"Surferbar" virus>Outlook sucks>best browser/email client

[Baron Grazic]

To turn Off/On the Preview Pane:-
Microsoft Outlook - Click on 'View', 'Preview Pane'.
Outlook Express - Click on 'View', 'Layout', 'Show Preview Pane'.

I agree with MB, most people use Outlook because of the Corporate world. They get used to using it at Work with MS Exchange, and continue that at home.

Same goes for IE. I use Mozilla at work, but even with Java, I am unable to access our intranet, firewalls and monitoring tools, because of the way Microsoft has designed its code, and made other suppliers only deal with them.

[Arkcon]

I have to use Outlook at work. I have preview off. Outlook defaults to preview, I notice, whenever I create a folder. So I can't blame people who have it on too much.

I never open an email with an attachment that looks frivilous, I just delete. And purge the deleted folder. I never open attachments I don't need -- the Excel spreadsheet with this months cafeteria menu goes straight to the recycle bin -- I don't need to be the propagation point of a macro virus. I'm too well known as a geek, they'll figure I did it on purpose. The secretary can always plead insanity.

At home I use Pegasus mail. Is it more secure? I dunno. I have preview off, and it strips HTML mail. At the very least its a little obscure, people write Microsoft viruses specifically, maybe they'll skip Pegasus. So maybe Pegasus is ok.

I used to use Eudora in the non-spyware mode (fewer features). But the spyware was still there, just inactive. And that was giving Adaware conniptions. So I got rid of Eudora.

[ September 04, 2003, 14:05: Message edited by: Arkcon ]

[Arkcon]

Oh. I forgot to say how I know a virus is going 'round before I go to work. Check the Shrapnel Forums and see if Dogscoff has reported anything. So the plan for you ... um ... Dogscoff is ... um ... uh. Hmmm. Carry on chap. Stiff upper lip and whatnot. Cheers right.

[Captain Kwok]

This is more of just a random thought rather than support for MS.

Don't be fooled that other software doesn't have security holes and things of that sort, it's just that MS systems are so commonplace that they attract the work/attention of hackers and virus makers to a much higher degree than other software. I suppose if other operating systems/browsers/e-mail clients were more popular, they'd be just as vulnerable as what we have now.

Then again, most of those programs remain unfamiliar to most Users and should be virus and problem free for some time.

[ September 04, 2003, 15:07: Message edited by: Captain Kwok ]

[Alneyan]

Yes that is exactly the problem Kwok. At best, the alternative programs are slightly less vulnerable than MS ones, at worse they are equally vulnerable, but in both cases, it would be hard to make a program completely safe. [Cynical] And the companies developing anti-viruses software would hate that. [/Cynical] Their main protection is the fact that they are not very used unlike MS programs.

I am using myself Mozilla Firebird (standalone browser) and Thunderbird (standalone mail program), and these two are more than satisfying for me. (I have only experience problems with some sites using layers) And the tabs... This feature is quite hard to explain, but so useful when you have to browse ten or twenty windows at the same time. You could also download the whole Mozilla (the one Baron Munchausen mentioned), there are few differences between that suit and the standalone programs.

[Thermodyne]

Outlook is over kill if you only do email. But if you use the other features, then there is nothing else close to it. Same with IE6. It's overkill for surfing, but if you diliver apps from a web server or need to manage 100's of systems, it leaves the rest behind.

Also, the "holes" are not a MS exclusive. I run NIX on one system and I get several security fixes a week for it. Usually the NIX patches are more dificult to install.

[Suicide Junkie]

On the desktop end of things, that argument could work, but a large fraction of servers do not use windows.

There's also the fact that with open source stuff, you get your fixes promptly (if not included in the bug notification), since there are so many independent programmers available out there.

Now, I don't mind using windows myself; it works well enough for me, but I won't be paying microsoft every 2-3 years to get the same old software in a new package with menus rearranged, some bugs fixed and intrusive software added.
Today IMO, the only things worth upgrading are your monitor, harddrive, RAM and anything from shrapnel.

[ September 04, 2003, 21:05: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]