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Here's a problem with ESET's Nod32 discussed on March 9, 2009: NOD32 was deleting very critical and required Windows files.

The fundamental problem is that Microsoft makes more money if there are security problems in Windows.

OpenBSD doesn't require anti-virus and anti-spyware programs partly because it was written to be secure. Apple's Mac OS X is based on BSD, and users rarely have problems with that operating system being insecure.

Amazingly, Microsoft is not only supplying insecure software, it is charging for programs to fix the insecurities!!! See Windows Live OneCare.

Microsoft charges Microsoft Windows users $50 for software to fix problems in Windows! Windows Live OneCare has "Antivirus and antispyware all in one". More: "Two-way firewall helps stop hackers in their tracks". Hmmm, Microsoft, if Windows needs a "Two-way firewall", and it certainly does, why do you supply a one-way firewall with Windows???

See Windows Live OneCare Gripes. Quote: "Create the problem, then charge people money to solve it." Another quote: "Why should Microsoft profit from the plague of viruses and Spyware? Shouldn't it have designed Windows better to begin with? And if it has indeed found a way to protect Windows, isn't it a tad exploitative to charge for it? Microsoft has no convincing answer for these questions . . ."

Another quote: "McAfee, Symantec and Microsoft (with Windows Live OneCare) all set your credit card up for automatic renewals when you purchase their security software on-line. ... the gripe is that you can't opt out of this during the purchase. OneCare is the most difficult of the three to opt out of. In fact, you can't. Instead you must must cancel your subscription altogether by calling 866-663-2273."

To me, it seems like this: Testing... Testing... How much abuse will computer users accept?

However, are they going to open source Lotus Notes? It seems not.

This leads me to ask when are they going to fix their crappy HTML renderer in their Notes mail client? It must have the most braindead, broken, bizarre HTML renderer in the business. Why, their are whole cottage industries around on how to work on it's crudulousness.

(found here)

So, maybe, maybe not, depending on model. But GP is being rather extreme comparing the horrible things the US is doing and the horrible things china is doing. We're not imprisoning dissidents and journalists yet, and the country we're occupying is at least still free to practice their religion, short of the call to drive the infidels out of the holy land. Contrast with tibet.

I'm not saying we're not bad, but we're no China

Okay. You're right. MS Word was released two years before WordPerfect for Windows.

"Wordperfect and Word operated *very* differently. Had you ever actually experienced Wordperfect outside of reading about it, you'd know that."

I'm sorry, Mr. Pissy-Pants. I guess those 10 years I thought I was using WordPerfect I was really using something else, huh?

Yeah, there were quite a few differences, but for the normal everyday stuff it was basically the same. To change the font you use the font selector thing, to change justification you use the justification buttons. . .

"Well, mine did. Twice, in fact, within the twelve month warranty. First time the headphone socket stopped working (it would still play, etc, but no sound). Second time it would only turn on if it was plugged into a computer via Firewire. That last replacement was 6 weeks ago and I'm hoping to get at least 6 months out of it before it dies again."

. . . How new is this iPod - is this one of the newer ones, or is it one of the older iPods? The older ones, I thought, were known to have battery problems, which would explain your power problem, and the headphone jack on any device will break fairly easily if it's in your pocket.

That said, I am surprised. I've got a mini, and it's been dropped, fallen off the car console. . . hacked with iPodLinux :) . . . and I've had no problems whatsoever, and I also know others who have iPods and have dropped them and stuff with no problems.

"Right. Because it's not like Linux hasn't gots tens of thousands of bugs. Particular when a "bug" in the context of that 60,000 number can be something like a spelling error."

Tens of thousands? Where'd you find that number? I've certainly never experienced any of these.

I didn't pull that 60,000 number out of my ass, you know. I read that from a website somewhere (although after some googling I see that 63,000 is the number of "issues" and according to MS only 28,000 are actual bugs). And, no, a "bug" wouldn't include a spelling error - that'd be a typo. If you're talking about in the code itself - the code generally doesn't even compile if you made a spelling mistake.

"AOL also uses their web filters to promote a political agenda. For example, children can visit the home page of the Republican National Committee, but not the Democratic National Committee." http://www.computergripes.com/Aol.html

AOL is a good example of this, but I have found censorship to be a big problem with a few other cheap internet providers.

In college, I think I was trying compuserve, but they blocked lots of sites. With them, I could not do political research for my sociology class at home. I would have had to go to the computer lab to do real research. That made me angry, so back then I decided not to switch and to keep my $24 a month Earthlink account :P I didn't like Earthlinks webmail system or their customer service or their price, but at least they gave me the same level of internet access as I got in the computer labs.

It makes me wonder about people looking for a good deal (poor people) and how this affects their political views.

FOX NEWS INTERNET Explosions, Warnings, and none of those boring educated LIBERALS!

Does Censorship = Profit? For who?

- Your friendly neighborhood systems analyst

You're asking, "Why don't more people use the HOSTS file for something it was never intended for"? HOSTS is an old, OLD file used in the win95 (and earlier as LMHOSTS) networking. It's a way to find devices on the network without NetBEUI or Active Directory or DNS. It's meant to hold 10 entries or so. Not thousands. It Severely slows down the millions of W2k boxes out there? (read near bottom) Why not use the free WebWasher to block ALL ads, not just the ones on your list? Why not use Firefox to prevent all the nasties from being installed?

Similar rendering bugs here too! (Firefox 0.92 Windows XP SP1)
http://www.computergripes.com/firefoxsites.html

I would actually hope is *is* like Outlook. Outlook has a great user interface minus the damn IMAP pausing bug.

You're right, of course. Credit where it's due: Microsoft knows how to make interfaces, some of them are great. (Arguably, interfaces are Microsoft's main business: interface design is where programming meets content.)

When I said those Bad Things about Outlook, I was thinking of Outlook viruses ... also, of course, the karma whoring -- backhanding a Microsoft product, easy way to get modded up Funny ....

...For E-mail and the Web? Let's have a look.

They've encouraged pollution of E-mail with HTML and rich text that's readable only on a client that can interpret the code. I mean, c'mon... If you can't get your message across using well-written sentences in plain ASCII text, then no amount of coloration, fancy fonts, or flashing widgets are going to help.

They've done a lot, both in the past and more recently, that bends or outright breaks W3C Consortium open standards. Granted, they've gotten a little better, but how many web sites still have interactive features that only work if you use IE? And how many have that stupid "Best viewed with Internet Explorer" blurb at the bottom? How are Flash animations and fancy graphics going to help a vision-impaired or outright blind user, who depends on text-to-speech software or simple high-contrast colors, find what they need on the web?

Outlook (known among myself and many of my friends as 'Lookout Distress') is still one of the best virus carriers on the planet. Only Microsoft would come up with an E-mail client insecure enough that it seems almost to have been designed expressly to aid virus and worm transmission.

And now UncaBill and Steve "Uncle Fester" Ballmer want to try and "Ballmerize" (my word -- like it?) Usenet? Sheesh... With their track records, they'll probably try (and, hopefully, fail miserably) to borg the whole thing into one big "Web Experience" that will be "Best Viewed with Internet Explorer" all over again.

As others have so accurately pointed out, Usenet is fine the way it is. Noisy, a bit tough to navigate, and definitely a place where you would want to have your Nomex undies handy to grab at a moment's notice, but perfectly usable to those of us who CARE ENOUGH ABOUT IT to LEARN how to use it right.

Speaking for myself, I think I can say, with confidence, that Balmy should leave Usenet to those who know it best: The admins around the world who carry it, and the thousands of users who make it a most interesting place indeed.