I've got that CPU. I've got supposedly 'similar' intel chips. P4 2.0-2.6 ghz. AMD 2200+, 2000+, 3000+, and a AMD64 3400+.
At any equivalent marking, the AMD is ALWAYS competive.
And in many applications, the AMD wipes the table with Intel.
Not too mention, the price is signifcantly better.
More than likely, if you aren't trolling, there is some other bottleneck in your laptop. Are you sure its a Athlon 2200+, and not a Semperon, or Duron?
Are you sure that your chipset is of reasonable quality?
The only complaint I have with the AMD side of the garden is that you can find some really crappy chipsets out there. Not AMD's fault, but it seems to be slightly more prevalent for AMD.
AMD leads in technology. And they have for some time.
Intel maintains market dominance, high-level industry connections, a huge advertising behemoth, and a vast amount of resources.
There is no possibl scenario for AMD to 'remove' Intel from the market. No company of that size can be defeated quickly, unless from within (corruption).
Intel isn't going anywhere, they've got the resources to play for a long time. AMD isn't going anywhere, they've got the brain power to stay ahead, and they've proven over the last few years that they ready to push the envelope as many times as needed. They are no longer a 'one-hit-wonder'.
Competition is good, folks. Both companies work harder because of the current situation, and its a good thing that they hate each other.
We've got NeoOffice/J, now. This is an interesting port of OpenOffice.org, in that its got a whole bunch of java internals.
See where I'm going with this? Yes, there would be a lot of barriers. And a lot of work.
But I believe that the Office suite delivered by DHTML/Java/other net stuff is on the horizon.
And although they probably won't be there first (when was the last time you saw the lead horse win the race?) Google has got the technological know how to get there.
It's a frightening picture for Microsoft, I'm sure. If Google created such a product (which I doubt they will), and did as good as a job as they have with their lastest offerings (Gmail, google maps, desktop search) (Yes, I know an Office suite would be much bigger), Migration from MS would be easy.
In SuSE, you can install the nvidia binary driver by only point and clicking.
You have to click a check box. You have to accept the recommended configuration. You have to save the configuration.
Then you log out of your current session. SuSE restarts the X server whenever you log out/in.
No reboot required, its very fast and painless, 100% gui. It is clear to even complete neophytes that the system has not rebooted, because the log out/in only takes a few seconds.
Note: You do NOT need to go to runlevel 3. Use the YaST2 control panel Display Configuration, not the command line SaX2 utility. Not that you can't use the command line, I'm just saying it is extremely easy to only use the CLI route.
Easier than windows, and only a 5-10 second setup.
IBM claims the following: 1. SCO is not the successor in interest of AT&T. 2. IBM did not contribute copyrighted AT&T code to Linux. 3. IBM did not contribute AT&T 'derived' code to Linux, whatever derived means. 4. Had IBM contributed derived code to linux, it would be legal. 5. Had IBM contributed AT&T's code to Linux, it would be legal.
So far, SCO has not succesfully beaten any of those claims. In fact, SCO has had a great deal of difficulty producing any evidence whatsoever regarding these claims. IBM only had to win one of those claims in order to get the case dismissed.
Actually, if a Linux company patented this idea, it would be an embedded device, with not much ram, a framebuffer interface, with no services running.
The biggest strength of Linux is in the embedded market. Embedded Linux systems are REALLY good at this type of application.
No, I do not wanted the MS automated Emergency Sys
on
Microsoft's 911 Patent
·
· Score: 2, Informative
No, Thank You.
Please do not install this is my schools, in public places, or government offices.
Please do not install this in my place of work. Please do not install this in my residence, or any of my relatives/friends residences.
If there is someone out there dumb enough to use a Microsoft designed system for their emergency response, go ahead. The day my town starts pushing the Microsoft Emergency Response system is the day I move for the hills.
Statistics be damned. Test results be damned. I don't care if they prove that this system is perfect. I do NOT trust them enough to run my emergency services (or even be involved at all), and YES, it is purely a corporate trust issue.
There is good reason Microsoft is not involved in the design of mission critical life support medical systems.
Similarly, we saw how the Microsoft "next generation" naval warship (in conjunction with the U.S. navy) worked out (if you don't know, go check google).
There is good reason Microsoft should NOT be involved in the design of mission critical emergency systems.
Re:Better performance depends on your metric
on
Dell Still Intel Only
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Athlons are rock solid.
Opterons are rock solid.
