Reality Bites
Not All “Viruses” Are Viruses: 10 Malware Terms Explained Most people seem to call every type of malware a “virus”, but that isn’t technically accurate. You’ve probably heard of many more terms beyond virus: malware, worm, Trojan, rootkit, keylogger, spyware, and more. But what do all these terms mean? This was posted on Google+…
What do you think? Highly accurate or…?
Something I’ve noticed about the proliferation of computer viruses… (Larger Version of the Chart) [via Reddit]
How to Make Free Android or iPhone Ringtones From Any Youtube VideoHow to Configure Your Route…
Lifehacker’s tech-savvy readers are the first people on speed-dial when it’s time to heal an infected PC, but how much do you really know about viruses, spyware, scareware, trojans, and worms? Here’s a…
If the ‘I’m a Mac’ ads are to be believed, one of the biggest selling points of the Apple computer is its supposed invulnerability to viruses, spyware, and other evil programs. Of course, those who follow these sorts of things know such a claim is misleading at best. OS X has seen a number of viruses and other nasties over the past several months, as the OS has gained popularity. And now Apple seems to finally be admitting, if rather quietly, that OS X is not quite immune to the Internet’s more nefarious elements.
Apple confirmed last Friday, to PC Magazine, that the latest version of OS X (10.6, or Snow Leopard) features a built-in anti-malware tool. Although OS X has had a feature called ‘file quarantine’ since the 10.4 days, the latest update automatically detects certain Mac-specific threats and suggests that the user quarantine them.
To start, Apple will only detect two different types of malware, but some are already questioning how effective Apple could possibly be at defending OS X against online threats. Apple doesn’t have a great track record at promptly addressing security holes, after all. In fact, some may see (we among them) the Cupertino-based company’s new anti-malware move as an unwitting challenge to online miscreants that could result in an explosion of harmful, Mac-targeted software. [From: BetaNews and PC Magazine]
Apple Quietly Admits Macs Get Viruses originally appeared on Switched on Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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1 in 8 cancer cases worldwide is caused by infections, study suggests | CBC News https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/cancer-infections-9.7361622 #cancer #infections #viruses #study #health View Original Article
Is Cold Weather the Reason You’re Always Sick in Winter? https://www.vice.com/en/article/is-cold-weather-the-reason-youre-always-sick-in-winter/ #cold #weather #flu #health #winter #viruses View Original Article
Report: RFK Jr.-Led HHS Has Shut Down Federal Lab Studying the World’s Scariest Germs https://gizmodo.com/report-rfk-jr-led-hhs-has-shut-down-federal-lab-studying-the-worlds-scariest-germs-2000596990 #RFKJr #federal #lab #shutdown #germs #viruses #unitedstates View Original Article
Researchers create a ‘trojan-horse’ virus to eliminate cancer in mice Scientists in the United Kingdom have developed a new therapy in which cancer-killing viruses hide inside the immune system of mice. The researchers successfully demonstrated that macrophages (immunit… This was posted on Google+…
Hard drives 1979-2011 [9GAG]
Online Safety: Who Says Macs Don’t Get Viruses?How To Anonymize and Encrypt Your BitTorrent Traffic3 Easy Tips to Fix Ugly Edges When Removing Backgrounds
One of the features that many people love in Chrome is the minimal UI at the top of the browser. Want to minimize it even more? Then you will definitely want to make use of the new feature added to the Experimental Features page.
To get started enter
Did you know that PowerPoint 2010 has a feature called Broadcast Slide Show with which you can share your presentation through the web to another computer, smartphone or any other device with a browser? Here’s how to use it.Improve Your Photography …
Researchers at a Cambridge lab have found that our bodies can fight viruses not only outside cells but inside them, too, a discovery that will rewrite textbooks and one that could save millions of liv…
This is Dr. Mark Gasson. He’s a human being who’s managed to contract a nasty computer virus. Don’t feel too bad for him, though: he did it to himself. More »
Computer virus – Security – Malicious Software – Viruses – Detection and Removal Tools
If you have a PC infected with Advanced Virus Remover, you’ll probably find that this is a tough one to get rid of. Thankfully we’ve got the instructions to help you defeat this terrible virus.
