Does Bootcamp allow the potential for viruses and spyware w/ windows?

As you know, the biggest advertisement for mac's is their ease of use and "protection from 750,000 viruses" or something. Now, with bootcamp, wouldn't all viruses still be prone to infest your macbook?

Simple answer.. YES..

That wouldn't be true with Parallels, right? It's a virtual software...

http://www.parallels.com/

VJ

VakeJ said:

That wouldn't be true with Parallels, right? It's a virtual

Click to expand...

No, its still Window XP running in a window. If it can run Windows software, then it'll run windows viruses. They won't have any effect on your OS X partition and they can be easily avoided anyways.

Mynameis is totally correct.

That said, BootCamp does nothing but make a driver CD, install a boot manager and partition the Hard Drive. When you install Windows in that Partition, it will work and act like it does on any PC.

so to clarify, you can get viruses on the xp partition, but those viruses won't infect the mac os partition.

That is correct, yes

so far anyway!! just be careful and always use virus protection etc

I am running AntiVir on my small windows install on my Core Duo Mac Mini. It works great and it's free. It's never falied to catch any virus that might come my way in windows. I use it on all my PC's.

What about spyware? Because spyware/malware have been more of a threat to me than viruses.

If I were to get spyware, it wouldn't affect my OSX at all right?

Correct. Windows only software (malware, most viruses, etc) will still run only on windows. You could have an infected Windows file (for example, a .exe executable) sitting on your OS X partition, but OS X would remain uninfected, as windows binaries will NOT run on OS X, regardless of your hardware platform. To date, there are no viruses or malware that are able to cross over from a windows install on the same system as OS X. I wouldn't expect to see anything like this any time soon, if ever (it would be extremely difficult, if even possible at all). Of course, as always when dealing with windows, be safe. Use Firefox or Opera, Antivirus protection, and scan for malware/spyware periodically with a program like Spybot Search & Destroy.

yeah, just be safe and your windows partition will probably stay pretty clean too. avg free and windows defender have worked very well for me.

It's not hard to keep a Windows machine clean, it's just more work. Here is my maintenance schedule:

Monday: Adaware (adware scanner #1)
Tuesday: Spybot (adware scanner #2)
Wednesday: AVG (anti-virus)
Thursday: Windows Update (like Mac Update)
Friday: Disk Cleanup & Disk Defragmenter (free utilities included with Windows)

Only takes five or ten minutes a day to have a smooth-running machine. All of those apps are free, btw. I also run ZoneAlarm as my Firewall and access control app (similar to Little Snitch). Additionally, I use Firefox as my web browser instead of Internet Explorer and Thunderbird as my POP email app instead of Outlook/Outlook Express.

As long as you practice good Internet habits, you'll be fine. That means (1) don't visit bad websites, (2) don't open dumb email attachments, and (3) don't use free download apps for music, movies, etc.