I’ve gone over to the dark side. I have had an iPod for nearly ten years with no issue. I wanted a tablet so badly so after doing research, I opted for the Asus transformer tablet. It was OK, but truth be told I just never fell in love with it. When I was conned into purchasing an IPad by my cellular provider (not particularly a hard sell), I didn’t think I’d grow to love the device as much as I do. It is my primary computing device and I’m typing on it right now. I also purchased an iMac (I’m a gadget freak) and adore it. My husband uses it for his online courses, we’ve set it up for wireless everything, mirror it to the TV, everything. I still keep an HP running windows for VPN at work and to use MS office products, etc.
I have nothing but issues with that darn PC! It’s got expensive anti virus, anti spam. Firewall, Anti phishing, you name it…I shut off the internet when not in use, everything, but why, oh why will this machine immediately pick up some crazy virus or cookie, or whatever the heck happens…in order to use the PC I need to run Norton, Spy Bot, etc on a daily basis. My hunch is that those programs are actually inviting issues and remedy the same problems they create.m
But not my Mac. I wake it up, do my thing, surf, post, check mail. And then close it. I don’t have to be a Help Desk person in order to use it. I love it…
My question is what am I doing wrong with my PC…is there a better so I should use. I just want to boot it up and use it. Has anyone found a better means of protection than I’m currently using? Should I just wipe the Hp clean and sell it on eBay and buy another Mac?
Get the system you are comfortable with. I have been using a PC forever.
I have not checked my firewall settings since I bought the thing, I run a manual virus sweep on it once every two weeks, and I do just “boot it up and use it.”
Viruses are, 95% of the time, user error. If you keep picking them up, it means you’re going to sites you shouldn’t or else that you’re not being careful enough with downloading email attachments and so on.
If your computer is so riddled with infections that you’re having to run multiple virus programs every day, you may as well do a HD wipe and clean install, then change your browsing habits.
Chances are you got something on your PC and have never really gotten rid of it. Things don’t just spontaneously come back unless you are going around installing new things on it all the time. Don’t do that, BTW.
So yes on wiping and resetting it, but then try to use it from there. Get a web browser and the Office products. Install your good antivirus. Install adblock or at least flashblock. Then don’t install anything else.
If you think picking up “crazy cookies” is a security problem, that just shows that (like many Apple users) you are clueless about computer security. Cookies do no significant harm (except in very exceptional circumstances) and quite a lot of good, and, anyway, you will pick them up just much on an Apple system (or Linux, come to that) as on a Windows or an Android one.
As Johnny Bravo says, if you are really getting viruses (or other malware - actually true viruses are competitively rare now) all the time, it is you, not your operating system, that is doing something badly wrong. I use windows, and visit some fairly dubious web sites sometimes, but I almost never pick pick up malware, and on the rare occasions that I have done so, I have never had too much trouble cleaning it off.
Once upon a time, Apple products almost never got infections, because too few people used Apple for it to be worth the malware writers’ time. The more popular Apple stuff gets, the more that type of “security” becomes a thing of the past.
In my experience, the distribution of malware and viruses is really shockingly non-uniform. Intuitively, you know that some people are going to be sloppy/lazy or bad with computers, but in practice it’s even more intensely skewed than most people would expect.
The same people manage to install every stupid malware, virus, scam, etc., while other users go years almost never causing a problem.
On the Mac vs Windows issue - the last 4 Macs I bought were complete lemons. I admit it’s possible I had very bad luck, but selling multiple garbage computers is the kind of thing that really erodes a good brand. I only bought the latest Mac because the previous one’s system board failed for the 3rd time right after Apple Care ended. Giving them one more chance seemed worth it to make restoring my backup extra easy. The last one admittedly works better than the previous lemons but it’s still got problems.
Wow, you must have really shitty luck. That’s the first time I’ve ever, EVER, heard a story about a “lemon” Mac, let alone multiple lemon Macs. Are you sure they were Apple Computer products and not Abble Computer products? Did the store you bought them at have signs up for Panaphonics and Sorny?
My roommates in college (this would be circa-2007) both decided to get macbook pros. They both had to send them back in for maintenance more than once in the first year they had them.
The idea that apple products are some bastion of low-maintenance is really a product of good customer service more than anything else. Which, frankly, you pay for.
That vintage of MBP’s (2008’ish) was known for failing video cards. Later MBP’s are known for overheating problems (from the video card) which kills the logic boards. And the replacement parts can also develop the same problems. Always get the 3-yr Applecare with a laptop.
Wipe the PC and reinstall Windows. Do NOT install Norton or Spybot. And don’t even think about just uninstalling Norton – you can’t. It inserts itself into thousands of places on your computer and you will never find them all.
Do not install java unless your are 100% sure you really need it. If you really need it, try to find a way to not need it.
Install the free version of Malwarebyes and Firefox (or one of its clones – I use Pale Moon) with AdBlock and FlashBlock.
When you download something, right-click and let Malwarebytes scan it before you install it.
