MacDailyNews - Where Mac news comes first

 MacDailyNews Poll

Deal of the Day

5 Day Most Commented

Opinion Archive

Current Headlines

Latest Joy of Tech

  • Latest Joy of Tech!

MacNN

AppleInsider

Macworld UK

TUAW

MacRumors

Yahoo! Finance AAPL

iTunes Top 10 Albums

Mac OS X Downloads

Sat, Nov 07, 2009 - 10:32 PM EST  —  AAPL: 194.34 (+0.3099, +0.16%)  |  NASDAQ: 2112.44 (+7.12, +0.34%)

Microsoft CEO Ballmer spends two days unsuccessfully trying to clean Windows PC malware
Monday, June 05, 2006 - 02:56 PM EST

"Microsoft executives love telling stories against each other. Here's one that platforms vice-president Jim Allchin told at a recent Windows Vista reviewers conference about chief executive Steve Ballmer," David Frith reports for Australian IT. "It seems Steve was at a friend's wedding reception when the bride's father complained that his PC had slowed to a crawl and would Steve mind taking a look."

"Allchin says Ballmer, the world's 13th wealthiest man with a fortune of about $18 billion, spent almost two days trying to rid the PC of worms, viruses, spyware, malware and severe fragmentation without success," Frith reports. "He lumped the thing back to Microsoft's headquarters and turned it over to a team of top engineers, who spent several days on the machine, finding it infected with more than 100 pieces of malware, some of which were nearly impossible to eradicate."

Frith reports, "Among the problems was a program that automatically disabled any antivirus software. 'This really opened our eyes to what goes on in the real world,' Allchin told the audience. If the man at the top and a team of Microsoft's best engineers faced defeat, what chance do ordinary punters have of keeping their Windows PCs virus-free?"

Full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Chris" for the heads up.]

MacDailyNews Take: Nothing about the Windows morass and/or Ballmer surprises us anymore.

Advertisements:
Introducing the super-fast, blogging, podcasting, do-everything-out-of-the-box MacBook.  Starting at just $1099
Get the new iMac with Intel Core Duo for as low as $31 A MONTH with Free shipping!
Get the MacBook Pro with Intel Core Duo for as low as $47 A MONTH with Free Shipping!
Apple's new Mac mini. Intel Core, up to 4 times faster. Starting at just $599. Free shipping.
iPod. 15,000 songs. 25,000 photos. 150 hours of video. The new iPod. 30GB and 60GB models start at just $299. Free shipping.
Connect iPod to your television set with the iPod AV Cable. Just $19.
iPod Radio Remote. Listen to FM radio on your iPod and control everything with a convenient wired remote. Just $49.

Related articles:
Mafiasoft launches Windows protection racket - May 31, 2006
Microsoft CEO Ballmer: Vista consumer launch could slip further - May 24, 2006
Couldn't you just buy a Mac and run Windows? Microsoft CEO Ballmer: 'No, we prefer real PCs' - April 29, 2006
Microsoft CEO Ballmer urges bosses to sack as many underperforming staff as possible each year - April 27, 2006
Microsoft: recovery from Windows malware becoming impossible; better to to wipe and rebuild - April 04, 2006
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer admits to brainwashing his kids not to use Apple iPods - March 28, 2006
Mafiasoft: Microsoft to charge $50 per year for security service to protect Windows - February 07, 2006
Microsoft's Ballmer: It's true, some of Windows Vista's features are 'kissing cousins' to Mac OS X - September 19, 2005
Microsoft CEO Ballmer: Apple's moved to Intel? Ho hum - June 07, 2005
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer: 'We love to be first' - January 25, 2005
Microsoft CEO Ballmer: 'Apple iPod users are music thieves' - October 04, 2004
Microsoft CEO Ballmer on the digital home: 'There is no way that you can get there with Apple' - October 03, 2004

Bookmark and Share

Always -- Free ground shipping with orders over $50 at the Apple Store.