Advanced Virus Remover is one of many fake antivirus applications like Antivirus Live, which are really just rogue viruses that hold your computer hostage until you pay the ransom money. They tell you that your PC is infected with loads of viruses, even though it’s the only virus on your computer. The biggest problem with these things is that they block you from doing almost everything—you can’t use task manager, Safe Mode, or even install a real malware removal tool.
Advanced Virus Remover is Terrible!
This thing just covers your PC with messages about viruses that they claim you have…
There are popups, messages, and just dozens of windows that open…
Their goal, of course, is to get you to pay them.
Advanced Virus Remover is tricky… if you open an application more than once, it’ll block you from opening it again, preventing you from installing any anti-malware tools (I tried both SUPERAntiSpyware installed edition and MalwareBytes, no luck) Note that it also changes your wallpaper.
Advanced Virus Remover also prohibits you from heading into Safe Mode, where you at least might have a better chance of getting rid of it.
Removing Rogue Fake Antivirus Infections (General Guide)
There’s a couple of steps that you can generally follow to get rid of the majority of rogue antivirus infections, and actually most malware or spyware infections of any type. Here’s the quick steps:
Those are the rules that normally work. Note that there are some malware infections that not only block safe mode, but also prevent you from doing anything at all. We’ll cover those in another article soon, so make sure to subscribe to How-To Geek for updates (top of the page).
So, Let’s Remove Advanced Virus Remover!
Turns out that the answer to getting rid of this virus is really simple—you’ll just need to grab the free, Portable edition of SUPERAntiSpyware, which we’ve featured as our favorite must-have spyware removal tool, and put it on a flash drive (from another computer).
Then open it up on the PC, making sure to run the scan immediately. Don’t close it and re-open it, or Advanced Virus Remover will figure out what you’re doing and block you!
Once it’s all done, it’ll get rid of the bad stuff.
Then you’ll be prompted to reboot, which you should probably do.
If Advanced Virus Remover Blocks SUPERAntiSpyware
If you have an issue running SUPERAntiSpyware, you can try and use the following technique. Open up the Windows Run box with the Win+R shortcut key, or through the start menu. Then type in the following commands, hitting enter after each one.
taskkill /f /im winupdate86.exe
taskkill /f /im winlogon86.exe
Note that this may or may not help… the goal is to try and shut down the processes that are blocking you, and malware changes filenames all the time. You can also open up Windows Explorer, head into the Windows\System32 folder, and try and locate the bad processes there (hit the properties screen on some recent, odd-looking files), then use the taskkill command to get rid of them. This technique is how I usually figure out what the virus is hiding under, so I can easily kill it with just a few keystrokes.
Cleanup the Leftovers!
Since I never like to fully trust a single anti-malware tool, I usually run multiple passes from multiple malware removal tools. I highly recommend running a second pass with the free edition of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. (see our previous article on how to use it).
You might notice some more messages popping up from the virus—in this case, my SUPERAntiSpyware definitions were out of date (because I wrote this article before the official portable version came out, so I was using my own hack to create a portable edition).
Just ignore any messages, and continue with the scan, letting Malwarebytes remove everything else.
At this point you’ll want to reboot your system, and then install Microsoft Security Essentials and run another full scan. Can’t hurt to be too cautious! We also highly recommend Microsoft Security Essentials for real-time protection against these types of things.
Note: If you used a thumb drive at any point during this process, you should make sure and scan that as well—I’ve had viruses hop over to the thumb drive, ready to infect the next machine.
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If you’ve got a PC infected by the Antivirus Live virus, you’ve got a tough job ahead of you to remove it. And we’ve got the instructions to help.
