Guest guest Posted August 21, 2004 Report Share Posted August 21, 2004 Till I got a PC I never knew what a hassle the internet could be with viruses and the like. One of the main concerns for security online and optimal speed and computer function are not viruses or worms, but what are called data miners and keystroker loggers. I won't bore you with the details. Like viruses, these spyware programs are mostly designed to infiltrate PCs, not macs. Some can record every keystroke you make on or off line. They slow things down horrendously, so if you have an older machine, you will be amazed at how much better things work after a cleansing. I long ago read about great freeware called ad-aware from http://www.lavasoft.de and it indeed does what it claims. My first use cleared 197 spyware files and the computer stopped crashing and functioned so much better. Weekly I would find another 20-30 files depending on how careless I had been surfing. Then I read that explorer has so many exploited holes, it was no longer safe to use. So I switched to mozilla firefox (an excellent browser, BTW) and got an unexpected fringe benefit. My spyware infiltration dropped to about 1-3 per week (greater than 90% decrease). Now as a colleague pointed out to me, explorer is probably no more vulnerable than Linux based computers; it is just widely exploited. Apparently hackers could easily sabotage Linux servers, its just more fun to screw with Microsoft. As for whether firefox is actually more secure or just a less visible target, I don't know. But it doesn't really matter. Mozilla will always be a small player no matter how many of the more savvy security oriented users switch. Its obscurity will keep it safe (kind of daoist, right?). And perhaps it actually is more secure. Mozilla is open source and many including myself find that desirable as well. Even though my preference remains the most closed source of all -- my mac. :-) Chinese Herbs FAX: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 21, 2004 Report Share Posted August 21, 2004 Dear also useful are 'Spybot search and destroy', and its companion, 'Spyware Blaster'. Free and top tech. Once you intall spybot, you'll see the link for spyware. http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/ < wrote: Till I got a PC I never knew what a hassle the internet could be with viruses and the like. One of the main concerns for security online and optimal speed and computer function are not viruses or worms, but what are called data miners and keystroker loggers. I won't bore you with the details. Like viruses, these spyware programs are mostly designed to infiltrate PCs, not macs. Some can record every keystroke you make on or off line. They slow things down horrendously, so if you have an older machine, you will be amazed at how much better things work after a cleansing. I long ago read about great freeware called ad-aware from http://www.lavasoft.de and it indeed does what it claims. My first use cleared 197 spyware files and the computer stopped crashing and functioned so much better. Weekly I would find another 20-30 files depending on how careless I had been surfing. Then I read that explorer has so many exploited holes, it was no longer safe to use. So I switched to mozilla firefox (an excellent browser, BTW) and got an unexpected fringe benefit. My spyware infiltration dropped to about 1-3 per week (greater than 90% decrease). Now as a colleague pointed out to me, explorer is probably no more vulnerable than Linux based computers; it is just widely exploited. Apparently hackers could easily sabotage Linux servers, its just more fun to screw with Microsoft. As for whether firefox is actually more secure or just a less visible target, I don't know. But it doesn't really matter. Mozilla will always be a small player no matter how many of the more savvy security oriented users switch. Its obscurity will keep it safe (kind of daoist, right?). And perhaps it actually is more secure. Mozilla is open source and many including myself find that desirable as well. Even though my preference remains the most closed source of all -- my mac. :-) Chinese Herbs FAX: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 22, 2004 Report Share Posted August 22, 2004 Many foreign and U.S. government agencies are switching to Linux because it really is more secure - open source software allows the network of Linux coders worldwide to contribute fixes to security holes that users detect, and security holes are fixed quickly. Many computer people have speculated that Microsoft rose to prominence because Gates made a deal to include " secret " backdoors into his software that government security agencies could exploit in spying on both foreign and domestic computers. Hackers figured out these same exploits, and gleefully publicize them by writing viruses and worms for them. My software associate, Curt Kruse, and I are discussing making our Chinese herbal software available for Linux platforms, as a large portion of our users are foreigners, and Linux seems to be catching on rapidly in foreign countries. Personally, I use a Mac, and do not allow *any* Microsoft products on my computer. ---Roger Wicke, PhD, TCM Clinical Herbalist contact: www.rmhiherbal.org/contact/ Rocky Mountain Herbal Institute, Hot Springs, Montana USA Clinical herbology training programs - www.rmhiherbal.org > Sat, 21 Aug 2004 12:06:30 -0700 > < >speed and security online .... >Now as a colleague pointed >out to me, explorer is probably no more vulnerable than Linux based >computers; it is just widely exploited. Apparently hackers could >easily sabotage Linux servers, its just more fun to screw with >Microsoft. As for whether firefox is actually more secure or just a >less visible target, I don't know. ---Roger Wicke, PhD, TCM Clinical Herbalist contact: www.rmhiherbal.org/contact/ Rocky Mountain Herbal Institute, Hot Springs, Montana USA Clinical herbology training programs - www.rmhiherbal.