Question about Mac computers?

Question

I hear many reports that Macs suffer way less from viruses than PCs would you say this is true?

Answer 1

Mac viruses are possible under one condition: you (as the user) have to grant the virus PERMISSION to modify your files. Windows does not have that permission-system, and (more or less) fakes it in XP.
Remember the term script kiddies? A lot of viruses (virii?) are based on a few basic scripts. Those scripts get executed as a virus, and because of minor changes, they count as an additional (not new) virus. Such a vulnerability just doesn't exist on a Mac.
It's no question of popularity of the system, it is a question of exploitability (yaya, made up word, wanna fight about it?) and Windows has low (if any) security out-of-the-box. I generally have an install disc with Zonealarm (free,) AGS Antivirus (also free,) Firefox and Thunderbird, to protect my system. They say that it takes only 20 minutes to be infested with all sorts of viruses on a windows machine.
Trust me, most hackers would love to create the first large-scale virus, or even proof-of-feasability, for the mac. They tried it before, and it never works as advertised.

I use both systems, and you just can't shake a stick at a Mac for productivity, like video, audio, entertainment and personal life. However, I would like the unbeatable features of an integrated office suite (just isn't as well integrated on a mac), and I would like to play kick-*** games on my Mac -- so far, ain't gonna happen. Valve, you hear, convert HalfLife to the mac!!!

Ok, I get distracted, but there you have my opinion. In addition, you have Microsoft being completely stupid on fixing things, and there seems to be 2 new exploit possibilities for each one that they fix. No OS, not even *nix based systems are free of faults, but they get fixed so fast it makes your head spin.

But it all boils down to this: What are you most comfortable using? You can always get additional security... for a (hefty) price.

Answer 2

It is true that there are few, if any, viruses for Mac OS X. Most Mac users do not even run a anti-virus software on their Macs (myself included).

To this day there has not been a single broad virus infestation on a Mac OS X machine, the same is true for spy-ware software -- there has never been a spy-ware problem on Macs (w/ OS X).

Now this is not to say that Macs are perfect or that the OS does not have security problem -- all OSs have security problems. It may just be that Apple's market share is so low (<5%) that most virus writers don't bother with it -- which is fine by me.

Note: I am a Mac user and love it, but neither Macs nor Windows are perfect machines. If given a choice of which PC to purchase for my mother, I would buy a Mac in a heart beat.

Answer 3

This is mostly true. But if your a gamer then windows is the system for you. If you like to create movies and stuff you could go either way. Mac, windows or linux doesnt really make a difference anymore. They can all do the same stuff and for the average user windows is easier because you dont have to convert stuff back and forth. Also many people complain of windows crashing and stuff but macs do to. Dont listen to fanboys.