Antivirus Live is one of many fake antivirus applications that are really rogue viruses that take your computer hostage—then they tell you that your computer is infected by viruses, and you have to pay them to get rid of the fake viruses that aren’t really there. It’s a huge problem, and they are not easy to remove, because they block virtually everything you try and run, including real anti-malware tools.
Removing Rogue Fake Antivirus Infections
There’s a couple of steps that you can generally follow to get rid of the majority of rogue antivirus infections, and actually most malware or spyware infections of any type. Here’s the quick steps:
Note that some malware will block you from using safe mode. That usually requires another set of steps that we won’t cover here.
Let’s Remove Antivirus Live
The first thing you’ll want to do is reboot your computer, and hit the F8 key right before Windows starts loading (you can hit it a bunch of times). Then select the Safe Mode with Networking option.
Before you do anything else, you’re going to need to fix the internet connection to work, because Antivirus Live changes IE to use a fake proxy server that prevents you from getting to anything else—and will also prevent you from installing and updating a real anti-malware software.
Now you’ll want to install SuperAntiSpyware (linked above), which you have hopefully downloaded via another computer already, but safe mode with networking should allow you to download and install it.
Once you load it up, it’s going to do some analysis…
Then you’ll see the full application screen, where you’ll want to use the Check for Updates button to make sure you have the latest definitions. Once you’ve done that, click the Scan your Computer button.
Select your primary drive at least, though you should pick all the drives, and then click the Perform Complete Scan button.
It’ll run for a long time, detect a bunch of stuff, and then you can proceed through the wizard to actually removing it all…
Once it’s all done, you can reboot the PC again (just make sure to go back into Safe Mode again).
Next you’ll want to install Malwarebytes, make sure to check the Update tab for the latest definitions, and then perform a full scan of your system.
Malwarebytes will find even more malware that SuperAntiSpyware missed (seems like you always need more than one util to get it all). Just be sure to click the Remove Selected button to get rid of the rest.
At this point you’ll want to reboot your system, and then install Microsoft Security Essentials and run another full scan. Can’t hurt to be too cautious!
Note: If you used a thumb drive at any point during this process, you should make sure and scan that as well—I’ve had viruses hop over to the thumb drive, ready to infect the next machine.
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Every week we pose a simple, focused question to the Lifehacker readership about a specific topic: Which is best? From netbooks and malware removal to home servers and wallpaper, here’s a look back at the most popular Hive Five topics of 2009.
The Hive Five asks the question "Which is best?" in a variety of topics covering hardware, software, and sometimes even a combination of the two. Although sometimes it's easy to predict the winner—Ubuntu has had its share of wins, to be sure—the real value in the Hive Five isn't actually its ability to elevate a single winner to a pedestal but to highlight all the great options that are out there.
Between the four runners up in each Hive Five and the other options highlighted in the hundreds of comments on both the Hive Five Call for Contenders and the actual Hive Five every week, it’s easy to discover new things. If ever you’re not sold on the winner of any Hive Five always make sure to read over the comments and see if any of them tip you off to a new and awesome product you’d never heard of.
Some months have elapsed since we asked you which netbook was best, but the newer models of the winner and runners up in that Hive Five are still the forerunners in the netbook market.
Nobody likes having their machine laden down with malware. Check out this Hive Five to find great applications for keeping things running smooth and malware free.
Media files, data synchronization, and remote backups, oh my! Home computing has advanced to a point where it’s practical to run your own home server, and we’re running down the five best tools for the job.
There are many, many Linux distributions, and a lot of unique reasons to like them. Read on to see which open-source operating systems inspired our readers to provide our biggest Hive Five response to date.
Nobody likes staring at a boring desktop when they fire up their computer every morning. Keep your wallpaper fresh with the five most popular sites Lifehacker readers use to satisfy their wallpaper needs.