Both are GREAT chips.
Via makes some GREAT motherboard chipsets.
Via makes some mediocre motherboard chipsets.
SiS makes some pretty good motherboard chipsets.
SiS makes some crap motherboard chipsets.
Not-well-known manufactures take some of the crappier parts, and put them on even crappier boards. Then you get instability.
With an Intel Chip, and an Intel Board, you know everything is going to work.
With an AMD Chip, you have to select a motherboard. You've got to do a little bit of research to make sure you aren't buying crap.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge AMD fan. I've got ~7 systems in my home, and several at work, and they are ALL AMD systems. But I've been burned in the past by poor quality motherboards, so I know that they do exist.
B) Tiger, I believe, is native 64-bit. I dunno about on Mac OS X, but my Athlon64 number crunches significantly faster (10-15%) in 64-bit mode with 64-bit apps.
I understand this may have something to do with more register space, but I suspect that Tiger may experience the same sort of performance increase on a G5, especially if I can find 'Tiger-enhanced' whatever that means (64-bit) versions of my apps.
Also, C) I'm a compulsive upgrader, and I'd feel stupid buying the upgrade two weeks from now:)
Not just the performance bump, I'm guessing they're also shipping them with Tiger:(
Seems pretty crappy to go and buy a new powermac, and then have new models on the shelves in TWO WEEKS, with a ~$125 os update, and a bit of extra speed, and a bit of extra ram, and a bit faster graphics card.....
If I buy a powermac now, will I be able to return it , and purchase one of the newer models in two weeks?
This news is making me hurt! I've been considering purchasing one, as I've got a big project coming up, and my PowerBook is just not quick enough for my liking (Bryce). Literally TEN MINUTES AGO I made the decision to purchase it (planning to go to the apple store after work).
Then I check slashdot. Great. Just frigging great.
I'm telling you, the problem is definetly Ubuntu and Gentoo.
Gentoo is a neato toy.
I feel like I've had a lot of computing experience, and I have a lot of linux experience (maintain ~12 SuSE installs, a mandrake install, and 2 slackware installs).
I never, ever got Gentoo to work properly. I know Gentoo is 'sweet', but I just couldn't bend my head around it.
Fedora/Ubuntu are both kind of 'flashy', too, but things always seem broken. Even when run by capable people.
I've got a friend at IBM, one of their linux driver engineers, and he runs Fedora on his laptop. His laptop just doesn't feel like a modern system. Too much poking around in randomly placed text files, too many broken gui functions, too much missing functionality.
The SuSE text config files are well laid out, and if you are a normal human being, you probably won't have to muck around with them.
Plus, SuSE installs a bunch of 'non-free' stuff that you probably really need, like Java, and Flash, as part of the default distribution.
Go to http://packman.links2linux.org/, and you can pickup the few packages SuSE cannot include, like libcss, for DVD decoding (dvd playback).
Incidentally, DVD playback is not out of box working in Windows, and you CAN buy commercial dvd playing software (and a real license) from various companies out there.
Trust me, I feel the same way as you. Dump windows at any cost. I'd get frustrated, dump windows on my desktop, install fedora, get frustrated, and go back to windows.
I found SuSE 8.2 several years ago, and I've never looked back. Life is good.
It really, really, just *works*, in a way that Fedora/Ubuntu(sp?)/Mandrake/Debian/Gentoo/Sorceror don't.
Not saying that SuSE if for everyone. Some people like the other distros. But SuSE is *perfect* for me, and it sounds like it will be the best option for you.
Link to a SuSE mirror, for 9.2: http://channels.lockergnome.com/linux/archiv es/200 50110_suse_linux_professional_92_free_download.pht ml
I'm not sure the free edition comes with Java and Flash.
Keep in mind the box set comes with really good, really comprehensive manuals. Very useful for parents, sisters, brothers, daughters, sons, uncles, cousins, dogs, etc. I think its well worth the ~70, but you may want to hold off buying till 9.3, which comes out in a week or so.
But I can send you an ISO that will just work, or I can walk you through a (maybe 2 hour) setup process that will get EVERYTHING working, including synchronized audio/video (i regularly watch dvds, xvids/dvixs, AVIs, Quciktimes, WMVs, you name it).
Occasionally, you'll run into a roadbump with SuSE. The only thing that comes to mind with 9.2 is that there will be a permissions problem burning to a USB-DVD writer if you connect the dvd writer after bootup.
