Jim Hawkins wrote:

> You buy a new computer, connect in to the internet and
> proceed to download your choice of ant-virus software,
> firewall, and possibly other security-enhancing stuff.
> But in the half-hour or more it takes to do all that, your pc is
> wide open, and with the frequency of probing attacks these
> days, a variety of undesirable agents could be installed and
> hidden before the anti-malware gets going.


And even if it would come up earlier, it couldn't fix the consequence of
such a horribly stupid mistake of connecting a machine the internet without
prior host configuration.

It can't fix user stupidity either. Now you're abusing Outlook Express as a
newsreader, which is an open invitation for malware.

> So why don't computer retailers offer machines with anti-malware
> stuff already installed ?


They do, and that's a problem on its own.