“There’s nothing like cracking open the box of a brand new computer. But don’t be so quick to just connect it all up and hop right on the Internet. According to the software security company Symantec, it takes only 20 minutes for an un-patched and unprotected [Windows] computer to be attacked once connected to the Internet,” Kim Komando writes for MSN.
“In that time, your pristine [Windows] computer could be turned into a zombie. Zombies are machines that have been secretly taken over by hackers. The zombie networks are leased to criminals who use them to send spam or attack Web sites,” Komando writes. “Some criminals want to put keyloggers on your computer, to steal passwords, credit card numbers and other sensitive data. There are plenty of vandals out there, too, who want to destroy your data for fun. And advertising outfits, many shady, hope to put spyware on your computer. With that, they will track your surfing and bury you with ads.
“Compromised [Windows] computers are found in homes, businesses and government offices. To make sure you aren’t victimized, here are six steps you must take to secure your computer and the network on which it runs…,” Komando writes.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Or just get a Mac and securely surf the Internet with impunity. Komando has a weekly radio show that focuses mainly on frustrated Windows PC users’ struggles to do things Mac users do without thinking twice. One has to wonder if Komando, who has been pretty much ignoring Apple’s Macintosh platform for years, would get many phone calls to her radio talk show, if she recommended Macs and people took that excellent advice.
With a Mac you can get online in minutes of “cracking open the box” without running through a litany of steps to try to protect a swiss cheese operating system like Windows.
One thing’s for sure, if Komando ever starts talking about Macs in a meaningful way, you’ll know the frustration of Windows has finally reached the tipping point. We hope Mac users won’t be listening if she jumps onto the Mac bandwagon after years of virtually ignoring what would be the superior platform for the vast majority of her listeners. Listen to her show for an hour and see if the simple advice, “get a Mac” would clearly work better than the tired “patch this, fix that, install this, uninstall that, buy this, buy that” Windows-centric advice she gives to most any of her callers’ questions. There’s hardly anything more frustrating for a Mac user than to listening to Komando ignore the obvious Mac solution on the radio while trying to fix Windows’ users unending stream of problems. We get neck spasms from shaking our heads so much as we listen to her “advice.”
More times than not, we’ve had to turn her show off after yelling at the radio one too many times, “Just tell the poor bastard to get a Mac!” How ’bout you?
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Intel CEO Otellini: If you want security now, buy a Macintosh instead of a Wintel PC – May 25, 2005
Microsoft Windows Sober.P worm shows ‘epidemic’ spread; Macintosh unaffected – May 03, 2005
Apple touts Mac OS X security advantages over Windows – April 13, 2005
New ‘highly critical’ Office flaw embarrasses Microsoft – April 13, 2005
97,467 Microsoft Windows viruses vs. zero for Apple Mac’s OS X – April 05, 2005
Symantec details flaws in its antivirus software – March 30, 2005
Motley Fool writer: ‘I’d be surprised if Symantec ever sells a single product to a Mac user again’ – March 24, 2005
Symantec cries wolf with misplaced Mac OS X ‘security’ warning – March 23, 2005
Symantec’s Mac OS X claims dismissed as nonsense, FUD – March 22, 2005
Symantec warns about Mac OS X security threat – March 21, 2005
Apple’s Mac OS X is virus-free – March 18, 2005
68,736 Microsoft Windows viruses vs. zero for Apple Mac’s OS X – March 12, 2005
Microsoft tries to turn its own security flaw into commercial gain – February 25, 2005
Cybersecurity advisor Clarke questions why anybody would buy from Microsoft – February 18, 2005
Microsoft’s Gates espouses homogenous operating system environments for better security – February 07, 2005
Windows’ mounting security problems make some consumers eager to purchase Macs – January 03, 2005
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Unlike Windows users, Mac OS X users surf the Internet without a care in the world – December 28, 2004
Multiple unpatched Windows holes crop up; Windows systems compromised within minutes in experiment – December 24, 2004
Windows spyware mess is out of control, get a Mac and surf with impunity – December 21, 2004
New Microsoft Internet Explorer exploit spoofs Web sites on fully patched Windows XP systems – December 17, 2004
Microsoft may charge extra for Windows spyware protection software – December 16, 2004
Detroit Free Press: Windows malware problem getting worse, it’s time to get a Mac instead – December 16, 2004
Sick of spyware, adware headaches? Get a Mac and surf the Internet freely – December 13, 2004
Mossberg: Windows PCs plagued with problems, Apple’s Mac is ‘rock solid, elegant and affordable’ – December 09, 2004
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Security test: Windows XP system easily compromised while Apple’s Mac OS X stands safe and secure – November 30, 2004
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Information Security Investigator says switch from Windows to Mac OS X for security – September 24, 2004
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Kim Komando will never recommend Mac’s because she’s Microsoft Shill who makes her living off of the problems that are inherent in Windows systems. I think we Mac users are safe from her attentions.