Easily fixed, though (setuid cdrdao), or just use an IDE or SCSI writer, or just leave it plugged in all the time.
gimme an e-mail, if you like, moornblade (guess) gmail (guess) com
SuSE isn't anywhere near as flakey as EVERY other distro I've tried.
I use it as my main system. I watch movies, I edit short recordings from my miniDV camcorder.
I play Half-Life 2, World of Warcraft, etc. ..
All the standard OpenOffice Office work type nonsense.
KDE apps for standard organizer features.
P.S. The BIGGEST issue you will experience is with graphics drivers. Yes, FOSS is nice, but get an Nvidia card. You'll thank me for the advice. Their drivers are sweet, and well integrated with SuSE (i.e. automagic recompiles/reinstall on bootup after kernel security updates, in about 5 seconds).
My system, if you don't mind me saying, is really slick. I'm running Kompmgr, for lots of eye candy (standard SuSE 9.2 KDE 3.4 rpms. Avaliable from a SuSE RPM repository, they automatically install.). I've got support for every media format under the sun, and can play nearly anything except for a couple.asf files.
These I play under codeweaver's crossover office.
I'm running Linuxant's driver loader for my ACX100 wireless card. That's a TI wireless chipset, in my US Robotics 802.11G Turbo adapter. 125Mbps.
Simple install, all automatic, no cost, because TI has license driverloader for ALL of their chipests. Even better, the drivers automatically reinstall whenever I do a kernel update.
I'm running SuSE's nvidia drivers, avaliable from SuSE YaST Online Update (built in update tool). Point and click install, automatic reinstall whenever I do a kernel update.
Everything works, all the time. No crashes, no virus-scanning, no nothing.
All my windows games, most of my windows apps, all my windows file formats.
I've dumped XP, and I'll never look back. Gimme an e-mail if you want some help. I can get you up and running, on your own, in a few days, or I'll put up an ISO for you to download.:) moornblade (guess) gmail (guess) com
Ya know, many of the geeks I know are getting significantly cooler:)
Dunno when it happened, but for a significant portion of the geek world, geek and metrosexual have collided.
Of course, most of the metrosexual geeks have to keep 'games', 'networking' (the 100BaseTX kind), and the 'OS jihad', out of conversation, but I find that is best handled by being ambivalent/playing stupid when it is brought up by fellow geeks.
Not that I won't talk about it. I just won't talk about it in front of the three bored looking women I'm trying to charm:)
Spyware & other garbage can make your system blue screen.
Was working on my cousins system a few hours ago. She's young and not very knowledgable.
Bluescreens on an hourly basis. Stock sony system, fairly recent (no more than a year old) No user upgrades. No 'warez' or anything like that. Latest Nvidia drivers (non-beta), latest everything else drivers from either Windows Update, or original sony drivers, updated via built-in sony utility.
Hard-disk format and windows restore resolved the problem.
I'm unwilling to sit there and run diagnostics for hours to determine the cause of a problem thats solvable via burning all documents to a cd and restoring via original recovery disks.
Should it be possible for spyware and garbage to cause it?
No.
Does it happen?
Yes.
Do I try to educate on how to avoid/remove spyware?
Yes.
I'm not sure what else to do. This doesn't happen when I convert people to Mac or Linux.
Slashdot Mirror
You're trolling.
I've got that CPU. I've got supposedly 'similar' intel chips. P4 2.0-2.6 ghz. AMD 2200+, 2000+, 3000+, and a AMD64 3400+.
At any equivalent marking, the AMD is ALWAYS competive.
And in many applications, the AMD wipes the table with Intel.
Not too mention, the price is signifcantly better.
More than likely, if you aren't trolling, there is some other bottleneck in your laptop. Are you sure its a Athlon 2200+, and not a Semperon, or Duron?
Are you sure that your chipset is of reasonable quality?
The only complaint I have with the AMD side of the garden is that you can find some really crappy chipsets out there. Not AMD's fault, but it seems to be slightly more prevalent for AMD.
AMD leads in technology. And they have for some time.
Intel maintains market dominance, high-level industry connections, a huge advertising behemoth, and a vast amount of resources.
There is no possibl scenario for AMD to 'remove' Intel from the market. No company of that size can be defeated quickly, unless from within (corruption).
Intel isn't going anywhere, they've got the resources to play for a long time.
AMD isn't going anywhere, they've got the brain power to stay ahead, and they've proven over the last few years that they ready to push the envelope as many times as needed. They are no longer a 'one-hit-wonder'.
