“Internet users worried about spyware and adware are shunning specific Web sites, avoiding file-sharing networks, even switching browsers. Many have also stopped opening e-mail attachments without first making sure they are safe, the Pew Internet and American Life Project said in a study issued Wednesday,” Anick Jesdanun reports for The Associated Press. “‘People are scaling back on some Internet activities,’ said Susannah Fox, the study’s main author. ‘People are feeling less adventurous, less free to do whatever they want to do online.’ Like no other Internet threat before it, spyware is getting people’s attention, she said. “It maybe will bring more awareness of all kinds of security issues.'”
MacDailyNews Note: The research found that 91% of people have made at least one change to the way they act online because of fears about spyware.
Jesdanun reports, “Linda Parra, a technology usability consultant at an insurance firm in Madison, Wis., is typical of the once-burned, now-vigilant crowd. Hit twice by spyware, after which all her Internet searches went to a rogue search engine rather than Google, she bought the safer Mac computer, installed two layers of firewalls and began switching off her broadband-connected machine when she’s out. ‘I’ve become a lot more security conscious,’ she said, adding that she had to learn much more about how computers and the Internet work. Parra also banned her daughters, ages 12 and 14, from game sites. ‘All it takes is one click … and you can end up going somewhere you don’t want to go and getting a little bonus pack (spyware) with your freebie,’ she said. ‘I believe that’s what happened.'”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Relax, Linda. You have a Mac. It’s not about which web sites you visit or layers of firewalls, your problem was Microsoft Windows. You’ve already smartly corrected your problem. You have a Mac now, so surf freely!
Windows users, there really is a better way – a much better way. Our Windows-only readers should consider adding a safe, secure, and powerful Mac OS X machine to their computing arsenals. For information about how to do so smoothly, please click here. For inexpensive entry to the Mac platform, you might want to take a look at Apple’s new Mac Mini which starts at just US$499 — it just might be the perfect machine for you. And don’t forget to order it with 512MB RAM, you’ll want it.
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“Many have also stopped opening e-mail attachments without first making sure they are safe”
Uh, when was it a good idea to not check for this anyway? I use a Mac and don’t worry much about that, but even I check to make sure they arent programs masquerading as something else.
whoah, that list of related articles is getting dangerously long
Another day, another switcher story. . .
Anyone else think the MDN link list at the end of select articles is getting a bit excessive? Does ANYONE check out even half those links?
Would be nice to know if Dave H and the rest of the crowd over there are ok.
Take about FUD…come on now. No one is scared to go online. People in the Windows world are concerned but not scared. Let’s not blow this out of proportion.
MDN this just B.S.
“It’s not about which web sites you visit or layers of firewalls, your problem was Microsoft Windows.”
I have windows computers (5 in our house) all on line at least 8 hours a day. Never a virus, no spyware. (We use Firefox.)
MDN = FUD.
How many Apple users have switched to a different browser other than Internet Explorer? Most of them. Why – IE sucks.
Hotmail, Lycos and others will automatically remove any attachements or any graphics from email NO MATTER WHAT COMPUTER YOU USE!
MDN you are passing of crap.
But then there is no Mac news of interest and won´t be for a year, so you have to fill this hole with something.
Own Mac and PC
“I have windows computers (5 in our house) all on line at least 8 hours a day. Never a virus, no spyware. (We use Firefox.)”
When was the last time you checked for spyware on your PC? Just because you use Firefox doesn’t make you immune to them.
Ditto regarding Dave, and all other Londoners.
All FUD. I have both Mac & PC’s in the house. Neither have been subjected to any spyware or viruses. With XP SP2 and automatic updates turned on, absolutely zero issues.
Just wait until the first malicous .dmg appears. Mac users have been way too complacent in dutifully typing in their admin password to install untrusted apps. The time will come when home directories get wiped as a result.
I have both windows & Macs, but I will say that you really have to stay on the ball and keep windows current with all the needed updates. (For sure once a month, if not more than that.)
Not that I don’t install any needed updates for the Macs, but it’s just the so simple using Apples software update compared to updating all the other anti-virus/spyware/adwar programs + windows.
my 2¢
I made just one change to my online practices this year, I bought a mac mini and junked my crippled pc! Yay!
a lot of the problem with spyware/whatever lies in where you browse to, not just which OS or browser you use. smarter, more savvy PC users know better than to click on the link for “free screensaver” because they are aware that it’s most likely going to be a trap of sorts.
but the AVERAGE computer user won’t know any better, and will get excited and click the link… and will likely get infected. even worse is when a popup tells you your computer is infected and click here to solve the problem. i always find it humorous to go to some of these websites on my mac and see the popups styled like a windows explorer box. but the average windows user doesn’t know better and clicks it… and gets infected.
getting a mac does solve this problem for now, as none of that crap is written for OS X/PPC. but not everyone is going to buy a mac, so a bit of education for the average windows user would help greatly – not only teach them how to set up a firewall or whatever, but also how to spot bullsh!t links and ads.
some people think a firewall and spybot is the answer to all their problems, but user awareness actually makes a far greater difference.
of course, when i talk to people about this problem, i always tell them “okay, to avoid spyware/adware/etc, you should buy a router with a firewall, get anti-spyware software, get anti-virus software, set windows to automatically update, make sure never to click on (aforementioned links/ads) and use mozilla firefox. or you could always just get a mac” =)
Condolences to those in London and those who lost loved one and got injured.