I like Kim’s show on the radio. And she mentions the Mac in about the same ratio that market share dictates (about 5% of the time). In fact, without Kim Kommando, I wouldn’t know about all the kludge that PC users go through with their computers. It entertains me because she/they are so clueless. It may be frustrating that she doesn’t advocate the mac, but like so many in IT their jobs depend on the end users’s technical problems.
wow, running a firewall and making sure you’re computer is up to date is quite a litany of steps.
And Mac users never run system update right?
Do they seriously expect the casual user, the non-computer-geek, the computer illiterate to follow all these steps? People for whom computers are not their life have just as much right to use them.
I switched my 60+-year-old aunt to a Mac mini. There really was no other choice. She needs a computer on a daily basis for email and banking, but she didn’t even know what a web browser was until I explained it (even though she used one every day!). You can’t expect such a person to be able to administer a firewall.
And please, inevitable Windows trolls, spare me the litany of how simple it is to you, how you set it up all the firewall and anti-badstuff for your Grandma and she’s just fine. Of course she’s fine. You’re there to set it up. You’re there to fix it when something goes wrong. Let’s see Grandma do it by herself.
stantheman: Yes, running a firewall is too complicated. Try explaining what a firewall *is* to someone who doesn’t know the difference between a website and an application, who doesn’t even know what either word means!
You may scoff at such folk, but there’s plenty of them, and they keep the zombie networks humming with active machines.
stantheman –
you missed disabling file sharing, installing antivirus software, modifying your HOSTS file, installing antispyware.
LOL, what a troll. Corporations are UP TO HERE with firewalls and bandwagons of IT techies installing patches after patches. StantheTROLL, for your info they are getting infected NO MATTER.
So shut the fsck up, will’ya?
ROFLMAO “And Mac users never run system update right?”
HHOHAHEOHAHHAOHEHOA yes, and the system gets BETTER AND FASTER
not more kludged with patches to patch the patches that should have patched the fix to save you from the latest virus that did not work so that your PC is now hosed the same.
HHAHEHOEHEHAO what a TROLL.
for god sakes, its not rocket science.
Use a router w/ firewall (just who isn’t using a router these days?), run Windows Firewall, setup automatic updates, and run Firefox. Works for my 60 year old computer illiterate parents, should work for you.
And rebuilding permissions on a weekly basis on my iMac isn’t exactly what I would call easy for a 60 year old granny.
Is a Mac safer completely out of the box? Yeah, it probably is. But take 5-10 minutes setting up an SP2 box and you’ll be fine. And remember: Don’t Panic! heheeh……
Sounds like a nice “out of the box” experience.
However… I prefer the 3 step process.
1. Connect Mac (unless wireless)
2. Turn on Mac
3. Enjoy
stantheman, are you then implicitly saying that the majority of Windows users are idiots? and by the millions?
Because, you see, Windows users are infected by the millions each time.
Maybe you are indeed right. One must non think clearly to stay on Windows.
For me there are only two steps: Step one: dump your PC. Step two: Get a Mac. There, done!!
This said, stantheman, your procedure may protect you from KNOWN viruses and attacks, not from new ones.
Having an antivirus protects from what exists in its data base to recognize a virus. Miss and update or a completely new virus signature and you are hose the same.
Firewall, this protects you from having all ports opened as default, but Windows, XP as well, cannot work with them all closed. And the firewall then will non protect you from malware using legit ports disguising with legit traffic.
As well, a virus travels also within trojan horse, mail attachments, URLs.
What you say you have in place in not protecting you either. You think you are safe and last time my friend checked with various tools found not less than tens of spurious things on his PC. He has a firewall and all the latest patches.
Nothing worst than unfounded false sense of security to infect millions. It happens exactly like that and then it is all a plethora of “but, but, I had this and that and had configured this and that. I THOUGHT I was safe”. Yeah, whatever. KACHING, next customer.
Oops… forgive me.
There are only 2 steps.
#3 “enjoy”ment is a benefit, not a step.
Sorry for over complicating things.
Why is this a MDN news item ?
Why are you still here? Shouldn’t you be patching something?
Bandit, I am wireless. Only one step: Turn on the Mac.
BTW, when the neighbor next door was still on Windows (got an iMac G5 20″ the lucky bastard) he tried to get into my Mac when I told him I was not particularly protected: Just have the builtin firewall on.
He even got one of his friends – supposedly Windows-guru – to prove this Mac user that the only reason (security by obscurity BS) I was not getting invaded was because not on radar.
They tried for a WEEK. He is now on the iMac G5. And happy: “I truly though this Mac safer thing was all bullshit”
I used to listen to Kim on FEN (Far East Network – the US Military Radio station). It might have been a bit Schadenfreude-esk, but it really made me glad to not have all the troubles her listeners call in with. She generally does a good job of side-stepping recommending the Mac though, even when asked directly. To be totally fair however, it should be mentioned that she does give Macs more consideration than most by listing a Mac shareware pick to coincide with every windoze shareware pick she puts up on her website. She doesn’t really have to do this and I am sure it represents extra work and effort so to an extent you have to respect her for that.
