Hard to believe things haven't changed much...

Topic: Hard to believe things haven't changed much... (Read 2511 times) previous topic - next topic

Hard to believe things haven't changed much...

January 03, 2011, 12:07:44 PM

I'm at my parents' house today and using mom's laptop. She doesn't have Firefox or Chrome installed, which means I'm stuck using IE. And it is amazing me just how many of the sites I regularly visit that are absolutely polluted with advertising The ads don't show up with Firefox because I use Adblock, so the pages look completely different without them. What amazed me even more though is that most of the banner ads are still slinging spyware (smilycentral) instead of offering legitimate products or services. Seriously, I can't imagine how anyone can suffer the internet using IE. One good thing has come of my experience though - it has steeled my resolve to keep this site ad free...

Hard to believe things haven't changed much...

Reply #1 – January 03, 2011, 12:22:39 PM

Quote from: Thunder Chicken;348246

One good thing has come of my experience though - it has steeled my resolve to keep this site ad free...

That's good to hear. I believe my old computer crashed because of IE and me not having any anti-virus software. It was always painfully slow loading pages even though I have the fastest internet service available here (or, I did when I got it), until it eventually just crashed. Someone else was controlling and watching my every move on my old comp. ( a trojan horse virus?)which was pretty scary, and every time I tried to delete it my computer would turn off . I am not very literate when it comes to computer stuff, but I'm glad I installed firefox and some anti-virus stuff, because after 2 months my new(er) computer is still great.

I try to stay away from all the sites that have all those ads. I am so glad (and fortunate) that this site is not like that.

Hard to believe things haven't changed much...

Reply #2 – January 03, 2011, 11:19:08 PM

IE =

I'm glad we are ad free too. Its more professional looking, not to mention it keeps from bogging down load times.

Hard to believe things haven't changed much...

Reply #3 – January 03, 2011, 11:21:28 PM

oh yeah, and are you aware that Mozilla also has an email program called...

....wait for it....

keep waiting....

....THUNDERBIRD!!!!

Its actually quite nice. I like it, it syncs up great with my gmail acct perfectly unlike Outlock Express which would only (willingly) sync up to "fancy" email servers.

Hard to believe things haven't changed much...

Reply #4 – January 03, 2011, 11:22:34 PM

hmmmm, I have a Mac...my whole world has been ad, and pop-up free since 2003

Hard to believe things haven't changed much...

Reply #5 – January 03, 2011, 11:23:40 PM

in fact... My PMs don't even pop up here....lol

Hard to believe things haven't changed much...

Reply #6 – January 03, 2011, 11:40:45 PM

Just wait. The more mainstream macs get, the more they will assimilate. There already a re-badged pc with a $3k markup. Computers almost make me sick now a days. Everyone has one, but many still know little to nothing about them. And 5 years after my "computer technician" position, nothing has changed. They just changed around all the icons and made bluetooth almost impossible to use.

Hard to believe things haven't changed much...

Reply #7 – January 04, 2011, 02:53:00 AM

I had Norton, worked awesomely well. It expired Saturday morning. Sunday morning my comp was hijacked pretty well out of my control. I use Mozilla, a firewall, and do NOT go to any pr0n sites or such, just pretty well this place, the corral, FTE, ffcars, FB, and a coupla other small forums, and I was surprised how quickly I got infected.

You absolutely can NOT get by long w/o an A/V program.

I use IE just once, that's to go to Mozilla's site and download ff. Never have tried Thunderbird, if it works great for gmail, I'll give it a go. I gave up a coupla years ago on outlook when I couldn't get it to sync with gmail. I pretty much don't even mess with yahoo or msn/hotmail anymore either. If someone needs to get ahold of me, it's pretty easy to get my cell number...hell, if you're a friend on fb, it's in my info...

If you need a free anvtirus program or other software, check out majorgeeks.com....it's a clean site with a lot of stuff, it's where I go mozilla and other programs. They don't really have the downloads, just the links to the authors' sites themselves.

Everything I know about computers I've learned myself. Not saying I can fix everything, but I'm competent enough to solve just about every issue I've encountered thus far with mine, save for burning movies. That is some arcane and simple stuff, but hard to find except on dedicated forums that take some fair amount of hoop jumping to get access to, lol

Hard to believe things haven't changed much...

Reply #8 – January 04, 2011, 07:08:36 AM

Quote from: Haystack;348318

There already a re-badged pc with a $3k markup.

