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xirokx

xirokx

xirokx

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Hi guys,

a friend at work is an avid MAC fanboy....

He claims you cannot get a virus with a Apple Mac latest OS's 9.1 and 9.2 I think those are the versions....

Is that true?

Please advise

Thanks in advance

Cheers!!
 
lol, those are hardly the latest mac os versions

9.1/9.2 are pretty much obsolete the last version was released in 2001

so its pretty safe from viruses, due to its obsolescent status

the latest version Mac OS X 10.4 is pretty much nearly invulnerable to viruses, but that is likely to change with a wider market share.

the biggest threat are exploits via bits of the OS such as wireless/bluetooth, flawed programs/drivers etc

hope that helps
 
xirokx said:
Hi guys,

a friend at work is an avid MAC fanboy....

He claims you cannot get a virus with a Apple Mac latest OS's 9.1 and 9.2 I think those are the versions....

Is that true?

Please advise

Thanks in advance

Cheers!!
Click to expand...

No there are mac viruses and someone could create a new one at any time, just people usually don't bother making viruses for macs because hardly anyone uses them compared to windows. So while it's unlikely it's possible.
 
This may seem petty, but i'm looking forward to when a osx virus gets released and wipes all the unprotected macs out there. Should wipe the smile off many a smug apple user.
 
joey1211 said:
This may seem petty, but i'm looking forward to when a osx virus gets released and wipes all the unprotected macs out there. Should wipe the smile off many a smug apple user.
Click to expand...

Learn c++ and make one yourself. :p
 
Google is your friend.

Like others have already said, OSX isn't invincible to viruses; it’s just not a profitable platform for virus writers to release their code upon, mainly due to the lack of market share.
 
joey1211 said:
This may seem petty, but i'm looking forward to when a osx virus gets released and wipes all the unprotected macs out there. Should wipe the smile off many a smug apple user.
Click to expand...

i'm still smiling, you ever met a mac user per chance?
 
I was always under the impression it would be nigh on impossible to write a virus like the ones you get on Windows for MacOSX since anything that gets installed requires the user to enter their system password? I could be wrong.

This is one of the reasons I don't want Apple to get TOO out there. Although viruses have never really caused me problems on my Windows machine, I love the fact that i really do not have to worry about it all all on my Mac.
 
stuppy said:
I was always under the impression it would be nigh on impossible to write a virus like the ones you get on Windows for MacOSX since anything that gets installed requires the user to enter their system password? I could be wrong.
Click to expand...

Nope you are correct to install most things it requires your username and password to be entered.
 
Will_3rd said:
i'm still smiling, you ever met a mac user per chance?
Click to expand...

I use a mac everyday at work and have one at home. It's the blinkered view view that their systems are invincible that annoys me. i.e. guy at work never backs up his work as he uses macs and has never had a problem. 'Course his comp went ping one night and had to be sent away to be fixed. Took a week. Boss was not pleased. I didn't care to mention that he could have taken the hd out and transferred the work. lol. How i tittered.
 
Mac OSX's security level is actually somewhere between Windows 98 and XP. It really isn't built or designed to be a secure OS despite inheriting UNIX. Apple turned off a lot of security so they could develop the slick user experience that they are appreciated for.

The reason OSX is perceived to be secure is the same reason that Firefox once was. Until hackers start targetting the platform then everyone blindly believes it is secure.
 
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joey1211 said:
I use a mac everyday at work and have one at home. It's the blinkered view view that their systems are invincible that annoys me. i.e. guy at work never backs up his work as he uses macs and has never had a problem. 'Course his comp went ping one night and had to be sent away to be fixed. Took a week. Boss was not pleased. I didn't care to mention that he could have taken the hd out and transferred the work. lol. How i tittered.
Click to expand...

yeah fair enough, not backing up though that's just plain silly, you should always backup whatever OS your using :o
 
joey1211 said:
This may seem petty, but i'm looking forward to when a osx virus gets released and wipes all the unprotected macs out there. Should wipe the smile off many a smug apple user.
Click to expand...

It does seem petty. You must have a real chip on your shoulder or perhaps you're just a bit of a git.
 
garyh said:
Like others have already said, OSX isn't invincible to viruses; it’s just not a profitable platform for virus writers to release their code upon, mainly due to the lack of market share.
Click to expand...
I must say that I don't buy that at all. Regardless of market share, surely the major kudos you'd get in the 'scene' for putting out a killer OS X virus would be reward enough for plenty of people.
 
wush said:
I must say that I don't buy that at all. Regardless of market share, surely the major kudos you'd get in the 'scene' for putting out a killer OS X virus would be reward enough for plenty of people.
Click to expand...

Totally agree.
 
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