Highly possible switcher? Many Questions?

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Megid

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I am here because I just got done reformatting my PC for the last time.. I am so sick of the PC. But I got questions and I don't know anything about Mac's.

1. How is the virus problems with the macs do you get many and is there built in protection? Or are you like us and get them all the time also.

2. Are MAcs stable? Mine is not, and even today I have trouble running windows xp.

3. Playing games require hugh system resources, but from the look at the g5 it does not come close to meeting the standards of some of the games out there today? Do Mac run different and don't need as much power.

4. Do most web sites support mac? can you play games on the sites with no problems? popcap.com?

Thanks for the info
 
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Tiranis

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Ok I'll answer what I can...

1. No known viruses (worms i should say). Unless you're stupid and are going to download and run viruses you're Ok. But in .Mac there is a anti-virus program called Virex from McAfee.
2. Rock stable! That is from what I've heard and from my experience. Also much less crashing apps.
3. Eh, well I can tell you one thing don't compare apples and oranges. ;) But yes, there is difference between PC and Mac recommendations. That's because 1.8Ghz G5 which is in iMacs is probably comparable to P4 2.6 or maybe even better. Someone who is playing games should probably answer this.
4. Yes, mostly. I don't believe that popcap.com does though. The games there are made with ActiveX I believe. But you're going to be able to play all of the Flash and Java games out there, which pretty much covers almost all online gaming sites.

Hope this helps a bit. Btw what Mac are you planning to get?
 
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msimonkey

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Hey,
I feel your angst. I am a PC user but am using mac for work. Viruses....umm...what viruses? I have not had a problem yet. Stability - I think Macs are awesome at stability. The only hard part is that they often dont have clear error messages when sometime goof ups happen. In terms of games, I think that the only limitation really is that there are a shortage of some games. I have had some problems playing games on popcap and some of the other free gamer sites. Most often an install of a missing plugin solves the problem. I would suggest learning tips and tricks of sites like this if you really want to be successful. Also, software tends to be **** expensive too.
Hope this helps...
iram
 
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Echo_

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it is more expensive to make a gaming mac than a gaming pc... if yuour a gamer dont buy a mac make a pc.
but i have no problems with viruses or spyware in xp /shrug
 
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Megid said:
I am here because I just got done reformatting my PC for the last time.. I am so sick of the PC. But I got questions and I don't know anything about Mac's.

1. How is the virus problems with the macs do you get many and is there built in protection? Or are you like us and get them all the time also.

2. Are MAcs stable? Mine is not, and even today I have trouble running windows xp.

3. Playing games require hugh system resources, but from the look at the g5 it does not come close to meeting the standards of some of the games out there today? Do Mac run different and don't need as much power.

4. Do most web sites support mac? can you play games on the sites with no problems? popcap.com?

Thanks for the info

1. Viruses are virtually nonexistent for Macs. I even find an antivirus program to be a waste of time because it slows down the computer more than its protection is worth.
2. Due to its Unix core and the lack of programmers trying to target Mac users for attacks, Mac OS X is incredibly stable.
3. The way Intel and AMD, especially Intel, clock their processor speeds is totally different from the way Macs do it. My iBook G4 1.33 GHz runs faster and more efficiently than my friends' 2.4-2.8 GHz P4 PCs. A 2.5 GHz G5 is virtually unbeatable unless you're overclocking P4s/Athlon 64s, or using an Opteron, and the Opteron is arguable. To use a worn-out phrase, 'It's Apples and oranges.' You can't compare PC and Mac processors evenly based on plain clock speed. Clock efficiency and power is a totally different and much more involved matter. "3.4 GHz P4 processor" is a smoke and mirrors thing. By itself that doesn't mean all that much. That being said, Macs do not currently run most games as well as PCs do for the simple matter that most games are PORTED from PC to Mac, which means they're not efficiently designed to run on Macs. Games originally programmed for the x86 architecture just aren't going to run as well on PPC, no matter how much better your system is. They will run, and sometiems run very well, but PCs still have the edge for the time being.
4.Websites don't 'support Mac' or 'support PC.' Websites are programmed in HTML, and whether or not a website renders properly is entirely dependent upon your web browser, and its rendering engine. Internet Explorer for PC currently has the 'best' rendering engine, despite how poorly programmed and insecure it is. The internet was made to order for IE. However, if you used Firefox on PC, for instance, it's available on Mac. Additionally, Camino, a native browser with the same rendering engine as Firefox, Mozilla, and Netscape, is available. There's also Safari, Apple's own homemade browser. I personally mostly use Camino and use Safari once in awhile. IE and Opera are also available for Mac, but they're really to the point of being so slow they're not useful.

