*lol*

Well, I wasn't so much talking about the Security against external Attacks (a Patched Win98SE IMHO is by far safer than any WinXP).

With WinXP SP1 (also Win2000, regardless of Service Pack), you even just have to go online without a properly configured Firewall to catch Blaster & Co, Win9x is immune against this flaw.

The personally observed record of killing the System after going online with it fresh installed is AFAIK 3 seconds.

PS.
Win9x supports 512MB RAM without modifications, with a Patch it is currently at 1GB AFAIK (never tested it myself though)

So no, WinXP isn't safer than any other MS OS, in fact it is by far unsafer than anything existing worldwide. It is the unsafest OS to ever exist on the face of earth. Thanks to its bundeled Trojans that ship with it in the first place, it is also the biggest Privacy risk to ever exist.
It's really funny to do Port Scans and an analysis of running (wide open and useless) Services on a fresh WinXP Installation; absolutely catastrophic.

Anyone who calls WinXP "safe" IMHO has no clue what's actually running there, it is the biggest catastrophy MicroSoft ever produced.
(but to be honest, it appears that there's a well controlled System behind all this; it is not that MS can't Code properly, but having the entire world connecting to MicroSoft Servers for Updates is an excellent way to keep track of 'em)

And I have never heard of any non MicroSoft-OS to ever ship with Adware as well. On WinXP, this even has 10% of all Network bandwidth reserved to perform its espionage of User Surfing habits. That alone is a complete NoGo, but some people don't care about their Data I guess.

Linux isn't quite there yet (Retail Market), but that's basically you don't have to buy it anyway and that Games have just started to be released for Linux as well.
It's getting there, just needs about 1-2 years more IMHO.
(note : in other countries it is by far more established than in Europe or the US, with markets like China or Brazil pushing it forward quite alot, the overall Situation will improve over time over here as well)

We'll just have to wait until the next generation of Polymorph Worms go online and kill a few Million "safe" WinXP systems again. That usually is a good "wake-up" call for all those who believe their Systems are anywhere close to secure.
MacOS or Linux never had this sort of Problem and likely will never have (and not because of the widespread misunderstanding that they are merely not so attractive targets, but because those OS'es are 1000x more secure than anything MS ever released).

PPS.
Have you ever seen an OS that its maker explicitly limits to 10 concurrent TCP/UDP Connections at one time, knowing it will be infected with a Worm one day ? (WinXP SP2 does that).
Well, I haven't *lol*, that speaks for itself concerning what MicroSoft thinks themself about the "security" of their OS *rofl*

Trust me on that one, in more than 20 years of dealing with computers I have never seen anything more unsafe and untrustful than WinXP.
The only potential Candidate for breaking this negative Record is... actually Windows Longhorn *g*

----------
If you want to see how those whose Millions of Profits literally depend on a Secure OS, just see how many Routers, Hosters and Backbone Operators work with MicroSoft Products in their mission-critical Systems.
The number is laughable low, and these people's existence on the market depends on it, so I do believe they know as well I am right and trust their absolute vitals rather to Linux, Unix or BSD.

On the other hand, running critical Systems with a MicroSoft OS can lead to rather funny results.
I remember the US Navy had one of their multi-billion AEGIS Missile Cruisers emergency shutdown, and had to have it towed back into a harbour.
What happened?
One of the Crew Members inserted a Virus Infected Disk into his WinNT Workstation, causing the entire ship's Network to become infected.
When they lost control over their Weapon Computers and Propulsion, the Captain did the only thing he was left to do : order the emergency shutdown of all Command systems, rendering the ship an uncontrolled and propulsion-less floating entity on the ocean... and call for help
(that's how the US Navy found out how "secure" their MicroSoft provided Systems really were)

So far I've seen it integrated only in the inofficial Service Pack for Win98SE :

http://exuberant.ms11.net/98sesp.html

And don't quote me on the 1GB, I just know they lifted the 512MB limitation and thought I heard something about 1GB (might be less than that, not sure).

From the Past, I know people often got to 640 and 768MB using manual tweaks.

please becarefull what you are saying, there are alot of users that use WInXP as is, and there is nothing wrong with Win98SE, I run it flawlessly for about 18 mounths now.

Remember Fear, Anger, Hatred , they lead to the Dark Side.

sure, but i guess nobody in here uses winxp as is, right? and right, everybody who doesn't care about it will get the problems of an insecure system. and i care as less about those people as you do.

the linux thing, right, too. but what if so much people would use linux for at least a year? nobody would still care about hacking windows, when nobody uses it, that's the point. but they would try to hack into linux, that's the other point! and no matter how secure a system is, there's always a backdoor or an unsave port left in the system & that's exactly what hackers will try to find.

hey, i don't use it, i don't care. to be exact: nearly nobody uses it & nobody cares.
You should talk to some Enhanced Security Windows folks, although they'd tell you the same
i don't need to talk about the many problems & restrictions of a linux system, because as users yourselves you'll mainly know them.
& guess what, who says that everbody wants to be part you this great open source (which comes close to 'yes, please hack me, here's my source code') community?
sorry, i'm too bored & too tired explaining people my thoughts when they don't want to understand and even don't think while reading but behave like they know every sh*t about things nobody else cares about. & yes, i got more necessary things to do than this here (just as stubborn as you're)
my opinion, eat or die.

that's the point i tried to tell you and linux won't take over windows in the next years.
that's why i don't fill pages w/ facts, nobody's interested in & it wastes my time. as i said, you know for yourself why linux is not everybody's darling.
the reality thing, save it for the poor. you're hiding behind your pc hardware, so don't tell me about reality. computers are tools, not somebody'S f**king life.

Quote:


* big lol * (sorry, didn't find a suitable emoticon)

"Hiding behind first-hand knowledge", to be saved for "the poor", now that's a new one to me.

Sure, computers are tools, but only few people are aware of how powerful tools they have become.

In fact, unless you're living somewhere in the woods, your life already depends on them working as advertised

But you don't sound like the type of guy who would even realize... If this Forum had something like an award for such "Quality Postings", you'd sure have won it for this month *lol*