The best way to recover from unexpected data loss is to be properly prepared. With one of the following tools on hand, you’ll always be ready to save your data from the Reaper.
You want to be the supreme ruler of your own virtual cutting room? Better break out the checkbook—your film-chopping powers aren't going to come cheaply.
It’s probably the most important and debated piece of software on the modern computer. See how your fellow readers get around the net, and vote for your favorite web browser.
A well tagged MP3 collection makes everything from organization to playback easier. Keep reading for a closer look at your fellow readers’ favorite tools for cleaning up their MP3 tags in this Hive Five.
Computer viruses are increasingly sophisticated and pervasive. If you can’t afford to run your computer without some sort of antivirus software installed, check out these five popular options to protect your PC.
Live CDs (and DVDs) are versatile tools, allowing you to boot into an operating system without installing anything to your hard drives. Let’s take a closer look at the five most popular live CDs.
Your computer is a busy beaver, rapidly accessing and utilizing files all in the name of bringing you what you want, when you want it. Sometimes it needs a little help tidying up, and that’s where these five disk defragmenters come in.
Whether you got a shiny new flash drive over the holidays or your old thumb drive is looking for a new lease on life, pack it full of goodness with these five killer portable applications.
Instant messaging has become so ubiquitous, an entire generation of internet users is probably unaware there was ever life without it. Check out the following five most popular instant messengers to to help you communicate across networks and the world.
Backing up data is a great way to minimize losses after a computing catastrophe. But what about restoring your actual system right away? Here are the five most popular reader choices.
Need to do a little online detective work? Track down anyone from long lost schoolmates to the new friend whose number you’ve lost with this assortment of powerful people-search engines.
The Windows system tray can be so much more than a parking lot for programs you don’t want cluttering up your task bar. Read on to see the five most popular tray tools readers can’t live without.
Local backup is a useful and necessary part of securing your data against catastrophe, but with the advent of broadband and inexpensive online storage, you’ve got little reason to not back up critical files to the cloud as well.
Adobe’s free PDF reader has long been a standard for handling its extremely popular document format, but you aren’t limited to using it to view your PDF files. Let’s take a look at five of the most popular PDF readers.
We’ve come a long way since animated GIFs and video-game-style MIDI files were considered cutting edge computer-provided A/V entertainment. Take advantage of today’s high-quality video with one of these five most popular video players.
Mind mapping is a great way to add structure to brainstorming sessions and visualize your ideas. Check out the applications your fellow readers use to do their best brainstorming.
The Windows Task Manager is a functional but basic tool for keeping an eye on what your computer’s up to. If you want to go beyond the built-in tool and for more in depth information and control, check out these five alternatives.
Why restrict yourself to merely carrying around your data on a thumb drive? Take your entire operating system on your flash drive with the excellent portable operating systems you’ll find inside this week’s Hive Five.
Once upon a time, easy remote computing was a pipe dream, now people routinely carry gigs of data around on flash drives smaller than a modest pack of chewing gum. Manage your apps and data with these portable application suites.
Long before multiple monitors were popular (or financially feasible), there were virtual desktops—applications that allow you to swap your entire workspace with another for easy compartmentalization of your work. Here's a look at five of the most popular virtual-desktop managers.
Remember the days of digging through folders of shortcuts and menus to launch applications? These days many users prefer customizable, attractive docks for launching and keeping track of their favorite apps. Here’s a look at five of the most popular docks.
Where does the time go? Whether you need to know for billing purposes or just want a better idea of how your work day is split up, you can always answer that question with a good time-tracking application.
Rather than wait around for your software to notify you of updates (let’s face it, a lot of applications never will), these five handy tools keep an eye on your apps, alert you when an update’s available, and streamline the updating process.
Technology and exercise make an excellent pair; you can now track, plan, and graph your workouts more easily than ever. We’re here to take a look at six of the most popular tools for the job.