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 23, 2004 Report Share Posted August 23, 2004 Sun, 22 Aug 2004 10:16:53 -0600 rw2 Re: speed and security online Many foreign and U.S. government agencies are switching to Linux because it really is more secure - open source software allows the network of Linux coders worldwide to contribute fixes to security holes that users detect, and security holes are fixed quickly. Many computer people have speculated that Microsoft rose to prominence because Gates made a deal to include " secret " backdoors into his software that government security agencies could exploit in spying on both foreign and domestic computers. Hackers figured out these same exploits, and gleefully publicize them by writing viruses and worms for them. ---Roger Wicke, PhD, TCM Clinical Herbalist contact: www.rmhiherbal.org/contact/ Rocky Mountain Herbal Institute, Hot Springs, Montana USA Clinical herbology training programs - www.rmhiherbal.org >> The myth of Linux' security is patently false. There is only one reason why Linux may be safer: it is used on so few computers that black hat hackers don't target the platform. It is absolutely inconceivable that thousands of individual programmers, working individually, could be able to make a cohesive product. And the facts bear this up. The August 3 issue of PC Magazine's cover story on security referenced an independent study by Forrester Research comparing security holes in Windows with those in Linux (where was the Mac?) http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1618431,00.asp. The results were conclusive: Linux has more security holes than Windows and is slower to provide fixes for those that are known. I am not saying Windows is safe (it isn't), but to say Linux is safer is just not true. Greg ******************************************************** Dr. Greg Sperber, BMBS (MD), MTOM, MBA, L.Ac. Diplomate in Chinese Herbology (NCCAOM) Diplomate in Acupuncture (NCCAOM) Greg ******************************************************** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 25, 2004 Report Share Posted August 25, 2004 The article you quote below was not only biased in its reporting of Forrester's conclusions, but was not very informative, and quoted Forrester Research without explaining their criteria for security or how they assessed it: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1618431,00.asp The following articles do explain many of the issues involved. When considering overall security, the operating system, Internet browser, and email software all interact in ways that affect security, and the following article explains why Windows, Internet Explorer, and Outlook Express are a particularly insecure combination: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/10/06/linux_vs_windows_viruses/ Linux vs. Windows Viruses By Scott Granneman Oct 02 2003 The following article explains the Forrester conclusions in more detail, and explains why Forrester did NOT declare Windows the clear winner: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1557749,00.asp Linux vs. Windows: Which Is More Secure? By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols March 30, 2004 Also: http://os.newsforge.com/os/04/05/18/1715247.shtml?tid=11 & tid=2 & tid=82 & tid=94 Linux and Windows security compared ---Roger Wicke, PhD, TCM Clinical Herbalist contact: www.rmhiherbal.org/contact/ Rocky Mountain Herbal Institute, Hot Springs, Montana USA Clinical herbology training programs - www.rmhiherbal.org > Mon, 23 Aug 2004 08:52:19 -0700 > " Dr. Greg Sperber, BMBS, MTOM, LAc " <greg >Re: speed and security online > > The myth of Linux' security is patently false. There is only one reason >why Linux may be safer: it is used on so few computers that black hat >hackers don't target the platform. It is absolutely inconceivable that >thousands of individual programmers, working individually, could be able to >make a cohesive product. And the facts bear this up. The August 3 issue of >PC Magazine's cover story on security referenced an independent study by >Forrester Research comparing security holes in Windows with those in Linux >(where was the Mac?) http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1618431,00.asp. >The results were conclusive: Linux has more security holes than Windows and >is slower to provide fixes for those that are known. I am not saying Windows >is safe (it isn't), but to say Linux is safer is just not true. > >Greg > >******************************************************** >Dr. Greg Sperber, BMBS (MD), MTOM, MBA, L.Ac. >Diplomate in Chinese Herbology (NCCAOM) >Diplomate in Acupuncture (NCCAOM) >Greg >******************************************************** ---Roger Wicke, PhD, TCM Clinical Herbalist contact: www.rmhiherbal.org/contact/ Rocky Mountain Herbal Institute, Hot Springs, Montana USA Clinical herbology training programs - www.rmhiherbal.org Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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