill to have a nice mac running OS X, but since I'm 17 and make $7 an
hour I don't see that happening very soon :P
But for now, it's this piece of crap running Windows 2000 (which by the
way is nothing more than a stripped down version of Windows XP... a little
faster and without the pretty interface but just as capable) until I can
get some money saved up for something a little nicer.
Good luck and happy computing, whether Mac or Wintel!
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