Topic 'Re: Do you still use Windows?' in forum 'Security' - dslreports.com

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 10:17:01 EDT

StuartMW posted : However Al Gore did invent Carbon Credits and has done very well from that.
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Don't feed trolls--it only makes them grow!

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 10:13:08 EDT

dave posted : And the guys that invented the internet agree with him.

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 10:09:16 EDT

AVD posted : my bad, he said he took the initiative to create the internet.

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 10:07:38 EDT

AVD posted :

said by antdude:

said by StuartMW:

Yeah, and one will never need more than 640KB of RAM either :p

(Yes, I know Bill Gates never said that)

Al Gore invented the Internet. (Yes, I know he didn't say that).

I thought he did.
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Re: Do you still use Windows?

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 10:06:54 EDT

antdude posted :

said by StuartMW:

Yeah, and one will never need more than 640KB of RAM either :p

(Yes, I know Bill Gates never said that)

Al Gore invented the Internet. (Yes, I know he didn't say that).

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 08:08:43 EDT

dave posted : Maybe, maybe not, but that was after Microsoft had negotiated the limit up from 512K -- the original IBM plan had the address space split evenly between RAM and IO.

So Microsoft was more right than IBM, though not right enough.

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 08:05:19 EDT

StuartMW posted : Yeah, and one will never need more than 640KB of RAM either :p

(Yes, I know Bill Gates never said that)
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Don't feed trolls--it only makes them grow!

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 08:00:04 EDT

dave posted : Not invented then. Or at least not in common production use.

A little later, likely in the time of PDP11 Unix, 2.5MB occupied a single rigid 14" platter. I still remember being given my own RK05 pack when I started work. How could I ever fill it up?

(I likely never did: in those days, storage expanded faster than my capability to fill it).

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 06:42:03 EDT

antdude posted :

said by chrisretusn:

So what. It's an obvious mistype. You know exactly what I meant.

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 00:34:38 EDT

AVD posted : not a floppy disk?

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 18:00:18 EDT

EGeezer posted :

said by StuartMW:

Yup. The "Golden Days" of computing are gone. Computers are just another appliance nowadays.

I don't miss rewiring boards, or using a wire wrap tool and land cutter on IBM System/3.

Loading programs onto IBM Series 1s was a great leap forward. We used a plug-in console with a touch pad to enter commands in hex to load software from an 8" diskette.

There was no backspace, so if you screwed up on an entry, you had to start over.

God, we're old... :D

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Re: Do you still use Windows?

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 17:21:41 EDT

chrisretusn posted : So what. It's an obvious mistype. You know exactly what I meant.
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Chris
Living in Paradise!!

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 23:05:48 EDT

antdude posted :

said by chrisretusn:

You can play on words all you like it does not change the fact the acronym DOS "Disk Operating System" refers to operating systems such as IBM-DOC, PC-DOS, MS-DOS and the several other like operation systems.

IBM-DOC?
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Ant @ AQFL.net and AntFarm.ma.cx. Please do not IM/e-mail me for technical support. Use this forum or better, »community.norton.com ! Disclaimer: The views expressed in this posting are mine, and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 17:10:51 EDT

Blackbird posted :

said by StuartMW:

Here ya go. Enjoy the memories :p
...

Yep... that's the puppy. Only ours had the metal shell removed, with a bunch of long extender cards, plug-ins, and wire bundles hanging out the top - looking for everything like a big blue dis-embowled cat.
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�The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.� A. de Tocqueville

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 16:37:40 EDT

StuartMW posted : Here ya go. Enjoy the memories :p

[att=1]
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Don't feed trolls--it only makes them grow!

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 16:31:47 EDT

Blackbird posted :

said by StuartMW:

Of course Real Programmers used binary code and entered their stuff via switches :D

(Did my share of that)

[att=1] ...

Actually, on a long-ago black project, we used an Intellec 8 (very much like your IMSAI illustration), but we got clever and loaded our programming in each morning using punched tape and a reader wired into the Intellec. We could alter our code via the Intellec's front-panel switches, and repunch a new tape via wiring from the Intellec into the Friden. The only problem was that the code made the rolls of punched tape classified, and in order to keep an audit trail of the programming changes over the several years of the project, the number (and size) of rolls of tape became quite cumbersome and bulky to keep in secure storage. But I can still conjure up the unique smell of that tape - it was lightly impregnated with some kind of oil that had its own 'fragrance'.

