Should everyone who drives a car understand how to fix their engine? I don't know how to replace a timing belt. Noethier do most of you. Most of you don't change you own oil.
That's my point.
The last company I worked at locked the network down. no internet, no espn.com - no nothing. Windows based and now they don't have to worry about malware.
Something is wrong where you have to lock the network down that tight to make it secure.
I don't know who this is directed at?
Is this still Mac vs PC? If it is, there's nothing really wrong with the networking side of Windows, aside from what the poster after you said, about there being bad guys trying to attack all systems. More commonly, Windows systems, as there are just simply more of them in use to choose to from. Because of this, if you wanted to set up a large botnet, you'd go the Windows route; also knowing that ActiveX is an easy way in, via an app like MSN Messenger.
Group Policy in Windows is for all the business networking privileges .
It sounds like your work was paranoid and couldn't implement this confidently so used brutal global settings or they just goofed somehow.
Nothing is wrong with Windows as opposed to any other networking environment.
As with any system, if you need to use it for this use in your business, you need to learn how to use it correctly. That means safely and to your advantage. That's what back office guys are employed for.
The security focus in my post was mainly directed at individual users who want to go around clicking anything without fear of a compromised Windows system.
My point was that you can behave like this in Windows if you take a couple of simple precautions, and you will never need rubbish crippling security suites ever again. I tried Norton in '97 and I may as well have been installing a virus myself!
I just fixed a computer that had five[!] separate suites on it. Obviously a case of Windows paranoia caused by external influence again. The guy wondered why it was slow and not working properly. Uninstalling one of the suites left the machine in a condition I wasn't happy with so I archived his documents and redid the computer from scratch, with a good firewall and the precautions I suggested - plus a few more simple precautions for his specific internet requirements.
Now I don't have to worry about him coming back to me.
The fact is that most malware will use the stupid proprietary and unnecessary ActiveX system to hijack a Windows PC. Switch it off and you cure most ills instantly.
Windows has a bad rep for malware because it is more common, and thus targeted more, and there is this easy backdoor for malicious software enabled by default, purely because Microsoft chooses to use it in their own OS bolt-on applications.
Recent note:
I just complained to Trend.
Their latest Housecall wouldn't install on my machine because I have ActiveX disabled! They don't appear to have a Java version any more. It's crazy for a security company to require me to have this enabled to use their scanner. Stuff the scanner if it needs to elevate priviliges in the way that hackers do in order to access my files.
For people who are simply users and don't want to think too much about their computer's software environment; who don't mind paying more for the same components but would prefer to, and can afford to, simply send it back to Apple for any repairs, by all means buy a Mac. [Although my friends have had some faulty ones recently. I wouldn't want something faulty at those prices.]
Alternatively, if you don't want to concern yourself Windows security and and you also don't need to use specific platform dependent tools such as Final Cut Pro, you could buy a Linux PC instead.
Me, I guess I am a power-user.
I prefer to have control over MY machine and buy my chosen hardware at normal prices. I know enough about the Windows environment to enable me to do this. [I also like to have a massive choice of open-source and other software to choose from.]
Incidentally, my friend just bought an expensive MacBook Pro. The majority of the spec is lower than my modified PC laptop that, in its original form, cost just over half the price of her Mac, one and a half years ago.
I prefer to know what is in my machine so that I may modify it and optimise it for little cost. Fi: I have a fast HDD with a large cache that cost only £100. My old one is now in an external caddy. I also have a 4Gb flash cache memory module that cost me only £45 and is additional to my main system memory. This setup, decent graphics and an x64 OS is flying along swiftly and, with futureproof wireless and bluetooth modules, I shouldn't need another computer for a while.
I guess growing up poor leads to an aptitude for these things. Back in '97, when I was sequencing music on both Mac and PC I was constantly overclocking to get the most out of my meagre spec'd computer.
I got burned trying to use both simultaneously.
I saved up and bought a SCSI Zip drive for £140, just so I could transfer files between Mac and PC.
When I wasn't doing this I couldn't use it to transfer files to friends with PCs because nobody else had a SCSI interface card.
On occasion I would dismantle my machine and install the card temporarily in their machine just to transfer something to them. Why not use CDs you ask? Our Macs at college didn't have burners.
I see it like this:-
Poorer people who just need a computer currently more than likely have a Windows PC. Maybe we'll see more Linux for this group in the future.
People with more money, who use a computer in much the same way as the aforementioned, probably have a Mac as a no-brainer tool to check the web, mails and sync stuff with their other Apple devices etc. Also as a style statement.
People in media often use Macs because they were once a more powerful and complete and ideal package and thus, a lot of the more commonly used professional media software grew from the Mac environment and some of it remains exclusive. Again, as a style statement.
Power users (including gamers and other 3D freaks) who tweak and install hardware incessantly to get optimal performance more than likely have a Windows PC, because of the software and tools available.
People who are seriously into computers and software development possibly take an interest in all OS environments but more than likely develop using Linux (on PCs or other development platforms) and also for Windows PC.
These are just my opinions and I don't extensively research this stuff. I merely throw it all out into the open for discussion and to maybe learn something from somebody more informed.
Who started this bleeding topic anyway?! You just know it'll go on forever
ps. Changing oil is a relatively easy task that many people used to do themselves but no more, because there are laws about disposal of such and garages have facility for this. So you may as well let them do it for you. I can only speak for the UK.