Re: How to prevent malware from running on your PC

Charles Newman wrote:
> "Flash Gordon" <spam@flash-gordon.me.uk> wrote in message
> news:vndd83xdo.ln2@news.flash-gordon.me.uk...
>> Charles Newman wrote:
>>> "Leythos" <void@nowhere.lan> wrote in message
>>> news:NXPsf.5103$Pi.2465@tornado.ohiordc.rr.com...
>>>> In article <0-idnYaDDqm8WC7enZ2dnUVZ_sydnZ2d@comcast.com>,
>>>> charlesnewman1@comcast.spam-me-not.net says...
>>>>> "Volker Birk" <bumens@dingens.org> wrote in message
>>>>> news:432ad957@news.uni-ulm.de...
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> - you should use your brain before inserting disks into your PC, and
>>>>>> a virus scanner will help also, if you know, that virus scanners
>>>>>> cannot
>>>>>> be perfect
>>>>> I guess this must be why PCs dont come with floppies anymore.
>>>>> All the computers at the Compusa store close to where I
>>>>> live all come with no floppy drives. The floppy disk is
>>>>> HISTORY, that is what someone as Compusa told me.
>>>>> He told me that they dont make PCs with floppies any
>>>>> more. So the next PC you buy will come without a
>>>>> floppy drive.
>>>> They still make PC's with Floppy Drives, in fact, Microsoft provides
>>>> Licenses via Diskette for some products.
>>> The last PC I bought from them does not even have a bay to put
>>> a floppy drive in. There is a connector on the circuit board for
>>> one, but no drive put to mount a floppy disk. While the
>>> motherboard makers still make floppy connectors, the
>>> cases have no drive bay to put a floppy in.
>> Just because the company you buy from does not put floppy bays in does not
>> mean that others don't.
>>
>>>> The floppy was removed to save Vendors money, which they don't pass on
>>>> to you as a savings, and as a means to limit exposure to more problems
>>>> for warranty issues.
>>>>
>>>> In most cases, many home users won't miss the Floppy, but many business
>>>> users and many technical types will. I always order the Floppy with any
>>>> PC I order.
>>> Well, while you will have a connector on the motherboard for a floppy,
>>> you will have no slot or bay to mount a floppy in. That means you
>>> cannot install either a floppy, or even a Zip drive.
>> Just to take the first example
>> http://www1.us.dell.com/content/topics/topic.aspx/global/products/dimen/topics/en/dimen_xps600_sp_specs?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs
>> are 4 3.5" bays enough for you to put in a couple of floppy drives, a zip
>> drive and something else? This was just the first well known company I
>> looked at (and the first machine I looked at on their site), lots of other
>> companies that still have floppy bays.
>
> Well, the eMachines PC, which serves as my network gateway, has
> the connectors on the motherboard for a floppy, but there is
> no place in the machine where I could mount a floppy, so if I
> need to do anything with a floppy, I have to open up the
> case, and temporarily hook a floppy drive up, and then
> disconnect and close up the case again when I am done.

I'm not disputing that the computer you bought does not have an external
3.5" bay.

> The Compusa sales rep who sold the thing to me told
> me thats the way computers come now.

Well, if you bother to follow the link you will find out that it is
obviously not true for all computer manufacturers. I also looked at the
IBM website and they also have external 3.5" bays. I'll bet if I looked
at most other makes I would find the same.

-- 
Flash Gordon
Living in interesting times.
Although my email address says spam, it is real and I read it.