Reader Feedback: = registered.
Unregistered users: Feedback from multiple usernames are subject to deletion. Off-topic and posts from suspected astroturfers will be removed.

Jun 05, 06 - 03:10 pm Comment from: tank

Go MonkeyBoy!!

You ain't touching my Powerbook...

Jun 05, 06 - 03:11 pm Comment from: Jooop

They should have Allchin play the PC guy on the Get a Mac ads.

Jun 05, 06 - 03:12 pm Comment from: scottschor

flame on !!

Jun 05, 06 - 03:17 pm Comment from: No koolaid here

That's about the 2,233,445 negative post about MS. Surely MDN has now run out of stories, right? RIGHT??

Jun 05, 06 - 03:19 pm Comment from: mugwump

A team of engineers spent several days on this one computer. No wonder Longhorn/Vista was so delayed.

Jun 05, 06 - 03:21 pm Comment from: Static Mesh

Even Ballmer knows about 15 minutes is all you give to a infected Windows PC, then after that it's just more effective to erase and reinstall the operating system.

Ballmer just wanted to take the machine back for the engineers to study, like a diseased rat or something.

Jun 05, 06 - 03:24 pm Comment from: me

Just bought a MacBook and set it up this weekend. It works AWESOME with one small exception...

When I tried to print to a shared printer from Microsoft Word, Word crashed (not the computer, just the Word app).

Apparently it was because the networked computer the printer was connected to was asleep but it goes to show that the Microsoft software was the only software that had issues while setting up this new notebook.

Jun 05, 06 - 03:25 pm Comment from: Dead Squirrel

For some reason, Ballmer and the word "moreass" just seem to go together...

Jun 05, 06 - 03:26 pm Comment from: Why....

Why Would Allchin tell an audience how crappy their OS is in the first place. I wouldn't stand in front of an audience an tell them how my OS was turned to junk and a team of engineers were skunked by how polluted that Laptop was. The actual solution was low-level format and re-install.. and oh perhaps backup some useful data if it could be cleaned enough to actually be re-installed on a clean laptop..

Jun 05, 06 - 03:29 pm Comment from: Eric

Most telling bit "This really opened our eyes to what goes on in the real world." Yes. Your software sucks ass. Stop with the Ads that say your software is more secure, better. Stop with the PeopleReady ads. Fix your product.

Jun 05, 06 - 03:33 pm Comment from: AG Pennypacker

If this is true, here is why I like it. This promotes change and better products. I think that competition is healthy, it keeps quality high. Plus, I don't really want apple to become this big giant - that is annoying. I like the little guy - it's like my little secret.

Jun 05, 06 - 03:37 pm Comment from: pablito

Ballmer is himself a malware.

Jun 05, 06 - 03:37 pm Comment from: CandTsmac

That says it all. These jokers suck and so does there malware.

Jun 05, 06 - 03:38 pm Comment from: Don.

Oh brother... who in their right mind tries to run anti-virus software from an infected machine? Once compromised it CANNOT be trusted. You have to boot off something else and scan it from the outside.

Jun 05, 06 - 03:39 pm Comment from: Jay

I'm surprised that Alchin is allowed to say these things. I guess it goes to show you that MS thinks they have no competition. They know the default decision is Windows and that very few people think about their OS for more than 3 seconds. Apple has had tons of ammo to use against Windows for years and has never capitalized on that, so Alchin knows that giving them even more, publicly admitting to serious system flaws, isn't going to change anything.

And the sad thing is, they might be right. The OS market may never change.

Jun 05, 06 - 03:41 pm Comment from: MegaMe

Truth hurts.

$30+ billion in cash in the bank, ton of programmers, all of this time and their stuff is still swiss cheese.

Amazing!

Jun 05, 06 - 03:41 pm Comment from: lbuschjr

Wow. Just Wow.

Windows XP has been on the market for how long, and their top engineers are JUST NOW having their eyes opened to how dangerous malware can be?

Take off the blinders, turn off the Xbox 360, and come out into the sun.

Wow. Ow.