You raise a lot of good questions. Just remember to try and get away from judging Macs and PCs by the same standards on things like processor speeds and RAM. Mac processors are generally more powerful than x86 (PC) processors for their GHz clock speed. Macs also, you should know, use a LOT more RAM than PCs if you'll let them. You should get at least 512 in a new Mac for it to run smoothly. I'd personally recommend 768 or 1 GB, but I would not recommend paying for Apple's namebrand RAM as you can get it for a third of the price at places like Crucial. Anyway, good luck with your possible purchase and potential switch. If you decide not to go with it, that's cool, too. There's all kinds of reasons to stick with PCs. We Mac users just happen to think the reasons not to use them outweigh the reasons to use them. Hope I was helpful.
 
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MichaelSullivan

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Tiranis said:
1. No known viruses (worms i should say).

a quick google search, and a run through the about.com virus encyclopedia turned up enough hits to discredit this remark.
 
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Tiranis

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MichaelSullivan said:
a quick google search, and a run through the about.com virus encyclopedia turned up enough hits to discredit this remark.

Any idea of what Worm is, huh? No? Well then don't bother to reply, please... There is known virus which would spread itself automatically without users involvement. None. (By which I mean one that would hit Macs and do any harm. Yes, sure, teoretically there are known viruses, but none of them went wild... ) Unless you open one yourself. But writing that kind of "virus" is sooooo easy. Anybody who knows a bit of C or C++ can do that.

By the way, if you're so amazingly smart, please show me just one virus which spread itself on it's own and hit at least one Mac.

Maybe you should be just a bit more respectful to people who are helping YOU on this forum.
 

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As for popcap.com, you should also try out Gamehouse.com web games, the majority of them work with macs. I just went to popcap.com, and I tried Zuma, Bejweled 2, and InsaniQuarium!, but they didn't work, but some others did work like Big Money, Bookworm, and Rocket Mania. Seem as if the more popular web games don't work on macs.
 
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Tiranis, that type of response is not called for, your response was worse than his. Let's keep it friendly and be part of the solution and not the problem. Thanks you guys! :)
 
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Tiranis

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Well I'm sorry, but after helping him two times, I would expect at least a bit of respect. Maybe he could've told me that I'm wrong and shown me why... He didn't do so. Well, but.. whatever. Nevermind.
 
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Megid

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Ok, for gaming I used to game alot but I am now at the been there done that stage, I am in the process of fixing this POS PC so I can sell it off and put the $$$ towards a MAC. But MAC'S seem expensive.. I been looking at the ones that have a build in screen, like the whole computer is one piece, forget what they are called. Trying to find a good deal is the hard part, but I will remember to get more ram..

Thanks guys and gails
 
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MichaelSullivan

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Tiranis, maybe we can clear up the termonology...

VIRUS: A piece of programming code inserted into other programming to cause some unexpected and usually undesirable event, such as lost or damaged files. The virus can lie dormant until circumstances cause its code to be executed by the computer.

WORM: a software program capable of reproducing itself that can spread from one computer to the next over a network; "worms take advantage of automatic file sending and receiving features found on many computers"

TROJAN: (also called a Trojan horse) is a software program in which harmful or malicious code is contained within another (seemingly harmless) program. When this program executes, the Trojan performs a specific set of actions, usually working toward the goal of allowing itself to persist on the target system. Trojans can allow hackers to open backdoors on your system, giving them access to your files and even network connectivity.

Firstly, when I search on symantec for Mac viruses/trojans/worms I get over 3000 results. I can easily locate the same information via google. Therefore it is safe to discredit your statement that there are no known viruses or worms that target the mac.

Secondly, and much more importantly, this is a public forum where people won't always agree. There is no reason to think that just because you posted in a thread which I started, that I may not question the validity of your statements. We can disagree without disrespecting each other, okay?
 
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MichaelSullivan said:
Firstly, when I search on symantec for Mac viruses/trojans/worms I get over 3000 results. I can easily locate the same information via google. Therefore it is safe to discredit your statement that there are no known viruses or worms that target the mac.

