4 ms·
While I understand that Windows' past does make it a convenient target for such remarks, most "viruses" now are not really viruses, but malware that either expl
by jimbobimbo 14y ago
While I understand that Windows' past does make it a convenient target for such remarks, most "viruses" now are not really viruses, but malware that either exploit holes in (mostly) third-party software, or goes after a human factor. Stricter security practices from Vista onwards (UAC, low-privileged user accounts by default, etc.) make Windows no easier target than Mac or *x, if social engineering involved. No anti-malware product will help if user is tricked into voluntary entering their credentials or credit card details.
- lucian303 14y agoThe mass adoption (and with it, the mass misunderstanding/misconfiguration) of Windows makes it a much easier target than UNIX based platforms like OSX, GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, etc. That along with the horrible architecture of Windows systems that just about invites malware. Vista failed miserably in both architecture and privileges and in an attempt to fix that in Windows 7, the privilege of accounts is nullified as it was in XP. Speaking of XP, it's still the target of most malware and probably will be for some time as most Windows computers still run it (as opposed to 7/Vista/8).
- jimbobimbo 14y ago"That along with the horrible architecture of Windows systems that just about invites malware. Vista failed miserably in both architecture and privileges and in an attempt to fix that in Windows 7, the privilege of accounts is nullified as it was in XP." The fact that third-party software tops malware charts and absence of Blaster, Sobig, Nimda, etc. kind of pandemics doesn't back up your claim.
- beagle3 14y agoIf a site gets you to download an executable, it's now 3 mouse clicks to get it to run on an average desktop setup (As opposed to 0 in the Win2K days and 1 in the early XP days). In Unixes, it's still "open an xterm and chmod a+x executable". There's still a huge difference.
- jimbobimbo 14y agoUAC prompts for a password, not a clickthrough.
- beagle3 14y agoOnly if you have a password set up. about half the systems I interact with do not, and the UAC is just a click through on them.
- jimbobimbo 14y agoFair enough. This is being more or less mitigated by "file reputation" system though. It's pretty effective preventing user from accidentally running a suspicious file. This, and browser that sets the flag "downloaded from internet" on executable and ZIP files.