Security Issues
- Thread starter SrDriver
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My feeling on computer security is that Windows XP was terrible and that Windows Vista is an improvement but we will not know how much of an improvement until more time has gone by and until Windows Vista is more commonplace. The mean evil people who like to attack other people's computers are going to go after whatever is commonplace. If Apple was commonplace they would go after Apple.
I have been hearing a ton of bad news concerning Apple's new Leopard OS. Some people say they have no problems and others say they will go back to Tiger. A lot of people complain about Windows Vista so maybe Leopard will be Apple's Vista.
Personally myself I have had no major problems with Windows Vista. If you have a computer that is strong enough to run Vista, or a computer that can be successfully upgraded to Vista, you should not have problems in that regard. And as long as you have reasonably recent software and hardware everything should run okay.
You will run into problems if you expect for old scanners and old printers to receive software upgrades so that they will run on Vista. And you will run into problems if you expect very old software to work.
Before too much longer there is going to be the first Service Pack for Windows Vista. There will be security improvements, and Vista will run faster.
I have a hard time understanding why so many people seem to dislike Windows Vista. It runs fine for me. Maybe it is just the User Account Control. People flip out over the popup warnings. Guess what? If you buy an Apple Computer you will get popup warnings also. Everybody demanded higher security from Microsoft and when Microsoft came through with higher security everybody complained about the higher security.
I have been hearing a ton of bad news concerning Apple's new Leopard OS. Some people say they have no problems and others say they will go back to Tiger. A lot of people complain about Windows Vista so maybe Leopard will be Apple's Vista.
Personally myself I have had no major problems with Windows Vista. If you have a computer that is strong enough to run Vista, or a computer that can be successfully upgraded to Vista, you should not have problems in that regard. And as long as you have reasonably recent software and hardware everything should run okay.
You will run into problems if you expect for old scanners and old printers to receive software upgrades so that they will run on Vista. And you will run into problems if you expect very old software to work.
Before too much longer there is going to be the first Service Pack for Windows Vista. There will be security improvements, and Vista will run faster.
I have a hard time understanding why so many people seem to dislike Windows Vista. It runs fine for me. Maybe it is just the User Account Control. People flip out over the popup warnings. Guess what? If you buy an Apple Computer you will get popup warnings also. Everybody demanded higher security from Microsoft and when Microsoft came through with higher security everybody complained about the higher security.
The problem I've seen with Vista on the gf's brother's laptop is the thing is more lockup happy than XP is. Plus it doesn't like a lot of programs, but then again they[MS] can't offer compatibility with every program out there (such as a roll-cage tubing program)
matt
matt
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I just don't get all the complaints about Windows Vista. People want Microsoft to develop a more secure operating system and when they do people complain. Vista is not perfect by any means but it is not as bad as some people claim. I like Vista myself.
Some of these people are probably trying to run Vista on a computer more suited for Windows XP. Vista does require a more powerful computer, more RAM, a bigger hard drive and a graphics card for best performance. You can get a Windows computer that can do the job for something like $900.00-$1000.00 dollars or so. A MacPro desktop will cost at least $2000.00.
And you can't expect extremely old software to work and you can't expect extremely old hardware to work. No company is going to develop Vista drivers for very old scanners and printers. And those old scanners and printers are useless compared to the newer stuff anyway. You can get one version of Microsoft Office 2007 which will work perfectly good in Vista for about $150.00. Photoshop CS3 and Adobe Lightroom now work perfectly in Vista. The last I knew Lightroom still does not work in Mac OS 10.5 Leopard and the scanner I use just now has compatibility in Leopard. Everybody is going to develop software and hardware for Microsoft operating systems first because over 90% of personal computers (we are not talking servers) run Microsoft operating systems.
At this time I would not buy an Apple iMac because I have heard of display problems and complains about the keyboard. A MacPro desktop is about twice the price of a computer powerful enough to run Vista.