If you do any serious file copying on a Windows system, you’ll quickly discover that there are substantial limitations to the default file copier. Ease your file copying frustrations with these five alternative copiers.
Which is Your Favorite Hive Five Topic from 2009?(polls)
Have a favorite Hive Five topic from 2009 that wasn’t highlighted here? Let’s hear about it in the comments. If you have a topic you’d love us to cover in 2010, make sure to send an email with your suggestion to tips @ lifehacker.com with “Hive Five” in the subject line so we can add it to our list.
Every week we pose a simple, focused question to the Lifehacker readership about a specific topic: Which is best? From netbooks and malware removal to home servers and wallpaper, here’s a look back at the most popular Hive Five topics of 2009.
The Hive Five asks the question "Which is best?" in a variety of topics covering hardware, software, and sometimes even a combination of the two. Although sometimes it's easy to predict the winner—Ubuntu has had its share of wins, to be sure—the real value in the Hive Five isn't actually its ability to elevate a single winner to a pedestal but to highlight all the great options that are out there.
Between the four runners up in each Hive Five and the other options highlighted in the hundreds of comments on both the Hive Five Call for Contenders and the actual Hive Five every week, it’s easy to discover new things. If ever you’re not sold on the winner of any Hive Five always make sure to read over the comments and see if any of them tip you off to a new and awesome product you’d never heard of.
Some months have elapsed since we asked you which netbook was best, but the newer models of the winner and runners up in that Hive Five are still the forerunners in the netbook market.
Nobody likes having their machine laden down with malware. Check out this Hive Five to find great applications for keeping things running smooth and malware free.
Media files, data synchronization, and remote backups, oh my! Home computing has advanced to a point where it’s practical to run your own home server, and we’re running down the five best tools for the job.
There are many, many Linux distributions, and a lot of unique reasons to like them. Read on to see which open-source operating systems inspired our readers to provide our biggest Hive Five response to date.
Nobody likes staring at a boring desktop when they fire up their computer every morning. Keep your wallpaper fresh with the five most popular sites Lifehacker readers use to satisfy their wallpaper needs.
The best way to recover from unexpected data loss is to be properly prepared. With one of the following tools on hand, you’ll always be ready to save your data from the Reaper.
You want to be the supreme ruler of your own virtual cutting room? Better break out the checkbook—your film-chopping powers aren't going to come cheaply.
It’s probably the most important and debated piece of software on the modern computer. See how your fellow readers get around the net, and vote for your favorite web browser.
A well tagged MP3 collection makes everything from organization to playback easier. Keep reading for a closer look at your fellow readers’ favorite tools for cleaning up their MP3 tags in this Hive Five.
Computer viruses are increasingly sophisticated and pervasive. If you can’t afford to run your computer without some sort of antivirus software installed, check out these five popular options to protect your PC.
Live CDs (and DVDs) are versatile tools, allowing you to boot into an operating system without installing anything to your hard drives. Let’s take a closer look at the five most popular live CDs.
Your computer is a busy beaver, rapidly accessing and utilizing files all in the name of bringing you what you want, when you want it. Sometimes it needs a little help tidying up, and that’s where these five disk defragmenters come in.
Whether you got a shiny new flash drive over the holidays or your old thumb drive is looking for a new lease on life, pack it full of goodness with these five killer portable applications.
Instant messaging has become so ubiquitous, an entire generation of internet users is probably unaware there was ever life without it. Check out the following five most popular instant messengers to to help you communicate across networks and the world.
Backing up data is a great way to minimize losses after a computing catastrophe. But what about restoring your actual system right away? Here are the five most popular reader choices.
Need to do a little online detective work? Track down anyone from long lost schoolmates to the new friend whose number you’ve lost with this assortment of powerful people-search engines.
The Windows system tray can be so much more than a parking lot for programs you don’t want cluttering up your task bar. Read on to see the five most popular tray tools readers can’t live without.
