I really and truly am going to get a Mac the next time I buy a computer. My experiences with Windows have just been unbearable lately.
My Dell 1720 laptop was recently hit with an unbelievably brutal attack of malware that totally crippled the computer’s ability to do anything and necessitated the re-installation of Windows 7. So I re-installed Windows from the CD, and started over with a brand new fresh operating system.
Now I try to install iTunes, and I can’t do it. The program just refuses to install. Every time I try, during the installation, it gives me an error message of:
OK. I looked up this error message. Apparently it means I need to install Windows Service Pack 1.
Okay. So I go to the Microsoft site for updates. It tells me that I should use Windows Update to download the service pack. I click on the link to Windows Update.
I am redirected to this webpage, which tells me how to open up Windows Update.
I open up Windows Update. The service pack I need is not among the very long list of available updates. WHEEEEEEEEEEE!!! Isn’t this FUN!!!
I’m ready to throw this fucking computer through the window. This is just the latest in a very long list of exceptionally frustrating experiences trying and failing to run programs in Windows.
I am never again buying a PC. I no longer play PC games, so I really have no reason to use PCs anymore. My next computer will be a Mac.
Not happening. I did run Windows Update and it showed me a giant list of the available updates to download: language packs, malicious software removal tools, security updates, etc etc. The Service Pack is not among them.
When I try to download the Service Pack directly from the Microsoft download website, I’m confronted with a totally confounding wall of download options that I don’t understand at all, and it doesn’t remotely even suggest which one will just install the damn service pack that I need.
Sometimes it won’t show the service pack until prerequisite patches are first. Install as many updates as it wants you to, reboot, and repeat the process until it says you don’t need anything any more.
It’s 2011 and you don’t know how to use Windows Update, which has been around since Win 95? Sure, get a Mac if you want one - but the problem here is not the platform.
Generally only as a result of the user goofing and installing a trojan. I don’t believe there have been any actual self-propagating viruses on Macs. They’re quite secure, at least as compared to a Windows box, despite the recent round of well-funded FUD.
That said, I much prefer Linux. It’s very secure, installation (both of the OS and software) is a snap, and it’s free (in both senses). I’d generally recommend the latest release of Ubuntu, but I’m still annoyed that they made Unity the default desktop, so I had to change it back to Gnome after installation. For now, I’d go with Ubuntu Maverick Meercat for a new user.
Technically, but of the dozens of Macs I’ve personally owned and/or setup for family members and friends and for whom I provide support, I’ve never had to remove any malware, much less reformat and reinstall. These are machines operated by kids, teenagers, technically unsophisticated adults and machine phobic fogeys. Never been a problem.
Macs are also, by the looks of it, extremely expensive. Just shove linux on what you’ve already got, or get some OS-free hardware next time and install linux on it. I’d probably go for Mint rather than Ubuntu Maverick, for a beginner.
One shouldn’t have to. It ought to work like a toaster. Turn the knob, slap the bread in, wait a couple of minutes and eat breakfast.
Unfortunately things don’t work out easily.
The problem is with the user who didn’t update the OS properly.
I thought it was common sense nowadays, that when you do a fresh install of an OS or major software, you should do an auto-update before you use it. And for an OS, you often need to update/reboot a couple of times before everything is up to date. As already mentioned above, some updates require earlier updates to be installed first, and those earlier updates may require reboots.
As for malware, the last time I had to remove malware from a Windows system I owned or managed was 1995.
One’s first concern after re-installing Windows is security. That means getting an anti-virus, firewall and downloading the latest service pack. It shouldn’t be installing iTunes.