Interesting. I get over 300,000 hits for "Loch Ness monster" on Google. Wonder how they fit all those monsters in one lake? They must all be real, right?

Maybe you should click on some of those hits you found. You might learn something.

First, OS X is very different from OS 9. There were several dozen viruses affecting OS 9, all of which became irrelevant with the advent of OS X. When people serch for "Mac virus," they often get some of those.

Now, on OS X, there are a couple of points of interest.

First, this trojan horse scare hit last year. Basically, an anti-virus software company invented a trojan to scare people and drum up sales. They were discredited.

Second, there's Opener. Opener seems to be an actual worm, in that it copies itself to mounted volumes on infected systems.

However, it's really hard to become infected. Secunia categorizes it as "very low risk" as does McAfee (which makes antivirus software as well.)
Infection starts with the execution of the opener.sh file via manual execution, pretending to be something else, or automatically by sharehopping. Properly configured OS X systems,*with no*filesharing enabled and not running root/superuser/admin rights should not be vulnerable.

And that's pretty much it. One fairly impotent worm, a few made-up trojans, and no viruses.
 
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MichaelSullivan

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technologist said:
One fairly impotent worm, a few made-up trojans, and no viruses.

I know you probably love your Mac and all, but thats no reason to spout opinion instead of fact. Took me about 30 seconds to find examples of a mac os x virus and a trojan by looking through symantec.

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/macos.mw2004.trojan.html
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/sh.renepo.b.html
http://news.com.com/2100-7349_3-5215586.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=news

I don't dislike Macs, so no need to be rude when stating your opinion. Mac's aren't invulnerible... nor are they perfect. I do question why some Mac users become so defensive when people point these things out, though.

From this article: http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/articles/renepo.html
"The Renepo worm reminds Mac users who may have felt smug that most viruses target the Microsoft Windows market that they should be careful not to turn a blind eye to security."
http://news.com.com/2100-7349_3-5215586.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=news
 
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MichaelSullivan said:
I know you probably love your Mac and all, but thats no reason to spout opinion instead of fact. Took me about 30 seconds to find examples of a mac os x virus and a trojan by looking through symantec.

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/macos.mw2004.trojan.html
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/sh.renepo.b.html
http://news.com.com/2100-7349_3-5215586.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=news

I don't dislike Macs, so no need to be rude when stating your opinion. Mac's aren't invulnerible... nor are they perfect. I do question why some Mac users become so defensive when people point these things out, though.

From this article: http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/articles/renepo.html
"The Renepo worm reminds Mac users who may have felt smug that most viruses target the Microsoft Windows market that they should be careful not to turn a blind eye to security."
http://news.com.com/2100-7349_3-5215586.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=news

You did notice that "Renepo" is Opener spelled backwards, right?

You basically posted exactly what I did. One worm, and a couple of trojans.
 
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technologist said:
You did notice that "Renepo" is Opener spelled backwards, right?

You basically posted exactly what I did. One worm, and a couple of trojans.

Further, Apple has patched the security issue you mention long ago. And Apple has also created a warning that appears before any new application is launched...in effect, patching the trojan horse issue as well.

OS X is not perfect. There will be viruses, worms, and trojans that affect it in the future. But, for the moment at least, there is no malware threat. Nothing in the wild that has not already been patched.
 
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Dude, don't say stuff like that. It's not a fight between you and Michael. He was pointing out facts that he found. He held no anger against you. And technologist was counter-pointing what Michael had to say. The only real angst here is in everbody's heads. This is a Mac forum. It's our business to talk about everything about Macs, good and bad. If a deadly worm comes out, it would be much better to hear about it than refuse to believe it exists out of arrogant pride. We shouldn't be so defensive about the strength of Mac OS X and Unix. Pobody's nerfect. It's still a **** of a lot more secure than XP, even if it had ten potential horrible worms threats flying around. Better to talk about them and fix them than ignore them.
 
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The very concept of worm/virus as they now attack Windows is a non issue in Mac OS or other Unix based systems because they rely on the indefensible Windows registry which is the very core of the system. Worms edit, add and delete registry keys at will and the loop of new ones and new protections is infinite. This will not happen to Mac OS X because there is no registry core, there is instead the kernel, (Darwin) and the root and administrator user. Such editing to the file system core would only be doable with the admin password or logged in as root. Obviously never be on line as root! :alien:
 

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