Jun 05, 06 - 03:41 pm Comment from: JoHN

Come on people, lets get some hate going here.

Jun 05, 06 - 03:44 pm Comment from: Jaakko

Priceless...

Jun 05, 06 - 03:44 pm Comment from: Me in LA

Can't believe that Uncle Fester didn't put the lightbulb in his mouth first!
What a maroon.
Runs the company and can't clean the shit from the OS.
Classic, just classic.

SB

Jun 05, 06 - 03:47 pm Comment from: Koolaid is our friend

No koolaid here - It's a Mac site, that means negative post about M$ are part of the bargain. There are other sites that take a gentler approach on M$, maybe one of those would suit you better.

Jun 05, 06 - 03:56 pm Comment from: clarice

is it just me or does ballmer look a lot like Hannibal lechter in that photo?

Jun 05, 06 - 03:58 pm Comment from: Peter

"That's about the 2,233,445 negative post about MS. Surely MDN has now run out of stories, right? RIGHT??"

That's okay--Microsoft keeps making new ones.

Jun 05, 06 - 04:06 pm Comment from: G-Spank

wow that was JUICY. What can you possibly say to top what Jim Allchin just described. I feel sorry for all the people using that software. There is a choice.

Jun 05, 06 - 04:08 pm Comment from: TimD

Owned.

Jun 05, 06 - 04:14 pm Comment from: Jim

Did you hear the one about the salesman who thought he could run a software company?

He failed.

Jun 05, 06 - 04:18 pm Comment from: What will MS discover tomorrow?

I can't believe Allchin and MS only realized NOW what happens in the 'real world' to their products. What will MS discover tomorrow?

Please, continue to employ these people at MS for as long as possible.

Jun 05, 06 - 04:27 pm Comment from: Stephen

From the article it sounds like this story has been released to the public as an ad for MS's Live Onecare it seem to imply the following: Look you need our new security service, heck we can't even keep our own machines clean without it, now please fork over the cash. Or that's how the Windows World will interpet it. My interpetation of this sad story is: DUDE!! I'm so glad I didn't get a Dell.

Jun 05, 06 - 04:31 pm Comment from: jay

(1) I'd be very embarressed for this story to get out if this was a story about me and my product.

(2) I find it very ironic that the next story down on the site is "Why I'm more productive on a Mac."

Jun 05, 06 - 04:42 pm Comment from: shwilll. . . ewycduerosd dsaidqwdc qwd

Caca toy albino jam.

Jun 05, 06 - 04:45 pm Comment from: macromancer

That shoudl be his penance for all of his misdeeds. He should be forced to join the Geek squad and remove malware from peoples computers

Jun 05, 06 - 04:46 pm Comment from: Turd Ferguson

I've got a Windows machine at home that has XP loaded on it. XP is great! There is absolutely nothing wrong with Windows XP as an operating system. It is the cat's meow.

That is, until I turn it on....

Jun 05, 06 - 04:47 pm Comment from: macromancer

"'This really opened our eyes to what goes on in the real world,' Allchin told the audience."

What rock have they collectively been living under?

It's no wonder they haven't solved the problems their own product produces.

Jun 05, 06 - 04:51 pm Comment from: dogfriend

How many chairs were hurled during the two days that Monkeyboy tried to work on the infected PC? That's what the inquiring minds want to know.

Jun 05, 06 - 04:52 pm Comment from: Drunk Cheney

But that's OK. The computer only cost $100.00. That justifies everything. No high price sissy computers in that house. I mean, what real man would pay all that money for a computer that actually works?! Come on - Life Is Tough! Computer troubles well ... that just proves you can TAKE IT!

Jun 05, 06 - 04:53 pm Comment from: deedubya

We have a great fix for your computer in our pipeline.

Jun 05, 06 - 04:57 pm Comment from: dogfriend

"We have a great fix for your computer in our pipeline."

A really rich fix with the rich features you have been looking for. Rich and innovative.