I have heard of people having problems with Leopard. Do you hear much about that? No way. All you hear are people complaining about Vista. What is it about Vista that troubles them so much-the User Account Control? They have to enter their Admin passwords sometimes? Run Vista on a powerful enough computer ans use software and hardware that will run in Vista and there are no problems. My scanner ran in Vista before it was able to run in Leopard. Adobe Lightroom runs fine in Vista and still does not run in Leopard.
Vista has not sold as many copies as Microsoft hoped but with most new computers coming with Vista it is just a matter of time before Vista pretty much replaces XP. And Service Pack 1 for Vista will add more driver support, even better security, and faster performance. So what is not to like?
Some of these people are probably trying to run Vista on a computer more suited for Windows XP. Vista does require a more powerful computer, more RAM, a bigger hard drive and a graphics card for best performance. You can get a Windows computer that can do the job for something like $900.00-$1000.00 dollars or so. A MacPro desktop will cost at least $2000.00.
And you can't expect extremely old software to work and you can't expect extremely old hardware to work. No company is going to develop Vista drivers for very old scanners and printers. And those old scanners and printers are useless compared to the newer stuff anyway. You can get one version of Microsoft Office 2007 which will work perfectly good in Vista for about $150.00. Photoshop CS3 and Adobe Lightroom now work perfectly in Vista. The last I knew Lightroom still does not work in Mac OS 10.5 Leopard and the scanner I use just now has compatibility in Leopard. Everybody is going to develop software and hardware for Microsoft operating systems first because over 90% of personal computers (we are not talking servers) run Microsoft operating systems.
At this time I would not buy an Apple iMac because I have heard of display problems and complains about the keyboard. A MacPro desktop is about twice the price of a computer powerful enough to run Vista.
I have heard of people having problems with Leopard. Do you hear much about that? No way. All you hear are people complaining about Vista. What is it about Vista that troubles them so much-the User Account Control? They have to enter their Admin passwords sometimes? Run Vista on a powerful enough computer ans use software and hardware that will run in Vista and there are no problems. My scanner ran in Vista before it was able to run in Leopard. Adobe Lightroom runs fine in Vista and still does not run in Leopard.
Vista has not sold as many copies as Microsoft hoped but with most new computers coming with Vista it is just a matter of time before Vista pretty much replaces XP. And Service Pack 1 for Vista will add more driver support, even better security, and faster performance. So what is not to like?
I just went through the girls PC with XP, cleaning it up, uninstalling junk, etc.
I'm sorry, but XP seems like a kiddy toy now that I've been on Vista for months. I don't get this stuff about Vista locking up. I know it's not saying much, but this is the most stable Windoze yet.
I'm sorry, but XP seems like a kiddy toy now that I've been on Vista for months. I don't get this stuff about Vista locking up. I know it's not saying much, but this is the most stable Windoze yet.
I have been running Vista for quite a while now and I have never seen any of these alleged lockup problems. People who have problems like that must be trying to run Vista on a computer that can't run it. Vista is at least somewhat more secure than XP, looks far better (XP looks kind of 'toy like' to me), and will soon have more driver support, run faster, and even better security after SP1 for Vista.
I like both Vista and Mac OS X. I like Apple computers and Windows computers. And I feel better about Apple after Jobs sort of committed Apple to 10 years of support for Mac OS X.
If I could get an Apple Computer for about the same price as a Windows computer I would probably go with Apple. You actually can but I am leery about the iMac because of complaints about the keyboard and reported display problems. The MacPro is about twice the price of a Dell, Gateway, or HP computer that is capable of running Vista.
And there are issues with Apple's new Leopard OS. You just never hear about things like that in the news. Go to the 'Lame Leopard' website and check out some of the problems people are having. Just to give 1 example a security company checked out Leopard's firewall and it failed in testing. Apple has already come out with 2 updates for Leopard.
Now is Vista perfect? Absolutely not! There are problem areas. I personally use Firefox instead of IE7. A lot of antivirus software does not seem to work well. I recommend F-Secure, NOD32, or Kaspersky. There are other issues. All I know is that you can run Vista on a computer that will cost you about half what a MacPro will cost and my software and hardware works NOW! All the software and hardware makers develop for Windows first.
If I can do on Vista what I can do on a MacPro for half the cost what is not to like? The UAC in Vista really is a not an issue. After you get your accounts set up and install your software and hardware you will rarely even have to enter an Admin password. And every time you install software or hardware on a Mac or download updates you will have to enter an Admin password. So what is the difference?
The so-called 'power users' want to have total control of a computer. Well, in this day and age you have to use a standard account most of the time. Even in the case of the Mac you are better off setting up a standard account even if you are the only user of the computer. The 'power users' freak if they have to enter an Admin password. It is some kind of a threat to their self image.
I like both Vista and Mac OS X. I like Apple computers and Windows computers. And I feel better about Apple after Jobs sort of committed Apple to 10 years of support for Mac OS X.
If I could get an Apple Computer for about the same price as a Windows computer I would probably go with Apple. You actually can but I am leery about the iMac because of complaints about the keyboard and reported display problems. The MacPro is about twice the price of a Dell, Gateway, or HP computer that is capable of running Vista.
And there are issues with Apple's new Leopard OS. You just never hear about things like that in the news. Go to the 'Lame Leopard' website and check out some of the problems people are having. Just to give 1 example a security company checked out Leopard's firewall and it failed in testing. Apple has already come out with 2 updates for Leopard.
Now is Vista perfect? Absolutely not! There are problem areas. I personally use Firefox instead of IE7. A lot of antivirus software does not seem to work well. I recommend F-Secure, NOD32, or Kaspersky. There are other issues. All I know is that you can run Vista on a computer that will cost you about half what a MacPro will cost and my software and hardware works NOW! All the software and hardware makers develop for Windows first.
If I can do on Vista what I can do on a MacPro for half the cost what is not to like? The UAC in Vista really is a not an issue. After you get your accounts set up and install your software and hardware you will rarely even have to enter an Admin password. And every time you install software or hardware on a Mac or download updates you will have to enter an Admin password. So what is the difference?
The so-called 'power users' want to have total control of a computer. Well, in this day and age you have to use a standard account most of the time. Even in the case of the Mac you are better off setting up a standard account even if you are the only user of the computer. The 'power users' freak if they have to enter an Admin password. It is some kind of a threat to their self image.
I checked the Apple Inc. website and they have the new MacPro desktops. They START at about $2800.00! You can buy a decent Windows computer running Windows Vista, put a graphics card and some more RAM in it, and buy it for about a third of that price! And all of the software and hardware that I am using right now work in Vista. I have some software that will still not work in Leopard, although you can of course run Windows XP on the Mac as well.
I think the MacPro desktop is out of reach for a lot of people. If they wanted to run an Apple computer they could buy the iMac. But there have been reports of people being very unhappy with the keyboard (an easy item to replace) and reports of problems with the display (built in for the iMac).
Of course you might be able to find an older model MacPro for a lower price, if you could in fact find one.
I think I will learn to live with Windows Vista.
I think the MacPro desktop is out of reach for a lot of people. If they wanted to run an Apple computer they could buy the iMac. But there have been reports of people being very unhappy with the keyboard (an easy item to replace) and reports of problems with the display (built in for the iMac).
Of course you might be able to find an older model MacPro for a lower price, if you could in fact find one.
I think I will learn to live with Windows Vista.
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I checked the Apple Inc. website and they have the new MacPro desktops. They START at about $2800.00!
I saw desktop machines there for $599.
MacPro's come with (2) x 4 core processors, please link to a similar spec'd machine for 1/3 the price. Don't bother looking, there aren't any. Please price out a (2)x4 core workstation from Dell and get back to me.....
I checked the Apple Inc. website and they have the new MacPro desktops. They START at about $2800.00!
