Macs And viruses

[Azimuth]

i agree, macs dont get many viruses because its not as popular also means of spreading it sucks, least 4:1 windows to mac ratio imo, so if someone writes a mac virus it pretty much doesnt get far, and the same reason windows virus spreads like wild fire

i have to say mac are ok for graphic editing but i rather have windows or linux any day, makes me wonder, is there more linux then mac?

its hard to tell, but seeing as how linux is FOSS and macs are totally the opposite, i would assume a larger linux user base than mac.

By the way, macs are able to spread windows viruses on attachements and emails, without the user knowing.
Also the windows sucks cock

 

[mthrnite]

I've been using Macs since 1986 or so, that's 20 years folks.
So far I've had one (1) virus, that was back in the early 90's if I remember correctly.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST

 

[living-ghost]

Macs are in no way immune to exploitation as was demonstrated recently by hijacking a macbook via its wireless airport card. But i agree that it was smart to base the core of OSX on FreeBSD(5.1 I think?). FreeBSD isnt the most secure OS out there, OpenBSD is. only 2 remote exploits in the installer in over 10 years!

The aqua engine that sits on top of the unix core has many potential shortcomings that can be "hacked", but there isn't much interest.

Oh, Steve Jobs please lower your shitty prices and buy a regular T-shirt.

Where is this mac air port hack? I have a friend with a mac who just needs to get hacked. Why you ask?

Cause it would be funny.

 

[Psyfira]

As Macs get more popular it'll be interesting to see if the number of viruses targetting them increase. For now though I assume virus writers prefer to pick on the ignorant, so their targets are mostly windows users.

Before that comment starts a flame war I'm not saying all windows users are ignorant or that all mac users know their stuff. It's just that if an average person with no computing knowledge whatsoever (the sort to not use firewalls or antivirus and click "ignore" when that automatic updates box pops up, thus the most vunerable to viruses) walks into a computer store to buy a machine they'll probably come out with a windows box. (plus I'm using Windows so take that as you will

)

 

[rest0re]

if more people keep using pc's iam fine

i hope adobe will create all software in future for macs. i'm fine with your pc, but my next computer is mac

 

[outphase]

i agree, macs dont get many viruses because its not as popular also means of spreading it sucks, least 4:1 windows to mac ratio imo, so if someone writes a mac virus it pretty much doesnt get far, and the same reason windows virus spreads like wild fire

i have to say mac are ok for graphic editing but i rather have windows or linux any day, makes me wonder, is there more linux then mac?

The ratio is much bigger if you take into account businesses and corporations. Last I checked, Apple only had a 5% market share in the PC realm (PC actually refers to non-server computers, don't believe? remember it's an acronym).

I've switched over to Linux (Ubuntu flavor) and haven't looked back. I used Windows since 3.1 and didn't hesitate to leave. Maybe it's because I'm an electrical engineer, but Windows is no longer as "fun" for me.

 

[deathfisaro]

Someday one smart ass cracker will program a virus that programs itself to effectively target whatever OS he got into. But then with all the time he'd spend on that virus, he could make 1 virus for each OS himself =P

But if he makes one and opens source (that'd give antivirus programmers easy job, but other crackers will get the inspiration for something more wicked) it would be fun.

 

[moshii]

I've switched over to Linux (Ubuntu flavor)

Make that Linux.. GNU flavour.

 

[legendofphil]

The first computer virus was on the Apple II and it was called "Elk Cloner".

 

[cheesyPOOF5]

If that virus maker made it open source, then it would be easy for the antivirus programs to block it.

 

[moshii]

Someday one smart ass cracker will program a virus that programs itself to effectively target whatever OS he got into. But then with all the time he'd spend on that virus, he could make 1 virus for each OS himself =P

The problem is.. not every OS runs/only runs on i386.. NetBSD can run on i386, MIPS(e.g. PS2), PPC (e.g. Proper macs),... M68K(e.g. Amiga, Atari ST). To make something that'd work across the board operating system-wise you'd have use some universal binary translation later to make it work.. like Java.

Basically, no.


------

For the record, Macs, be that Classic or OSX are just as susceptible to malware as Windows. I forget where but I saw recently a report that shows that Mac OSX currently ships with around 10 remotely exploitable vunrebilities. The reason there is next to no malware for Macs isn't that they are some how superior to everything else as Mac users would like to think,.. it's because the userbase is so small what's the point of targetting it? You might as well find a hole in Solaris and steal money from some banks.

 

[Azimuth]

I've switched over to Linux (Ubuntu flavor)

Make that Linux.. GNU flavour.

nice one, finally someone mentions GNU

 

[nintendofreak]

For the record, Macs, be that Classic or OSX are just as susceptible to malware as Windows. I forget where but I saw recently a report that shows that Mac OSX currently ships with around 10 remotely exploitable vunrebilities. The reason there is next to no malware for Macs isn't that they are some how superior to everything else as Mac users would like to think,.. it's because the userbase is so small what's the point of targetting it? You might as well find a hole in Solaris and steal money from some banks.

10...

Still better than any Windows version IMO. Check out vista...

 

[Azimuth]

A question to windows users, how do you guys survive without virtual desktops?

 

[Bowser128]

With more RAM and CPU cycles

 

[R-Unit 4]

Macs take more processing power...so if you erased the Mac OS X from a Mac OS X desinged computer and you put Windows Vista on it, it will be almost positive that it will run faster than most PCs

 

[cheesyPOOF5]

Yes, but then it's just an exspensive PC...what's your point?

 

[moshii]

A question to windows users, how do you guys survive without virtual desktops?

Virtual desktops + Xinerama .. now that's the shinizzle.

 

[Azimuth]

Macs take more processing power...so if you erased the Mac OS X from a Mac OS X desinged computer and you put Windows Vista on it, it will be almost positive that it will run faster than most PCs

i dont see your point either, macs are basically pcs with mac osx as a operating system(at least recently with the adoption of intel chips). Macs have different ram and processor specs, so a pc and a mac with the same specs will run windows or watever at the same speed, haven't you heard of bootcamp

and for all you mac haters, try this out, at least try something before you criticize.

@moshii, Xinerama + Virtual Desktops + Synergy = Awesomeness

 

[moshii]

Macs take more processing power...so if you erased the Mac OS X from a Mac OS X desinged computer and you put Windows Vista on it, it will be almost positive that it will run faster than most PCs

The UI toolkit in MacOSX renders everything using GL if I remember correctly. Therefor all that shininess is being done by your GPU and not your processor. Actually, it's probably faster because there is less overall involvement from the processor in graphical work. There is *zero* difference between a Intel Mac and a modern x86 box except that the Mac has a TPM module to allow it to run unhacked versions of OSX and uses EFI instead of the decades old legacy *BIOS* cludgeola for booting

QUOTEand for all you mac haters, try this out, at least try something before you criticize.

Macs, or more preciously Apple, should be hated for these simple facts; Steve Jobs is an arsehat.. the only person that ever had talent at Apple was Steve Wozniak.
The Mac features that people are raving about today have existed for years, they were just too stupid to look.. OSX the most advanced OS in the world, um it's FreeBSD on Mach. Safari ... um that's called Konqueror. What people don't realise is that Apple have gone around and fucked all these people off by taking and not giving anything back.