Windows? Security? Oxymoron?

Some very interesting reading in this story about Windows inherent lack of security being exploited. Read it and make your own judgment. I can hear the Windows apologists' shrieks now... "correctly configured, thoroughly protected, with Anti-Virus software, Anti-Spyware protection, Internet Security suites, blah, blah, blah...". For me, the "real world" situation is simple. These computers get used by ordinary people every day. Ranging from very young to very old, and everywhere in between. Those users don't want to invest something approaching the cost of the computer itself in additional software, in a (futile) attempt to glue "security" onto Windows. If your only answers are "solutions" which require knowledge and finances at the level of a corporate data center, then in fact you have no answers for average home users, so they are being left at the mercy of Internet attackers, and those attacks are likely to succeed a significant percentage of the time. The result? Over 90% of email traversing the Internet today is spam, or virus-infected, or both. Massive botnets assembled and waiting to launch the next attack on command. Spyware found on ridiculously high percentages of Windows systems.

Windows? Security? Clearly an oxymoron.

jw 9/2/2010