Local backup is a useful and necessary part of securing your data against catastrophe, but with the advent of broadband and inexpensive online storage, you’ve got little reason to not back up critical files to the cloud as well.
Adobe’s free PDF reader has long been a standard for handling its extremely popular document format, but you aren’t limited to using it to view your PDF files. Let’s take a look at five of the most popular PDF readers.
We’ve come a long way since animated GIFs and video-game-style MIDI files were considered cutting edge computer-provided A/V entertainment. Take advantage of today’s high-quality video with one of these five most popular video players.
Mind mapping is a great way to add structure to brainstorming sessions and visualize your ideas. Check out the applications your fellow readers use to do their best brainstorming.
The Windows Task Manager is a functional but basic tool for keeping an eye on what your computer’s up to. If you want to go beyond the built-in tool and for more in depth information and control, check out these five alternatives.
Why restrict yourself to merely carrying around your data on a thumb drive? Take your entire operating system on your flash drive with the excellent portable operating systems you’ll find inside this week’s Hive Five.
Once upon a time, easy remote computing was a pipe dream, now people routinely carry gigs of data around on flash drives smaller than a modest pack of chewing gum. Manage your apps and data with these portable application suites.
Long before multiple monitors were popular (or financially feasible), there were virtual desktops—applications that allow you to swap your entire workspace with another for easy compartmentalization of your work. Here's a look at five of the most popular virtual-desktop managers.
Remember the days of digging through folders of shortcuts and menus to launch applications? These days many users prefer customizable, attractive docks for launching and keeping track of their favorite apps. Here’s a look at five of the most popular docks.
Where does the time go? Whether you need to know for billing purposes or just want a better idea of how your work day is split up, you can always answer that question with a good time-tracking application.
Rather than wait around for your software to notify you of updates (let’s face it, a lot of applications never will), these five handy tools keep an eye on your apps, alert you when an update’s available, and streamline the updating process.
Technology and exercise make an excellent pair; you can now track, plan, and graph your workouts more easily than ever. We’re here to take a look at six of the most popular tools for the job.
If you do any serious file copying on a Windows system, you’ll quickly discover that there are substantial limitations to the default file copier. Ease your file copying frustrations with these five alternative copiers.
Which is Your Favorite Hive Five Topic from 2009?(polls)
Have a favorite Hive Five topic from 2009 that wasn’t highlighted here? Let’s hear about it in the comments. If you have a topic you’d love us to cover in 2010, make sure to send an email with your suggestion to tips @ lifehacker.com with “Hive Five” in the subject line so we can add it to our list.
Remember the original Mac or PC rap? Well, it looks like the guys behind it are back with another Apple-themed tune. This time it’s a spoof of “I’m on a Boat,” and it’s unfortunately kinda catchy. (Heads up: NSFW lyrics.)
If you want to rap along to what these boys are calling “a Mac fanboy’s anthem about Apple culture and products,” here are the words:
(Shortayyy) Ahh shit!
Get your laptops ready, it’s about to go down
Everybody on YouTube, watch the f***in screen
But stay on this muthaf***in page
We runnin this – let’s goI’m on a Mac, I’m on a Mac
Everybody look at me
Cause I’m clickin on a Mac
I’m on a Mac, I’m on a Mac
Take a good hard look at the muthaf***in Mac!I’m on a Mac, muthaf***a, take a look at me,
Straight iPhone’in hard, got the 3G
Bumpin iTunes, CoverFlow to be exact
You can’t stop me muthaf***a, cause I’m on a Mac!
Eat a virus bro
I’m on a Mac Pro
We rockin 8 cores hard
Watch the screen go
I got my SuperDrive
And my mighty mice-es
I’m pluggin girls
You at work, pluggin in devices
I’m on a tandem fixie
And a 64-bit
Friends are jealous
Cause Parallels can run their sh*t
But this ain’t P.C.,
this is real as it gets
I’m on a Mac, mutherf***er
don’t you ever forget!
