Viruses and Worms

[cwa107]

The issue is much more fundamental than people think. People who use the "security through obscurity" line clearly do not comprehend the issue.

Funny, I've been making that argument for years.. normally to windows administrators (notice, the programmers will agree) who simply retort that I'm a windows basher. One of these days, perhaps they'll gain a more enriched understanding of the product they support.

LOL... keep in mind, I am a Windows administrator, by trade. The problem is that many of my peers cut their teeth on Windows and Microsoft products, never bothering to look at anything else. I like to think I'm just a bit more open minded because I grew up on a mix of Commodore 64/128s and Amigas. Amiga, in particular, borrowed liberally from UNIX in terms of some of its concepts, so when I started getting into UNIX-like operating systems (mostly Linux distros), a lot of this stuff came pretty naturally to me, including a healthy distrust/distaste for all things Microsoft. Sure, I'll pay for the MCSE tests just to keep myself employed, but that doesn't mean I'll wear my Windows blinders, as a lot of these guys do.

 

[Dysfunction]

My problem is I possess no formal education in this field

 

[louishen]

Currently, the only way a worm, trojan or virus can install under OS X is to ask for your Username and password.

So you are correct, unless you download something from a non trusted source and install it you will be fine.

One of the reasons OS X has not been targeted much is that it is very difficult to propagate malware on os x , the odd machine can get infected, but getting a widespread infection to take hold has not been achieved yet.

On the whole idea of security through obscurity (the idea that a platform does not get infected due to a small market share), I don't think that argument holds water at the moment. I may be wrong but so far the blackberry has a few viruses while the mac has none, and I bet there are more mac users than Blackberry users

 

[Mi-MER ™]

I'd hope Mac doesn't have virus, there are none written in OS yet that I have seen. Not only that, I am sure hope that Mac would be willing to support FREEWARE Virus Scanning, either web based or included with OS Support.

In addition, Macs claim to be virus FREE, meaning that Virus can not run on Mac because the coding is to simple and Virus need complex coding to operate and do damage to operating systems.

Bah, *** do I know I am getting a iMac this Christmas, I am sure someone will attempt to put Virus on Mac soon anyways, stupid people always do. It's the sad reality, as it becomes more and more popular people will start to hate the bad things about it more and more and then attempt to write Viruses!

It happens with every OS.

- Mike.

 

[AbbyBee]

This is a little off topic, but; I used Mac's about seven years ago in a Digital Design class. I seem to remember the computers freezing up and loosing data all the time. Also, for some reason I have the impression that Mac's crash a lot more than PC's do. Have things changed, and/or were my impressions just incorrect? Keep in mind we were using zip drives to back up video files...

 

[Dysfunction]

Were these computers in a classroom setting? If so, normally those are the worst machines to base an impression off of. Also, several things have changed since 2001, mostly the operating system. Actually, the change has been pretty drastic. Over all I'd rate them as pretty stable, naturally the user can impact stability one way or the other.

 

[AbbyBee]

Were these computers in a classroom setting? If so, normally those are the worst machines to base an impression off of. Also, several things have changed since 2001, mostly the operating system. Actually, the change has been pretty drastic. Over all I'd rate them as pretty stable, naturally the user can impact stability one way or the other.

Yes this was in a classroom setting. We spent most of the year trying to find our work, or re-creating it. Also, the teacher herself was just learning how to use a Mac. Very odd I know. Anyway, it's good to hear that it wasn't the Mac itself that was the problem.

 

[CoMo]

You said it! Both of the more mainstream products are incredibly resource hungry, and getting even more so with each new version.

Yup. It's kinda like a chastity belt: You have to take it off several times a day to pee, so is the hassle really worth it when there are easier ways to protect the goodies?

 

[cwa107]

Yup. It's kinda like a chastity belt: You have to take it off several times a day to pee, so is the hassle really worth it when there are easier ways to protect the goodies?

LOL... that's the funniest thing I've heard all day. Thank you for that!

 

[macgig]

If a lot of people are switching over to Mac, doesn't that mean there will be more viruses and worms?

I'm not sure you will see it anytime soon... apple has about 6% market share, and most people still use windows... the evil doers still seem to prefer writing viruses that will effect the most people... windows users.

