Originally Posted by Chris (Post 35050446)

... and yet many thousands of us do, and have done so for many years. You need to get yourself out of the Windows mindset, it's obviously bad for you and causing you to be paranoid. ;)

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet (Post 35049319)

... What's assumption the mother of Damien? ;)

Originally Posted by Damien (Post 35049331)

...Don't get your last sentence.

Originally Posted by Chris (Post 35050446)

... and yet many thousands of us do, and have done so for many years. You need to get yourself out of the Windows mindset, it's obviously bad for you and causing you to be paranoid. ;)

Originally Posted by Toto (Post 35050497)

I think not having recognised AV software on a Mac is foolish today.

Originally Posted by looper35uk (Post 35048836)

Just out of Interest has anyone with a Mac on here ever had a virus.

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet (Post 35049196)

Just to point out if someone claimed this about a Windows machine you would have extremely strong doubts. Claiming a machine that has never had AV software on it has never been infected by anything is a stretch regardless of the OS it runs.

Originally Posted by Chris (Post 35050446)

... and yet many thousands of us do, and have done so for many years. You need to get yourself out of the Windows mindset, it's obviously bad for you and causing you to be paranoid. ;)

Originally Posted by Damien (Post 35050454)

Indeed. However Windows has gotten much, much better at security issues. Hence why I feel safe not to install a anti-virus as long as my firewall is up. (And being careful who I open attachments from). This is the same policy I have on my Mac, firewall up and no virus scanner.

Originally Posted by ZrByte (Post 35050492)

You say paranoid, I say prepared. How would you propose you would get rid of an infection on your mac after it is there? Most AV wont run on a compromised system so you then rely on system restores, OS reinstalls etc. If the virus becomes widespread enough you may be able to get a standalone utility that will clean up but its all a bit excessive when all you need to do is take your head out of the sand.
And I think you will find the windows virus culture is spread by windows users in the same mindset as yourself. Those who use up to-date AV certainly wont be vulnerable to infection.

Originally Posted by Maggy J (Post 35050495)

To be honest MACs don't have a problem because they are too expensive and therefore don't have the market share that Windows machines have.

I'd love a Mac but I just cannot justify the cost..:(

Originally Posted by the-cable-guy (Post 35051070)

either your taking the pee or you have no idea about computers, in case its the latter just because something is expensive doesnt make it good.

Originally Posted by Chris (Post 35050498)

Now, that's a tad unfair Maggy. 'Apple' is an individual company, 'windows machines' is a nebulous category that takes in any number of other individual companies.

Apple is one of the biggest computer manufacturers in the world. It has long been in the top five, measured by units shipped. Earlier this year, only HP, Dell, Tosh and Acer were selling more units than Apple. That means that all the other PC-manufacturing companies were, individually, selling fewer units.

There are all sorts of reasons why Windows machines collectively outsell Mac OSX machines. Hardware cost is only one of them. Historically, Apple decided not to copy IBM and licence its architecture. Considering that it remains a vast and profitable company without having had to commoditize and therefore lose control over one of its key products, I'd say in the long term they probably made the right decision.

Apple sets a price for its products that reflects the design, build and brand image that it wants to project. It has created an incredibly cool image for itself - this in turn helps it to sell its cheaper products, i.e. iPod and iPhone, to a mass market, as the masses believe they are getting a slice of that coolness.

Now we've got all that out of the way ... to suggest that the only reason they 'don't have a problem' is that relatively few people have them, is just another re-statement of the old 'security from obscurity' argument. One which is often asserted but rarely demonstrated.

---------- Post added at 18:16 ---------- Previous post was at 18:14 ----------



Well, I don't consider myself to be acting foolishly. 10 years and counting. ;)

When real and credible stories start to hit the press about malware danger for Mac users, I'll reconsider. Until then, I think I'll save my time, money and processing resources.

Originally Posted by Damien (Post 35051076)

But in this case it does. Macs are pretty good computers!