I saw desktop machines there for $599.
MacPro's come with (2) x 4 core processors, please link to a similar spec'd machine for 1/3 the price. Don't bother looking, there aren't any. Please price out a (2)x4 core workstation from Dell and get back to me.....
I think the $599.00 machine you mention is probably the Mac Mini. Pretty decent for just the internet, email, and the occasional letter. Comes without a monitor, keyboard or mouse the last I heard.
Actually I saw some Dell workstation computers advertised in either MacMall or MacConnection-I can't remember which now. I was very surprised to see Windows computers advertised there. I had never seen them advertised before. They were quite reasonable in price and were running Windows XP Professional.
Actually I saw some Dell workstation computers advertised in either MacMall or MacConnection-I can't remember which now. I was very surprised to see Windows computers advertised there. I had never seen them advertised before. They were quite reasonable in price and were running Windows XP Professional.
Windows XP until they don't support it anymore, just like I did with Windows 98. Just call me semi Luddite.
Originally Posted By: Cycle Freak
Windows XP until they don't support it anymore, just like I did with Windows 98. Just call me semi Luddite.
Another Luddite here.
Windows XP until they don't support it anymore, just like I did with Windows 98. Just call me semi Luddite.
Another Luddite here.
Windows XP is going to be around for a while. Microsoft is going to support Windows XP Professional until something like 2009. A considerable percentage of all the world's personal computers will be running XP well into the future.
From my experience I feel that Windows Vista is superior to Windows XP. It definitely is not Windows ME-the failure that Microsoft does not want to talk about today. Of course, if sales of Vista are very slow even if it is not a bad operating system it might still travel the same road as Windows ME.
The programmer who is helping us program our new computer equipment at work (he works for a different company) told me he does not like the new Windows XP Service Pack 3. It is not out yet but he tried the beta. Of course that is the beta and when the actual SP3 comes out it might be a lot better.
I personally do not feel that Vista will disappoint anybody who has a strong enough computer to run Vista and recent enough software and hardware supported by Vista. And SP1 for Vista is coming out soon. It will add driver support, make Vista faster, and provide even better security, and also reduce the number of UAC pop ups.
It really does not take that powerful of a computer to run Vista. You can buy a computer for something like $600.00-$700.00 dollars, put a decent graphics card in for $200.00-$250.00 dollars, and some more RAM (I recommend 2 GIG for Vista) and have a computer good enough for the job for about $900.00-$1000.00 dollars. Get a good monitor like a ViewSonic for $300.00 and you are in business.
Unless you are running a professional computer graphics design house that little computer will enable you to do anything someone could do with a much more expensive computer.
The exception being that if you wanted a gaming computer you could easily spend $4000.00 on a gaming computer.
From my experience I feel that Windows Vista is superior to Windows XP. It definitely is not Windows ME-the failure that Microsoft does not want to talk about today. Of course, if sales of Vista are very slow even if it is not a bad operating system it might still travel the same road as Windows ME.
The programmer who is helping us program our new computer equipment at work (he works for a different company) told me he does not like the new Windows XP Service Pack 3. It is not out yet but he tried the beta. Of course that is the beta and when the actual SP3 comes out it might be a lot better.
I personally do not feel that Vista will disappoint anybody who has a strong enough computer to run Vista and recent enough software and hardware supported by Vista. And SP1 for Vista is coming out soon. It will add driver support, make Vista faster, and provide even better security, and also reduce the number of UAC pop ups.
It really does not take that powerful of a computer to run Vista. You can buy a computer for something like $600.00-$700.00 dollars, put a decent graphics card in for $200.00-$250.00 dollars, and some more RAM (I recommend 2 GIG for Vista) and have a computer good enough for the job for about $900.00-$1000.00 dollars. Get a good monitor like a ViewSonic for $300.00 and you are in business.
Unless you are running a professional computer graphics design house that little computer will enable you to do anything someone could do with a much more expensive computer.