We New Yorkers feel your pain.
All the best.
If you are a Mac user, you can browse with total impunity. There are ZERO Mac OS X viruses. To a Mac user, there is no such thing as good/bad browsing habbits, because there are no negative consequences for the sort of things that get Windows users in big trouble.
I expect that widgets will be the portal through which the the first significant Mac OS X malware is spread, but even so there will not be a way to autoproliferate – so there will STILL be no Mac OS X viruses.
I don’t understand why some people are calling FUD about this article. It was based on a random survey of over 2000 people. It’s not like MDN just made this stuff up. Did you read TFA? If you have a complaint about it I would think you would direct it to excite news, or better yet to the one who did the survey. Anyway, if one is to believe the survey (and I for one do), you can draw the following conclusion:
43% have or have had malware, and in 20% of those cases the malware is still there (they haven’t even tried to remove it); in another 20% of the cases it couldn’t be fixed (add me to that group), even with help. That leaves 40% of 43% of all PCs out there with active malware, or 17% of all PCs running some kind of virus, spyware or adware. About 1 in 6. And with about 900 million PCs out there that makes for around 153 million zombies.
One could also deduce that of the 20% of 43% that couldn’t be fixed, a good portion (say half) of those have been rendered useless (like mine, that didn’t come with a system restore CD). That’s about 40 million PCs taken out of service.
Bill, you ARE going to take credit for this mess, aren’t you? I really want to sue you to replace my PC since it was your OS failure that allowed my PC to get infected. I could sue GM if they sold me a car whose door locks didn’t work, couldn’t I?
I am in the advertising business. I communicate with my clients with many different types of attachments: Excel, Word, PSD, EPS, JPG, PDF, TIFF, IDD, ZIP, etc etc. The PC universe has gotten so bad that the IT departments at some of my larger clients are completely filtering or quarantining ALL attachments from ALL emails. I can no longer exchange working docs with the Marketing Dept with these clients. In short, MS security problems have completely trashed the killer app of the internets: email.
I just downloaded the study from http://www.pewinternet.org. Quoting that study, “in October 2004, the Online Safety Study by AOL and the National Cyber Security Alliance reported that 53% of respondents said they had spyware or adware on their computers, but a scan of their machines revealed that 80% of respondents actually had those programs installed.” Doesn’t that suggest that some smug Windows users may be infected and not even know it?
I was very disappointed in Pew’s study for one big reason, however. As reputable and independent as Pew is, when I searched for the words Apple, Macintosh, or Mac in the document, the search turned up nothing. No mention of what is clearly the more secure platform when the entire study is so focused on that one issue. So this study, in and of itself, does nothing to enlighten the masses to the viable alternative that Apple presents.
Whit
Joe and RT
Thanks. I’ve been working at Tower Hill this week, about 500 yards south of Aldgate, so was four or five trains behind one of the ones targetted. There’s been sirens and helicopters overhead for most of the day. It’s quite awful, especially since yesterday we were all on such a high. Nobody yet knows what to think about it all. No-one is angry, strangely enough. Shock and determination to get on with things sum up how people appear to be feeling, although that could just be us all being typically British more than anything else.
I just feel so sorry for the people who died, and for their relatives. It’s just beyond words.
Wingsy said,
“Bill, you ARE going to take credit for this mess, aren’t you? I really want to sue you to replace my PC since it was your OS failure that allowed my PC to get infected. I could sue GM if they sold me a car whose door locks didn’t work, couldn’t I?”
I’ve been saying the same thing for the last year and a half since I bought my G5 – if I were Bill Gates and Microsoft and any time I saw an AOL commercial touting “antivirus software” built in (or any other internet providers) I would be so embarrassed and would want to find the nearest rock to crawl under. Wingsy is right, if cars were built that way, every manufacturer would go under due to recalls.
No one is tougher than the British. Buena suerte Dave.
I don’t understand how people can blow innocent people of a different culture to smithereens to bring attention to innocent people of their own culture who have been victimized. The hypocrisy is staggering.
‘Own Mac and PC’ FYI: I saw a few sites pimpin’ your peecees on the ‘Zombie’ peecee market the other day. $2.25/day I recall.
When you’re not using them to play Doom or Solitaire (about all that Winblows is good for), they’re some hacker/spam king’s bitch.
There was an idiot on some site I said recently who touted how he had a handful of Windows PC’s running in his house and he has NEVER had a virus. Not one!
Do you know how confident he was in his PC’s security? He doesn’t even need Anti Virus installed. Well according to him at least
Now half way intelligent people understand the implications and truth behind what I just wrote.
The idiot who claims he has never had spyware because his mommy had him use Firefox is not one of those half way intelligent people.
And those are the people who deserve Windows. I sincerely believe that. So to those out there who think Windows Spyware and Viruses are FUD. You are 100% correct. You should definitely stick with Windows! Enjoy.