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Got Spyware? Throw out the Computer!
geeber writes "The New York Times (reg. required) has an article about a new response to spyware - throw out the computer and buy a new one. The notion is new computers can be had for $400 so it's a cost effective and 'rational response.'" From the article: "While no figures are available on the ranks of those jettisoning their PC's, the scourge of unwanted software is widely felt. This month the Pew group published a study in which 43 percent of the 2,001 adult Internet users polled said they had been confronted with spyware or adware, collectively known as malware. Forty-eight percent said they had stopped visiting Web sites that might deposit unwanted programs on their PC's.
Moreover, 68 percent said they had had computer trouble in the last year consistent with the problems caused by spyware or adware, though 60 percent of those were unsure of the problems' origins. Twenty percent of those who tried to fix the problem said it had not been solved; among those who spent money seeking a remedy, the average outlay was $129."
Yeah... then your $400 new computer is going to get infected, are you going to throw it out and buy yet another? Average Joes don't want to run Linux, because their programs won't run on it (if they even know about Linux in the first place, chances are, they don't). Mac Minis don't count, because they're over $400. Hence, whoever wrote TFA could use an extra helping of logic.
Of course, when you throw out the PC, you then have to purchase a new copy of the operating system. In 99% of cases this is Windows. So you reduce the incentive for Microsoft to fix the spyware problem; in fact, you reward them for not fixing it! Quite brilliant! In fairness to Microsoft, Windows now does have a pretty good resistance to spyware, IF you run as user. The problem is that most people don't know what this means, how to do it, or anything of the sort. Education is the only solution. Note that I declined to make a "??? PROFIT!" joke in this post.
apterous.org
Lazy/stupid people driving the IT economy ...
And frankly, if you're spending $400 on a PC, the GPU is not going to be able to run many cutting-edge games anyway. So it's hard to see what a MacMini couldn't do for the average home user that a $400 POS Wintel box could...
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
...how many continued their stupid practices, so they were instantly reinfected? I've seen people reinstall the exact same crapware after a clean-up, because that was stuff they "wanted". With that kind of model, your new machine will be infected instantly.
Besides, hardware is only a tiny fraction of it. Transferring all data, installing all programs and configuring everything to the way you are used to, that is what takes time. Even with a pre-installed Windows, people want all their various gadgets (one driver CD each, which they can't find), e-mail, bookmarks etc.
The only upside of that is that your old computer can serve as your back-up until you transfer it to the new one. Helluva expensive way to buy back-up on, though.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
throw out the pc and buy a mac maybe but throw out the pc and buy annother cheap POS pc thats just stupidity. if you go out and buy a car and acid rain eats all the paint off and your car falls apart do you go and buy the exact same one? hell no you go buy an acid rain proof car.
Don't throw them out. Donate them to any of the number of PC refurbishment and training charities that you'll find. They can always use good gear.
This means more people buying Mac Minis, and more free year-old computers for the Linux community to develop, test, and play on. Bring on the competition for the two best alternatives to Microsoft's hegemony.
Built a new windows box for my mom a couple weeks back (no linux griping, she needs applications that run under windows), and after everything was fully set-up and configured, I used a popular disk imaging program to create my own "emergency restore partition" on the drive.
So if it really tanks after a year or two, it's just a matter of rebooting and pressing a few keys before windows begins to load in order to completely recover the system. Of course if the HD crashes, we're back to square-one, but otherwise I figure it was a smart move...
N.
"Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence." - Charles de Gaulle
People buy new PCs not necessarily because they have spyware or spam bots - many would not realise it. They just find their PC is slow so they think they need a new, faster one.
Even if they knew they had spyware, they would not have a clue how to remove it anyway. They might "rationalise" a new PC with arguments about the cost of their time, but that is just a comfort factor thrown in. Maybe they fancied a new PC and this is an excuse to the wife.
I once worked in a research lab. One day someone building electronics dropped a resistor on the floor. Four of us, professional engineers, then spent the next hour debating whether or not it was cost effective for one of us to spend 5 seconds picking it up. I argued that it would take just almost as long to reach for a new one from the rack. I don't remember if it was picked up in the end.
Such debates are sterile - in the end you argue yourself into never doing anything.
Most people can't do that on their own. I do this for my longtime customers as a service, and it usually costs about $125.00-$150.00 to rent me out for an afternoon and get a full reformat. Some local screwdriver shops do this for about $50.00, but you have to leave your PC with them, you're solely responsible for backing up what you want to keep, and most of your applications will be missing when you get it back.
However, I think that this article is indicative of an awful amount of waste that goes on in this country. Computers are some of the most environmentally harmful products to produce and/or dispose of, and here we've got someone advocating throwing a computer away and buying a new one just because they don't like what's loaded into it? It's not just our corporations that think with their wallets and damn the whole world, there are plenty of consumers who think that way too!
Jasin NataelTrue science means that when you re-evaluate the evidence, you re-evaluate your faith.
A better solution would be a web browser that didn't allow malicious websites to silently download this crap, but that's just me.
Does a Christian soccer team even need a goalkeeper?
Not only do new computers strain the environment, but old computers need to be disposed of. It costs a great deal more than $400 to make a new computer, make the old computer, and dispose of the old computer.
But what to you expect from the NY Times? Shortsighted and made up is their motto.