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Do people not remember the days of viruses destroying computers? They were a massive issue before, and now they're barely a thought for most people. These rev

Do people not remember the days of viruses destroying computers? They were a massive issue before, and now they're barely a thought for most people. These review processes have been good for the general population.

bronson 15d ago
What review processes on computers?
- pflenker 15d ago
  I didn’t write the previous comment, but I think the point here is that there is a long-running trend aiming to protect users both from malicious intent and to a certain extent from themselves. In the past, viruses had it easy to infect and spread computers because of both inattentive users clicking on mails claiming someone loved them, and the default access mode for any user granting them admin access. Even though review processeses generally do not exist for computers, they are part of that same trend.
- nekooooo 15d ago
  mac app store / windows app store
  - dazgjkyfedbu 15d ago
    And outside stores we have Windows’ UAC and Mac’s annoying-but-understandable “this dmg is sus” dialogues. Granted they are review processes but they’re often what keeps common users from wrecking their devices.
rock_artist 15d ago
I believe people in HN also remember the days before we had MMUs. And I'm sure everyone remembers ransomware. No one is saying OS shouldn't have security measures, permissions/entitlements and app sandboxing, user land, etc. I still don't understand why my desktop/laptop is allowed to be 'owned' by me. but my iPhone is a closed-gardened where I'm just a guest in a device I own. and that's nearly what Google is now doing.
oblio 15d ago
> They were a massive issue before, and now they're barely a thought for most people. Even on desktops... where there are no such review processes. Apparently we've found other mechanisms to reduce those issues, without app stores everywhere.
- tredre3 15d ago
  They're still very much a thing on desktop. You're not wrong that Windows got better at protecting itself, but I suspect the reason you don't hear about them is just that few people use desktops anymore (other than developers who, for obvious reasons, are typically less prone to be infected). Anecdotally, at least once a month for the past several years, I notice a youtube channel in my feed get hacked. Their usual content gets replaced with crypto, Roblox, or Elon/SpaceX spam. Big channels, small channels, it happens to them all. There's usually a post-mortem when they manage to regain control. Every time the infection happened through a virus attached to an email or by following a link on their discord. This kind of attack simply cannot happen on mobile (unless your phone is rooted and you have disabled all warnings).

bronson 15d ago

What review processes on computers?

pflenker 15d ago
I didn’t write the previous comment, but I think the point here is that there is a long-running trend aiming to protect users both from malicious intent and to a certain extent from themselves. In the past, viruses had it easy to infect and spread computers because of both inattentive users clicking on mails claiming someone loved them, and the default access mode for any user granting them admin access. Even though review processeses generally do not exist for computers, they are part of that same trend.
nekooooo 15d ago
mac app store / windows app store
- dazgjkyfedbu 15d ago
  And outside stores we have Windows’ UAC and Mac’s annoying-but-understandable “this dmg is sus” dialogues. Granted they are review processes but they’re often what keeps common users from wrecking their devices.

rock_artist 15d ago

I believe people in HN also remember the days before we had MMUs. And I'm sure everyone remembers ransomware. No one is saying OS shouldn't have security measures, permissions/entitlements and app sandboxing, user land, etc. I still don't understand why my desktop/laptop is allowed to be 'owned' by me. but my iPhone is a closed-gardened where I'm just a guest in a device I own. and that's nearly what Google is now doing.

oblio 15d ago

> They were a massive issue before, and now they're barely a thought for most people. Even on desktops... where there are no such review processes. Apparently we've found other mechanisms to reduce those issues, without app stores everywhere.

tredre3 15d ago
They're still very much a thing on desktop. You're not wrong that Windows got better at protecting itself, but I suspect the reason you don't hear about them is just that few people use desktops anymore (other than developers who, for obvious reasons, are typically less prone to be infected). Anecdotally, at least once a month for the past several years, I notice a youtube channel in my feed get hacked. Their usual content gets replaced with crypto, Roblox, or Elon/SpaceX spam. Big channels, small channels, it happens to them all. There's usually a post-mortem when they manage to regain control. Every time the infection happened through a virus attached to an email or by following a link on their discord. This kind of attack simply cannot happen on mobile (unless your phone is rooted and you have disabled all warnings).