I’m on a Mac and,
it’s runnin fast and,
I bought a neopreen green scuba sleve sham
I’m the king of the Jobs, on a Mac for real
If you’re on a PC, then you’re not C.E.O.Get the f*** up, this Mac is real!
F*** a Zune, I’m on a Mac, motherf***a!
F*** right click, multi-touch, motherf***a!
I’m on iChat with my boys, motherf***a!
These turtlenecks ain’t cheap, motherf***a!
Hey, y’all, now I’m an Apple whiz
I never need to learn what a driver is
Gonna say goodbye to all viruses
Like a Nano in pink, anything is possible!
Yeah, never thought I’d be on a Mac
It’s like a streamlined good-for-you crack
Wozniiiaaaaak, look at me ooohhhhI’m on a Mac, I’m on a Mac
Take a good hard look at the muthaf***in Mac!
Yeah, this is almost amusing enough to make me want to order a muthaf****in Mac despite it not being the best time to shop for those. [Thanks, Peter!]
By Joe Wilcox, Betanews
I have to laugh at the sudden, slew of Mac bloggers taking swings at Windows 7 and asserting that Macs will continue to sell well after Microsoft’s newest OS ships. Feeling a little defensive are we, bros? Their reaction shows worry that the thing they profess against — surging PC sales that swamp Macs — may yet be reality.
Windows 7 is simply Microsoft’s best operating system ever. Mac fanboys should worry and circle together in defensive posture. Collectively, they’re making a last stand against the PC giant. Please, please, boisterous Mac defenders, stand in the front lines and receive the first blows. You deserve them.
Mac market share actually means little to Microsoft, although it sure matters lots to Mac bloggers thumping for Apple. The little dog barks, but the big dog — with its enormous market share — has the bite. Windows 7 is a new set of teeth. (I’ll explain what competitors really matter to Microsoft after the subhead.)
The Apple fanboy crowd snipes against Windows 7 and stresses the over-importance of all things Mac. Some of the assertions about Macs or Windows 7 sales are laughable, they’re so ridiculous. For example, today, Apple 2.0 blogger Philip Elmer-DeWitt asked: “Will Windows 7 boost Apple sales?” Philip writes that “over the past decade, Mac shipments have grown with nearly every new Microsoft release,” based on research released by Broadpoint AmTech yesterday.
That’s not what the data shows. The biggest increase in Mac sales follows the release of the much-maligned Windows Vista. The data supports what is widely known: Vista was a Windows failure. As for the other spikes, supposedly associated with Windows releases, Occam’s Razor dictates that something Apple did and not Microsoft affected Mac sales. For example, the chart shows a huge spike in Mac sales for second quarter 2000, noting that Microsoft released Windows 2000 on February 17. But it ignores something else. A day earlier, Apple unveiled new Power Macs, finally reaching the long-delayed 500MHz processing power milestone and setting off a sales surge.
Another date: Oct. 25, 2001, and the launch of Windows XP. The chart shows level Mac sales for the quarter and a substantial decline for the one following. In July 2001, Apple introduced dual-processor Power Macs, and accordingly there was a two quarter spike in Mac shipments. Philip asks a silly question, and the chart is more reasonably explained by Apple actions, not Microsoft’s.
Over at Apple Insider, Neil Hughes continues the Broadpoint AmTech misinformation, also referring to Philip’s post. Several other blogs or news sites also reported on Broadpoint AmTech numbers, some of them yesterday.
Mac fanboys have also attacked verteran tech reviewer Walt Mossberg’s fairly favorable review of Windows 7. Perhaps they feel betrayed, as Walt has favored Macs for years — and for good reasons in the post-Vista era. But go back a decade and you’ll find Walt to have been less charitable towards Apple.
