Could Your New PC Be Patchless?

[Julio Franco]

The excitement home buyers feel when taking a new PC out of its box can be short-lived if the machine is vulnerable to the swarm of viruses and worms on the Internet.

Current PC users are constantly reminded about the need to download patches and operating system updates as soon as they are made available. But those users may not realize that a "new" PC might actually have been sitting in a warehouse for several months, and might lack the most recent patches required to keep it safe from viruses and worms.

Read more: PC World.

 

[agissi]

This is news?

Come on Julio, this is an enthusaist site, not the Dell club.

 

[Akio]

Never thought about that..... So if we don't Update then we have a bigger risk of getting our computer infected?!? That sucks.

 

[Unregistered]

I had a to rebuild a laptop for someone yesterday that they'd only had a few weeks.
After using the factory rebuild CD i discovered that it's didn't even have SP1 on it!
It was a Samsung XP Home machine.

 

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by ---agissi--- This is news?

Come on Julio, this is an enthusaist site, not the Dell club.

Well, just because you're an enthusiast, doesn't mean you'll remember to update your software as the first thing you do when you get a laptop.

Also, having news which caters to more than just enthusiasts isn't such a bad move. (As long as it doesn't take the space the regular news has)
It'll increase traffic and perhaps users here in the forum.

Besides, I found it interesting even if it wasn't a problem I'll be likely to encounter. (Especially since I don't have the cash to buy a laptop )

BTW: I'm a registered member (just don't have time to log in), who am i?

 

[Julio Franco]

I don't intend for everyone to agree with this but IMO to comprehend mainstream computing is one important part of being a PC Enthusiast, maybe a critical one to differentiate a true enthusiast from a fanatic (not like there is something wrong with the later but I'm stressing the fact that there is a difference between those two).

 

[BrownPaper]

Having computers up to date with patches and other fixes for mainstream consumers is important. Virus prone cause headaches for other people's computers. We want mainstream consumers to enjoy their computing experience just as much as we enthusiasts enjoy ours. Besides, it is not cool to have to waste hours trying to fix a family member's PC and see that desperate, concerned look on their face.

 

[StormBringer]

I thought this was well known. I know that the average consumer doesn't know it, but its very well known that when you buy new hardware and software, it is rarely ever the latest version and never has the newest patches. Driver Cds are usually a few revisions behind, many games have had patches released. Why would anyone think that a computer would be any different.