There are different types of malware? You didn't have a virus.
Depends whether they meant the traditionally meaning of 'virus' or the common meaning. Like the vast majority of people over the last decade, I suspect it was the common meaning.
Sometimes AV software is a pain. I can't see any benefit in having it installed on a home mac PC
On a general note, all myself and all the developers at our place have had to de-install Kasperski AV as we worked out that all the false positives it quarantines cause us more irritation and loss of productivity than getting infected.
The machines are well protected behind a good firewall and we don't enable Java and only browse to trusted sites.
Sometimes AV software is a pain. I can't see any benefit in having it installed on a home mac PC
On a general note, all myself and all the developers at our place have had to de-install Kasperski AV as we worked out that all the false positives it quarantines cause us more irritation and loss of productivity than getting infected.
The machines are well protected behind a good firewall and we don't enable Java and only browse to trusted sites.
But how many home users are that stringent? It's the people who don't know what they are doing that need the protection.
The risk of Mac infection is minimal, but it's still important to make the distinction between knowledgeable users and users who will click on anything and everything. The average user is the latter.
But how many home users are that stringent? It's the people who don't know what they are doing that need the protection.
The risk of Mac infection is minimal, but it's still important to make the distinction between knowledgeable users and users who will click on anything and everything. The average user is the latter.
I have had to fix a fair number of family/friends computers who don't know what they are doing. There are 2 types those that are too scared to do more or less anything, they just use 1 or 2 websites and a word processor then panic because they accidentally deleted a short cut. There is then the other type that click on everything and anything. Even if they have AV software they still get tons of malware as they never bother to update it properly. It's almost always a re-install from scratch for these ones.
Luckily a lot of them have moved on to iPad's now which makes life a lot easier. I don't know a non knowledgeable person who uses a mac, but they do have much better security than windows from the ground up and no single point of failure like the windows registry and being less susceptible to malware I think it would be quite a while before they would mess it up to the extent of a re-install being needed
I don't know a non knowledgeable person who uses a mac, but they do have much better security than windows from the ground up and no single point of failure like the windows registry and being less susceptible to malware
Is that true? Really true? Mac users are more knowledgeable and Macs are less susceptible to malware? Is it not more likely that the average Mac user is just as unknowledgeable as the average Windows user? Is it not also likely that Macs are just as susceptible to malware, but hardly anyone bothers targeting them?
Don't worry, it's a rhetorical question. This discussions has been done to death over the years. The posters change, but the comments stay the same.
Go to a Art college or university...a lot of the students will use Macs...are you implying that all those students are knowledgeable regarding security?
I don't know a non knowledgeable person who uses a mac, but they do have much better security than windows from the ground up
My brother-in-law owns a Mac, and he's not exactly clued up with technology. When he bought it, I knew more than he did regarding how it works, having only used a Mac for 30 mins or so in my life.
Go to a Art college or university...a lot of the students will use Macs...are you implying that all those students are knowledgeable regarding security?
Macs are only 'less susceptible' because they aren't as popular as Windows based machines. There simply aren't enough out there to be worth writing malicious code for. However now the numbers are rising...guess what...more things are coming out of the woodwork.
Macs are only 'less susceptible' because they aren't as popular as Windows based machines. .
that's only partially true and not the whole reason why.
macs (or more specifically the unix based OS that macs use) are generally more secure than windows simply due to the way the OS is designed from the bottom up.
windows vista onwards attempted to plug the security hole by adding UAC.
UAC kind of backfired as the implementation was generally classed as overly annoying and i suspect more people disabled it when it launched.
Go to a Art college or university...a lot of the students will use Macs...are you implying that all those students are knowledgeable regarding security?
My brother-in-law owns a Mac, and he's not exactly clued up with technology. When he bought it, I knew more than he did regarding how it works, having only used a Mac for 30 mins or so in my life.
Go to a Art college or university...a lot of the students will use Macs...are you implying that all those students are knowledgeable regarding security?
Macs are only 'less susceptible' because they aren't as popular as Windows based machines. There simply aren't enough out there to be worth writing malicious code for. However now the numbers are rising...guess what...more things are coming out of the woodwork.
Well yes but the issue with windows malware aside is that it just needs more due care and attention than something like Mac OS or Linux which are both based on the UNIX model.
The main issue is the single point of failure registry which I rate as the worst thing Microsoft ever invented. Buggy installs/de-installs will just mash it up over time and generally speaking the only way to fix is a re-install.
that's only partially true and not the whole reason why.
