Macs never get viruses

... 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 Chris

... 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.

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.

[TheNorm]

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet

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

Originally Posted by Damien

...Don't get your last sentence.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114781/quotes

[ZrByte]

Originally Posted by Chris

... 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.

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.

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..

[Toto]

I think not having recognised AV software on a Mac is foolish today. Whilst it is still true that the Windows family of operating systems is still the prime target for malware, Mac's can no longer consider themselves immune just on that basis alone.

I have tried Sophos, and I am beta testing Nod32 for Mac, so far so good.

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 ----------

Originally Posted by Toto

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

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.

I'll also go with the other idea that Mac users who do get infected are too embarrassed to say so..

[mikegreen]

Originally Posted by looper35uk

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

Yep.

I have used Macs for the last ten years and have never had a virus and have never run an antivirus prog.
I do have the built in Firewall activated though.

---------- Post added at 09:49 ---------- Previous post was at 09:36 ----------

Originally Posted by Ignitionnet

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.

If you are talking Win then yes it would be a stretch as most machines come with a crippled trial version of a major AV prog which the owner is then almost forced to purchase.

Please point me to a Mac virus that has any real potential to cause harm and I'll reconsider not having 'protection'.

[Kymmy]

MAC Virii (harmfull ones) have been noted since the early '90s with stuff like COWHAND (early form of open proxy virus) and MBDF (liked to corrupt system files to a point of a reinstall was needed)

I think though in the last 10 years virii for MACs simply wasn't profitable as most virii is designed to botnet/keylog/spam in such a way that it's helpful to criminal activity.

The days of MAC's being seen as safe machines is coming to an end as more and more businesses use them they will be targeted more and more. Also I usually lump together the iphone and ipad with MACs and it's these devices that will see the biggest explosion in exploits..

Back in the early days there were more viruses on MacOS than there were on DOS. That changed as DOS and Windows become more prevalent. Don't let that fool you into thinking there are still loads of historic, dangerous Mac viruses still out there waiting to strike though. MacOS is no longer in widespread use. OSX is a completely different operating system (and is structured differently as well, structured in a way that makes it very hard for a third party to gain control of the entire system without permission).

Also ... not sure why you would lump together iPhones and iPads with the Mac? They are made by the same manufacturer but they don't have the same OS. If iPhones suddenly became riven with viruses, it would not be true to say that Macs were also suddenly riven with viruses.

[Kymmy]

Didn't say they had the same OS.. but I do see them as a precursor for what's eventually gonna happen to the MAC side as it becomes more popular

[the-cable-guy]

Originally Posted by Chris

... 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.

sorry but im not in a windows mindset its just that as someone else said how do you even know that your mac is virus free ? no os is 100% secure whether its linux, windows or mac os & to think that it is, is crazy at the end of the day its your computer so do as you please with it.

---------- Post added at 19:15 ---------- Previous post was at 19:14 ----------

Originally Posted by Damien

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.

as i said no os is safe so doing that is pretty silly.

---------- Post added at 19:16 ---------- Previous post was at 19:15 ----------

Originally Posted by ZrByte

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.

well said.

---------- Post added at 19:18 ---------- Previous post was at 19:16 ----------

Originally Posted by Maggy J

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..

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 the-cable-guy

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.

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

[the-cable-guy]

Originally Posted by Chris

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.

as i said how do uno that your mac is virus free ?

---------- Post added at 19:22 ---------- Previous post was at 19:20 ----------

Originally Posted by Damien

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

whether they are good or not they are still vulnerable to viruses & changing this topic into a pc vs mac war is not what the op was asking & is pretty pointless imo.