Love this comment. Hilarious. I still have to use Windows at work. Windows 1.0 began in 1985, moving on to Windows 3.1, 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, and a bunch of servers in there somewhere.
You would think that after all these years, they would have learned to make it faster. Have you used the Windows search feature? Insanely slow. Microsoft Outlook is notorious for crashing, which means the Windows operating system can barely handle its Windows applications.
In Windows defense, we could blame the server and all that, but with over 30 years of experience, I would have had hope that the word "crash" would have been a thing of the past for a Microsoft. Unfortunately, you and I both know this is still a common issue with Microsoft.
Malware? Viruses? Also somehow, that is still a thing. I get it: Microsoft Windows is easy for viruses to take over, but again: 30 years of experience, testing with sandboxes, etc., would make me think that they could quickly prevent viruses or at least stop them dead in their tracks to alert the user.
I know that I still have to train older people to do things on Windows. So despite the efforts of Microsoft, Windows is still not as user-friendly to everyone nor is it idiot-proof. I purposely bought my mom a Chromebook just because my mom would kept her credit card information stolen or viruses all the time. I think with the Chromebook, in the 4 years she has been using it, we had one issue in which she downloaded a toolbar extension that attempted to take over the browser.
I used to also be a Mac OS user and until recently, when I had needed it to run some servers via terminal, I realized why I stopped using it. It prevents you from wanting to use your own computer and I feel like I'm a prisoner in the Mac OS world. Everything I was doing, from having to download an app, to even saving a file on my computer was nearly impossible. Mac OS users, you try saving a file using TextEdit? Can't even do that anymore. Maybe you can.. I could not figure it out.
Downloading an app? Had to enter in my password, then I had to enter in the account's credit card holder information (my girlfriend), and then I had to enter in her credit card information, and then I had to enter in the security code on the back of her credit card, and then I had to verify it through her email address. I thought this was the computer for the professional developer.. apparently not.
I have since switched to using just a Chromebook because it requires the least amount of work: Put in my password for my Google account and I am in. I can download at will and without worry about viruses. Everything I need is pretty much online or "there's an extension for that."
While I have been using my Macbook again for server-related stuff, I was thinking about just using another Chromebook I had, or another computer I had for Linux, and doing the server-related things on there instead, just because it seems these two are the least intrusive, and not only that: they load faster than Windows and Mac!
I definitely don't miss having to use antivirus software... AVG or Avast is what I used to use. AVG got big and spammy and Avast... well, no complaints, but I haven't needed to use that software in years. Lets not even get into the time Norton Antivirus destroyed my computer and locked me out. At least on my work computer, the IT guy has preventative measures to keep the employees from downloading anything. It sucks, but I just make requests for software I need, and he downloads it all on to my computer.
I genuinely thought this was going to end with a /s... Really?
I shut down my Windows 10 Laptop before leaving work yesterday. I forgot to sign into the newly setup wifi. So I connected my Windows 10 phone to it.
My Windows 10 phone has my Windows Live account on it. As does my Windows 10 Laptop.
Today, I logged into my Windows 10 laptop using my Windows Live username and password, and yesterdays WiFi settings (that I setup on my phone) instantly sync'd with my Windows 10 laptop.
At the same time, my Onedrive account sync'd all the files I'd been working on last night, on my Windows 10 desktop.
You can get the same 'least amount of work' experience if you fully invest in the Microsoft ecosystem (onedrive.. live.. etc..).
Percentage increases don't tell you the whole story.
For example suppose you have only "1" malware for your OS. Next year you have "2", a 100% growth rate.
Now suppose you have a shitty OS with 1000 malware. Next year it has 1200 malware, a 20% growth rate.
Someone without this knowledge would go about and claim the second OS is "safer", but the truth is both OS's are just experiencing an exponential growth rate, the first OS is just at the first stages of the curve.
Yes and no. I technically have antivirus, but Windows Defender is a built-in OS component, so I'm not paying for it or installing any third party software. The OS pretty much maintains itself.
If OS X is supported for a tool but Linux isn’t, that’s just poor planning (or, more likely, rectal-cranial inversion on the part of the marketing department [a far too common problem in my experience]), as “under the hood” OS X is BSD Unix, so with a tiny bit of care it only takes a few minor tweaks and a “re-compile” to make it work under Linux (https://phdify.com/).
Unfortunately, I’m still forced to use the Evil Empire’s (M$) products all too often. My XP laptop has recently started having problems, so I’m migrating to a MacBook. I intend to put a VMware XP onto it, but a broken wrist is really slowing things down.
