Windows Infected in 12 Minutes!!

"The speed with which PC's can become infected has now shortened. If your Windows computer is not properly protected,it will take 12 minutes before it becomes infected, according to London-based security company, Sophos. They have detected 7,944 new viruses in the first half of 2005, a 59% increase over the same time span last year."

http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/1511

The speed with which PC’s can become infected has now shortened. If your Windows computer is not properly protected, it will take 12 minutes before it becomes infected, according to London-based security company,Sophos. Sophos has detected 7,944 new viruses in the first half of 2005, a 59-per-cent increase over the same time span last year.

IBM reported that phishing attacks had increased 226 per cent.
“IBM’s May Global Business Security Index attributes the increase in phishing attacks to the rise of zombie “botnets” being used to pump out massive volumes of the scam e-mail used in phishing attacks, as cyber-criminals attempt to increase their profits.
IBM’s most interesting find was a malware hijacking threat operating from the host name iframeDOLLARS.biz, which attempted to recruit partner websites to host a variety of malicious code to exploit Internet Explorer browsers. A successful infection would create numerous Trojans, back-door breaches and spyware installed on target computers.” Source:Globe and Mail

Here are some other interesting facts from the article.

* in May, more than 30 per cent of e-mail contained some form of virus — a 33 per cent increase over the previous month.
* In May, 68.7 per cent of inbound e-mail traffic contained some form of spam(unchanged over the last 3 months)

switch to Linux

Windows Software Ugly, Boring & Uninspired....CPU magazine has written a very straight-to-the-point editorial on the lack of quality and innovation in software for the mainstream OS. They compare it to the Mac, which is found in a much different light. Where has all the innovation gone?" From the article: "here's too much coal and not enough diamonds within the sphere of downloads. The greatest pieces of software are plagued by unintelligent design, and very few rise to the level of ubiquity. Windows users don't have a strong sense of belonging; there's no user community rallying around the platform. We use the computer, certainly, or is the computer using us?"

http://www.computerpoweruser.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles/archive/c0508/44c08/44c08.asp&did=844&aid=27197

Software for Windows is generally uninspired, generically cloned, and overwhelmingly wrought with lackluster (read: lousy) user interfaces. There's too much coal and not enough diamonds within the sphere of downloads. The greatest pieces of software are plagued by unintelligent design, and very few rise to the level of ubiquity. Windows users don't have a strong sense of belonging; there's no user community rallying around the platform. We use the computer, certainly, or is the computer using us?

A few months ago, Apple made a move to win over the minds, hearts, and fingers of the world's most curious users. Since iPod mania has stretched well beyond the confines of OS X, getting geeks to spend another $500 or so on a completely different experience was wise. It's not likely to attract a noticeable amount of folks, but enough to make a difference in mindshare. I already see it happening. The "coolest" software today seems only to have been developed for OS X. Prove me wrong, CPU readers.

One application that typifies the creative elegance that you can find on systems outside of Windows is Comic Life from Plasq (plasq.com). Be forewarned: It's likely to drive even the most die-hard Windows user to switch to OS X. It runs well, looks amazing, and does something so incredibly unique you'll find yourself wanting to take more digital pictures just to make another comic strip out of 'em. Yes, Comic Life turns your images into comics, and anybody can use it, as there's virtually no learning curve. Plasq is planning on developing a Win32 binary but is hard-pressed for an able developer at the moment (no surprise). That hasn't led me to keep it a secret, though; you need to know what you're missing because you're missing a lot.