Macs never get viruses

Originally Posted by the-cable-guy

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

Prove that it's infected.

[the-cable-guy]

Originally Posted by Chris

Prove that it's infected.

prove that it isint

Originally Posted by the-cable-guy

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.

Well you were the one bringing it up by commenting on Maggie's comment about the price.

[the-cable-guy]

i never said that pc's or mac's were good or bad so please dont put words in my mouth.

[Stuart]

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.

True, if something is expensive that doesn't necessarily make it good. However, something being expensive means it will not achieve the market penetration of cheaper goods regardless of how good it is.

To go off topic for a while, no one would argue that Rolls Royces are not better cars than Fiestas, but they'll never achieve the market share that the Fiesta has, purely because more people can afford a fiesta.

Now, back on topic.

Macs have a far lower market share than PCs. The reason for this is not really relevant, but whatever the reason, the effect is the same. Macs make less attractive targets for virus writers in the wild.

Think of it this way. Imagine you are a virus or trojan writer. You have two platforms you can choose from to write your code for. Windows or OSX. If you write for Windows, you have a chance of infecting 90 odd percent of computer users, and (thanks to Apple's Bootcamp) a good few Mac users. If you write for OSX, you have a chance of infecting (perhaps) 5% of computer users.

Which are you going to go for?

[Kymmy]

Originally Posted by Chris

Prove that it's infected.

I know it's not likely to be infected but it really does show that people assume their MAC is safe to a point where if a mainstream harmful virus did come out I wonder how many would be caught out??

Just a thought....

Originally Posted by the-cable-guy

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 ----------



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

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well said.

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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.

Actually it does if you want to do 3D art..

[the-cable-guy]

Originally Posted by Stuart C

True, if something is expensive that doesn't necessarily make it good. However, something being expensive means it will not achieve the market penetration of cheaper goods regardless of how good it is.

To go off topic for a while, no one would argue that Rolls Royces are not better cars than Fiestas, but they'll never achieve the market share that the Fiesta has, purely because more people can afford a fiesta.

Now, back on topic.

Macs have a far lower market share than PCs. The reason for this is not really relevant, but whatever the reason, the effect is the same. Macs make less attractive targets for virus writers in the wild.

Think of it this way. Imagine you are a virus or trojan writer. You have two platforms you can choose from to write your code for. Windows or OSX. If you write for Windows, you have a chance of infecting 90 odd percent of computer users, and (thanks to Apple's Bootcamp) a good few Mac users. If you write for OSX, you have a chance of infecting (perhaps) 5% of computer users.

Which are you going to go for?


If you write for OSX, you have a chance of in

some good points there & i agree, i was just pointing out that just because something is expensive it doesnt make it good. thats not to say that macs are good or bad as i never said either, i was merely saying that no os is 100% safe.

---------- Post added at 20:39 ---------- Previous post was at 20:38 ----------

Originally Posted by Kymmy

I know it's not likely to be infected but it really does show that people assume their MAC is safe to a point where if a mainstream harmful virus did come out I wonder how many would be caught out??

Just a thought....

my point exactly & without AV how would someone know ? not all viruses make your computer act strangely.

[Stuart]

Actually, I don't think any platform is 100% safe. It's just that (at the moment) you are far less likely to encounter a virus in the wild running on OSX.

[Kymmy]

Originally Posted by the-cable-guy

my point exactly & without AV how would someone know ? not all viruses make your computer act strangely.

Correct, but it doesn't mean to say that the system is inected and I'd say that nearly all would be clean.. For now.....

[MadGamer]

Originally Posted by the-cable-guy

prove that it isint

it would be quite easy for Chris, Damien or me to prove that our macs aren't infected by installing a free anti virus program, run a scan then remove said anti virus program to prove your point.

Originally Posted by Kymmy

Correct, but it doesn't mean to say that the system is inected and I'd say that nearly all would be clean.. For now.....

It makes sense not to have a anti-virus running though. Since no Mac virus is out in the wild, they are all proof of concepts, why bother slowing down your computer?

[Kymmy]

LOL, but how would people know there is a major virus running rampant until it starts getting caught by AV..

Chicken or the egg????

[Lew]

Originally Posted by 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)

You're talking about viruses for the classic Mac OS there, though. They're not compatible with OS X.

[Kymmy]

Originally Posted by Lew

You're talking about viruses for the classic Mac OS there, though. They're not compatible with OS X.

I don't see OSX in the title, nor does the title exclude anything other than the newest MACs