Assessing the Real Competition
Microsoft’s competitive problems aren’t Macs but:
Windows XP. Windows 7’s biggest competitor will be Windows XP, which runs on about 80 percent of PCs, according to combined analyst reports. Microsoft’s first challenge will be getting XP users to move up to Windows 7. Mac market share was 7.6 percent in the United States in second quarter, according to IDC. (Gartner and IDC should release Q3 preliminary numbers in the next couple of days.)
Mac share is inconsequential to Microsoft compared to Windows XP. My prediction: Windows 7 will slow Mac share gains, which already declined over the last three quarters, according to both Gartner and IDC.
Software pirates. Collectively, software pirates pose the greatest competitive threat to Microsoft, next to Windows XP. Not Macs. Certainly not PCs running Linux. According to Business Software Alliance, software piracy rates are highest in emerging markets, which also are where potential Windows PC adoption is greatest: 85 percent in Latin America, 66 percent in Central and Eastern Europe and 61 percent in Asia Pacific. By comparison, piracy rate in North Americs is 21 percent and 35 percent in the European Union. So in Latin America, more than 8 out of 10 copies of software in use are stolen.
Here’s a loaded question: How many people among the Betanews community use software for which they didn’t pay for, even though the developer charges something? Anyone care to respond in comments? Maybe this is easier: What do you feel you should have to pay for software?
More significantly, software piracy creates competitive opportunities for Macs, because of the damage done to the Windows brand. In a report released last week, BSA revealed a direct correlation between online software piracy at torrents and other file-trading sites and malware infections. Countries with high online piracy rates also have high malware infection rates. Related, 25 percent of a sampling of 98 sites distributing pirated software or digital content also contained malware. Where does the blame fall when PCs are infected with viruses? On Microsoft and Windows, which tarnishes the brand and helps foster popular folklore that Macs are more secure than Windows. Macs have problems, too, but they’re not always as well publicized.
Netbooks. Microsoft also faces more competitive threat from netbooks, which are gobbling up Windows margins at an alarming rate. Microsoft makes substantially less on each Windows XP Home license shipping on netbooks than it does on either Windows Vista Home Basic or Premium.
During second calendar quarter, when Windows Client revenue fell 29 percent year over year and income declined 33 percent, netbooks made up 11 percent of PC sales, according to Microsoft. Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell acknowledged that the increase in lower-margin consumer Windows licenses — fed in part by increasing netbook demand — contributed to declines.
Last week, DisplaySearch updated second calendar quarter PC shipment data. DisplaySearch concluded that netbooks accounted for 22.2 percent of overall PC sales and 11.7 percent of revenues. Netbook sales jumped a staggering 264 percent year over year, while overall laptop sales (without counting netbooks) declined 14 percent.
Meanwhile, increased netbook sales exerted ever greater pull downward on average selling prices. Laptop ASPs fell to $688 in second quarter from $704 in first quarter and $849 in Q2 2008. Netbook prices fell to $361 from $371 and $506, respectively, during the same time period. Microsoft has lots more to worry about than Macs, particularly netbook cannibalization of the PC market and the negative impact on Windows margins.
Well, this is int-er-est-ing: Early testers have come across what looks like a new antivirus function within Snow Leopard. Or to put it another way, Macs don’t need antivirus! Wait.
The new feature behaves like a cross between a traditional antivirus tool and the “Are you sure you want to open this?” warnings already present in Leopard. I doubt it’s doing any real-time heuristic scanning and it’s definitely not running as a visible app in the OS, but if it’s checking .PKG and .DMG files for malware before you run or mount them, well, that sounds an awful lot like what your average Symantec, AVG or Kapersky product is intended to do.
The first report came from the Intego blog, (they make Mac antivirus software) and it’s been corroborated by Snow Leopard testers over at the MacRumors forums. We’ll try to test this one out as best we can, but it’s looking like Apple may have slipped this ever-so-slightly unflattering feature into their new OS under the radar. [The Mac Security Blog, MacRumors]