News Apple advises use of Mac anti-virus

anyone actually used clamxav? i think it works like a pile of poo. And yes, macboys should get a virus just to give them a kick up the arse and make them significantly less arrogant.

 

if i wasn't so lazy i would dig up a whole bunch of old antivirus threads and mock all the smug mac users who posted in them.

 

While OSX will never have serious virus problems because it based on UNIX, it is good to have if you have to deal with Windows users since they don't have access to a network quality OS.

Apple does ALL security IN the OS, that's what the random security updates do, so no need for further antivirus software from a 3rd Party.

OSX is based on BSD Unix so the way each file is protected by permissions, the way Apple separated "root" from "admin" and Launchd, basically means it's impossible to create a virus for OSX. Over the last 21 years of the OSX/NeXT OS there hasn't been a single virus, so chances are slim to none that OSX will ever have a serious problem since the OSX is a true NETWORK OS and FAR more battle-tested than any version of Windows could ever hope to be.

Someday everyone will be running OSX and viruses will be a thing of the past, but until then we need to help Windows users best we can until they move up to OSX.

 

I lol'd. This made my day, now I don't have to listen to all the Mac fanboys.

Although TBH if the OS patches are applied then the only way to get a virus is by user stupidity. I run windows without antivirus and have seen maybe 3 viruses over as many years, due to sketchy downloads.

 

Tbh it's a bit stupid to run Windows without any kind of protection.

 

^ i never use any antivirus on windows. virus free for 5 and a half years.

 

How can you be sure?

 

I have no real opinion on MACs I wouldnt get one butif ya do fair enough.

But I did find the above quote rather funny since a week ago I acctually did a presentation on operating system security for my operating systems module at uni and the topic I was covering was the benefits and disadvantages of Open & closed source security. Guess what one of my disadvantages of open source security was......Complacency and if you act like and Apple act like that then your asking for trouble.

 

HAHA, stupid Mac boys, looks you finally get a taste of what its like to have someone care enough about you, to break your stuff. If you are careful ( i.e, dont click everydamn pop up, just because its there) you are pretty safe where virus' are concerned.

 

Because security flaws just start existing as software increases in popularity?

OS X is naturally more secure than Windows thanks to its underlying BSD code and Unix permission model. They'll certainly be targeted more as their market share increases, but that doesn't create flaws out of thin air.

 

you mean like the "finder" program for macs that can get equally hung up on various things?

stop comparing apples to oranges without thinking through your argument.

there have always been major viruses for macs since they had any notoriety whatsoever. the first major virus was released for OSX about 10 hours after the OS itself was released.

 

incorrect, after 7 years of OSX usage by over 90 million people, still not a SINGLE virus for that operating system.

i think you meant to say Vista, not OSX... please keep your facts straight.

 

are you ignorant, stupid, or both?

as for myself, I made a case study out of it for interest and as a talking point for the written part of an IT security course for my Software engineering minor, so I think my facts are quite straight thanks.

 

No. He meant OSX. How can you miss virii/worms from ~2 years ago, especially when they made a big deal of it supposedly being the first OSX worm?
OSX.Leap.A
So yeah. Quit being a fanboi and start thinking.

 

Stupid MAC fanboys stop trying to impersonate the Apple PR by trying to be smartasses.

I'm sick of all this childish bickering. Grow up

 

[QUOTENo. He meant OSX. How can you miss virii/worms from ~2 years ago, especially when they made a big deal of it supposedly being the first OSX worm?
OSX.Leap.A
So yeah. Quit being a fanboi and start thinking. [/QUOTE]

But Leap.A wasn't a virus, it was a worm, and it never infected any machines in the wild. It was clean room only.

I'm simply saying there haven't been any viruses for OSX, and that remains true. Sure "someday" something could appear that affects 10-20 machines, but the way OSX is constructed there is technically no way for something like that to spread, so unless a hacker goes from machine to machine to machine and "physically" enters the root password, it cannot move from Mac to Mac to Mac.

OSX is the most secure, mainstream OS for a reason and that's because Apple took the time to do security right, PLUS they built it on top of the most secure OpenSource OS, BSD UNIX, so that's why Mac users will never need extra security software.

---

 

Just to prove you wrong, I just made a virus for MacOS X, it even has a timer system where it reveal itself after a random selected number of days under 100. And you have been infected and spreading the virus.

There now we are all happy! (majority wins)

Seriously, you don't need to protect Apple, they are big now, it can defend itself. It's for a reason that Apple immediately remove the "Virus free OS " ad, when a virus outbreak infected Macs a few years back. If Apple feels that this kind of stuff is not real, they will prove it. Perhaps, it's a human feeling that we all get when we feel a minority, but I don't know I am not a psychologist. I am just a living creature that leaching valuable coffee and outputs software. Polluting the world with softwares! Disgusting! Soon we will have too many softwares which will destroy the Internetz. Down with wearable soft!.

 

Now that mac is no longer an underdog, I hope to see many more people devoting their time to writing viruses for it. come to think of it, I better get that ubuntu cd out.....

 

I think I actually hate anti-Mac fanboys more than Mac fanboys after threads like this.

 

I don't go for either camp.

the one thing that appalls me about threads like this is the blind hate from the anti-mac camp, and the blind ignorance and stupidity from the pro-mac camp.

Every OS has its place, windows is great for most everyday things, so are macs.

windows is the choice for engineering workstations because most of the applications are made for that platform, and the hardware is easy to customize, mac has a grip on art and graphical communication workstations because it offers intuitive and easy to work with UI's and excellent software for that field.


both sides need to grow up and realize they can both coexist, and that the personal computer market isn't mutually exclusive. let everyone make their own informed choice, just make sure it is hard facts and not idiocy spread by PR departments.