However, listening to her show you can also tell she is definitely into job security and she knows that a windows world provides this. I remember one show where an older guy was on the line asking about transferring either albums or videos (I can’t remember which) to digital format and he had been recommended to buy a Mac. Kim said it would be easier to use but that he would probably end up paying more and gently steered him towards windows. I almost felt like I had witnessed a crime. She damned the Mac with faint praise and it was obvious that the guy was now probably going to buy a windoze box.
So now he will join the legions of older users who are very limited in their computer skills but do not want to miss out on all the cool stuff they hear and read about and so they buy a bargain basement dozer box that will be zombied, out of commission, or chuck full of adware and spyware and running slower than molasses within a half a year. Because they don’t really know what they are doing, they will figure it was their own fault, pay through the nose to have someone “fix” it for them, and then live in perpetual fear of busting the thing again and severely limit their usage – so they might be able to go a year or so before it crocks up on them again.
Pretty much everybody but hardcore gamers or tinkerers who want to build their own computer should be on a Mac but you should NEVER EVER recommend anything BUT a Mac for older less-computer-savvy users unless you can commit to making monthly (or weekly?) visits to support them.
If you want to hear a really good tech program by a guy who tells it like it is check out Leo Laporte on KFI 640. http://kfi640.com/main.html
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”surprised” style=”border:0;” /> You can even get his show on podcast.
Even though he prefers the Mac for his own computer he manages to give much more balanced advice and even ends up recommending windows once in a while for special situations.
I wish Komando wouldn’t m ention the Mac at all, beacuse when she does her information is flawed at best and does nothing but perpetuate the false stereotypes that Windows shills always use as excuses for ignoring the platform.
I just sit back and watch in enjoyment as my folks who are computer illiterate, create their own books in iPhoto. It truly is a joy to see such tasks available to all people (well, mac users).
It is a nice co-incidence that MDN would run this link to “Kim Kommando” today. I had to send her an email over the weekend taking her to task for something she said about malware for Mac OS X. I do not expect to get a reply, but here is the text of what I sent her:
“Hello, Kim.
I am not a regular listener to your show, but my mother is. Since we are both Macintosh users she called me today to ask about something you said on your latest. According to what I was told a listener called in to ask you some questions about switching to Macintosh. You apparently told this caller that virus protection for Mac OS X is still required and there is adware, sypware and other malicious software targeting Mac OS X, similar to that which makes using Windows such a pain.
Kim, this information you are giving out is categorically and unambiguously false. There are zero viruses for Mac OS X. None, nada, zilch, nothing. The same goes for the other forms of malware that run rampant on the Windows platform. None of it exists for Mac OS X. You should stop repeating what you read from Symantec; it is nothing but FUD to get Macintosh users to buy their software.
I find it disturbing that a nationally syndicated radio host like yourself, who is reportedly very knowledgeable about these types of things, would say something so verifiably false to a caller. You need to make pains to correct your statements as soon as possible.
Am I saying that Macintosh users should not run any anti-virus software at all? No I am not. That is a decision that must be left to each individual user. For myself, I do not feel the need to run any software of this type since there are no malicious viruses or worms for Mac OS X. I am not saying that there never will be malicious software of this type, but at this time, and for the immediate future Mac OS X is secure enough out of the box that it is unlikely there will be the plethora of malicious software that hangs over every Windows users head like a sword of Damocles.
Please, please, please do not repeat these baseless assertions any more. You do yourself and your listeners a disservice.”
stantheman – I would be willing to bet that there are more PC users without routers than with them…. The average user buys a PC and plugs it into their cable/DSL modem
Recently in the UK a consumer rights magazine called “Which?” published an article about “PC’s”
“The difference between an Apple computer and a Windows one is that Apple make both the hardware and the software, so the user manual is one book instead of two.”
That’s it.
True, true, Jack A. I was once driving with kids in tow listening to Kim Kommando. A caller asked her about doing video editing on a PC. She went on about how you need this, this, and that and be sure to buy this software to do video editing on a PC. I broke out laughing and my son asked me what I was laughing at. I told him I was laughing at the stupid broad on the radio. Hahahaha.
I am always shaking my head when listening to her. Especially, when listening to the callers thanking her for advising them to do a, b, c, d, e, and x, y, z so that their computers would work. Having to jump through hoops just to get a computer to work is not what computing should be about.
I heard her show on Saturday, and she was emphatic that there are virii and worms for the Mac out there and that you have to buy and run anti-virals just like on a PeeCee. Wanted to throw something out the window when I heard her proclaim this.
“I told him I was laughing at the stupid broad on the radio.”
Thats a nice way to bring up a child.
“The difference between an Apple computer and a Windows one is that Apple make both the hardware and the software, so the user manual is one book instead of two.”
Jon, you are missing the point. When you buy a car, you don’t get a manual for the body and one for the engine because the two are designed to work together. Same thing with mac. It just works better that way.