You get one chance, and Kaspersky blew it.

[andrewducker]

I got a new laptop, due to my old one progressing even further down the spiral of technology fail*. Having searched through a wide variety of places I discovered that Sainsbury's had an i3 with 4GB of RAM and a Blu-Ray player for £290**. And as we had some Nectar Points that would knock another £50 off of that, I couldn't resist

Comments

[liam_on_linux]

Windows? Voluntarily? :-o

[andrewducker]

I use an OS to allow me to run applications. Windows does so incredibly smoothly, with access to things that aren't available on any other platform.

Why wouldn't I use Windows?

[bohemiancoast]

I think the two main reasons to use OS X are (1) because you think an OS has the capability to be more than an application launcher, and (2) because the integration of hardware and software makes the computers work better for longer.

I think both of those are less true than they used to be -- I increasingly do everything in a web browser (and it's not Safari), and OS X is far less tightly integrated and designed than it was ten years ago. Similarly, I understand that non-Mac computers have better longevity than they used to. When I switched to Mac I had never kept a Windows machine working for more than four years. The first Mac laptop I bought is still in daily use (admittedly not by me) and has never had any hardware problems beyond a sticky catch and a battery replacement. It was new in 2003.

[andrewducker]

I haven't lost a desktop to hardware failure in a very long time - they just got replaced because games needed better hardware.

And generally I'd rather my tools were loosely tied together, rather than there being a One True Way of doing things. Because that way is never, ever, the way I like to work.

[ext_208701]

Spotify did screw up once before and distribute viruses through their adverts on websites.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12891182

if I was trying to build a botnet the spotify download servers would be once of the best places to do it from.

[hirez]

[***]

Adverts? In s/w you've paid for? I...what?

[strawberryfrog]

The spotify software that allows you to stream music does not require a payment. Getting rid of the adverts does. Hey, it's a business model.

[hirez]

Right. But ads in a paid-for version of Orifice? What fresh hell is this?

[andrewducker]

This would be the free version of Office.

[fanf]

Is there any reason not to use Microsoft Security Essentials?

[andrewducker]

Exactly what I'm about to do!

[bracknellexile]

According to this: Dennis Technology A-V Tests (PDF) you'll get a lot more false positives and a lot less true positives with MSE than you will with just about everything else.

El Reg ran an article on these tests and they say that the company testing was unsponsored by any of the products tested so, in theory it's an unbiased test. I'll take that with a large pinch of salt but whichever way you slice it, using MSE alone is just asking for trouble.

[minnesattva]

I downloaded Spotify on a new Windows computer on Thursday and it seemed fine. It's my work computer so I would not think it that hilarious if viruses were found in Spotify tomorrow :)