Linux and MacOS users are, let's face it, in the minority compared to Windows users. Granted Windows most likely does have moe security flaws than these other OSes, but the main concern here is that virus writers will target the OS that will cause the most damage (or that they have the most experience with) and that will almost always be Windows.
Even if all the known exploits in Windows were patched, all it would take it one more for another virus to do something like Blaster or Slammer. On the flipside though, something like that could just as easily happen to Linux if an exploit were found, it's just that no one bothers to write viruses that take advantage of it.
This may seem like a bad idea to most people, but I mean when you think about it, with how often patches are released from Redmond, it's almost necessary.
Obviously you would have to enable this feature yourself, and you would have to have access to a list of any major changes that had been made to your system via this automation.
Still, on the other hand, with the DDOS attack against windowsupdate.com and the possibility of it serving trojaned files, this could still be a problem. It all depends really.
The obvious solution is for Microsoft to make Windows more stable and less vulnerable... naturally we've had to come up with more viable options!
I've used Gentoo on and off for about a year now. It's IMHO one of the best distros available if you can spare the time waiting for software to compile:)
Anyone who says 'well sure it can do this but distro xxx does it better!' obviously never used Gentoo as if distro xxx does it better, then just change it yourself!
Someone mentioned how it's not for n00bs, however assuming you don't run into any problems, it's not really that hard to set up, and the forums are a great source of help for anyone who gets stuck.
Anyway, gotta go, my girlfriend is away for the week so she won't yell at me for hogging the compy to compile 1.4!:)
I'm actually doing a CS/Electronic Engineering double at the moment, but I'm actually thinking of switching into a pure CS degree, however the major is gaming technologies. Anyone had any experience with something like this?
I'm from Australia, and I don't know what the current situation regarding broadband in the US is, but over here we pay through the nose if we go over a predefined limit (3gb in our case). If they can just use my free cpu cycles whenever they like, this will more than likely add up in terms of bandwidth meaning more likely that there is more cost to me.
PS - More bandwidth they use = less MP3 downloads!
I don't know if anyone else has had the same problem, but xxx@msn.com email addresses seem to not be working on Hotmail. I doubt they're related, but has anyone else had the same problem, and is this likely to be the cause?
By the way, xxx@hotmail.com accounts work fine.
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Linux and MacOS users are, let's face it, in the minority compared to Windows users. Granted Windows most likely does have moe security flaws than these other OSes, but the main concern here is that virus writers will target the OS that will cause the most damage (or that they have the most experience with) and that will almost always be Windows.
Even if all the known exploits in Windows were patched, all it would take it one more for another virus to do something like Blaster or Slammer. On the flipside though, something like that could just as easily happen to Linux if an exploit were found, it's just that no one bothers to write viruses that take advantage of it.
This may seem like a bad idea to most people, but I mean when you think about it, with how often patches are released from Redmond, it's almost necessary.
Obviously you would have to enable this feature yourself, and you would have to have access to a list of any major changes that had been made to your system via this automation.
Still, on the other hand, with the DDOS attack against windowsupdate.com and the possibility of it serving trojaned files, this could still be a problem. It all depends really.
The obvious solution is for Microsoft to make Windows more stable and less vulnerable... naturally we've had to come up with more viable options!
I've used Gentoo on and off for about a year now. It's IMHO one of the best distros available if you can spare the time waiting for software to compile :)
Anyone who says 'well sure it can do this but distro xxx does it better!' obviously never used Gentoo as if distro xxx does it better, then just change it yourself!
Someone mentioned how it's not for n00bs, however assuming you don't run into any problems, it's not really that hard to set up, and the forums are a great source of help for anyone who gets stuck.
Anyway, gotta go, my girlfriend is away for the week so she won't yell at me for hogging the compy to compile 1.4! :)
I'm actually doing a CS/Electronic Engineering double at the moment, but I'm actually thinking of switching into a pure CS degree, however the major is gaming technologies. Anyone had any experience with something like this?
I'm from Australia, and I don't know what the current situation regarding broadband in the US is, but over here we pay through the nose if we go over a predefined limit (3gb in our case). If they can just use my free cpu cycles whenever they like, this will more than likely add up in terms of bandwidth meaning more likely that there is more cost to me. PS - More bandwidth they use = less MP3 downloads!
I don't know if anyone else has had the same problem, but xxx@msn.com email addresses seem to not be working on Hotmail. I doubt they're related, but has anyone else had the same problem, and is this likely to be the cause? By the way, xxx@hotmail.com accounts work fine.