Competition is good, folks. Both companies work harder because of the current situation, and its a good thing that they hate each other.
I'm not sure if this makes any sense, but:
We've got NeoOffice/J, now. This is an interesting port of OpenOffice.org, in that its got a whole bunch of java internals.
See where I'm going with this? Yes, there would be a lot of barriers. And a lot of work.
But I believe that the Office suite delivered by DHTML/Java/other net stuff is on the horizon.
And although they probably won't be there first (when was the last time you saw the lead horse win the race?) Google has got the technological know how to get there.
It's a frightening picture for Microsoft, I'm sure. If Google created such a product (which I doubt they will), and did as good as a job as they have with their lastest offerings (Gmail, google maps, desktop search) (Yes, I know an Office suite would be much bigger), Migration from MS would be easy.
If you're running:
SuSE, FC, Gentoo, or Yoper,
You don't need to do this. You simply click the check box next to 'nvidia 3d binary driver' on your next system update.
In SuSE, installing the nvidia driver is a 5 click, pure GUI operation.
In SuSE, you can install the nvidia binary driver by only point and clicking.
You have to click a check box. You have to accept the recommended configuration. You have to save the configuration.
Then you log out of your current session. SuSE restarts the X server whenever you log out/in.
No reboot required, its very fast and painless, 100% gui. It is clear to even complete neophytes that the system has not rebooted, because the log out/in only takes a few seconds.
Note: You do NOT need to go to runlevel 3. Use the YaST2 control panel Display Configuration, not the command line SaX2 utility. Not that you can't use the command line, I'm just saying it is extremely easy to only use the CLI route.
Easier than windows, and only a 5-10 second setup.
Ubunutu is the hardway.
SuSE:
Run Yast Online Update. Click on the check box next to 'nvidia binary driver'.
Run 'Display Configuration' from yast. Accept recommended configuration. Press Save.
Log out. Log in. Done.
The article gives SCO too much credit.
IBM claims the following:
1. SCO is not the successor in interest of AT&T.
2. IBM did not contribute copyrighted AT&T code to Linux.
3. IBM did not contribute AT&T 'derived' code to Linux, whatever derived means.
4. Had IBM contributed derived code to linux, it would be legal.
5. Had IBM contributed AT&T's code to Linux, it would be legal.
So far, SCO has not succesfully beaten any of those claims. In fact, SCO has had a great deal of difficulty producing any evidence whatsoever regarding these claims. IBM only had to win one of those claims in order to get the case dismissed.
Actually, if a Linux company patented this idea, it would be an embedded device, with not much ram, a framebuffer interface, with no services running.
The biggest strength of Linux is in the embedded market. Embedded Linux systems are REALLY good at this type of application.
No, Thank You.
Please do not install this is my schools, in public places, or government offices.
Please do not install this in my place of work. Please do not install this in my residence, or any of my relatives/friends residences.
If there is someone out there dumb enough to use a Microsoft designed system for their emergency response, go ahead. The day my town starts pushing the Microsoft Emergency Response system is the day I move for the hills.
Statistics be damned. Test results be damned. I don't care if they prove that this system is perfect. I do NOT trust them enough to run my emergency services (or even be involved at all), and YES, it is purely a corporate trust issue.
There is good reason Microsoft is not involved in the design of mission critical life support medical systems.
Similarly, we saw how the Microsoft "next generation" naval warship (in conjunction with the U.S. navy) worked out (if you don't know, go check google).
There is good reason Microsoft should NOT be involved in the design of mission critical emergency systems.
Athlons are rock solid.
Opterons are rock solid.
Both are GREAT chips.
Via makes some GREAT motherboard chipsets.
Via makes some mediocre motherboard chipsets.
SiS makes some pretty good motherboard chipsets.
SiS makes some crap motherboard chipsets.
Not-well-known manufactures take some of the crappier parts, and put them on even crappier boards. Then you get instability.
With an Intel Chip, and an Intel Board, you know everything is going to work.
With an AMD Chip, you have to select a motherboard. You've got to do a little bit of research to make sure you aren't buying crap.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge AMD fan. I've got ~7 systems in my home, and several at work, and they are ALL AMD systems. But I've been burned in the past by poor quality motherboards, so I know that they do exist.
Lol......
The initial batch of viruses in the 'dual-core' era will only run on the first core, freeing up the second one.
