True about backups but dont forget - keyloggers and other malware can be a serious pain in the ass too... Even worse than virus. As for #2 - I simply shared my opinion about Linux. For me it works excellently right from the start... I have no reasons to promote it, nobody pays me for it... So all is just my own experience. All is very comfy working.
I don't try out software new to me, or go surfing blind, on my trading machine. I don't use Outlook for email. I have software and hardware firewalls. Haven't seen virii in 8 years.
Not seeing them doesn't mean you're not infected... That's half joke really, but only half, cause you can't be sure using such a system almost without internal security at all as XP.
Oh yeah. My AV and file access software auto updates, and my performance profiles have not declined over time. I save them for comparison. There's nothing eating resources or lurking.
Aw...c'mon, be a pal! Back when I was on the floor (and when I used to bet on football games), "chisel" was the name given to me by a fellow trader because he said I was always trying to chisel extra points on the spread. I always try to get a good deal!
Exactly! Impossible to proove NON-existence of a virus based on the only fact that you don't see it... P. S. I mentioned it was half-joke, so please don't take things so seriously, it's 1AM here now and I'm not much tuned up for rhethorical exercises... But fact which makes my joke just half-joke is still the fact: XP has very weak security...
How can you claim "XP's security is very weak"? If it were, we'd hear constant rants about it... but we don't. Even the 100,000 Eters... many of whom would be first to bitch if they were getting corrupted in any significant way... occasionally a little something, yes, but not much really. "1AM" now? Where are you, Eastern Europe or Russia?
Ok. Which uses less resources (memory, CPU etc)? I just ordered a new mini-laptop (EEE PC) with XP. Seems I have to try to install a version of Ubuntu there too. Hope 1Gb of RAM is enough. Another advantage of XP over Linux is supposed to be better power management. The battery should thus last longer. Has anyone here compared battery life under XP vs Linux?