Windows 7 Infection Rate Lower Than Windows XP

[dragonsqrrl]

[citation][nom]blurr91[/nom]I think you have a logical failure. The number cited is "rate" not total number of infections.[/citation]
Damn, beat me to it...

 

[memadmax]

Install FireFox4 with noscript and be happy.

 

[11796pcs]

Man... I haven't had a virus in a few years- quess I'm lucky- but I don't visit random sites either... Also it's a rate so all of you who are talking about user bases are idiots. I really don't see why these statistics would be incorrect- but where is MS getting it's info on viruses on and what is an infection considered. But overall these statistics should be almost spot-on.

 

[dread_cthulhu]

Chrome, Ad-block Plus, PeerBlock, and a decent antivirus... Been running Vista since it came out, and have very rarely seen even the smallest infection.

 

[COLGeek]

Logically, the MS claims are what one would expect to happen. I expect things like this to improve with time. Duh!

 

[JOSHSKORN]

Lets wait until the rest of the world has caught up to everyone else and has ditched Windows XP and gone for Windows 7, then see what happens. I'm sure hackers will begin to target Windows 7 a lot more.

 

[nexus9113]

[citation][nom]moricon[/nom]Funny, nearly half of the Virus removal jobs I do are on Windows 7, mostly Drive By scareware antivirus problems that require user intervention to install ( OMG MY machine is infected by a bazillion different viruses, windows 7 antivirus 2011 says so, better click here to scan and remove....what how much $59.99 to purchase full protection, umm why can I not get to any website...where has my Paid for McAfee GONE!)I don't complain, keeps me in a job![/citation]

Hahaha, I've probably transferred someone to you before (I work for a cable operator tech support).

 

[Pyroflea]

[citation][nom]wisecracker[/nom]Of course XP has 4x the infection rate of W7, it's been in the wild 4x longer. This is a logical Fail.[/citation]

Uhh, you know it was infections per thousand computers right? Time has zero influence in these numbers...

 

[kopaka]

"New is always better" - Barney Stinson
😉

 

[Wisecracker]

[citation][nom]blurr91[/nom]I think you have a logical failure. The number cited is "rate" not total number of infections.[/citation]

LOL

You don't know when that computer was infected. As far as you know 73% of the infections happened before 2005 and were only recently discovered in Q3-2010.

Better yet, get back to me in 2020 with the infection rate of W7; and even better, dig up the XP infection rate for 2003 if you want to make a valid comparison. I suggest a linear regression with years in the wild plotted with infection rates per quarter.

I'm not disputing that W7 is better. It is. This is simply MS scaring up business.

Most folks with XP are clearly satisfied with how there systems perform and are not flocking to W7 despite the tens of millions in fancy marketing. In their tasks they manage just dandy with XP. AND even better, if they have issues it is certainly within their rights to format and re-install XP -- even on a new HDD -- the greatest XP fix of all!

What's MS going to do? Invalidate their legally-acquired key because people are slow to adopt their 'latest' & 'greatest ever' OS?

LOL

 

[Guest]

Windows 7 is still just as weak. My wife got a virus just by the act of clicking on a link for one of those infected sites that gives the fake "windows explorer" antivirus message. Didn't have to click on anything in the page, didn't have to download anything, etc... UAC didn't even throw up any prompts, nor did Windows Security Essentials notify her.

I hooked her up with a clean Ubuntu install after that, she's been virus free ever since.

 

[ProDigit10]

Just disable all unneccesary services on xp and it's just as safe as Win7.

 

[rooseveltdon]

[citation][nom]married_man[/nom]Windows 7 is still just as weak. My wife got a virus just by the act of clicking on a link for one of those infected sites that gives the fake "windows explorer" antivirus message. Didn't have to click on anything in the page, didn't have to download anything, etc... UAC didn't even throw up any prompts, nor did Windows Security Essentials notify her. I hooked her up with a clean Ubuntu install after that, she's been virus free ever since.[/citation]


Enjoy installing all the second hand crap drivers...if they are compatible that is

 

[Burodsx]

Great... more "leave windows xp" propaganda.

 

[Guest]

Just a reminder:
"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts...for support rather than illumination."

Andrew Lang (1844-1912) Scottish poet, novelist and literary critic

 

[rantoc]

[citation][nom]K2N hater[/nom]Don't want to sound like a MS hater but this is sponsored by Microsoft...[/citation]

Of course it is, don't think it would be in the competitions interest to prove their competition manage to do this well considering that the majority of malware is written for it due to its huge marketshare.

The only reason some of the other os's are considered safer is because their spared form the vast majority of the malware, it don't make sense to try and infect a small base when you can infect a huge base. And for those who loves a challenge among the malware coders my bet is that they choose to assault windows because they know the security is high after years of relentless assault from malware. Considering all those factors, I think MS does very well!

 

[legacy7955]

I agree that MS is doing a decent job protecting their OS customers. Considering that most of the hacking is aimed at their products.

All things considered when you look at value for the money, ease of daily use, ect...if you have any common sense operating on the internet MS products still are the best overall choice for most computer users.

I'm not a MS fanboi either, just considering all the angles involved.

 

[f-14]

i'm with wise cracker on this one, lies and scare tactics. i remember the same stuff being touted with me over 98 and then 98 vs xp to force conversion. then they just dropped support to force the other half to convert to xp. same old scare tactic they are doing now with 7 with support for xp end of lifed.
i can already smell the scare tactic for win 8 and the cloud right after that.
pretty funny since every version of windows still has the same security flaws since 3.X
these are facts anti virus companies collect on all the while laughing right to the bank if the hackers haven't gotten there first.

 

[fir_ser]

Interesting numbers especially for the 64-bit versions, but what about Win Xp 64-bit.