(True, they probably won't be SMP aware)
1 minute for ~900 frames?
.DXFs from Cad?
:)
:)
Of a complex scene? With lots of imported
I'm skeptical
Plus, I like working on the mac. I've got several Athlons, and an Athlon64 in the house, and I still like working on my mac
Two big possibilities in Tiger:
:)
A) Spotlight sounds good, to me.
B) Tiger, I believe, is native 64-bit. I dunno about on Mac OS X, but my Athlon64 number crunches significantly faster (10-15%) in 64-bit mode with 64-bit apps.
I understand this may have something to do with more register space, but I suspect that Tiger may experience the same sort of performance increase on a G5, especially if I can find 'Tiger-enhanced' whatever that means (64-bit) versions of my apps.
Also,
C) I'm a compulsive upgrader, and I'd feel stupid buying the upgrade two weeks from now
Hmm....
:)
Think they'll give me a free/cheap (~$10.00) Tiger update, too?
Yes, I know, I'm being a cheap bastard, if I'm considering buying a ~2.5k$ machine, but its the principle of the thing.
Sorry for the second reply. Gonna ask Apple if I can get a free Tiger update if I buy now.
:)
If not, then I'm not buying. If so, then I'll buy, and the extra 90 gigs can go to heck
Not just the performance bump, I'm guessing they're also shipping them with Tiger :(
:(
Seems pretty crappy to go and buy a new powermac, and then have new models on the shelves in TWO WEEKS, with a ~$125 os update, and a bit of extra speed, and a bit of extra ram, and a bit faster graphics card.....
Painful....
Honestly, I've got a 30 second scene thats rendering right now.
*chug*
*chug*
*chug*
Probably over two hours to go.
That would be 15-20 minutes with a nice tower.
If I buy a powermac now, will I be able to return it , and purchase one of the newer models in two weeks?
This news is making me hurt! I've been considering purchasing one, as I've got a big project coming up, and my PowerBook is just not quick enough for my liking (Bryce). Literally TEN MINUTES AGO I made the decision to purchase it (planning to go to the apple store after work).
Then I check slashdot. Great. Just frigging great.
And the project is due in a week and a half.
What to do, what to do.... Argh...
I'm telling you, the problem is definetly Ubuntu and Gentoo.
r don't.
v es/200 50110_suse_linux_professional_92_free_download.pht ml
Gentoo is a neato toy.
I feel like I've had a lot of computing experience, and I have a lot of linux experience (maintain ~12 SuSE installs, a mandrake install, and 2 slackware installs).
I never, ever got Gentoo to work properly. I know Gentoo is 'sweet', but I just couldn't bend my head around it.
Fedora/Ubuntu are both kind of 'flashy', too, but things always seem broken. Even when run by capable people.
I've got a friend at IBM, one of their linux driver engineers, and he runs Fedora on his laptop. His laptop just doesn't feel like a modern system. Too much poking around in randomly placed text files, too many broken gui functions, too much missing functionality.
The SuSE text config files are well laid out, and if you are a normal human being, you probably won't have to muck around with them.
Plus, SuSE installs a bunch of 'non-free' stuff that you probably really need, like Java, and Flash, as part of the default distribution.
Go to http://packman.links2linux.org/, and you can pickup the few packages SuSE cannot include, like libcss, for DVD decoding (dvd playback).
Incidentally, DVD playback is not out of box working in Windows, and you CAN buy commercial dvd playing software (and a real license) from various companies out there.
Trust me, I feel the same way as you. Dump windows at any cost. I'd get frustrated, dump windows on my desktop, install fedora, get frustrated, and go back to windows.
I found SuSE 8.2 several years ago, and I've never looked back. Life is good.
It really, really, just *works*, in a way that Fedora/Ubuntu(sp?)/Mandrake/Debian/Gentoo/Sorcero
Not saying that SuSE if for everyone. Some people like the other distros. But SuSE is *perfect* for me, and it sounds like it will be the best option for you.
Link to a SuSE mirror, for 9.2:
http://channels.lockergnome.com/linux/archi
I'm not sure the free edition comes with Java and Flash.
Keep in mind the box set comes with really good, really comprehensive manuals. Very useful for parents, sisters, brothers, daughters, sons, uncles, cousins, dogs, etc. I think its well worth the ~70, but you may want to hold off buying till 9.3, which comes out in a week or so.
Sorry to reply to myself,
But if you grab either an x86 system, or an AMD64 system, you won't need to have special hardware (except for the recommended Nvidia graphics card).
