Internet gurus...I need HELP!

I totally agree with Mol.  I love the PC.  I am a programmer by trade and I think that if you are technical enough to resolve PC issues then the PC is a more flexible and extensible platform . . not to mention way way cheaper. 

I have to agree. The Mac is great if you aren't interested in what's goin' on under the hood but a pc is way more flexible and cheaper. It's two different approaches and one isn't inherently any better than the other, or more evil as some fanboys would have you believe. Apple is a hardware monopoly and pc is a software monopoly, just pick the one that works best for you.

Ah yes the old security argument, I love that one. No Mol the reason Windows gets hacked more is that it is LESS secure. I make my living breaking into computer systems, I own windows boxes in about 5 minutes on average, linux about 20, mac I have only got in once and that was because the person using it left some remote access on that they should not have. Vista will go a long way in improving the hopelessly broken security model that is XP/98/2k.

I run windows on my Mac about once a week to test out web sites with IE. It works great using Parallels or if you want you can dual boot.


Bill, official fanboy and Steve Jobs clone 

OK Bill,

I have to defer to you on the security deal, but I still think my argument makes good sense.

Anyway, if you are happy and getting what you want done, who cares what you use right?

MolBasser

Yeah no worries Mol, my personality makes me feel the urge to correct any and all perceived errors. Thus the peril of being an INTP on the internet! 

Bill,

Is that 20 minutes to own an average linux desktop, or a nailed down server with current security updates and absolute minimum services running? Is this done remotely, or locally? I have to ask, as I've built and admined a couple Linux boxes that lived in the open internet, and saw hundreds of thousands of crack attempts. And from the results of all the tools I used to determine system integrity, none were sucessful.

Regards,
Scott

And I'm not going to do the Linux advocacy thing. Those who can and want to, will migrate to Linux/BSD/Mac. Those who can't/don't want to, will use the de facto standard. But I absolutely don't buy the "To hard to use" argument against Linux. My mother ran Linux and didn't even know it. She just uses Firefox and Thunderbird, and the icons on her Linux desktop looked exactly like the icons that appeared on her Windows desktop.

Regards,
Scott

Holy Cow.....now I know who the "Geek Squad" are...... 

From a web site (jsut so you know)     

12/19/2006 The Five Pillars of Macintosh

1. Faith and public proclamation in the Superiority of a Mac in all facets of personal computing.

2. Establishment of daily Mac usage and enlightenment.

3. Concern for and giving donations to Mac jihadists.

4. Self-purification through fasting so that money could be saved towards the purchase of the next big thing in Mac;

5. The pilgrimage to (www.freewareosx.com) at least once in your lifetime.

Add to del.icio.us

Bill,

Is that 20 minutes to own an average linux desktop, or a nailed down server with current security updates and absolute minimum services running? Is this done remotely, or locally? I have to ask, as I've built and admined a couple Linux boxes that lived in the open internet, and saw hundreds of thousands of crack attempts. And from the results of all the tools I used to determine system integrity, none were sucessful.

Regards,
Scott

Yeah Scott you clearly know what you are doing. I run  Linux for most of my servers (although this box is FreeBSD) but most linux boxes I find, that fall into the "Gone in 60 seconds" category where pet projects someone setup 4 years ago and has been forgotten in the corner somewhere. Also to be fair I have not done much network hacking in the past 4 years so my numbers are somewhat dated. Breaking into web sites (legally!) is much more fun!

Bill,

See, that's the thing. I KNOW that the boxes I set up must be vulnerable somehow, they just didn't get hit by the right person. Said right person would probably not leave traces. I was just hoping that the security methodologies adopted by recent distros, combined with updates, and being moderately paranoid would significantly increase the amount of time and/or effort and/or skill needed to get in. But I know that there's a lot more involved in making a seriously hardened server.

Scott

mac I have only got in once and that was because the person using it left some remote access on that they should not have.

Glad I got a Mac! 

Z

Bill,

See, that's the thing. I KNOW that the boxes I set up must be vulnerable somehow, they just didn't get hit by the right person. Said right person would probably not leave traces. I was just hoping that the security methodologies adopted by recent distros, combined with updates, and being moderately paranoid would significantly increase the amount of time and/or effort and/or skill needed to get in. But I know that there's a lot more involved in making a seriously hardened server.

Scott

Well there is always a way but keeping your machines patched and limited the services you have running will greatly reduce that possibility.

Oh and everyone leaves a trace. I have co-authored a few books about tracking them down:

http://www.amazon.com/Hackers-Challenge-Network-Security-Forensic/dp/0072226307/sr=1-9/qid=1166680540/ref=sr_1_9/002-9918912-6210409?ie=UTF8&s=books

http://www.amazon.com/Hackers-Challenge-3-David-Pollino/dp/0072263040/sr=1-10/qid=1166680540/ref=sr_1_10/002-9918912-6210409?ie=UTF8&s=books

http://www.amazon.com/Hackers-Challenge-Incident-Response-Scenarios/dp/0072193840/ref=pd_sim_b_2/002-9918912-6210409

Yes I am THAT much of a geek!

 Bill that is hardcore!   Have you seen these?  You might be able to pull these off! http://www.pickyourshoes.com/casual/adidas_adicolor_bl4_stan_smith_tron.htm

Damn Bill.   I guess I now know the difference between a real "Hacker" and  a "H4x0r" (a.k.a. script kiddie).   Of course your books have probably contributed to the many of the "H4x0rs" out there (when they read them and get ideas), so maybe you loose a little cred there.  On the other hand, your books make the rest of us safe (if we read them) from the "H4x0rs" so thanks.   Either way, I had no idea.

Brian

I'm in the IT business, and while I do not support desktop users, I do see our IT departments email on key issues. DO NOT UPGRADE TO IE7 WHEN WINDOWS UPDATE REQUESTS TO DO SO !!!!  Users that have gone to IE7 are having all sorts of issues

I use Firefox exclusively, except for two websites that will not work with anything but IE on a PC.

Regards,
Scott

I installed IE 7 a few weeks ago when prompted. It was a nightmare! Not as bad as the Windows ME fiasco, but nearly that bad. I found instructions on how to uninstall it and restore IE 6:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/927177

After I did this, IE 6 was back and I have no problems. You won't lose your favorites either.