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Kip
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Post by Kip »

For what it's worth.....

Recently had my computer "cleaned" and everything was wonderful for a day. Amazingly quick and a joy to use again.

I have a Facebook account that I just used so I could have the option of keeping tabs on a few things like CWL, my wife and the kids. Otherwise don't use the thing. Well...last night downloaded a video calling app from Facebook. My computer is now loaded with viruses and behaving erratically.

I would highly recommend not downloading this, or if you have, to rid yourself of the video calling app from Facebook.

Those that know me know I am not to techie, but I have spent my morning running Malware and Norton to rid myself of the viruses and attachments that have found a new home. Deleting the program by itself was not enough.

No serious harm done, but what a royal pain in the arse!!
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Re: Facebook

Post by Jape »

I'm no computer whiz kid, either, so I feel for you.

My simple advice, get a Mac. I've now had one (and the same) for over four years, and there's no problem of it slowing down or getting full of all kinds of crap. No viruses, either. It's a good piece of tech for a-not-so-tech-savvy guy like me.
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Re: Facebook

Post by Berkshire »

Jape wrote:I'm no computer whiz kid, either, so I feel for you.

My simple advice, get a Mac. I've now had one (and the same) for over four years, and there's no problem of it slowing down or getting full of all kinds of crap. No viruses, either. It's a good piece of tech for a-not-so-tech-savvy guy like me.
Newer Macintosh operating systems, such as the Mac OS X, is built on the Unix kernel, which is one of the oldest and most secure operating systems available. Microsoft Windows is used by a lot more people than the Apple Mac OS. Virus writers are more familiar with the IBM platform and Microsoft Windows, which means its easier for them create a virus for that platform. Not a surprise, as many of the tools, scripts, and codes used to create viruses or other malware are designed for Microsoft Windows. The precise reason why like Jape I prefer a Mac.
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Re: Facebook

Post by Fnew »

The Mac advice is actually pretty good. I just replaced my Macbook because the physical case was finally starting to crack and the hard drive was starting to fail. It was 6 years old and still pretty speedy.

Facebook has gotten pretty bad with viruses and scams. Most of the pictures that you see that say something like "If I can get a gazillion likes my daddy promises to stop beating me and cheating on my mother" are actually ads placed by companies to generate business for them. Once they hit a certain number of "likes" the page will change to the real company and you are listed as "liking" them.
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Re: Facebook

Post by ianblyth »

I have used Windows for many years and never had a virus. Macs do have viruses as well but are not such a big target as there are significantly less of them. The advice to get a Mac is less useful than the advice to avoid Facebook.
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Re: Facebook

Post by akirk »

I am with Ian on this... after 27+ years of computer use I am yet to experience a virus - good anti-virus software, and a healthy amount of cynicism regarding what websites / software tell me - works well...

The biggest issue out there now is actually website spoofing / issues on websites - which are browser based and computer agnostic...

and Macs can get viruses - in fact until recently there were far bigger issues / exploitation opportunities on the Mac platform than on the PC as Apple brough a certain amount of arrogance to the table, despite others demonstrating the issues - these are now generally closed...

The reason for the lower number of issues on the Mac was simply that it is less economically viable to target macs than pcs as there are so many less of them...

ultimately though the issue is neither Facebook / nor the PC - it is the polished presentation of dodgy people / software which can fool us... the simple rule is don't download / open any software without a) researching it b) using reputable sites (and Facebook is not the same as the pages within which range in reputation) and c) checking all downloads with a decent bit of software...

then PC or Mac is simply preference...

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Re: Facebook

Post by Jape »

I find Mac nicer to use, because it really doesn't slow down much with age. With PCs the hard drive becomes defragmented and full of useless stuff that makes the computer sloooooowww...
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Re: Facebook

Post by theaub »

I've been a Mac user for four years after being on Windows based PCs for years. My MacBook is as fast today as when I bought it. It's never crashed, never frozen, is user friendly and at the end of the day does all I want it to. And it's never suffered from any virus problems. For me, that speaks volumes.
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Re: Facebook

Post by gwells »

#1 rule of facebook for me: no apps. ever. the only thing that ever connects with my facebook account is twitter. no games, nothing. don't trust facebook to vet their apps.

rarely have windows problem, but i'm anally secure about not clicking on things or allowing anything to download/install on my machine. as several have mentioned, windows is a much bigger target for malware. it's easier to infect a lot more machines. not sure how much more secure OSX is, but it's definitely less of a target.

