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Installed base is only one of the reasons Posted by JerseySaab [Email] (#666) [Profile/Gallery] (more from JerseySaab) on Mon, 3 Oct 2011 11:46:52 In Reply to: Its the install base, Bruce, Mon, 3 Oct 2011 11:29:06 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
Another is that Windows is a virus-writer's dream environment. Microsoft long ago went down the path of having a stream of external data trigger automated actions on the local system, in the name of making things "easier" for non-technical end users. It did not take long for the black hats to exploit such features for their own ends.
Remember one of the first really major virus vectors for PCs? It was when Microsoft in their infinite wisdom put auto-execute macros into Microsoft Word, at first with no way to disable them! Suddenly documents, once assumed to be essentially inert, could come alive and eat your computer! Even in an era where most PCs were not yet connected to the internet, viruses spread like wildfire as people shared Word documents over floppy diskettes and local area networks.
So yes, the installed base is certainly part of the why Windows users are more subject to malware, but it is not the only reason. I suppose if one wanted to be safe as possible by the numbers something more obscure, maybe Plan 9 or the like, would be the ticket!
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