Do Macs really have NO viruses whatsoever? Not even one?

[blablaboi1]

<p>@Miami77
Of course Apple would say anything to get people to BUY their products. Almost ALL businesses I seen do this.</p>

[Ray192]

<p>

There are many reasons why Macs have less viruses than PCs. To say that it is simply because of their lesser market penetration is complete asinine. First, if I was creating a virus, I would definitely create one for the Mac because no Mac users run virus software! So it would actually make more sense to make a virus for a Mac. So, why isn’t there any viruses?

</p>

<p>Ughh, the ignorance is palpable. If you were creating a virus, you’d want to create something that can infect and spread to any machines as possible. It does so by spreading from one host to another. If you write a virus for a mac, it can only infect macs, and the host macs must then be in contact with another mac to spread it. Do you know what the probability of a large chain of such mac infections happening is?</p>

<p>And my god, unless you actually know anything about computers and virus design, don’t talk about what you’d do if you were to design a virus.</p>

<p>

One reason is that apple’s operating system is more secure than windows (people will argue this, but it is definitely one of the reasons why). Another reason is that apple has various hidden technologies which make it harder for unknown code to run in the background (AKA viruses).

</p>

<p>Tschh. PC users vary wildly, but very few spew propaganda like this. </p>

<p>[Apple’s</a> Snow Leopard Is Less Secure Than Windows, But Safer | Gadget Lab | Wired.com](<a href=“http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/09/security-snow-leopard/]Apple’s”>Apple's Snow Leopard Is Less Secure Than Windows, But Safer | WIRED)</p>

<p>*Apple’s new Snow Leopard operating system, which landed in stores Friday, adds a few security enhancements to protect Mac users from malware. But like previous versions of the Mac OS, Snow Leopard lacks security features that are built in to Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7, such as full Address Space Layout Randomization to thwart attacks from malicious code.</p>

<p>That makes Macs more vulnerable to attack, explained Charlie Miller, a security researcher and author of the book The Mac Hacker’s Handbook. But despite its weaknesses, Mac users have no reason to panic — yet. Apple’s PC market share is still roughly only about 10 percent, giving hackers and malicious software coders very little economic incentive to target the Mac.*</p>

[Ray192]

<p>

Computers were invented by humans to do work for us, not to have us do work for them. We should not have to worry about viruses and defragging our hard drives ect. Fact: Much higher PERCENTAGE of Mac users are happy with their computers than PC users. Studies and polls have been done. And don’t forget this is a percentage so it doesn’t matter that their are more PC users since the math is done in terms of a percentage.

</p>

<p>And if you polled linux users, I guarantee you the satisfaction ratings would blow Apple’s out of water. What does that say? Nothing. Because Apple’s only sells premium computers, while other companies also sell cheap value computers, this doesn’t say anything. If there is research that controls for price, then you have a case. </p>

<p>

Also remember that OSX does not require the same specs as windows 7 to run smoothly. In other words, Windows requires higher specs than OSX to run well. This is actually a fact, just look at the minimum system requirements for both.

</p>

<p>The minimum specs are identical except for hard drive space. What are you talking about?</p>

[r31ncarnat3d]

<p>Wow Ray, pretty much said what I was going to. You know your stuff pretty well :D</p>

[Miami77]

<p>I’m done arguing. Macs have no viruses as of now so who cares. Apple is also the 3rd largest company in the world and is closer than ever to reaching Microsoft’s revenue. You can hate on the Mac all you want, but their 2nd quarter earnings speak for itself. Businesses will continue to use PCs because they are cheaper (which I don’t blame them because I would do the same if I had my own business), but consumers are starting to pick the Mac as their primary home computer. Overall, Apple may only have about 8 percent market share for computers, but pcs market share number includes the computers used by most businesses. I am sure Apple’s market share for home computers is much higher than 8 percent ( maybe around 20%).</p>

<p>Just to let you know, I use both OSX and Windows. Both are good, but the Mac is a more complete package.</p>

[r31ncarnat3d]

<p>I’ve used Macs for three years and am cross-trained on both myself, and I still can’t find why it’s such a “superior” system. Plus, market shares and quarter earnings don’t equate to quality. By that logic, Linux is the worst operating system ever invented.</p>

[noimagination]

<p>

Apple is also the 3rd largest company in the world

Eh?</p>

<p>The ignorance in this thread is disturbing. Traditional, 90s-style self-spreading viruses are pretty much a thing of the past. Better email provider-end security and routers have put them out of business. Social engineering is the moneymaker now, and it’s tough to design a system that stupid users can’t screw up.

Plus hackers would move towards Linux which already runs a majority of the world’s web servers

Why crack the OS on a server? It’s more effective to find a vulnerability in common server software such as PHP and hit all systems.</p>

[Fanofmac]

<p>I’m currently using Protemac Netmine.)</p>

[SLightManifesto]

<p>How to Turn Your PC into a Mac (Virus-wise):

1. Don’t download stupid **** you shouldn’t be downloading.
2. Install the NoScript add-on on firefox. Most people get viruses from trojan scripts that run on dangerous web pages. I believe Safari has something similar to what NoScript accomplishes, not allowing these backdoor scripts to run.</p>

<p>If you want to make one claim for Mac’s, they can’t run the ever so popular .exe files inappropriately double clicked by so many idiots.</p>

<p>I am personally the type of person who can follow these 2 rules, so I’d prefer to spend the extra $1000 on power and peripherals instead of looks.</p>

<p>That said, if I were going into some type of Design and would be using Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver, etc a lot, I would definitely go for the Mac, because:</p>

<p>1) There are thousands of more shortcuts for Mac OSs than there are for Windows OSs (though the snap feature is Windows first venture into real shortcuts) so productivity increases tenfold.
2) The interface is much more customizable and streamlined, again, resulting in more productivity.</p>

[pascal12]

<p>This thread is so old!</p>

<p>Just for the record, my PC has never gotten a virus. Maybe that’s because I ACTUALLY KNOW HOW TO TAKE CARE OF MY COMPUTER.</p>

[Mathemagician1]

<p>Switch to linux, virus free, and cost free :)</p>

[silence_kit]

<p>but definitely not effort free. software on linux isn’t very user-friendly because of the distain so many of its developers have for end users.</p>

[DrewCollins]

<p>Like mentioned Macs have less viruses made to target them…however Safari has no anti-virus programming in it at all so get another browser just to be safe.</p>