Those came later (late '90s-early '00s), and ran mostly on Windows; believe it or not, at that time there were people that used Linux or Mac (I dual booted, Wintendo for games, everything else on Linux).

And most malware came from shady sites. Again, if you were careful, you rarely got it (rarely, not never). If you were not careful, well, it usually was obvious because even if your Windows was not infected with a virus or trojan, your browser would be full of toolbars and the PC would run like crap.

I also used gopher, usenet, uucp, archie and all that in the early '90s. And if you were just a little bit careful, catching a virus or trojan was very rare.

Now, everything is monetized. You’re under constant surveillance on a scale it was unimaginable at that time, and being careful amounts to nothing (unless you’re super paranoid) because your security depends completely on how others secure your data, assuming that they’re trying to secure and not sell it.

In this respect, now it’s much, much worse than it was, even if in some other ways it’s somewhat better.

Peak internet was around 2005-2010, IMHO.

They never learned the lesson about the Torment Nexus.

It’s far from useless. Overblown, for sure.

They made an awesome hammer that can solve many hammer-related tasks, but they’re selling it like it can also cook, drive and keep the house clean.

Blame the companies, not the math.