But it is the biggest part.
Users are the main vulnerability these days, not the OS. One piece of malware like Flashback managed to infect half a million Macs, so imagine what could happen if there were dozens of teams of malware writers creating similar Mac threats every month. All they need to do is exploit the user and get them to install the malware for them. Fortunately for Mac users, the malware writers are busy targeting tens of millions of obliging Windows users instead.
windows vista onwards attempted to plug the security hole by adding UAC.
UAC kind of backfired as the implementation was generally classed as overly annoying and i suspect more people disabled it when it launched.
I had UAC on on Vista and I have it on the max on W7 and W8. If somebody finds catching some malware less annoying it's their problem. Hard to tell about OSX and Linux. There isn't a user base big enough to test how good they are in resisting malware.
Not agreeing or disagreeing with that statement, just pointing out that last time the mods started throwing the hammer around when various users had the audacity to state the obvious.
Why would a OSX user install AV software to protect Windows PC's ? Should the PC user and MS not take responsibility for their own machines ?
If you have effective AV software on your PC you would not have to worry about a PC virus from a mac would you
If i was a company and you was looking to do business with me and you sent me a virus.....there wouldn't be much chance of getting me doing business with you
Well yes but the issue with windows malware aside is that it just needs more due care and attention than something like Mac OS or Linux which are both based on the UNIX model.
The main issue is the single point of failure registry which I rate as the worst thing Microsoft ever invented. Buggy installs/de-installs will just mash it up over time and generally speaking the only way to fix is a re-install.
You say that, but in two places of work there are Windows XP machines that are 10 years old and still working perfectly. So much for that mashing up over time, eh?
You say that, but in two places of work there are Windows XP machines that are 10 years old and still working perfectly. So much for that mashing up over time, eh?
i would bet they are heavily locked down though so that the user can't install anything or amend any settings.
You say that, but in two places of work there are Windows XP machines that are 10 years old and still working perfectly. So much for that mashing up over time, eh?
Well yeah I've got XP at work it still works great, but you have to look after it.
I'm talking about people who keep downloading stuff installing, uninstalling ( which never really quite works). anything and everything of the internet.
They probably have admin rights ( why wouldn't you on a home pc ) so any thing could mess up the registry, some bug anything then they get some malware which further mashes it up.
Thats the issue once the registry is mashed it's basically a re-install job.
I've seen a families laptop get so messed up it took 45 mins to boot up. God knows what they did. After a re-install just a minute to full boot up.
It's been covered here many times before, but you keep ignoring it - the average computer user is utterly clueless when it comes to security. And computers.
From your guy who ought to know:
<snip> bullet point list.
Simple, practical advice. Nothing to do with people having brain cells.
You completely missed the fact that he typed the list "tongue in cheek".
You completely missed the fact that he typed the list "tongue in cheek".
But......that was one of the most sensible things that he said.
Hmm, was the whole article a spoof? If I completely missed the 'tongue in cheek' part, I suppose it might have been.
Thinking about it, this bit was also 'tongue in cheek', right?:
This is not just a theoretical concern, it has been documented to actually happen. I have personally seen reports from people with AV software who nonetheless got infected with something.
I mean, he's actually seen reports from people with AV who've been infected??? Personally seen them! What a guy.
i would bet they are heavily locked down though so that the user can't install anything or amend any settings.
neuter the user risk and you're fine.
Yes they are, so that would negate some risk. However despite this downfall of Windows, it's the only operating system that can be effectively networked, as it's the only one that's had the time and development for it.
Why would a OSX user install AV software to protect Windows PC's ? Should the PC user and MS not take responsibility for their own machines ?
If you have effective AV software on your PC you would not have to worry about a PC virus from a mac would you
I installed it after hearing about that Mac Trojan (Flashback) last year. I'd had a lot of trouble with viruses when I was using Windows and I didn't want the same thing to happen to me with a Mac. Plus I often share files with the Dark Side and you don't know how knowledgeable the Dark Side user is or if they have AV software installed
The Sophos program will also detect and remove phishing links from any dodgy e-mails you may receive. Mine alerts occasionally, since my GMail based anti-spam doesn't always weed out all the nasties.
Comments
Depends whether they meant the traditionally meaning of 'virus' or the common meaning. Like the vast majority of people over the last decade, I suspect it was the common meaning.
On a general note, all myself and all the developers at our place have had to de-install Kasperski AV as we worked out that all the false positives it quarantines cause us more irritation and loss of productivity than getting infected.
