"Finally, Macs are much safer than Windows PCs on networks and the Internet. This last advantage is more important now than ever before, with virus counts in the millions and spyware literally sprouting out of every corner of the Web.
These are important advantages, but only the third one, the issue of safety, could be considered a deal-breaker. In the many weeks that I used my Windows 7 laptop for daily computing tasks, I was very much aware of the dangers lurking on the Internet.
I tried three or four different antivirus and spyware-detection suites, but still lost all connectivity when a virus knocked out my PC’s networking. I had to reinstall Windows 7 from scratch.
This simply doesn’t happen on a Mac. As attractive as Windows 7 is, it remains in Apple’s shadow in the crucial area of Internet safety."

Windows and Malware

In most ways, Windows 7 is as easy to use as a Mac is, and in a few other ways — such as the way it can heal itself when problems arise — Windows 7 leaps ahead of Apple’s Mac.

As easy to use as a Mac? -I'm not sure about that.
Windows 7 has a 'self-healing' feature? Doesn't OS X have something similar?

Big story in our local paper this morning warning people about how difficult it is to upgrade from XP to 7--and even from Vista its not being a piece of cake.

What happened to the self healing ?

Windows- heal thyself !!

Windows- heal thyself !!

Windows !!

Well win7 did not heal it self now did it , the guy had to re-install it.

Yes, OS X (UNIX) has that feature - the daily crons.

An online friend told me today that it took 5 hours to install Windows 7.

Is that what happened, or should we read as: "I'm a complete total toolbag and installed an anti-virus package that was not designed for, certified for or tested to run on Windows 7, which consequently screwed with my networking and I'm too stupid to figure out how to fix it so I'll just say a virus screwed up my system and reinstall the whole thing like a moron."

I run Vista with no malware/antivirus (biggest wastes of money you can buy), UAC on default (yes folks you really should leave it on!), firewall on default and have yet to ever experience malware or virus of any kind, despite the machine being connected to the internet nearly 24/7/365. The second comment poster seems to be right on the money. I'm tempted to believe the guy turned off his networking and didn't know how to turn it back on.

I've also yet to really ever have to reinstall an OS, I'm not sure how it's even possible to screw a system up so much that you need to. Unless you're an MCSE that is, then you don't know how to fix anything.

Nana read where one reviewer took 7 hours.

Sarge... well you must be damm good, I know numerous people who've reinstalled Windows (2000, XP, Vista) from scratch.. Not saying all do, but there are many.. it's not very rare. Your situation is rare.

Who knows what caused the problem... point is he admitted one... if a Tech reviewer can have these problems, what does "average PC Joe" experience ? I'm just asking.

Well maybe your just a lucky guy one out of a million others

A tech reviewer should be at least somewhat savvy with what they are reviewing, and not simply come to conclusions. You can't help idiocy, there are people that have trouble navigating the menus on microwave ovens too, and how many VCRs went years on end blinking 12:00? Those folks can't run Mac OS X either.

I'm not sure my situation is rare either. After all, Giz posted a few days ago he's used Vista ever since starting his new job and "hasn't had any problems with it". I believe there have been others here that have posted the same thing.

People badmouth windows simply because it's windows, the same way people badmouth OS X or other Apple products. Perhaps it's fairer on Windows side since until XP, windows was a huge steaming pile of crap. The original OS X was a big steaming pile too, but I defended it.

The problem is people were told long ago "Oh, do a fresh install, that fixes it!" No, it doesn't. Reinstalling your OS is always the *absolute last resort*. I've known people that have forgotten their password to their email and ended up reinstalling their OS!

well we know some supposed "Tech Reviewers" are idiots too !

I don't know this guy, so I can't say.

I'll admit the Windows "reinstall" may be the lazy way out, but Windows hasn't been very user friendly in the past and maybe in many cases it was the best option.

I've never had to reinstall a Mac OS from OS 7.0 through SL, yet I hear on a regular basis, "I have to reinstall Windows this weekend." from Windows users. Seems that is the only repair method they know.

This is a true story - one of my wife's friend's PC had the sound stop working. We were going to her place anyway for a party over the weekend so I told her I'd fix it when we got there.

Well, she had her neighbor come look at it. Her neighbor who is a proud MCSE. She told me he couldn't fix the problem, and he told her that he'd have to reinstall everything, and would do it in a few days. I said, well let me look at it anyway.

Checked the sound card, sure enough driver conflict. No problem. Uninstall sound card, download new driver, install driver and presto. Sound card reports A-Okay, but still no sound. Hrmmm... Well then I checked the wires and the wire from the comp to the speakers had been chewed... turned out the problem wasn't windows but the dog!

I should have let the guy waste his time reinstalling the OS 10 times, but I settled for making her call him an idiot instead.

At lease it was the dog if the volume was turned all the way down thats another thing

I beg to differ Sarge,

he wasn't MCSE... he was MCSFU !!

.

Windows killer feature

"Which brings me to my main point: Windows 7 is a killer version -- but not for the reasons you think. It's not because it fixes Vista's many faults -- it doesn't. Rather, it glosses them over with fresh paint and behavioral tricks.

It's also not because of the new UI. Although I'm a huge fan of the new task-bar-driven interface, much of the underlying concept is merely a rip-off of the Mac's aging dock metaphor. And it's not because Windows 7 is somehow lighter than Vista -- testing shows it takes up about the same amount of RAM when executing an identical workload."



Only 1 of 7 Trojans blocked !! OOPS !

IT Pro: Windows 7 vulnerable to 8 of 10 viruses tested ! Oops again !!

Well that guy called every MS OS a Killer I guess that win7 can multi task thats a killer

whaddya talking about, Steve ?

Win 7 can multitask !?

Windows has been able to be co-infected by multiple viruses since Win95 !!

. . . . and that is a "Killer" !

i installed Windows 7 over my Windows XP in Boot Camp the other day (so, in essence it was a clean install). it was a very fast process and i think it was about the same as the Snow Leopard installation. i'd guess 30 - 40 minutes for both or thereabouts.

i actually like Windows 7. not as much as Snow Leopard, but i have no qualms about rebooting into Windows 7 to do my statistical work. Windows 7 is better that some previous versions of OS X, imho.

Well it better BEEEEE , took em what 8 years or something .

I think there's a lot of variability in user experience ... that doesn't bode well for M$... NO consistency and a history of problematic upgrades. I've heard both good and bad at about a 50-50 ratio. .. not too stellar. I've even heard problems upgrading from VISTA which is supposed to have the highest success rate.

Most will get Win7 with a new computer. . . . esp if they have XP.
Who wants to reinstall all their programs too ? That can be a problem if someone has several "upgrade " disks and can't find the original program install disk.