Jun 05, 06 - 05:03 pm Comment from: Christopher Powers

Six and a half years, I've had ten Macintosh machines owned by me at one time or another (currently only 3) and NEVER had I had a virus, worm, trojan, etc.

That alone says it all on how secure my Mac's are.

If I only had an email for Steve Baulmer so i could share with him this news, hehe..

Chris Powers

Jun 05, 06 - 05:54 pm Comment from: sam

pic lol

Jun 05, 06 - 05:56 pm Comment from: macman

XP is great, until you network it.

OS X is a modern OS that was built with networking/internet in mind. Windows is based on ancient code that was not.

Jun 05, 06 - 05:59 pm Comment from: solarflare

Just proves time and time again... Ballmer give back the shareholders their money, close microsoft down and go to an Apple Store and buy a Mac.

Jun 05, 06 - 06:00 pm Comment from: Emil

the ignorant bastards (that would be windows users) deserve every virus they get. It's like smokers being killed by cancer, they had it coming!

Jun 05, 06 - 06:08 pm Comment from: OzzysCross101

I cannot believe this.

Not the fact that it took all that time and energy to clean that shitbox PC (that's a given), but the fact that the execs start telling those kind of stories to their employees. What kind of leadership role are they setting? Where is the incentive for these people to want to work? That makes me sick. If Allchin walked up to me and my team of devs and told us that story, I'd slap him in the face and quit on the spot.

I'm not saying that you can't one-up each other, but in the state M$ is in, and the obvious unhappiness of everyone in and around there, this is not a time to pull that crap. And to make it public! Redic.

Absolutely redic.

I want to see Apple beat the living shit out of Microsoft. Right now, I'm not sure it [M$] will make it past Round 2.

Jun 05, 06 - 06:13 pm Comment from: CitizenX

Hey me,

I am having the same problem with Safari crashing on a MacBook. I was able to print to either a networked (on a G4) HP3845 or Canon iP3000. Suddenly I get safari crashing whenever I try to print. The G4 is not asleep. No M$ apps on the MacBook.

Jun 05, 06 - 06:30 pm Comment from: that other guy

is it ...... could it really be.......
......................UNCLE FESTER?!!

Jun 05, 06 - 06:31 pm Comment from: matt

hey emil, some people started smoking before anyone was told it was bad for their health. my dad was one of them. so f*ck you and your poorly conceived analogy.

Jun 05, 06 - 06:31 pm Comment from: morgan

why isn't someone suing Microsoft for all the negative impact Windows had (and obviously still has) on humanity, security, industry...or werever else it's been used (?) Is it because it's so difficult to measure or what?

Jun 05, 06 - 06:39 pm Comment from: Nick

Time to dig up all of the installation CDs and serial numbers, back up your data, reinstall Windows and reinstall your apps. WHEEEEE!

Jun 05, 06 - 06:53 pm Comment from: Cubert

CLASSIC!!!

Jun 05, 06 - 07:02 pm Comment from: Mac Daddy

I noticed some people asking why Allchin would dare say the things he did. The simple answer is that Allchin is retiring upon release of Vista. He wanted Vista to be a ground-up rebuild of the OS but Bill Gates (yup, Bill still calls the shots at Microsoft) wouldn't approve it. My guess is that Allchin got fed up enough to bail out after this project was released to market.

Unless he cares to do it himself, the bride's father needs to take his computer to a computer store and have them completely wipe the disk and reinstall the system. Most stores charge about $80 for that service - $100 more if you want your data backed up. A choice example of TCO with "real" computers.

Jun 05, 06 - 08:00 pm Comment from: Loooong wait for ShortHorn

Can't solve the problems?



He should have been fired!!!

Reader feedback page 1 of 2 pages:  1 2 >

Always -- Free ground shipping with orders over $50 at the Apple Store.

Add Your Feedback:

Register or Login

Name:

Email: (optional)

Emoticons | Allowed HTML Tags

Remember my info   Notify me of follow-up comments?

Please enter the "MDN Magic Word" you see in the image below: