It does not seem reasonable to think they are not exposed to it as much as a PC.
What does MAC do to deal with spyware?
The “Mac not being a target” is measurable in comparison to its market share. The more popular the Mac gets the more hackers will attack it. So far it only needs minimal protection.
Spyware is handled pretty much the same way on both systems,they will use filtering software. Sometimes the browsers themselves handle to task.
They dont have Mac support sites and employees for no reason.
I downloaded and used a trial spyware removal program for a month - MacScan 2 - but I never bought it after the trial ran out.
Now I don’t run spyware programs - didn’t see any speed improvement while running the spyware program versus not running it.
When I used to use my PC rig a lot ( mainly games), I would run a memory management program, a third-party defragger, Zone Alarm, Adaware, some anti-virus program among other crap that was put in the lower right side of the desktop ( So long now I forget what it’s called :p). I was running XP Pro with 2 gig’s of DDR ( 800). At the same time, my wife was using an iMac and never had to worry about any of that stuff.
I use Macs at work ( recording studio) and they require LITTLE maintenance even though we run lots of linked programs ( Pro Tools, Reason, Guitar Rig, etc). Once installed, the OS defrags the drive, you reboot and it works. Very very rarely do I crash at the studio, but it is usually cause by Pro Tools or one of the soft synths we run ( Atmosphere, Trilogy, Stylus).
Since the use of Intel chips I think the occurrence of virus’ and hacking have increased, but are still extremely low compared to Window boxes. Safari ( Mac’s “IE”) filters out pop-ups automatically if you want it to ( I guess IE does it too).
Software-wise, what is available only to PC’s ( besides games - get an xbox360) that I can’t run on a Mac?
-David
Curently, there are no virii attacking macs, the 2 or 3 out there are well covered by anti-virus utilities that rip them out. They are actually worms, not virii.
There are some minor exploitations of Qucktime autorun functions and there were some internet Explorer vulnerabilities, but that’s old hat now. Updates and security patches for the OSX are frequent enough to keep them out.
I don’t know of any Mac vulnerabliity to spyware, however there are some websites that are exploiting a security weakness in some macs, but its not really spyware, more malicious code.
I don’t know of any botware that works on Mac, it just doesn’t execute, and the bot masters just don’t see the critical mass needed on the Mac Platform.
In essence, with very few exceptions, and those being well documented, rare and rather benign, the mac platform does not have security issues, require commercial anti-virus software, and does not have exploited vulnerabilities.
This is not to say that tomorrow’s hackers can’t upset the applecart, but the status quo is quite comfy.
HOWEVER, you will hear a constant prattle from the PC camp that the mac invulnerability to Virii and the like is just a teetering illusion, just like you used to hear the same prattle that Apple is barely viable, and ready to go under any day now…
Currently, Gartner Group amongst others is recommendending to all their clients that they convert to UNIX or Apple operating systems due to the expense, lots productivity and risk involved in the Windows platform based upon its security issues, thus, the windows camp must attack the Mac seeming invulnerability to the baddies.
So, the PR machine is in place, and there are lots of articles on how the Mac MAY be attacked one day in the future because of Blah blah blah…
Sort of like the same propoganda that was saying how Vista was going to be the Mac Killer OS from MS when it eventually gets completed…
So, love them or hate them, Macs do not have practical security issues, only 'theoretical" issues plain and simple.
If you are really that interested, have a look at this security site for this year’s top 20 security issues: http://www.sans.org/top20/
when the **** did this become a computer website i had to check to make sure i’m in the right place.
Apple always had a good OS but missed the boat in the early days and hasn’t been able to recover. OS/2 was a better product too but thatdidn’t keep it from being run over by WinNT.
There’s currently a lot of resistance to Vista, more the the usual Win upgrade resistance. Unfortunately I don’t think OS X will be able to take advantage of the situation, even with the Intel version.
Linux will eventually win out and run the office. It already runs the bulk of the Internet and businesses are slowly coming around.
The best product doesn’t always win out in the marketplace. It’s all in the marketing.
They don’t.
Mac’s use proprietary code. No exe’s for instance.
you can get em with java or with other web based scripts, but to dl a program into a mac, it would have to be written for a mac.
mac’s are sealed tight for the most part.
conversely, they are virtually useless for much of anything that most computer fanatics love. Like gaming or downloading stuff that only works in pc format.
On a mac, teh web is very different and kind of limited in a lot of ways, gaming completely sucks donkey balls on a mac and although they like to say things like “it just works” they neglect to mention that it only works with mac software which is like 1% of what is available for a pc and when it stops working, everything stops working.
And that’s why Mac has a 3% market share.
I’ve worked with macs, they are good for multimedia development, sound recording, photoshop, email and surfing, other than that, they are dog balls and they cost too much, about 2 to 3 times as much as an equally if not more powerful and flexible PC.
macs also allow you to remain stupid computer wise because you never have to problem solve, they either work or they don’t and that’s all.
signed
Mac sucks
Man, you are waaaaaaaaaaaaaay behind the times. Mac has some of the best protected memory in the business.
You don’t get freeze screen anymore, and for a long time now.
Sort of like the same propoganda that was saying how Vista was going to be the Mac Killer OS from MS when it eventually gets completed…
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I have a friend who runs a small computer company. they put Vista in all thier systems form clients who had upgrade requests, and had nothing but problems. In the end they went back to XP and won’t do Vista upgrades even on request now.
I have to say, I know Macs all seem to really want to push the reliability issue, but other than my own oversite on low Hard drive space for my OS, I have not really had many problems now that I got some corporate version ant Virus/Spyware installed.
It all works behind the scenes, so I don’t know it is there. I get no pop ups, no crashes, and my system is pretty darn fast.
I actually installed all that stuff into my laptop too because it works so well (the laptop kept loading up with crap otherwise), so the problems with PCs have some pretty simple fixes. I don’t think the Mac has anything on a PC, other than all that stuff comes with it out of the box.
[I]Man, you are waaaaaaaaaaaaaay behind the times. Mac has some of the best protected memory in the business.
You don’t get freeze screen anymore, and for a long time now.[/I]
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Freeze screen is, and has allways been due to lack of working memory and virtual memory space. Run a couple 2 Gig sticks in your PC, and have at least 25 Gigs free for the OS, and a PC runs super smooth too.
I suspect that is pretty much all the Macs did for thier fix as well.
macs also allow you to remain stupid computer wise because you never have to problem solve, they either work or they don’t and that’s all.
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I have allways thought this was part of the whole thing myself. MAC come fully loaded with all the most popular things. PCs are all loaded different )or barly loaded at all), are configured different and require a much larger knowledge base because they have endless variations allowing them to be adapted to endless specific needs.
I think most of the swearing at them is more operators underestimating thier needs, or issues with configuring them to thier own custom specs.
If you go to a PC user and ask “Whatchya Runnin?” you might get 20 minutes of Techno babble and PC component jargon. Ask the same question to a Mac user and they will look at you and go errrr…Uh Mac? Because thye have no clue how thier machine is actually equipped beyond the most basic things.
For example, ask me the question and you will hear 2 WD 40 and 250 Gig HD’s with 6 stikcs of 512 DDR ram governed by an Atholon double duty 2800 processor on a Soyo mother board, a crappy video card, but great sound blaster, a Johnson high watt powersupply with dual cooling fans running Windows XP corperate, Fire Fox, Lime wire/Itunes my charting software, a Cracked MS office pack Adobe Photo shop, Turbo Draw (an EXCELLENT little program originally for Windows 95 btw), Dyno pro plus (Virtual dyno software for high performance car builders)…tec to infinity all compiled in a used case I found in the closet at my friends house in 1998. I have run the system with as much as FIFTY windows open all at the smae time, didn’t shut it off for 8 months once and it runs stable.
Same question to a Mac user yields this response;
Mac user…Um…a Mac…it wirks?
It’s like trying to talk car with a girl. She knows the Key makes it go, and gass goes in the little door in the back compared to a Gearhead who built his car…
when the **** did this become a computer website i had to check to make sure i’m in the right place
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When all of us Oldtimers that have been here for the last 10 years or more realised we have discussed every possible martial arts topic imaginable 100 times over and got board of it all…so we expanded our horizons and now discuss other topics as well.