Ah, the good old days, when men were men and you could actually see your computer program...
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�The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.� A. de Tocqueville

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 10:26:07 EDT

StuartMW posted :

said by dave:

I'd guess germanium...

Prolly. Germanium diodes can't switch for sh*t but in those days nothing else could either. Modern silicon diodes can switch in ns.
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Re: Do you still use Windows?

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 10:21:55 EDT

dave posted : I meant my officemates back then thought that it was the end of civilization because I could not recite the abs loader from my head. (I was twenty-something at the time)

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 10:20:27 EDT

dave posted : Good question, and now I am totally bummed out because I can't find my PDP11 peripherals handbook.

I'd guess germanium, they weren't required to do anything fancy except conduct or not.

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 10:11:57 EDT

Hank posted : Hey, qualify the age for being a "kid", after all it becomes relative after one reaches a certain age. Our community thinks of "kids" being those under 55 years old.

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 10:04:32 EDT

StuartMW posted :

said by dave:

My officemates: "kids today don't know shit..."

Yup. The "Golden Days" of computing are gone. Computers are just another appliance nowadays.

BTW Silicon or Germanium diodes?
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Don't feed trolls--it only makes them grow!

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 09:51:21 EDT

dave posted : Yeah, I admit to never having had to memorize the PDP11 absolute loader. The ones I used had the 32-word diode ROM bootstrap. (My officemates: "kids today don't know shit...")

Keys'n'lights for kernel debugging, of course.

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 09:46:24 EDT

StuartMW posted : Of course Real Programmers used binary code and entered their stuff via switches :D

(Did my share of that)

All this "DOS" stuff is for wimps :p
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Don't feed trolls--it only makes them grow!

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 09:39:52 EDT

StuartMW posted :

quote:
You're gonna need a bigger boat!

Jaws (1975)
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Re: Do you still use Windows?

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 09:33:07 EDT

dave posted : I have no use for new-fangled UIs. The Friden Flexowriter was an earlier and better device.

(Better because you could write algol60 that looked like algol60: begin rather than BEGIN, 'begin', .BEGIN, etc.)

Plus if you had a boat that tended to drift, a Flexowriter was heavy enough to make a servicable anchor, unlike the flimsier ASR33.

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 09:12:53 EDT

StuartMW posted : Real masochists load the OS via paper tape using a Teletype ASR-33 at 110 baud :D
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Don't feed trolls--it only makes them grow!

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Sat, 10 Nov 2012 05:31:20 EDT

chrisretusn posted : You can play on words all you like it does not change the fact the acronym DOS "Disk Operating System" refers to operating systems such as IBM-DOC, PC-DOS, MS-DOS and the several other like operation systems.
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Chris
Living in Paradise!!

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 21:37:40 EDT

dave posted : DECtape, gods' own block-structured medium.

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 21:36:56 EDT

StuartMW posted : Paper or magnetic? :D

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 21:33:50 EDT

dave posted : Sure it is - DOS is just generic for 'disk operating system'. If it runs from rotating rust, and supports a file system, it's a DOS. We said 'DOS' long before MS-DOS.

Though I'll grant you that (as far as I remember), PDP7 Unix was a TOS.

And by that argument, Windows is a DOS, so it's meaingless to say that a DOS is simpler than Windows.

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 20:48:40 EDT

chrisretusn posted : I am well aware the are a lot of DOS.

Unix and Linux is not one of them.
--
Chris
Living in Paradise!!

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 18:33:21 EDT

goalieskates posted :

said by AVD:

is UNIX a DOS?

You're reading it wrong. Try "or" instead of "and". Unless that's deliberate. ;)

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 16:02:30 EDT

AVD posted : is UNIX a DOS?

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 15:59:17 EDT

anon posted :

said by chrisretusn:

said by antdude:

Or any DOS (not just MS'), Linux/UNIX, etc. )

Hmm... Your sentence seems to imply that Linux, Unix is DOS.

It is not.

There are a bunch of other DOS, like PC-DOS, DR-DOS, and more.

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 15:44:52 EDT

AVD posted : what is DOS?

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 01:13:19 EDT

chrisretusn posted :

said by antdude:

Or any DOS (not just MS'), Linux/UNIX, etc. )

Hmm... Your sentence seems to imply that Linux, Unix is DOS.

