I know this is a late reply, but I had a couple of things I wanted to say about your virus war editorial: • You make the assumption that virus makers aren't making a lot of money at it. This used to be the case, but it is unfortunately not true anymore. Viruses are used as back doors into your computer to turn it into a spam relay station. The virus makers get paid for providing spammers with relay stations or 'spam bots' as they are called. Slowdowns you notice are often due to the fact that your computer is spending most of its time spitting out spam to other people's inboxes. Viruses also can collect your personal information which can be used for identity theft. If you're going to run your PC without a virus scanner, don't put any credit card numbers, social security numbers or other critical information on it because sooner or later it's probably going to fall into the wrong hands!

• I suggest to anyone who is sick of viruses and virus scanners to give Linux a try. Yes it is somewhat different from what you're used to, it may not run the Windows programs you're used to, but it is an extremely capable system that will access your Windows drives with no problem, comes with many programs that can access most of your Windows files and will more than likely turn a slug of a Windows computer into a fast snappy system. It has come to the point where it is easy enough for most computer users to use (read some reviews on the Eee PC and you will see what I mean). I will not claim that no virus for Linux will ever be developed, but none have been reported yet and unlike Windows, Linux (being based on Unix architecture) was built from the ground up to be Internet connected. Its system architecture is significantly more secure. Giving Linux a try is easier than ever: most distributions are available as an installable live CD, which means that you pop the CD in your computer, reboot, and your computer will boot Linux off of the CD without ever touching the hard drive. You will be able to try a full blown Linux system (although running slower because it is running from CD instead of hard drive) and install it to the hard drive if you would choose to do so. If not, just reboot your PC, and you'll find your system untouched, just the way it was. If you would decide to install Linux, you can have both Windows and Linux on your PC at the same time. You either choose which one you start at boot, or you can run Linux in a virtual machine under Windows. Some people need to run Windows because they need to use Windows-only software, but they do all their web browsing in the safety of a Linux virtual machine. Some good Linux distributions to look at are Ubuntu and Mandriva, and both are available for free.

• If you're using Internet Explorer, consider switching to Firefox or Opera. Both are very capable web browsers that are significantly more secure and standards compliant. If you consider that Microsoft uses Internet Explorer for Windows Update, you know something's wrong with security. A web browser should NEVER be made capable of making changes to the system. And like I mentioned, browsing in Firefox or Opera under Linux (either native or in a virtual machine) is significantly more secure still.

• Please consider that your decision to run an insecure Windows system without virus scanner and/or firewall affects not just you, but other people. Computers like yours are the reason our inboxes are flooded with spam. Every Internet user has the responsibility to be a good Internet citizen. If you choose to run Windows, be responsible and secure your system with a firewall and virus scanner, however painful it may be. Being infected by a spam bot is not always as obvious as your particular virus infection was. Smart virus makers know that if their activity is too obvious, the system will be wiped and they'll loose a valuable spam bot. Most users of insecure systems that have been infected never realize that their computers are filling other peoples mailboxes with junk. So I hope you reconsider the way you run your system, and hope not too many people will start to follow your example after reading your editorial.

I read with interest your editorial regarding your fight with viruses & anti-virus software (ED 4/10/08). You asked a couple of great questions, but provided no answers:

1. Who are the guys developing viruses?

2. They're not making a lot of money, are they?

3. Why am I in the middle of this fight?

By no means am I a virus or security expert, but my understanding is that the guys developing the viruses are, in fact, organized crime professionals, and yes, they are making lots and lots of money.

What may seem like nothing more than an annoyance to you (getting infected), upon infection your PC becomes a small cog in a very large organization of "zombified" computers, called a "botnet". The designers of the "botnet" can then control it to send massive quantities of spam, or execute massive denial of services attacks, holding legitimate websites and services for ransom. Many of these viruses originate out of Russia. You can verify all this through Google.

Regardless, question 3 is the most important. Let me ask you: why are *you* in the middle of this fight??? I am not. I chose not to be many years ago and never looked back.

What you fail to mention in your article is that there is only one operating system that is generally susceptible to the kinds of malware you mention, as well as other types such as spyware and adware. You are in the middle of the fight because you *choose* to use Microsoft Windows.

I use Linux. Others, who choose not to use Windows, use BSD or Mac. I do not use any antivirus products, and I have never been infected -- by anything.

Most distributions of Linux already include nearly every piece of software most users need for most of the things they do: Web, email, office documents, etc. Sometimes, certain commercial software only runs under Windows. For instance, I use SolidWorks (for Solid Modeling) and Protel (for Schematic Capture/PCB layout). Neither product runs natively under Linux.

There are, though, multiple solutions in these cases. Dual boot is one of them -- Boot into windows only when you need to use such a program. Wine (a Windows Library Layer under Linux) may run your Windows application within the Linux environment. Or, VMWare (or other Virtual Machine Software) can run an instance of Windows in a virtual machine under Linux.

Bottom line is that, not only are you in the middle of the fight, you are also unwittingly supporting the bad guys by continuing to provide them a platform on which to grow and prosper. Become part of the solution. Choose an OS that gets you out of the fight, and lets you concentrate on what it is that you do best.