End of story. Written by a denizen of the skeevy sketchy corners of the web who hasn’t had an infection for years.
I have been a Microsoft user for nearly as long as I’ve used computers (despite their apparent efforts to push me into the Linux camp), and while I genuinely don’t feel any ill will (or brand-based moral superiority) towards Apple users, there is one thing that we absolutely must get straight, BaldDudePeekskill- and this goes for the rest of you as well: a personal computer that runs an Apple operating system is still a personal computer. The distinction is not “personal computer” versus “Apple computer”, it’s “personal computer” versus “company computer” or “public computer”. A car made by the Ford Motor Company is still a car; is it not? The same applies here. In the mid-eighties, I attempted to explain this to the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum people, but they refused to listen. Now there are no more Commodore 64 or ZX Spectrum people. Don’t make the same mistake they did.
Ominous threats aside, the ever-increasing complexity of internet security has made Macs a good choice for many people who don’t or can’t stay on the cutting edge; it’s harder to screw them up- however, it’s by no means impossible. And it’s becoming less so every day, as Apple’s market share increases and more malicious mischief options become available to those who are so inclined- and if anything, overconfidence in their platform’s invulnerability and the consequent lack of felt need to learn how to defend their machines will make them easy prey indeed. If a Macintosh best suits your needs, then use it and enjoy it- but learn how to protect yourself.
While I have no problems with viruses or malware, I’m intrigued by the idea that there are sites where I shouldn’t go. I’m currently on a site where I’ve heard about people picking up malware, yet I’m OK.
We deploy dozens and dozens of Apple desktops and laptops every year and similar numbers of Windows machines, primarily Dell. Apple seems to build just as many lemons as Dell. In my team Apple machines have had more hardware problems than the Dells, but I think over the entire university it averages out.
I’m a pretty big fan of Apple, but this thread reads like someone saying “This screwdriver can’t handle nails!”
I’ve always lived in a mixed Mac and PC environment. I’ve only once had malware show up on a PC, and it was spotted by Norton before it could install, and the offending file (a .jar) was removed.
If you have to run anti-virus even twice for the same problem, you’re wasting your time to do it a third time; clearly it’s not working. Turning off the Internet should be totally unnecessary if you have all the security/firewalls that you say you do. We don’t have enough information here to troubleshoot the problem - we don’t even know what version of Windows or how often virus definitions are update - but reinstalling everything from scratch might be the best solution. Some malware will short-circuit how your computer works so that, for example, firing up a web browser will only take you to their phony malware removal software. (Which sounds like what you’re experiencing, but Norton itself would not do that.)
Since you’re using the computer to connect to a company VPN, can you ask IT for support there? I would be furious if one of my employees knew they had a malware problem and still connected to my VPN or used that computer for any business-related work. Based on sections of my employee handbook, that would be a cause for termination.
By the way, have you considered using Parallels? There’s no reason to have a separate PC with modern Macs. Parallels makes it extremely easy to backup the entire virtual PC so that you can have a clean, malware-free version and if any problems come up that you can’t fix, just restore the clean backup. (When I say easy, it’s literally 1) copy the file Parallels uses for the virtual PC. That’s the backup. 2) to restore it, just copy the old file back into the original folder, and confirm that you want to replace the existing one. 3) restart Parallels. 4) There is no step 4. You’re done.)
When I ran a mixed Mac/PC office, we could even copy one virtual PC file from one computer to another so all four of them would have to fail at once to deny us a good backup.
No.
Apples are not superior. Their user-base consists of people that enjoy being sandboxed. They are error free in the things they work with - however neutered a selection you have to work with. If you’re happy with imposed limitations then Apple is the product for you. If you enjoy your freedom stay away.
I have a PC and rarely get anything skeevy on it. My wife’s PC was getting infected often enough that it was worth it to put the Pro version of Malwarebytes with the active scanning on it (which largely solved the issue). I think I’m a bit more careful than she is though.
I’ve no real thing against Apple products but I play games on my computer so prefer a PC and find that Android-based products offer me better value for the money over the iPad/iPhones.
There’s “personal computer”, as in a computer that’s personal, and then there’s “Personal Computer”, the brand name used by IBM for a line of computers launched in the 80s. Computers compatible with this line were “PC compatible” or just PCs. Hence “Mac vs PC”. Both are personal computers, but only one is “PC compatible”. Obviously words and phrases have different meaning depending on context.
More on topic:
Macs may be generally less prone to viruses but the HP described in the OP isn’t typical of Windows. Something’s wrong with it. There may be a rootkit that’s not being removed in the scans, and it’s reinfecting the computer. As others have said, back up your important files then reformat and reinstall Windows (ideally not XP if that’s what you’re currently using). Then install a lightweight antivirus like MSE (or possibly Avast!, but not Norton or McAfee).
Leave on the firewall, and automatic updates and you should be able to just " boot it up and use it" the same as the Mac. If you’re still getting viruses, you may want to have a talk with your husband about his computer habits.