The machines are well protected behind a good firewall and we don't enable Java and only browse to trusted sites.
But how many home users are that stringent? It's the people who don't know what they are doing that need the protection.
The risk of Mac infection is minimal, but it's still important to make the distinction between knowledgeable users and users who will click on anything and everything. The average user is the latter.
I have had to fix a fair number of family/friends computers who don't know what they are doing. There are 2 types those that are too scared to do more or less anything, they just use 1 or 2 websites and a word processor then panic because they accidentally deleted a short cut. There is then the other type that click on everything and anything. Even if they have AV software they still get tons of malware as they never bother to update it properly. It's almost always a re-install from scratch for these ones.
Luckily a lot of them have moved on to iPad's now which makes life a lot easier. I don't know a non knowledgeable person who uses a mac, but they do have much better security than windows from the ground up and no single point of failure like the windows registry and being less susceptible to malware I think it would be quite a while before they would mess it up to the extent of a re-install being needed
Is that true? Really true? Mac users are more knowledgeable and Macs are less susceptible to malware? Is it not more likely that the average Mac user is just as unknowledgeable as the average Windows user? Is it not also likely that Macs are just as susceptible to malware, but hardly anyone bothers targeting them?
Don't worry, it's a rhetorical question. This discussions has been done to death over the years. The posters change, but the comments stay the same.
Go to a Art college or university...a lot of the students will use Macs...are you implying that all those students are knowledgeable regarding security?
Macs are only 'less susceptible' because they aren't as popular as Windows based machines. There simply aren't enough out there to be worth writing malicious code for. However now the numbers are rising...guess what...more things are coming out of the woodwork.
that's only partially true and not the whole reason why.
macs (or more specifically the unix based OS that macs use) are generally more secure than windows simply due to the way the OS is designed from the bottom up.
windows vista onwards attempted to plug the security hole by adding UAC.
UAC kind of backfired as the implementation was generally classed as overly annoying and i suspect more people disabled it when it launched.
Well yes but the issue with windows malware aside is that it just needs more due care and attention than something like Mac OS or Linux which are both based on the UNIX model.
The main issue is the single point of failure registry which I rate as the worst thing Microsoft ever invented. Buggy installs/de-installs will just mash it up over time and generally speaking the only way to fix is a re-install.
But it is the biggest part.
Users are the main vulnerability these days, not the OS. One piece of malware like Flashback managed to infect half a million Macs, so imagine what could happen if there were dozens of teams of malware writers creating similar Mac threats every month. All they need to do is exploit the user and get them to install the malware for them. Fortunately for Mac users, the malware writers are busy targeting tens of millions of obliging Windows users instead.
If you have effective AV software on your PC you would not have to worry about a PC virus from a mac would you
I had UAC on on Vista and I have it on the max on W7 and W8. If somebody finds catching some malware less annoying it's their problem. Hard to tell about OSX and Linux. There isn't a user base big enough to test how good they are in resisting malware.
If i was a company and you was looking to do business with me and you sent me a virus.....there wouldn't be much chance of getting me doing business with you
Who? Me?
i would bet they are heavily locked down though so that the user can't install anything or amend any settings.
neuter the user risk and you're fine.
No, i reckon the other poster that hasn't come back.
Well yeah I've got XP at work it still works great, but you have to look after it.
I'm talking about people who keep downloading stuff installing, uninstalling ( which never really quite works). anything and everything of the internet.
They probably have admin rights ( why wouldn't you on a home pc ) so any thing could mess up the registry, some bug anything then they get some malware which further mashes it up.
Thats the issue once the registry is mashed it's basically a re-install job.
I've seen a families laptop get so messed up it took 45 mins to boot up. God knows what they did. After a re-install just a minute to full boot up.
And who's that poster?
You completely missed the fact that he typed the list "tongue in cheek".
But......that was one of the most sensible things that he said.
Hmm, was the whole article a spoof? If I completely missed the 'tongue in cheek' part, I suppose it might have been.
Thinking about it, this bit was also 'tongue in cheek', right?:
I mean, he's actually seen reports from people with AV who've been infected??? Personally seen them! What a guy.
http://www.reedcorner.net/mmg-antivirus/
I installed it after hearing about that Mac Trojan (Flashback) last year. I'd had a lot of trouble with viruses when I was using Windows and I didn't want the same thing to happen to me with a Mac. Plus I often share files with the Dark Side and you don't know how knowledgeable the Dark Side user is or if they have AV software installed