intelmole's Profile

"Okay. So Mac users brag about the security record of the Mac’s operating system, OS X. Some debate it’s a case of its small market-share not attracting the miscreants. If large market-share means more problems, where are all the viruses attacking iPods?" Maybe because: - there's no way for them to spread easily - there's no real advantage to anyone to do so (so you can't get to your music, so what, you'll have to go watch TV?) - there's no reason to do so other than hacker pride ... in something that's not seen as the enemy like MS. "And why were there so many more viruses for Apple’s previous operating system (Mac OS) when Apple’s market-share wasn’t significantly higher?" Because it *was* insecure perhaps? I don't know, I'm not well informed on that myself. "The Mac is inherently more secure, and that cannot be argued." Yes it can. It is. Show me proof that the design choices of Mac OS X are more secure than that made by Windows. Don't just say "Macs are more secure, and that's proven because there are less than five." "As a result, the chances of a virus infection (which is a fully automatic infection, no or absolutely minimal user-assistance required) is quite low." You apparently display a lack of knowledge as to how viruses work. They need to be opened. I believe you are talking about security problems in browsers and programs, in which case you need to start the title of this post "Switch to firefox/opera and you'll never go back." I'm 21. I've had a computer since I was 13. I have not once had a virus on Windows. That is because I practise skeptical computing - don't open anything stupid (or are all Mac users idiots?), and keep an anti-virus around for when you do (I'm human, contrary to the stories I tell). "There are possibly security holes in OS X that could be exploited by a virus or a trojan (trojans require some help from the user to infiltrate a computer, and so are usually disguised as friendly programs), but these would be few and so much easier to address and patch. Windows on the other hand, is like a sieve – there seems to be too many holes to patch. As soon as one is, another is found." Nice spin. Windows also serves a hell of a lot more people on the desktop, and has a lot more eyes trying to find problems with it. You bet you'd find more problems. I sometimes wonder how many problems would be found with the Mac operating system were it to have the same market share as Windows currently has. I've never touched a Mac for one good reason - I don't have to. This is the Qwerty effect in full: Windows does what it wants, I know that virtually every program I find will have a version that works on windows, it's *not* slower, it's *not* clogged with viruses (aside from PEBKAC errors :-)), and it does what I want it to. Macs may even be slightly better, but they aren't better enough. sydneystephen complained about windows "making decisions for me". Honestly, if you spend so much time looking at windows servers and cannot find the visual configuration options, I have to say you may need to find a new job. Hint: Control Panel, System Properties, Advanced Tab, Performance Settings. You can get there in one keystroke, and two clicks of the mouse. Hell, I've even gone looking at linux several times. Secure (supposedly), does what I want, huge platform stability, and learning how to do things only takes a little work with google. I have an installation of Ubuntu fully working... which I never use. Because it is not in any way better than windows for what I want it to do. This is why people don't switch. Because they aren't limited by windows as much as people make out. -Mole