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Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 3:53 am

Doctor X wrote:

... Macs are more secure. ...

We have a rule on this site against propagating religious beliefs. Please respect that rule. Wink

Posted: Fri Jan 04, 2008 3:58 am

Just to make this thing a bit rounder:
Macs are not more secure than PCs. MacOS is more secure than Windows. But the same goes for Linux, which is also more secure than Windows.
The reason is simply that most users just buy some computer to do some stuff with and it comes with Windows, so it has the biggest share on the desktop-market, which is what's targeted by virus-writers. Thus it is only understandable that virii and other bad stuff is written for the system which is most likely to be found, Windows.

Of course using an alternative system, no matter if it is Linux, MacOS, Plan9 or anything else that doesn't have Microsoft printed all over it, does not make you invulnerable. For Linux and also MacOS virii are known, but these mostly are lab-tests and usually not found in the wild.
Problem here is that people who aren't so much into security believe that using an alternative system (mostly Linux) will protect them from everything and they don't need to worry (which is often sparked by enthusiasts that tell them how great Linux is and forget to tell it's not an absolutely uncrackable super-system) about anything anymore.

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

Old Coaster wrote:

I did not click on the download. I am assuming I am still clean.

What annoys me about many of these pop-ups is that there is no close button; the X in the corner is part of the graphic, just like the part that says "click here to have me pwn your PC". So by clicking on it you have to trust the pop-up to just close and not to release a malevolent pay-load. So far I haven't found that trust misplaced, but I wince every time I do it.

** ACCOUNT CLOSED ** Joined: 15 Apr 2007 Posts: 766

kleindoofy wrote:

Doctor X wrote:

... Macs are more secure. ...

We have a rule on this site against propagating religious beliefs. Please respect that rule. Wink

Since when have you respected a rule?

*PLONK!*

--J.D.

** ACCOUNT CLOSED ** Joined: 15 Apr 2007 Posts: 766

rootuser wrote:

Just to make this thing a bit rounder:
Macs are not more secure than PCs. MacOS is more secure than Windows.

Thanks for the discussion, permission to quote?

Various Mac and Security to Gurus state that the "biggest share of the market" is rather a non-argument with respect to Mac OS--it is just harder to create viruses that are successful for it. The user, literally, has to turn the damn thing "on" for it to work.

Quote:

Problem here is that people who aren't so much into security believe that using an alternative system (mostly Linux) will protect them from everything and they don't need to worry. . . .

Absolutely. MacOS forums are littered with users who did not secure their computer wondering why they got hacked. The "defaults" have been on some updates--I am not sure about OS 10.5--to have the native Firewall off. I also heard that various filesharing is "on." These are all "bad things" from a security standpoint. One could argue that since Mac users face little to no threats, they pay far less attention to these security holes.

--J.D.

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