That's funny.......

Hard to believe things haven't changed much...

Reply #9 – January 04, 2011, 10:26:53 AM

Quote from: Haystack;348318

Everyone has one, but many still know little to nothing about them.

Sounds like cars. :rollin:

I have to disagree about antivirus software though, I've found that it slows down your computer way more than I wish. I prefer a passive system that only runs when you tell it to. And know what you're clicking on while you're online.

Hard to believe things haven't changed much...

Reply #10 – January 04, 2011, 11:00:54 AM

Quote from: Haystack;348318

Computers. Everyone has one, but many still know little to nothing about them.

Quote from: dragon574444;348334

I have to disagree about antivirus software though, I've found that it slows down your computer way more than I wish.

Are you the guy who took seatbelts and horn out of the car so it could run faster? :D

Now I don't like paying a lot of money for an expensive program any more than the next guy does, but I also hate recovering/reformatting once a month, or less.
People used to bring their pc's to me, because they'd run slow, or not at all. After I got the gunk cleaned out, I usually found firewalls turned off, and a glaring lack of an a/v.

One in particular; the kid sat right beside me as I cleaned the bugs out, installed the antivirus, then a week later called to tell me it was acting up again. I went over to look at it, he'd uninstalled the a/v and was mad because he had infections again. Really, it's about like wearing a seat belt. Stupid not to.

I guess if you're the guy who drives 3 blocks and feel like you don't need it, well then, good for you, but shiznit happens, sooner or later. Same with an antivirus, no matter what little amount of sites you go to, there's always tracking cookies, bots, and the possibility for spyware and infections..
Not trying to pick on you, just sayin'....

For me, the slight, usually unnoticed reduction in speed is a very worthwhile tradeoff.

Hard to believe things haven't changed much...

Reply #11 – January 04, 2011, 11:17:18 AM

Nah, I'm the guy who doesn't buy a car with the seat belts that automatically go over your shoulder when you shut the door

I back up any important files that I can't do without, and I know what -not- to click on, and I'll run a full system scan every once and a while. I can buckle my own seat belt. And I love it when I get paid to get rid of viruses on other people's computers! I, of course, do recommend antivirus to them...

Hard to believe things haven't changed much...

Reply #12 – January 04, 2011, 06:15:52 PM

i have IE6 and no antivirus/spyware/malware and have not picked up a virus in years(and that was only once on my old comp, specifically meant for me).
only websites i dont visit are those social networking sites.

i really feel bad for you guys who shell out your hard earned money for that antivirus software .

Hard to believe things haven't changed much...

Reply #13 – January 04, 2011, 10:49:55 PM

Back in the day, I would go 6 months to a year without any type of anti-virus software. They were alot easier to get rid of back in the day as well. I only install and run spybot when I start getting pop-ups, and AVG free when spybot doesn't get it. I also like to use google chrome, now that firefox is so cruddy. Basically no matter how hard you try to protect yourself, if they want to get you, or your information, they can. I was taught at a young age, to never put anything on the computer, or internet that you would be bothered with someone else having. Its sad that things are this way, but they are.

As far as the whole mac thing goes, you can run windows, just like us. The hardware is identical. What you pay for is software. Apple software is designed to not run with anything else, so you have to buy things from them. Unless you go independent, you could also say the same thing about a PC as well. The only reason why mac's do not have the virus's that pc's do, is because there are quite a few less people using them. Virus's are usually designed by the people that write software themselves. That is why its so hard to defend against them.

Hard to believe things haven't changed much...

Reply #14 – January 04, 2011, 11:41:33 PM

the other great thing about mac os is that it doesn't share a registry, or common system files with other programs... you get a virus on a mac and it only affects the program that has the virus. pretty useless to write a virus that won't go anywhere but where you put it. I also never had to buy any software for my mac. it's either on it already, or free for download..... I also use the powerpc macs, not the intels. compared to my wife's new intel mac, mine is almost as fast as hers for being built it 2004, and still more stable then hers running the same OS.... I owned and ran a computer/ electronics shop for years in the 90s.....after building and repairing tons of PCs... I'll never own one again. not worth the aggravation to do what you can do with a simple click on a mac... I ran Linux for years before I went mac....It was always missing something and lacking compatibility with networking, and many PC programs, but mac delivered what was missing in 2002, and I never looked back......