If you’re like me, you get a steady drip of e-mail messages offering software at impossibly low prices. So far, you’ve resisted the lure of $29 Vista because you’re possessed of a pure heart, but now comes word of another, less noble, reason to keep a clean system. An article at InfoWorld says that half the “Vista” available for downloading has a significant malware load on its back.

Vista will have enough problems winning the PR wars without large numbers of people with illicit, malware-infested downloads trying to make the system work. Stick with the legitimate copies–if you can’t afford to buy Vista, figure out how to run one of the modern Linux distros or buy one of the cheap Macs. I know it might cost a few bucks, but if you’ve got a few dollars to spend on hardware you migh be ready to make the Mac plunge–see, Vista is spurring competitiont already!

Categories: Security, Embedded, Software