Spyware is handled pretty much the same way on both systems,they will use filtering software. Sometimes the browsers themselves handle to task.
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This is what I thought. It’s the same thing with the PC…they use some sort of software to manage it all behind the scenes.
Also, I know some Mac users who have gotten Viruses and lost everything because of them. A PC user gets one and our systems just slow down till Norton cleans them out. Viruses for us are just Colds for PC users. For Mac users they are terminal illneses due to not having any sort of immune system.
nsfw, but really funny.
I picked up a couple of used Dell Precision P4 (2.8 & 3GHz), 1GB RAM, 80GB HD, LCD monitor (17" & 18") off of Ebay from a local surplus store (saved on shipping). Win XP Pro COA included.
Mac - I have no clue. Got an old G3 about 450MHz with OS9 but haven’t upgraded or messed with it but I should learn something about them. I’ve got OS x for Intel but haven’t installed it anywhere.
Haven’t even had time to mess with my Dell Poweredge 2500 duel 1GHz P3 server. I installed Redhat Enterprise then packed it away and went out of town.
I have a list of computers ranging from Vic20, C 64 and TS100 to the Poweredge server and everything in between. Even an old Mac LC.
Then there’s the Hero Jr. robot and Omnibot and Omnibot 200 plus Armatron and a host of other robots. It’s like a game room around here.
I have a TRS-80 Model 1 in with the 16K memory upgrade and the Expansion interface.
Here’s a good question for you PC guy’s :
Why do you NEED to upgrade so much? My computer runs just fine with 512MB ram. Running OS 10.4.11 for 2 years ( 10.4.x plus upgrades over the time period), not a single crash. I run a 1.5gHz G4 ( single processor, non-intel), I web surf, email, I can run ProTools at home ( limited RTAS effects because I didn’t upgrade my RAM), Photoshop, MS Word-Excel-PowerPoint if I want ( installed but I don’t really need them).
What is it about Windows machines that need to be constantly upgraded over time? Why does the OS grow to fill a 10GB partition? Why do you need to get new graphics cards? I don’t know anything about the Xbox360, but I don’t think you need to upgrade it’s graphics card for new games and they look pretty d@mn good.
My friend put it well - do you buy a car, bring it home and take out and put back the engine every 6 months? Do you change the seats, transmission every couple of months? Do you have to tune it up yourself all of the time?
Just doesn’t seem right to have to do that.
-David
My friend put it well - do you buy a car, bring it home and take out and put back the engine every 6 months? Do you change the seats, transmission every couple of months? Do you have to tune it up yourself all of the time?
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Why do we upgrade? Becasue unlike Macs, PC’s are always improving.
It’s like Hotroding a car. Every few months you are pulling the motor and adding more high performance parts, Camshafts, Pistons Heads intakes etc… PC’s are totally hotrodable to the extreme…MACs you are pretty much stuck running stock.
So while you are suffering with one 512, I have 3, 2 Gig sticks on order…
[QUOTE=RD’S Alias - 1A;830967]
Why do we upgrade? Becasue unlike Macs, PC’s are always improving.
It’s like Hotroding a car. Every few months you are pulling the motor and adding more high performance parts, Camshafts, Pistons Heads intakes etc… PC’s are totally hotrodable to the extreme…MACs you are pretty much stuck running stock.
So while you are suffering with one 512, I have 3, 2 Gig sticks on order…[/QUOTE]
Lol - but you guy’s are the ones always complaining how your boxes are broken!
MY 512 has me running faster and smoother than your machine, I can tell you that. You buy a Mac, it’s hotrodded already, you don’t need that other stuff. You guys complain about the cost of a Mac, but you add a new Vid Card for $400 every 6-8 months because you can’t run the newest game at 100FPS with all of the detail turned to the highest settings. Then you have to get a 7.1 Audio card for another $300 so the sound is ‘right’. Uh-oh, then you gotta get another 3x 2 gig sticks because your ping is slow. And d@mn, that box runs hot - time for a new water-cooled system!
Oh no - why is my machine running so slow? I just re-installed Windows for the third time this week!
Please - if that’s what gets you off, more power to ya!
Just trying to help :rolleyes:
-David