Convince Me!

I quickly scanned the thread for any responses to the question of "win rot"

I've been using both platforms equally since '81. And the thing with applications in OSX is that Apple has always required that applications be entirely self contained. Generally the majority of apps still adhere to this standard. Installation is as simple as dragging the program from the removable media, to the HD. Also there isn't really an equal to the ‘DLL ****’ of windows either. In OSX the application isn't supposed to 'infect' the computer; where as in Windows it does. As for temp items, and logs those are taken care of in the background, usually at night, while idle.

When I want to fix something I use windows, when I want to get something done I use my Mac.

As for your reference to making preferences stick. It’s not always that difficult, as a matter of fact, usually it’s quite simple. To me though it seams rather rare, and most people don’t have problems like that. Unless of course they’ve been tweaking.

Really a lot of that stuff is taken care of by the fact that the apps are self contained.

As for the OS’s architecture. It’s been around allot longer than Windows. So there has been a lot longer to have the kinks worked out. Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s there was a big virus ‘run’ in UNIX. Which probably accounts for its currently inherent security and stability? Most people, who say that OSX hasn’t been around long enough to experience Windows style problems, don’t know their computer history.

AlexMacbook said:

I wouldnt swap this Macbook for the world, it hasnt crashed, hung or been affected by a virus in a whole day, beats Windows records lol.

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I don't mean to be rude, but this is exactly the sort of information that is all too common, and not useful at all. I haven't ever gotten a virus on the systems that I have administrated, and I haven't crashed in a very long time.


Thank you all for your information. Feel free to continue posting, though. You are helping me.

audioholic said:

I don't mean to be rude, but this is exactly the sort of information that is all too common, and not useful at all. I haven't ever gotten a virus on the systems that I have administrated, and I haven't crashed in a very long time.


Thank you all for your information. Feel free to continue posting, though. You are helping me.

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If you have never gotten a virus on a computer you adminstrated then you are very lucky first of all. I live on a college campus and work for a company with a large network and hardly anyone I know has been able to avoid being "infected."

As far as windows rot goes, I had to do an update the other day that required a restart, so my powerbook has only been on for 2 days 9hours and 54 mins. :-( But before the update I believe I was up to 31 or 32 days and experienced almost no slow down.

Just so you know I am not just blowing smoke, I used to use windows 2000 a lot and the longest I ever went was 13 days 9 hours without needing to restart.

Try installing Win XP with no service packs and connecting to the internet for updates. You will literally be swamped within minutes with spyware, adware and viruses and I am not exaggerating.

Most people have kept updating Windows over the last 5 years, so they aren't bothered by viruses and the like. It's only when you have to reinstall with your original CD from 2001 that you realise how bad WindowsXP really is security wise.

Alexis said:

Try installing Win XP with no service packs and connecting to the internet for updates. You will literally be swamped within minutes with spyware, adware and viruses and I am not exaggerating.

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Indeed. My personal record for getting a virus is less than a minute after a "fresh" install, lol.

While the Windows was still in the "installation screen" setting things up, it also installed all the network stuff and once I finally got to the desktop to actually do something there were already couple of viruses running around. The one that kept rebooting the machine and some other trojan/malware/whatever. I took the least sweatiest route and formatted the HD and installed the whole thing again. This time network cables unplugged.:spook:

I use both Windows and Mac daily, I prefer the Mac simply because I do not have to do anything once its on, and I know the software will just work, I do not have to worry about "DLL bla bla bla not found" or "error writing data" etc.

Though I never had a virus or any other serious problem I found it frustrating.

Macs are not perfect but definatly better in that respect, and certainly much simpler. This was frustrating at first because I had always been a person who liked to fiddle around etc in Windows but on a Mac you really do not need to and there is little to fiddle around with in most respects. The longest I have spent changing any settings was for the mouse , but on my old Windows I would spend much longer optimizing my Video card settings etc.

Anyway I would defiantly recommend a Mac, and remember to repair your disk permissions every so often, I do it about once a month now to keep all my programs running nice and smoothly .

please let us know what you decide! I personally prefer the Mac but again thats me.

I will say that using the system is easy, of course there is an adjustment period. But you seem switched on so it will not take too long. Once the shortcuts are down thats the hard part done. And remember the mac community is a very open and friendly one with many long term users that know the OS well, so finding out something is quite painless and quick.

I will say that I have had an ibook for a year and I bought a macbook pro a month ago. The Macbook pro and ibooks boot time is about the same. So if you dont need the power or the graphics card get the MacBook with a butt load of RAM.

It has happened to me once when I was loading Win98 that the system got exposed to a virus within minutes of it booting for the first time. I just haven't gotten viruses on my own computers.

As for the final verdict, I will probably buy the low-end MacBook, and a 2.5" external hard drive that I can put together for cheap(The MacBook doesn't have a second internal drive bay, does it?). But it likely won't be anytime soon, as $1200 is a lot for me to spend right now.

+ = Cheap external hard drive.

I use a slim IBM aluminum enclosure($0.99) with a 2.5, I don't use it much though. Since I wasn't going to run Bootcamp I partitioned my drive.

audioholic said:

I don't mean to be rude, but this is exactly the sort of information that is all too common, and not useful at all. I haven't ever gotten a virus on the systems that I have administrated, and I haven't crashed in a very long time.


Thank you all for your information. Feel free to continue posting, though. You are helping me.

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1) Be as rude as you like.
2) The information is all too common? It's so common because it is true, for the average computer user, the occasional virus infection is part of every day life and if you click a little quick it hangs and crashes. Im talking average users on average PC's, not administrators with massive knowledge. I like to think of myself as someone who knows about computers and whilst my computer doesnt become riddled with virus' and spyware a few do slip through the net.
3) You're welcome for the information.

What i love about my mac is you turn it on, it loads and as soon as the main screen comes up its ready to use, none of this doing things in the background whilst the main screen is displayed but not useable.

You click and things happen, no buzzing, no straining noises.

Its just reliable and thats that.

Its everything windows wants to be.

Ice Cream Man said:

I use a slim IBM aluminum enclosure($0.99) with a 2.5, I don't use it much though. Since I wasn't going to run Bootcamp I partitioned my drive.

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Do you have a link or something? Is this enclosure powered? I'm interested.

I'll probably storing a lot of music, and I don't feel like paying Apple a premium for a heavily marked up hard drive.

AlexMacbook said:

1) Be as rude as you like.
2) The information is all too common? It's so common because it is true, for the average computer user, the occasional virus infection is part of every day life and if you click a little quick it hangs and crashes. Im talking average users on average PC's, not administrators with massive knowledge. I like to think of myself as someone who knows about computers and whilst my computer doesnt become riddled with virus' and spyware a few do slip through the net.

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I was finding it difficult to get specific technical information on the pros and cons of Macs, because most arguments out there are riddled with fanboys on both sides of the fence. I didn't want to hear information like that over and over again; it's an argument I've already considered, and one I don't need to hear repeatedly.

You click and things happen, no buzzing, no straining noises.

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This has nothing to do with Windows, and it certainly isn't limited to PCs, and is not an indication whatsoever of how "good" a system is. A buzzing/straining noise is simply the hard drive seeking. Some companies have noiser hard drives than others. Every iMac I had ever used always had a horrid hard drive whine.