Banctech? (spelling is wrong I'm sure)

 

I know you were asking between the two, and I noticed that a couple of folks said Mac.

I'll just relay a little story here.

I have both windows and mac machines although I almost exclusively use the Mac.

My mom has a Dell and for the past three months she has been experiencing what a number of folks have posted about here, she has had so much spyware and crap surreptitiously places by untold sites when surfing the web that her PC became unusable (I beleive Bill Murray can relate to this).

Anyway, I decided to buy her the new Mac Mini, but I decided to test drive it first, what with it coming with 256meg of ram as standard.

Went to the Apple store the day it came out (Jan 22) and put one thru it's paces. Even with only 256meg (you can get it with up to a gig of ram if you so desire) it was impressive. I opened safari, had it searching for a ton of news stories on different tabs, then opened photoshop while it was doing that. I also had Mail open and Microsoft word open. No problems, which is a bit of a testament to OS X.

As I have said in the past. I use my Mac almost exclusively now, and always use it to surf the net. I've never had a virus problem, never had spyware, and everything works (not to mention that video confrencing is much easier).

The Mac Mini is no speed deamon, but if all you are planning to do is word processing, spreadsheets, and surfing the web, it's worth considering, especially since it comes with an impressive software aray prepackaged. My mom is loving Apple works, it reads all her microsoft office docs and so far, no problems.

After playing with it, we also decided to get about a half dozen of them for my friends business. The receptionist and other staff at his company require net access, and their machines have been freezing up due to malicious little presents deposited by our friends in virtual land. This will be perfect for them and they netwrok up no probblem.

If you and your wife are going to do a lot of web surfing, it's the way to go.

If you are going to do a ton of graphics and video stuff then get what I got, a dual proc G5 with 23 or 30 inch cinema display. It's almost better than sex!

OK, carry on.

 

Not to start a PC vs Mac debate.....that's been done but.

The Mac makes a nice email/web/graphics machine. It handles it's niche market well but a Mac just doesn't have the support and options available that a PC does.

MAC does well because of a few key things.

1. Built on a Unix platform and locks users and software out of system critical areas.

2. Tiny installed base makes it too small a target for virus and spyware creators to waste their time.


I get emailed (almost daily) exploits and flaws on operations systems, browsers, etc. The Mac OS has their fair share but so few people use them, the flaws generally don't get exploited.

This doesn't mean MACs are bad. Just too insignificant in sheer numbers to bother with.

IE is a target magnet....I've used Firefox for Windows for months and have zero spyware,etc.

In most cases the problem is the user.

Jim

 

I was about to say exactly what vader just mentioned. The sheer number of Windows based PCs out there makes it a big target, therefore all the people that write bugs write them for Windows since it will get alot more people infected and do what the malicious code does...and I dont really want to get into "Windows is full of bugs" because like vader said, Macs have their fair share too, they just dont get exploited as much and on such a large scale.

Also, that said, I have been running Windows since RC2 (pre-retail) and I have never gotten a virus.
Every computer needs to run a firewall, and this is where you run into problems. When someone new to computers looks at PCs, Windows based PCs are cheaper. And then they go and plug them into the internet, with no firewall, no anti-virus software, etc.

And the firewalls and antivirus are not at all hard to keep running. I barely ever touch them. Just install, let the program run, and make sure you update it (most of them will let you do this automatically).

 

Most of my friends are virus magnets, it seems every month their pc is in the shop or over at "cousin Bob's place getting fixed because of a nasty virus or worm.

I on the other hand never get virus's, and I mean never.
It's not because I'm so smart or have an inner sense, I just follow a set of rules I've laid out for myself, always have the latest anti-virus software running, check for spyware, and do weekly maintenance.

When my wife first started using a computer for her email and window shopping, she was getting them all the time.
I'm not knocking women or anything, but my wife and all her stupid friends "CC" umpteen jokes to each other ever day of the week, nearly all of them have attachments.
None of the bone-heads understand the "BCC" feature.

Ever since I sat her down and gave her some lessons in "computer decorum", she hasn't gotten a single virus.
I don't blame her, I mean all of us had to learn at some point. Sometimes it's just frustrating.

I never open attachments unless it's something I've specifically requested, and trust the sender. Even then I'll virus scan it just to be sure. A little sommon sense goes a long way.

As far as these companies like Norton and MacAfee, I have to hand it to them, the scam they have perpetrated on the masses is sheer brilliance.
It's the equivalent of some Mafia member offering the owner of a corner store "broken leg" insurance.
"Pay us $100 a week, and we won't break your leg"
Every year we buy the latest Norton's, and it's the best form of legalized extortion ever created.

 

"As far as these companies like Norton and MacAfee, I have to hand it to them, the scam they have perpetrated on the masses is sheer brilliance.
It's the equivalent of some Mafia member offering the owner of a corner store "broken leg" insurance.
"Pay us $100 a week, and we won't break your leg"
Every year we buy the latest Norton's, and it's the best form of legalized extortion ever created."


This is a little disingenuous. Granted smart browsing habits and precaution will eliminate the vast majority of risks but we all, yes even IT experts can slip and click a link, open a message, etc and expose ourselves to viruses. You don't need to double click a file attachment, you can just view an HTML email and code can be executed.

While there are alternatives to Norton and McAfee which are cheaper or free (AVG) they provide a service and protection worth the money. It isn't extortion, especially for the naive.

 

if you have to go with a major pc brand, then go with the Dell. Load Win2K and it should run pretty good. XP SUCKS!!

XP+Celeron=AMD k6-2 350 performance.

 

My 2 cents:
1. Go with the Dell
2. Get a bigger (or a second) Hard Drive. 20 Gb is not enough
3. XP is more hardware friendly than Win2K. (in my experience) My hardware set up without any problems and with hardly any effort on my part.
4. Get a good firewall and anti-virus package. XP service pack 2 has both but you may feel safer using a third party package. I use Zone Alarm for the firewall and Norton Antivirus. ZA even tells me when Norton's needs updating.

 

XP is by far MS's best OS yet (Other than good ole DOS, anyone remember edlin?). They have vastly increased the performance and stability of Win 9X with the home edition. The Pro edition adds a ton of hardware support and remote options for IT administration.

2000 was a good OS but XP is better.

 

Dude, get a Dell!

 

I suppose it's all up to the individual. I never had any problems with 2000 and it ran twice as fast as XP. If you must have all the pretty little graphics and buttons then XP is for you. You take the exact same hardware and load XP on one, and 2000 on the other. The 2000 box will run circles around XP. So, I guess it depends on your definition of better.

 

Out of the box I agree 2000 is faster. Once you turn off all that eye candy and tweak XP it is (at least for me) faster and more reliable than 2000. YMMV

Jim