It is not.
--
Chris
Living in Paradise!!

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 09:19:40 EDT

antdude posted :

said by Dustyn:

said by GlassyMcPete:

Is there and OS that is simpler than Windows in what it does and what it installs where and where the user the can easily be in control or what is happening on the machine she owns?

Sure. MS-DOS.

Or any DOS (not just MS'), Linux/UNIX, etc. ;)
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Re: Do you still use Windows?

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 07:42:48 EDT

AVD posted : I'm gonna go there. All you need is a rock solid firewall and you are good to go.
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Re: Do you still use Windows?

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 19:19:33 EDT

anon posted : Moved to Mac and still use Avast. Not running a security suite on a system is like leaving your doors unlocked because you think you live in a safe neighborhood. Never going to happen, no matter what. When we move to AI systems with built in aware self defense, give me a call and I'll stop using security software. :p

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 17:20:59 EDT

StuartMW posted :

said by Dustyn:

Sure. MS-DOS.

And I have PC-DOS 2.10 through MS-DOS 6.22 in VM's :)
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Re: Do you still use Windows?

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 17:16:45 EDT

chrisretusn posted : One of the reasons I still use Windows; in a VirtualBox virtual machine.
--
Chris
Living in Paradise!!

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 17:13:46 EDT

Dustyn posted :

said by GlassyMcPete:

Is there and OS that is simpler than Windows in what it does and what it installs where and where the user the can easily be in control or what is happening on the machine she owns?

Sure. MS-DOS.
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Re: Do you still use Windows?

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 15:04:17 EDT

EUS posted :
Even if not gaming, I'd need a copy of windows just for my tax software. WINE virtualization has not worked, and no freakin' way I'm doing my taxes online with a string of unlisted "strategic partners" that would have access to my tax info, that would be stored in the cloud, who do not guarantee in any way that my info is safe from theft/abuse.
So that's "what's wrong" with some of us.
--
~ Project Hope ~

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 12:42:52 EDT

RayGeode posted : I have been with microsoft since 1990 and I had 1 virus which probably came from an unsafe sharing user. 100% use common sense, don't click on any email's you don't recognize the sender, and never click an .exe you were sent. I use AVAST free for home use, and pay for my office use whether AVAST or other.

It's a small price to pay for using the cheapest and most widely used ( therefore compatible ) OS in existence. Lots of free or cheap programs etc, and WIN7 is stablest and best by far. Why fool with anything else?

said by GlassyMcPete:

.....something that can be hacked in a day or two....

???? Do you think that someone is waiting for you to fire up your new windows laptop, then gets to work hacking , and in a day you are toast? Forgive me, but this naive point of view only points more to the fact that you really need something simple to use. Not a mix mash of operating systems unless you want to devote much of your next 6 months learning the finer points of computer operation.

The truth is that the virus code to make your computer toast has been written and deployed already, but just like mud puddles, you just sidestep them and they never get you.

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 02:06:02 EDT

ashrc4 posted :

said by GlassyMcPete:

I really don't feel like I am in control of what goes on on my computer which worries me since I have tax data, customer info, etc.

Guessing your a Tax Accountant and therefore would advise that you have someone set-up your computers properly.
Not sure of all the legal requirements but transferring tax details from home to work etc require certain rules/procedures to be followed as a start.

It may come done to who is available to advise/set-up your system and their preference. Mac/Windows. And even the type of software you can run comfortably for your needs.
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Re: Do you still use Windows?

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 20:15:54 EDT

antdude posted : I personally use varieties: Windows (32-bit XP Pro. SP3 to 64-bit 7), Mac OS X (10.5.8 - 10.8.2), and Linux (Debian). They all have their strong and weak points including in security. Pick what is best for your needs and go from there.

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Sun, 04 Nov 2012 15:00:41 EDT

quatrix posted : Computer literacy and (un?)common sense are more effective than running as a limited user, antivirus, and software firewall combined. The vast majority of infections don't happen automatically without your knowledge; most of the time, an ignorant user intentionally takes some action that gets them into trouble. People are always warned not to open suspicious emails or links, but simply OPENING those things is rarely a problem.

Re: Do you still use Windows?

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 11:18:14 EDT

PrntRhd posted : Windows is not the main problem right now.
Oracle Java and Adobe Flash and Adobe Reader are much greater issues.
»No MS products on Kaspersky's top 10 vulnerabilities list