Microsoft easing into antivirus efforts

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Computers without AV

From the article:
"The single object is we want to make sure every client system by default has an antivirus solution. Whether that's Microsoft or a third party, there needs to be that basic level of protection," he said.

A reminder that there are users who ignore AV.

Most home pc's seem to come with McAfee or Norton preinstalled. But buyers have to take some kind of action, particularly when the free period runs out.

For what it's worth, when I've assisted people, I remove either McAfee or Norton whenever I see them. They both degrade performance, as far as I'm concerned. Then I install AVG (Grisoft) or Avast (Alwil), both free, both undemanding. My preference these days is Avast because updates can be set to load whenever the pc is online, without user intervention.

When I'm asked to help with home pc's after they've been in use for a while, almost always the problem is huge amounts of adware that has been installed. That's another discussion, though. Invariably, the anti-virus free period has run out, and the program still sits there, without update. The users think they're protected in some mystical way.

After getting a working av, I leave the pc alone while many megs of Microsoft updates get installed. Users have been rejecting them because they take time away from whatever it is they want to do.

Sorry this turned into a rant.
Anyway, the main point is, Microsoft is right. They have to take care to assure that people do what they should to assure the pc is protected. Glad they've taken the responsibility.

The other point is, one reason Microsoft software on home machines gets hit so often is that Microsoft gets the users who don't want to know. Their money is as good as anyone else's, but the unnecessary increase in vulnerability is a major problem.

Posted by: Anton Philidor   Posted on: 07/01/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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