As you say, people who use cracked versions of windows usually know what they are doing. As such, they (should be) using good antivirus and firewalls. The real problem is Joe Shmoe AOL user who just discovered the intarweb on his new comptar and has no idea what a virus really is, let alone a botnet, but wants to go surf the web despite their being depressingly unprotected.
I wrote in another article in another website: It is everyone's responsibility to use the internet correctly just like handling a gun. It can be a potent tool, hobby, and yes even a weapon, but use it without proper knowledge and your going to shoot yourself or worse, someone else, by accident. A point was brought up that someone didnt want to have to bother with getting better firewalls and antivirus, they arent "computer people". This is the type of attitude that lets the hackers' botnets bulge with fresh zombies.
I was in charge of the lan party at our high school. It was a blast. We played the trial version of halo, so we did not have to worry about copyright issues or people not having the game. We simply installed the trial on all the computers in the computer lab (They are relatively new: Horrid graphics, but it works.). We only had one port left on the hub, so I was the only one allowed to bring my computer up so it could act as the server. It was amazing. We bought some food, but a lot of food was donated. We even had enough left over for a $25 gift certificate to GameStop while still getting some nice profit. Just for reference, we charged $5 for entrance, and 30 people entered. -25 for the gift certificate and -25 for food left $100. We also had some donations, bringing it closer to $150.
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As you say, people who use cracked versions of windows usually know what they are doing. As such, they (should be) using good antivirus and firewalls. The real problem is Joe Shmoe AOL user who just discovered the intarweb on his new comptar and has no idea what a virus really is, let alone a botnet, but wants to go surf the web despite their being depressingly unprotected. I wrote in another article in another website: It is everyone's responsibility to use the internet correctly just like handling a gun. It can be a potent tool, hobby, and yes even a weapon, but use it without proper knowledge and your going to shoot yourself or worse, someone else, by accident. A point was brought up that someone didnt want to have to bother with getting better firewalls and antivirus, they arent "computer people". This is the type of attitude that lets the hackers' botnets bulge with fresh zombies.
I was in charge of the lan party at our high school. It was a blast. We played the trial version of halo, so we did not have to worry about copyright issues or people not having the game. We simply installed the trial on all the computers in the computer lab (They are relatively new: Horrid graphics, but it works.). We only had one port left on the hub, so I was the only one allowed to bring my computer up so it could act as the server. It was amazing. We bought some food, but a lot of food was donated. We even had enough left over for a $25 gift certificate to GameStop while still getting some nice profit. Just for reference, we charged $5 for entrance, and 30 people entered. -25 for the gift certificate and -25 for food left $100. We also had some donations, bringing it closer to $150.