Microsoft Anti-Virus

[foad]

Quoting the News on the front page;

"There are also rumors about MS starting to sell their own virus scanner. They have bought a prominent maker of Linux virus scanners last year, but have yet to release anything. Why not put a Virus scanner with free lifetime upgrades into each version of Windows? Considering that the large majority of viruses target Windows and are spread by MS products (either their OS via security flaws, or their mail program), that would make sense, would it not?"

Maybe I'm missing the point, but MS having their own anti-virus in windows is like applying a bandaid to a gunshot wound.
Would it not be better to concentrate on making windows more secure in the first place.
It doesn't make sense for MS to buy an AV company just to release AV software, surely it would make more sense for the AV people to be part of the Quality Asurance team, and maybe even buy one of the security companies that find security holes?

What's your opinion?

[Doom9]

well.. MS has had a security initiative for 1.5 years now, but apparently it hasn't helped yet.. at least an AntiVirus would help some. Of course, people will still stupidly click on everything, but if you put enough manpower behind the A/V updates and enforce the updates (so people will get the latest fix before they go online.. you could even go as far as to stop all internet traffic before the latest a/v definitions have been downloaded), that would certainly help a lot and is less futile than trying to educate users (that would of course be the ultimate solution).

[Ryokurin]

I remember them bundleing antivirus in dos 6 under the name msav and it seriously blew so so dont expect miracles here. Anyways they have allready stated that it will be sold separately probably because of antitrust reasons. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=569&ncid=738&e=1&u=/nm/20040615/tc_nm/tech_microsoft_security_dc

anyways, this is a step in the right direction. they have allready gone out of their way to make sure that most of the AV companies have better hooks into the system for better performance and protection so they are trying to make a difference in the field for everyone at least.

[Mug Funky]

sold separately? that's a goddamn relief.

but it could be a matter of lipservice there - imagine when you install the next SP of windows, or install longhorn only to have a speech bubble pop up from the bottom right and say "windows has detected that your computer may not be secure. click here to order Windows Fabulous(tm) Virus Removal Tool 2006(tm) to correct this problem"

we've already got a case in windows where normal features are removed (like "check your inbox" from MSN messenger"), and you're required to download an "add on" to allow a function that the code is quite obviously already there for.

i dispise windows XP - i've only been using it for 2 weeks or so, but it's really getting up my nose in a big way - i don't react well to being spammed by my operating system.

"smart software" should respect the intelligence of it's user, not insult them and annoy them by pre-empting their actions with a dialog box kindly informing them that a CD appears to have been inserted, and what did you think about that? save that bullcrap for the mac users, that's what i say.

*grumble* i'm going to linux as soon as avisynth 3.0 gets ported, and gStreamer/VLC/libavcodec are up to it (and maybe a GPL'd NLE program would be cool).

[gldblade]

should respect the intelligence of it's user Not all users are very computer literate though, what about them?

[Doom9]

you can easily stop messenger from being loaded on startup and make all the annoying popups disappear in WinXP.

[Mug Funky]

i know that, but my point is that i shouldn't have to.

and as far as users that don't know how to use? perhaps they could learn. people aren't stupid, no matter how much they might say they are (especially with computers). dumbing down the OS for everybody simply isn't a good solution.

it's like digging up all the classic books and replacing the "hard" words, or designing a car with a simple button that says "take me where i want to go" (and placing the actual controls under a giant opaque kevlar cover, to imply to everyone that you could do more with this machine, but the designers thought it would be too difficult for the average user)

my number 1 design pet-hate is having my intelligence insulted. "walkthroughs", "tours", and convoluted interfaces are no substitute for good, clear, usable design.

having speech bubbles pop up at the drop of a hat actually reduces people's ease with the computer. if you're not in control of the machine, you'll freak out (i've observed this, which is more than can be said of the designers of modern OS's).

ah well. i probably shouldn't rant this much until i have the coding grounding to mod linux to my liking and show the world what an OS should look like :):) (linux at my last encounter was the opposite of what i just said, but a simple instruction manual would have me using it proficiently within an hour if i wished)

i've drifted well and truly off topic now, so i'll shut up :)

[WaryWolf]

Originally posted by Mug Funky
*grumble* i'm going to linux as soon as avisynth 3.0 gets ported, and gStreamer/VLC/libavcodec are up to it (and maybe a GPL'd NLE program would be cool).

you may want to look into this software when you have the time mug.

http://heroines.sourceforge.net/index.php3

:-)

[Mug Funky]

:thanks:

MUAHUAHUAHUAAAAAA!

when i get home i'm installing linux! weeeeeee!

that'll give me something to do for a while methinks.

anyone recommend a linux style? (redhat, debian, etc, etc?)

[avih]

actually, u can try the dyne:bolic (http://www.dynebolic.org/) live cd (a-la knoppix). it has all the apps mentioned in the posted link. this distro is a bit on the 'dark side', but otherwise, quite cool.