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Nothing can prevent you from opening an attachment containing a virus if you are a truly careless Windows user.
 technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

T e c h n o f i l e
Do you have to put up with Windows viruses? You tell me


Feb. 1, 2004


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2004, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2004, The Post-Standard

   I've been seeing a huge increase in Windows virus attacks in e-mail. On one day alone last week, after the ubiquitous spam was taken out, I estimate that I received four to five times as much virus-laden mail as regular mail.
   This is ridiculous.
   I do my e-mail on a computer that's immune to all Windows pestilences, so this flood of viruses is nothing more than an annoyance to me. But most of you are not so lucky. What can you do?
   I have three suggestions.
   1. If you use Windows, make sure you have up-to-date antivirus software. Microsoft did not design Windows to resist viruses, so you have to do this yourself.
   2. If you use Windows, use a safe Web browser and a safe e-mail program. Internet Explorer, Microsoft's ubiquitous Web browser, is extraordinarily unsafe. I recommend Mozilla (www.mozilla.org) or Opera (www.opera.com) instead. use the e-mail software that comes with either of them instead of Outlook Express, the security nightmare Microsoft gave you for e-mail.
   3. Better yet, stop using Windows. Why? Listen to this:
   If you depend on antivirus programs and careful hygiene to keep your Windows PC safe, you're likely to be disappointed. There is no 100-percent solution for Windows viruses if you are using Windows. If you use Windows, there is nothing that can prevent you from opening an attachment containing a virus when you are truly careless. (Many Windows users are. Perhaps it's just a human failing.)
   Listen. Windows is dangerous and won't change. There's nothing Congress, the United Nations or newspaper columnists can do to get Microsoft to budge on this. I called for Microsoft to recall Windows in an article published here in July, 2001. But nothing has happened.
   I'm being straight with you. There is a safe and effective way to deal with Windows viruses. You owe it to yourself to listen. Many people who use Windows don't realized they have a choice.
   But you have a very clear choice. You won't even lose your favorite stuff.
   You can stop using Windows while continuing to use Microsoft Office. You can stop using Windows while continuing to use AOL and those other enticements such as instant messaging and wireless connections.
   You can stop using Windows while continuing to do your finances on Quicken. You can stop using Windows without skipping a beat in your MP3 collection or losing an e-mail from your sister-in-law.
   How do you accomplish this miracle? There's nothing hocus-pocus in it at all. While most Windows users were looking the other way, Apple came up with a Unix version of the Macintosh. Unix-based Macs are safe, secure, immune to Windows viruses and untouched by the many frailties that afflict Windows.
   If you are a typical Windows user -- if you use Microsoft Word as your main word processor and need to use Microsoft Excel now and then -- you're a perfect candidate for Apple's OS X computers. They have their own version of Microsoft Office. I consider it much easier to use than the one that Microsoft makes for Windows.
   Many other programs familiar to Windows users are available for OS X, too. Quicken is just one. Others include Print Shop, Internet Explorer, Photoshop Elements, AOL Instant Messenger, MSN and AOL. Apple's OS X Web browser, Safari, is acclaimed as the fastest browser for any kind of computer, and the e-mail program that comes with OS X even blocks spam automatically.
   Are there any drawbacks? Sure. You have to buy a new computer, for one. OS X doesn't install on PCs. You have to learn a few new things. You click on a button on the left side of a window to close it instead of the right side. You eject CDs and DVDs by pressing a key on the keyboard instead pushing a button on the drive. You click the trash can and hold the button down to get the menu for deleting the trash.
   Hard things to learn? You tell me.
   Sure, there are things that are totally different. You run programs out of a "dock" at the bottom of the screen. You copy stuff by pressing Cmd-C instead of Ctrl-C. You don't get a two-button mouse unless you but one separately. (Apple likes the idea of a single button that can't confuse anyone, but I like the menus that pop up when you press the right mouse button on a two-button mouse.)
   Still unconvinced? Apple computers have the best repair record of all personal computers. They tend to last two to three times as long as Windows PCs.
   I know many of you won't switch. Inertia is a powerful influence. But if you are fed up with Windows viruses, remember that you have a choice.