The exception being that if you wanted a gaming computer you could easily spend $4000.00 on a gaming computer.
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Yeah, but Mystic, 99% of the computing world doesn't design, doesn't game. They email. They browse the web. They use Word and look at a few pics. Those tasks run just as fast on a P3 or P4 with a gig of ram in XP as the hairiest of machines in XP. In other words, the hardware performance and ram requirements for what 99% of us do was maximized a long time ago.
Now, look at your hardware requirements just to fire up Vista. 700.00 for a box (conservative), 2 gigs of ram, 250.00 video board. These are the MINIMUMS. And, the baseline never changes. 99% of us use a PC for the Web, Word, Email, Pics.
Now you go ahead and justify for us the business model behind dropping support for XP, forcing Vista onto the entire computing world AND forcing all in that world to upgrade all their hardware, peripherals and software.
Other than fattening up Microsoft, Dell, Gateway and all who sell hardware, please tell us the benefit to the general welfare of the 99% of the computing public that, again, uses a PC for the Web, Email, Word, and pics (oh, for some, the added stress of Quickbooks).
Lose the sunny disposition and cut to the nut. Why Vista?
Now, look at your hardware requirements just to fire up Vista. 700.00 for a box (conservative), 2 gigs of ram, 250.00 video board. These are the MINIMUMS. And, the baseline never changes. 99% of us use a PC for the Web, Word, Email, Pics.
Now you go ahead and justify for us the business model behind dropping support for XP, forcing Vista onto the entire computing world AND forcing all in that world to upgrade all their hardware, peripherals and software.
Other than fattening up Microsoft, Dell, Gateway and all who sell hardware, please tell us the benefit to the general welfare of the 99% of the computing public that, again, uses a PC for the Web, Email, Word, and pics (oh, for some, the added stress of Quickbooks).
Lose the sunny disposition and cut to the nut. Why Vista?
Okay, I will do the best I can. Computers get more and more powerful all the time. The first computer I ever bought for personal use was a Windows computer running Windows 95. It came with 8 MB of RAM (I later upgraded to 16 MB). I can't remember what kind of processor it had and how big the hard drive was. I think the hard drive was something like 20-40 GB and the processor was a joke compared to what is in use today. I don't think Intel and AMD are going to stand still on processor development. And I don't think hard drives are likely going to decease in size and RAM is much cheaper than it was in the past.
Look at digital cameras. Years ago you could pay $3000.00 for a 3 MP camera. Today you can buy digital cameras with 10 MP for $650.00.
Computer hardware becomes cheaper to buy rather than more expensive.
Software becomes more demanding of more RAM and larger hard drives and faster processors all the time. It is not just Microsoft software. Apple software and software made by other companies also gets more demanding all the time of RAM, hard drive space, and processor speed. This was bound to happen as we demanded more and more of that software. It would be nice if software could be designed to be as efficient as possible and use as little computer resources as possible. No matter how carefully we design the software we need more RAM, bigger hard drives, and more powerful processors.
Microsoft developed an operating system (Vista) that was to a large extent developed for greater security. People had DEMANDED better security from Microsoft software. I think Microsoft should have tried to make the new Vista as efficient with system resources as possible. But it is unreasonable to expect that Vista would require the same amount of system resources as Windows XP.
I don't think there is any possibility that we are going to go backwards and develop less powerful computers rather than more powerful ones. The computers actually get cheaper even as they get more powerful. I paid more money in 1995 for that first computer I bought than I did about a year ago when I bought a Windows Vista computer.
Businesses are conservative and careful and they will not upgrade to Vista until they have tested Vista and make sure all of their applications will work. But probably in a couple of years you will see increasing numbers of businesses using Vista. What choice do they have? They can use Linux computers for their servers but the desktops just about have to be Windows computers. There are major issues with hardware and software compatibility for Linux desktops. The only other choice is Apple. I don't know what is going to happen with Apple. Apple may continue to be 8% of the market in the USA or Apple may be 15% of the market in a few years. Who knows? The software the businesses have is mostly designed for Windows.
