Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips (
More info?)
On Fri, 27 May 2005 09:02:26 -0500, "Anthony" <aevansjr3@cox.net>
wrote:
>"YKhan" <yjkhan@gmail.com> wrote in message
>news:1117193027.460075.162770@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>> The word Linux might be a political hot potato which would get him in
>> trouble with Microsoft. Microsoft doesn't mind the Mac, because it
>> knows it's not a direct threat, and besides it even sells software for
>> the Macs.
>>
>Hmmmm use a MAC were most of my stuff dont work on or use linux were spyware
>is almost 0 but alas windows is here to stay now if only microsoft will
>figure out the best way to block adware is to ONLY allow what the USER wants
>then it will be fine...
To be fair, Microsoft already KNOWS how to implement that and it is a
perfectly valid option IFF you set you're WinXP system up correctly.
The trouble is that over 99% of home users will setup their system so
that they always have admin privileges. Now Microsoft is partly to
blame for this in that they default to always giving users full admin
rights, but they are also correct that they would have WAY more
problems if they did not do this.
Hell, even if they did correct this it's not like they would solve the
problem. People just don't care enough to read what they're agreeing
to on computers anymore, they just click "next" and enter their
password when asked for it. If someone made spyware for Macs and OS X
(where the default is to setup a root user for admin tasks and a
non-privileged user for non-admin tasks) and it popped up a Window
asking for a user to enter their password to install the app, I can
guarantee that well over 50% of users will happily type in their admin
password and to install the spyware without giving it a second
thought.
-------------
Tony Hill
hilla <underscore> 20 <at> yahoo <dot> ca