I use Bitdefender on Windows. In 2017 more than ever, you definitely need protection. Sure, Windows is the most obvious target for viruses. But Microsoft is also the company that invest the most in security. If you know just a tiny bit about security, you know that MacOS is not more secure than Windows. It's just less attacked: http://www.ibtimes.com/nope-apple-computers-arent-more-secur...
And then you got this kind of report (to be taken with a grain of salt:
http://thehackernews.com/2015/02/vulnerable-operating-system...
It's decent barebones protection but it doesn't play nicely with some software (games usually), with "antimalware service executable" gobbling up CPU as (I assume, at least) it scans stuff as it's being executed.
Windows Defender is OK. But you don't have the kind of protection you get from a product like Bitdefender Total Security or Kaspersky Total Security. I think it is wise to invest in a reputable product.
No, I don't. Currently, I use Linux Ubuntu and OS X El Capitan. Linux Ubuntu for my personal development and OS X for working in the office (it's my first time using it). I don't know about those two. I believe that virus on Linux are rarer than Windows.
At work for windows/Mac machines I use Webroot, after an infection though I will run superantispyware or malwarebytes from an external media device (they seem to have a higher detection rate). I usually run a software side firewall like tinywall on Windows or littlesnitch on Mac just to see what's making requests in the background. Interestingly enough at work Macs receive a lot more detections per machine then windows boxes these days.
I installed AV once on my android phone after doing something stupid, luckily I got away with it and uninstalled soon after due to irritating pop-up annoyances from the AV app.
Desktop-wise I've been on Linux for well over a decade, I've never used AV except to (rarely) clean out infected files I might share and infect others with, not necessarily for my own protection.
IMO, the classic antivirus solution stopped working years ago.
You can't just scan for known bad fingerprints anymore -- most malware these days is polymorphic and has already gone through a virus checking service run by other blackhats (kind of like VirusTotal).
You can't just analyze the code in a virtual environment -- it's too easy for a malware author to determine if they're running in some sort of VM and then choose not to activate.
Moreover, most antivirus software is poorly written and is a bigger security risk than not having it at all. Many malware authors will specifically attack antivirus software, because that's the easiest way to get maximum permissions.
I do use anti-malware programs on my Mac. But it's all based on looking for system activity signatures that are typical of malware attacks. Classic antivirus software just isn't that useful.
Little Flocker is a good start, but has recently been sold to F-Secure, and I'm not sure if it will remain good.
BlockBlock is good. So is KnockKnock. And OverSight. And RansomWhere. All by the same author. Lots of these things are also covered by Little Flocker, if you prefer that option.
Little Snitch is great, but takes a bit of work at first to train it for what kind of behavior is okay on your system.
I still have ClamAV on my machine, but it is far from the first line of defense. It may catch the dreckage that is still out there and hasn't been updated with more modern obfuscation methods, but that could still be a net positive.
Of course, I also have FileVault turned on for volume encryption, and the Sierra network/application firewall enabled, and GateKeeper to ensure that all apps have good crypto signatures or they can't be installed or run.
And then there might be some other things that I won't talk about publicly. ;)
28 comments
[ 3.7 ms ] story [ 90.4 ms ] threadYou would think that after all these years, they would have learned to make it faster. Have you used the Windows search feature? Insanely slow. Microsoft Outlook is notorious for crashing, which means the Windows operating system can barely handle its Windows applications.
In Windows defense, we could blame the server and all that, but with over 30 years of experience, I would have had hope that the word "crash" would have been a thing of the past for a Microsoft. Unfortunately, you and I both know this is still a common issue with Microsoft.
Malware? Viruses? Also somehow, that is still a thing. I get it: Microsoft Windows is easy for viruses to take over, but again: 30 years of experience, testing with sandboxes, etc., would make me think that they could quickly prevent viruses or at least stop them dead in their tracks to alert the user.
I know that I still have to train older people to do things on Windows. So despite the efforts of Microsoft, Windows is still not as user-friendly to everyone nor is it idiot-proof. I purposely bought my mom a Chromebook just because my mom would kept her credit card information stolen or viruses all the time. I think with the Chromebook, in the 4 years she has been using it, we had one issue in which she downloaded a toolbar extension that attempted to take over the browser.
I used to also be a Mac OS user and until recently, when I had needed it to run some servers via terminal, I realized why I stopped using it. It prevents you from wanting to use your own computer and I feel like I'm a prisoner in the Mac OS world. Everything I was doing, from having to download an app, to even saving a file on my computer was nearly impossible. Mac OS users, you try saving a file using TextEdit? Can't even do that anymore. Maybe you can.. I could not figure it out.
