>He's most likely a virus author (or more likely a script>kiddie) who wants to justify his crimes to himself by>reasoning he's the saviour of society.People are most likely not the way you always describe them in theseforums. I am most likely the person that never wrote a virus. Instead,I am most likely the person that devotes hours on software that youuse when logging on to vatsim. I am also most likely the person whofinds security bugs in software and reports them to their authors.>>One of the /. crowd who consider that to get people to move>away from Microsoft anything is allowed (even while posting>that message using Internet Explorer and Outlook Express on>their pirated copies of Windows XP).I mostly use Opera and I am one of the /. crowd who believestechnology should come before marketing. I am also someone notexcusing people of piracy without even knowing them.

Hi Guys,Wow!!! I'm speechless... I've seen threads drift off-topic... but this one truly deserves an award! Since I created this "monster", I'd like to thank the following people for making all of this possible....1) Metamarty - for his "I love viruses" reply. Dude, with your warped philosophy, if you don't write viruses... you should! Just do me a favor - limit your efforts to Linux... Windows is much too easy a target for your vast expertise!2) The Moderators - for moving this thread. I knew you would - and I'm glad you did!3) All the loyal fans - for agreeing that commercial Anti-virus software will not protect anyone from future virus attacks. That was the ONLY point I was trying to make!Now I'll leave this thread to the "nerds" who want to continue comparing operating systems and their flaws. Ya'll have fun... I'm out of here.Regards,Marc

Erm... I think some people might owe you an apology for that personal attack there! I for one don't wish you any hurt. Still disagree with ya though! ;) heheh.(There's a clear line between disagreeing with a point of view and being downright rude & hurtful. I think it just got crossed)Si.

I don't know, some people seem to use these sort of posts to reply to opposing views. Of course anyone may disagree with me, that's what a discussion is about. Whatever the views of a person, I respect everybody around here and I still believe we are all simmers who share a great hobby. I hope we'll soon have a great time together again. I'll leave it at that.

>I almost hope all 3 happen to you (though not necessarilly in>that order) so you'll know how false your beliefs are (albeit>most likely for a very short time).Thank you! I hope you feel better now. I wish everybody in thiscommunity well.

Hi Folks,Please excuse the "dramatic" header... but remember, the century is only 3 years old :-). Now QUICK (don't think about it), name the best-selling software of the past 12 months...? If you answered MS Flight Simulator, you're not even close; if you answered Windows XP, you're closer - but still wrong; if you answered The Sims, you really need to get a life of your own ;-). According to most sources, more people pay more money for Anti-virus scanners than any other software product on the market (although Tax Software is a close runner-up). Now, before the moderators try to move this to some other forum that nobody actually reads... let's think about this: What form of software causes more install glitches and impacts Flight Sim performance more than any other commercial product on the market? If you answered Anti-virus software... DING, DING, DING, DING... You've just made it to the Lightning Round!I just spent 2 hours removing the W32.SoBig virus from my Dad's computer. My Dad is pretty sharp; but he opened a few "questionable" E-mails last night with the security of knowing that he had "McAfee" to protect him. On the other hand, I received a "shady" E-mail last night and promptly deleted it because I haven't used virus software for over 3 years. The Result: My Dad had a virus... I did not.Folks, to concoct a metaphor...Anti-virus software is only good at preventing Polio, The Plague, Leprosy, and any other "afflictions" that aren't around anymore; it's NOT going to help you with SARS or the West Nile virus. Personally, I used "Norton" from '96 to '99; until I concluded it wasn't really doing anything and sacrificed it to the "recycle bin". Since then, I have NEVER had a virus on my computer! I'm not bragging, the Blaster virus last week gave me a bit of a scare (as it's not spread via E-mail) - thankfully I updated XP before the worm really hit "prime-time". However, I don't feel that running Anti-virus software would have given me any extra protection in that situation either.Here's my point - the A**-holes that create these viruses are intelligent. They may be twisted and evil... but they're also smart enough to get their worms around all the popular AV scanners. Heck, sometimes I wonder if the Anti-virus gurus don't even invent new worms and trojans themselves... just to create panic and sell more of their software.Face it, the best Anti-virus scanner is YOU! If you get an E-mail that "doesn't look quite right"... DELETE IT... Problem Solved ! Non E-mail viruses are not quite as common; but I have a bad feeling we'll be seeing more of them in the future. If your computer starts acting strangely, check the major news portals and see if there are any new viruses floating around... chances are that a fix will also be available. Otherwise, continue to "trust" your virus protection software and buy all the Dot-Com stock you can afford... but don't complain if your Flight Simulator frame-rates suffer!Regards,Marc