 

[louishen]

This is a little off topic, but; I used Mac's about seven years ago in a Digital Design class. I seem to remember the computers freezing up and loosing data all the time. Also, for some reason I have the impression that Mac's crash a lot more than PC's do. Have things changed, and/or were my impressions just incorrect? Keep in mind we were using zip drives to back up video files...

Seven years ago would have been 2001

Most Macs then would have been running OS9, a venerable OS but prone to completely hanging up and crashing, and based on the original macintosh OS from the 1980s

OS X is a totally different beast, Apple decided to drop backwards compatibility and use a totally new OS with any legacy support only through emulation.

OS X is a unix OS, built on tried and tested code, and unlike the much loved old mac OS from 2001 and before, pretty darn rock solid. I can count the amount of total crashes on this 6 year old G4 on my own 10 fingers.

 

[Dysfunction]

it's up to over 8% which is a huge gain year to year.

 

[AbbyBee]

it's up to over 8% which is a huge gain year to year.

I need to buy some Apple stock asap.

 

[AbbyBee]

I can count the amount of total crashes on this 6 year old G4 on my own 10 fingers.

How many is that? Wouldn't just once be bad enough? Though, six years is a really long time in the computer world.

 

[Dysfunction]

How many is that? Wouldn't just once be bad enough? Though, six years is a really long time in the computer world.

Even mainframes will crash more often than once in six years and really, that's about as stable as it gets. Less than 10 crashes (which are really just the OS not being able to handle an error) in 6 years is outstanding.

 

[cwa107]

This is a little off topic, but; I used Mac's about seven years ago in a Digital Design class. I seem to remember the computers freezing up and loosing data all the time. Also, for some reason I have the impression that Mac's crash a lot more than PC's do. Have things changed, and/or were my impressions just incorrect? Keep in mind we were using zip drives to back up video files...

I'm going to go out on a limb here, because we have a lot of long-time Mac users on this board - but in my opinion, Macs were an awful, convoluted mess prior to OS X.

[ducks, covers and runs!]

 

[Dysfunction]

I'm going to go out on a limb here, because we have a lot of long-time Mac users on this board - but in my opinion, Macs were an awful, convoluted mess prior to OS X.

[ducks, covers and runs!]

I'd agree. I used Mac's and SGI's in school in the early 90's and professionally after that (think quadra850's and 950s etc) and swore up and down that I wouldn't buy one till they had a real OS.

 

[cwa107]

I'd agree. I used Mac's and SGI's in school in the early 90's and professionally after that (think quadra850's and 950s etc) and swore up and down that I wouldn't buy one till they had a real OS.

When I was in college, our computer labs were divided - half the room with Windows 95 IBM PCs and the other half with Macs (one of the Performa models). Now granted, neither set of machines was what one would consider to be state-of-the-art at the time (this would have been circa 1995-1999), but there used to be a LINE, waiting for the Windows 95 machines, while the Macs were completely unoccupied.

Now, some of that might just be due to the fact that people were a lot more familiar with PCs, even at the time - so I often just jumped on one of the Macs. I can remember waiting 5 minutes + just for the thing to boot up, as it loaded countless extensions (the little puzzle pieces would build, just below the Mac OS 8 splash screen). Once it was up and running, it wasn't so bad - but it wasn't nearly as fast as those Pentium 75mhz machines (believe it or not).

Either way, I didn't even look at a Mac until many years later - probably around 2003, when a bunch of the IT management staff at my company were sitting around with PowerBooks at an off-site budget meeting. I couldn't believe my eyes, and I remember asking those guys "why?". Their reply: "After babysitting 400+ Windows servers all day long, I just want my machine to work - and this thing is great, it really does 'just work' ".

So, although this is nothing more than anecdotal, I can tell you that this is what sparked my interest in Macs again, much later on.

 

[Dysfunction]

oh yea, there were tons of PC's in the lab.. but they really didn't work well at the time for the work we were doing on them. To be honest, an Amiga with video toaster would have been light years ahead of the PC's at the time.

 

[cwa107]

oh yea, there were tons of PC's in the lab.. but they really didn't work well at the time for the work we were doing on them. To be honest, an Amiga with video toaster would have been light years ahead of the PC's at the time.

Hey man, the Video Toaster was awesome in terms of non-linear video editing, even up until the earlier part of this decade.