Downloading an app? Had to enter in my password, then I had to enter in the account's credit card holder information (my girlfriend), and then I had to enter in her credit card information, and then I had to enter in the security code on the back of her credit card, and then I had to verify it through her email address. I thought this was the computer for the professional developer.. apparently not.
I have since switched to using just a Chromebook because it requires the least amount of work: Put in my password for my Google account and I am in. I can download at will and without worry about viruses. Everything I need is pretty much online or "there's an extension for that."
While I have been using my Macbook again for server-related stuff, I was thinking about just using another Chromebook I had, or another computer I had for Linux, and doing the server-related things on there instead, just because it seems these two are the least intrusive, and not only that: they load faster than Windows and Mac!
I definitely don't miss having to use antivirus software... AVG or Avast is what I used to use. AVG got big and spammy and Avast... well, no complaints, but I haven't needed to use that software in years. Lets not even get into the time Norton Antivirus destroyed my computer and locked me out. At least on my work computer, the IT guy has preventative measures to keep the employees from downloading anything. It sucks, but I just make requests for software I need, and he downloads it all on to my computer.
I shut down my Windows 10 Laptop before leaving work yesterday. I forgot to sign into the newly setup wifi. So I connected my Windows 10 phone to it.
My Windows 10 phone has my Windows Live account on it. As does my Windows 10 Laptop.
Today, I logged into my Windows 10 laptop using my Windows Live username and password, and yesterdays WiFi settings (that I setup on my phone) instantly sync'd with my Windows 10 laptop.
At the same time, my Onedrive account sync'd all the files I'd been working on last night, on my Windows 10 desktop.
You can get the same 'least amount of work' experience if you fully invest in the Microsoft ecosystem (onedrive.. live.. etc..).
MS was the last to implement it though...
Peace
2017 will be even bigger. The more users you have - the more malware you get.
[0] https://www.macrumors.com/2017/04/06/mac-malware-up-744-perc...
For example suppose you have only "1" malware for your OS. Next year you have "2", a 100% growth rate.
Now suppose you have a shitty OS with 1000 malware. Next year it has 1200 malware, a 20% growth rate.
Someone without this knowledge would go about and claim the second OS is "safer", but the truth is both OS's are just experiencing an exponential growth rate, the first OS is just at the first stages of the curve.
Unfortunately, I’m still forced to use the Evil Empire’s (M$) products all too often. My XP laptop has recently started having problems, so I’m migrating to a MacBook. I intend to put a VMware XP onto it, but a broken wrist is really slowing things down.
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/mas...
- http://cvsweb.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/ports/security/clam...
It's unobtrusive, and I can fully control its behaviour (under usual circumstances a simple `freshclam && clamscan -i -r $PATH` is enough).
Don't listen to hearsay... you need protection.
I'm a GNU/Linux user since 2000.
on linux i mostly feel content with SELinux
Desktop-wise I've been on Linux for well over a decade, I've never used AV except to (rarely) clean out infected files I might share and infect others with, not necessarily for my own protection.
You can't just scan for known bad fingerprints anymore -- most malware these days is polymorphic and has already gone through a virus checking service run by other blackhats (kind of like VirusTotal).
You can't just analyze the code in a virtual environment -- it's too easy for a malware author to determine if they're running in some sort of VM and then choose not to activate.
Moreover, most antivirus software is poorly written and is a bigger security risk than not having it at all. Many malware authors will specifically attack antivirus software, because that's the easiest way to get maximum permissions.
I do use anti-malware programs on my Mac. But it's all based on looking for system activity signatures that are typical of malware attacks. Classic antivirus software just isn't that useful.
Little Flocker is a good start, but has recently been sold to F-Secure, and I'm not sure if it will remain good.
BlockBlock is good. So is KnockKnock. And OverSight. And RansomWhere. All by the same author. Lots of these things are also covered by Little Flocker, if you prefer that option.
Little Snitch is great, but takes a bit of work at first to train it for what kind of behavior is okay on your system.
I still have ClamAV on my machine, but it is far from the first line of defense. It may catch the dreckage that is still out there and hasn't been updated with more modern obfuscation methods, but that could still be a net positive.
Of course, I also have FileVault turned on for volume encryption, and the Sierra network/application firewall enabled, and GateKeeper to ensure that all apps have good crypto signatures or they can't be installed or run.
And then there might be some other things that I won't talk about publicly. ;)