SuSE compiles everything including the kitchen sync as modules, so it should work on just about anything that has enough ram.
I suggest 256 mb if you want eye candy.
noatun is a pretty nice KDE front-end to Xine, IIRC.
Works great in SuSE.
SuSE = complete OS.
Gentoo = 99% complete OS for gear heads that like to customize.
Ubuntu = 98% complete OS thats just not finished yet. Hopefully, soon.
Mind using SuSE?
.
.asf files.
:) moornblade (guess) gmail (guess) com
Stop fiddling. Dump Gentoo/Ubuntu.
Yes, SuSE is not 100% guaranteed all free.
But I can send you an ISO that will just work, or I can walk you through a (maybe 2 hour) setup process that will get EVERYTHING working, including synchronized audio/video (i regularly watch dvds, xvids/dvixs, AVIs, Quciktimes, WMVs, you name it).
Occasionally, you'll run into a roadbump with SuSE. The only thing that comes to mind with 9.2 is that there will be a permissions problem burning to a USB-DVD writer if you connect the dvd writer after bootup.
Easily fixed, though (setuid cdrdao), or just use an IDE or SCSI writer, or just leave it plugged in all the time.
gimme an e-mail, if you like, moornblade (guess) gmail (guess) com
SuSE isn't anywhere near as flakey as EVERY other distro I've tried.
I use it as my main system. I watch movies, I edit short recordings from my miniDV camcorder.
I play Half-Life 2, World of Warcraft, etc. .
All the standard OpenOffice Office work type nonsense.
KDE apps for standard organizer features.
P.S. The BIGGEST issue you will experience is with graphics drivers. Yes, FOSS is nice, but get an Nvidia card. You'll thank me for the advice. Their drivers are sweet, and well integrated with SuSE (i.e. automagic recompiles/reinstall on bootup after kernel security updates, in about 5 seconds).
My system, if you don't mind me saying, is really slick. I'm running Kompmgr, for lots of eye candy (standard SuSE 9.2 KDE 3.4 rpms. Avaliable from a SuSE RPM repository, they automatically install.). I've got support for every media format under the sun, and can play nearly anything except for a couple
These I play under codeweaver's crossover office.
I'm running Linuxant's driver loader for my ACX100 wireless card. That's a TI wireless chipset, in my US Robotics 802.11G Turbo adapter. 125Mbps.
Simple install, all automatic, no cost, because TI has license driverloader for ALL of their chipests. Even better, the drivers automatically reinstall whenever I do a kernel update.
I'm running SuSE's nvidia drivers, avaliable from SuSE YaST Online Update (built in update tool). Point and click install, automatic reinstall whenever I do a kernel update.
Everything works, all the time. No crashes, no virus-scanning, no nothing.
All my windows games, most of my windows apps, all my windows file formats.
I've dumped XP, and I'll never look back. Gimme an e-mail if you want some help. I can get you up and running, on your own, in a few days, or I'll put up an ISO for you to download.
Ya know, many of the geeks I know are getting significantly cooler :)
:)
Dunno when it happened, but for a significant portion of the geek world, geek and metrosexual have collided.
Of course, most of the metrosexual geeks have to keep 'games', 'networking' (the 100BaseTX kind), and the 'OS jihad', out of conversation, but I find that is best handled by being ambivalent/playing stupid when it is brought up by fellow geeks.
Not that I won't talk about it. I just won't talk about it in front of the three bored looking women I'm trying to charm
blocking incoming XXXXX (insert services here) is a good thing as it they are a security risk.
Tradeoff, securityusability.
Spyware & other garbage can make your system blue screen.
Was working on my cousins system a few hours ago. She's young and not very knowledgable.
Bluescreens on an hourly basis. Stock sony system, fairly recent (no more than a year old) No user upgrades. No 'warez' or anything like that. Latest Nvidia drivers (non-beta), latest everything else drivers from either Windows Update, or original sony drivers, updated via built-in sony utility.
Hard-disk format and windows restore resolved the problem.
I'm unwilling to sit there and run diagnostics for hours to determine the cause of a problem thats solvable via burning all documents to a cd and restoring via original recovery disks.
Should it be possible for spyware and garbage to cause it?
No.
Does it happen?
Yes.
Do I try to educate on how to avoid/remove spyware?
Yes.
I'm not sure what else to do. This doesn't happen when I convert people to Mac or Linux.