don't have a huge preference, i've used both. but i've seen plenty of problems with macs crashing on the work side (graphic designer). i don't think they're particularly more stable, but they do crash cuter than the BSOD.
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Re: Facebook

Post by Peteo »

Oh man. A thread that has evolved into extolling the virtues of Macs. I could go on for a long long time, but I'll cut myself short and just say that I have been a Mac user since 1992 and I only went to PC during my years at university because they would not support me running a Mac. That said though, Steve Jobs is reportedly a major a-hole, and Bill Gates gives loads of money away through his foundation. So, take what you will, I guess. :)
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Re: Facebook

Post by Jape »

Sorry for bringing up the Mac thing. I'm by no means an Apple aficionado in the sense that many people are, i.e. totally crazy for anything Apple. I do have an iMac, iPhone and iPad Mini, but it's because I find them easy to use - mostly anyway.
When it comes to Facebook, I totally understand people not wanting to be there. For me it's a matter of being able to know something that's going on with people's lives. I hardly ever have the time to meet anybody live (and many Facebook friends are old childhood/teenage buddies who I don't nowadays spend time with anymore but who I still like), so it's nice to be in contact via this FB medium.
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Re: Facebook

Post by akirk »

gwells wrote:...but i've seen plenty of problems with macs crashing on the work side (graphic designer). i don't think they're particularly more stable, but they do crash cuter than the BSOD.
iOS 7 on the iphone has been reporting BSOD recently - now that is impressive!

A PC probably does need more housekeeping, but the flip-side is the ability to determine what software and how you run it - the Mac is increasingly being tied down - I suspect that their announcement this week to give away Maverick their new OS free of charge to anyone as an upgrade is simply to push people onto the same OS level - allowing them greater ability to tie the machine down more... it won't be long before they move to apps only on the desktop (as with ipad / iphone) - removing the flexibility of choosing what to run - you will only be able to run software Apple approves... 1984?!

Having used Macs from the Mac Plus (9inch screen in B&W) and PCs from the Amstrad 1512 for the last 25+ years, and having bought a Mac as my first computer, I would need considerable persuasion to ever go back to a Mac now - yes, they will be good for a lot of people who have limited functional needs from a computer (to be honest they could use an ipad other than the inconvenient keyboard), but they are increasingly useless for running a creation based business - as we create content from creative / design to coding, the PC is just so much stronger a prospect. (And the PC is still considerably cheaper for the same spec.)

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Re: Facebook

Post by Old Bald One »

To be honest, I have never been tempted to use Facebook, Twitter, or any of the so called social networking sites. Nor am I ever likely to be. If I need to be in contact with anyone, I use the telephone, text, email or Skype. Why does anyone need Facebook, etc.? All around me, I see individuals or even whole families, glued to their smart phones or tablets, ignoring everyone and every thing around them. That can't be healthy.
So, to get back to Kip'original post, the best way to avoid such problems would be to avoid Facebook entirely.
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Re: Facebook

Post by robinbarke »

My son was very late home in Melbourne one evening last week because of an accident on the Periipherique in Paris, delaying a conference call with HO. Had it not been for Facebook I wouldn't have known that! I limit my Facebook interface to my IPad. Does this device suffer viruses?

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Re: Facebook

Post by akirk »

The concept of a virus is perhaps a bit out of date now...
- originally it referred to malicious code which self-propogated to spread from computer to computer.
- it had to work in that way as computers were not all inter-connected
- now the big commonality is that our devices (computers / phones / tablets / etc.) are connected via the internet
- so now malicious code can be packaged / run without the need of a viral wrapping to spread it - we come to the malicious code, rather than it needing to find its own way to spread.

As such - the issues today should be considered to be malicious code, not viruses per se. And malicious code can occur in one of two ways:
- on your device, installing as keyloggers etc.
- online through the websites / apps you use - e.g. spoofing websites

If you look at an ipad / iphone - no, they won't get a traditional virus - their software is locked down - however they are still very vulnerable to malicious code and this can take a number of forms:
- a spoofed website is the same whatever device you use to access it (e.g. pretending to be your bank website and attempting to gain access to your financial details)
- iOS apps have a history of gaining access to information you might not be aware they have - Apple themselves being guilty of sending back all sorts of identifiable location information etc. - Other apps have been found to be doing things of an unexpected nature...
- website pages can still be highjacked
etc.

so, no, not a traditional virus - but yes, malicious code can still run - you can still be affected

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