The last I heard Dell will still sell a computer to anybody with Windows XP installed. You have to search a little but it is my understanding that they still install Windows XP on some computers. Or if somebody has very limited needs for a computer buy a used one.
I mentioned above that Windows computers are relatively cheap compared to Apple Computers. You can run various versions of Linux on computers that are not that powerful at all.
Hope I answered your questions.
Look at digital cameras. Years ago you could pay $3000.00 for a 3 MP camera. Today you can buy digital cameras with 10 MP for $650.00.
Computer hardware becomes cheaper to buy rather than more expensive.
Software becomes more demanding of more RAM and larger hard drives and faster processors all the time. It is not just Microsoft software. Apple software and software made by other companies also gets more demanding all the time of RAM, hard drive space, and processor speed. This was bound to happen as we demanded more and more of that software. It would be nice if software could be designed to be as efficient as possible and use as little computer resources as possible. No matter how carefully we design the software we need more RAM, bigger hard drives, and more powerful processors.
Microsoft developed an operating system (Vista) that was to a large extent developed for greater security. People had DEMANDED better security from Microsoft software. I think Microsoft should have tried to make the new Vista as efficient with system resources as possible. But it is unreasonable to expect that Vista would require the same amount of system resources as Windows XP.
I don't think there is any possibility that we are going to go backwards and develop less powerful computers rather than more powerful ones. The computers actually get cheaper even as they get more powerful. I paid more money in 1995 for that first computer I bought than I did about a year ago when I bought a Windows Vista computer.
Businesses are conservative and careful and they will not upgrade to Vista until they have tested Vista and make sure all of their applications will work. But probably in a couple of years you will see increasing numbers of businesses using Vista. What choice do they have? They can use Linux computers for their servers but the desktops just about have to be Windows computers. There are major issues with hardware and software compatibility for Linux desktops. The only other choice is Apple. I don't know what is going to happen with Apple. Apple may continue to be 8% of the market in the USA or Apple may be 15% of the market in a few years. Who knows? The software the businesses have is mostly designed for Windows.
The last I heard Dell will still sell a computer to anybody with Windows XP installed. You have to search a little but it is my understanding that they still install Windows XP on some computers. Or if somebody has very limited needs for a computer buy a used one.
I mentioned above that Windows computers are relatively cheap compared to Apple Computers. You can run various versions of Linux on computers that are not that powerful at all.
Hope I answered your questions.
I will say this. I don't think Microsoft needed to put the fancy graphics into Vista. They could have improved on the appearance of XP and put the nice security improvements in and added functionality like the built in ability to burn DVDs and not just CDs and all of that. And maybe without the fancy graphics Vista would have run on less powerful computers. I don't know. I think they wanted Vista to look like Mac OS X or something.
But like I said above computers get more powerful all the time for the same cost or less compared to the older computers. In the end it will not matter that Vista requires a more powerful computer. Computers are headed that way anyway.
But like I said above computers get more powerful all the time for the same cost or less compared to the older computers. In the end it will not matter that Vista requires a more powerful computer. Computers are headed that way anyway.
To be fair to Vista, the needs of the Home Basic version are not that excessive. That's what I'm using now, I upgraded from WinME about a month ago.
My CPU is a two-year-old AMD 2.4 GHz and things run about as fast as they did in ME. If you just use email and web surfing, 1 gig RAM is plenty. No Aero, so you can cut out the fancy video card. If that's good enough for you, I think you could spend no more than $500 and still have a decent basic Vista machine.
My CPU is a two-year-old AMD 2.4 GHz and things run about as fast as they did in ME. If you just use email and web surfing, 1 gig RAM is plenty. No Aero, so you can cut out the fancy video card. If that's good enough for you, I think you could spend no more than $500 and still have a decent basic Vista machine.
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