“Spyware, adware and other code that lurks on hard drives has become so pervasive it’s bedeviling home users, driving corporate technology managers to distraction and has become the top complaint in customer service calls to computer makers,” Declan McCullagh reports for CNET News.com. “But participants in a one-day workshop convened Monday by the Federal Trade Commission couldn’t decide what to do about it.”
McCullagh reports, “Spyware and adware problems became the largest single customer service complaint late last year, Dell attorney Maureen Cushman told the FTC workshop. It’s become ‘a huge technical support issue for us,’ Cushman said, resulting in ‘slow performance, inability to access the Internet, extra icons and pop-up ads. This damages our brand and, most importantly, impairs the customer experience.’ McAfee Security manager Bryson Gordon, whose company sells the McAfee AntiSpyware utility, says his company detected fewer than 2 million adware or spyware products in August 2003. By March 2004, the total number had zoomed to just more than 14 million. It’s become ‘a larger technical support problem than viruses,’ Gordon said.”
McCullagh reports, “Nearly all known spyware programs infect Microsoft Windows, not Apple’s OS X operating system or other Unix or Linux variants.”
Full article here.
Information on how you can smoothly transition from Windows to Apple’s Mac OS X here.
Related MacDailyNews article:
Washington Post: Internet punishing for Windows users, Mac users surf with impunity – February 28, 2004
One of the many reasons to use a Mac.
Sara, i think that is reason #234,671 to use a Mac.
ATTENTION GULLIBLE AND DIM-WITTED ANALYSTS:
One pretend virus/proof of concept on OS X does not a security panic make.
Virii remain a NON-ISSUE in the Mac universe.
Read that last line again.
Now calculate how much it’s going to cost to get Anti-VIrus software for the rest of your CTRL ALT DEL days..
Now remind yourself that Macs are too expensive.
And yes.. Apple users are snobs.. I feel like we’re playing hide and go seek.. I’m telling you where Jimmy is.. saying ‘warm.. warmer…’ and then you start walking the other way…windows users are the kid walking in the wrong direction when you keep saying ‘cold, colder, freezing’… because they ‘cant afford to not spend hundreds of dollars and painful time on their cheap solutions.’
</slightly irritated rant>
virus software…..free with motherboard……..adaware and spybot…….free
You wish this stuff were a big pain in the ass Mike. It isn’t.
Let the anecdotes begin.
I spent considerable time during my spring break at home clearing out spyware on my familys computers. After I installed adaware I was able to keep their desktops from being overrun by popups when they started IE (P.O.S) I reiterated the need to use an alternate browser whenever possible. At least it gave me a chance to install iTunes on one of my brothers computers, he loves it. One step closer to bringing another to the Apple fields of Elysium. Apple really needs to hire someone good to make a commercial pushing the MACs strengths, maybe even showing people they can run windows on them, maybe MS will help pay for the commercial. Once you hook them and they get used to OSX they’ll wonder why they bought anything else before. Gotta love how OSX has a built in Spell checker no matter what program you’re using. Since I switched in February to a PB I finally got to know what it was like to not have to reboot for a whole month, and only then to complete an update. Thank you Apple for making my life better
It’s the whole Microsoft concept that computer users are nothing more than a giant marketing study. What we click, what we listen too, everything we do online is to be recorded and analyzed.
Microsoft made Napster client reports your music collection back to them. If the RIAA could, they sure would be making people prove the music on their computers was actually paid for. They already have knowledge through WMP etc.
Microsoft knew what it was doing by leaving ports open in their software, they are no dummies. Microsoft caters to big business and government. The two big boys who want to know everything, one to sell us, the other to control us.
So it’s no wonder that there is so much spyware, adware and other marketing crapola on PC’s, the whole idea was encouraged and allowed, by Microsoft.
I wouldn’t be the least surprised if some of these adware/spyware was actually manufactured by government agencies, it’s a excellent source of intelligence.
Microsoft continues to leave PC’s vulnerable right out of the box, 20 years they have been doing it. Yet like stupid dogs, PC users return to their own vomit and make believe it’s all going to be better the next time as they download their daily virus definitions and patches.
Quote a friend: “I thank you for turning me on to computers the right way (with a eMac), I keep reading articles one after another about another virus or spyware or something wrong with PC’s. If I started on PC’s and got a problem I know I wouldn’t be able to solve it and be spending a lot of money having technicians fixing my computer. I would probably get turned off to computers and not enjoy them like I do now. Thank you oh so much”
Apple has proven for over 20 years that they can make a OS that is almost entirely free of vulnerabilities. When one is discovered it’s quickly remedied, not left unchallenged for several years, requiring a person to buy third party software to patch the hole, like on Microsoft.
That’s why smart folks get Mac’s.
Just look at Microsoft’s rap sheet!!!! over 81,000 viruses because of M$. All that money and not one solid piece of software in the whole list.
To be fair look at Apples check each one, as Microsoft software is a cause for quite a few of the vulnerabilities. ActiveX, IE and macro viruses.
what happened to the big story last week about the Mac virus/trojan?
master cylinder–that was absolutely nothing.. even if you wanted to you could not start a chain reaction with macs..because mac OS X will not allow programs to install themselves or initiate themselves..
that was basically sth to warn Apple that programs disguised as mp3’s could be downloaded on p2p…
thought their types were Application..and the ‘trojan’ itself did nothing..it was proof of concept..demonstrating a possible way to deploy.
again.. the mac os X will NOT LET the programs do their own thing.. so your friends will not give you the virus w/o them initiating every aspect of it..in which case..ahm..they’re not your friends..
writng a mac virus would be a complete waste of time..
the fact that a non-virus.. was a big story..should tell you sth about mac os X…
So is it correct to assume that OSX is immune from spyware?
The article says “Nearly all known spyware programs infect Microsoft Windows, not Apple’s OS X”
To John: Yep!
Joe
virus software…..free with motherboard……..adaware and spybot…….free
You wish this stuff were a big pain in the ass Mike. It isn’t.
oh yes it is as anyone who has used Windows will know those freeware programs they don’t work on all malware
why should you *Have* to use crap like that to make surfing safer.
Note I said safer not safe
those anti spybot programs don’t work with ALL malware
here is a list of “known” malware
http://cexx.org/adware.htm
In all honesty I was surfing with my father in laws PC last week (Easter) and was amazed at how bad surfing is on a PC.
We visited lyrics.com to find words to a song, and new windows just popped up everywhere, before you could blink we had 7-8 windows on the taskbar.
His anti malware program kept popping up informing us of “unsigned Active X detected” what the hell is that??
If surfing was like that on my Mac I’d give up, having to be protected by programs that are so intrusive in themselves.
He’s coming to try out my mac next week end!!
You should tell him to download and install the Google Toolbar. Not only does it integrate a google search field into IE like Safari, but it blocks most if not all popups as well.
Check it out!
http://toolbar.google.com/
Very intersting! I’ve been curious about what my pc friends are so upset about. Now I begin to get the picture. I really like the Big Brother aspect to the story, it fits my thesis… [url=http://www.millenniafever.org]http://www.millenniafever.org[/url]
I Like my PeeCee! I like that I get spyware and viruses. It makes me feel like I’m part of something. The fact that I have to install all these anti-virus and anti-spyware programs is cool and it keeps me from wandering the streets and causing trouble, cuz I get bored easily. You Mac people think you’re so cool, being all productive and stuff. You guys oughta get on the Windows bandwagon and waste your time like I do. I betcha you’d get used to it after a while…
I agree with my friend PC Dork, who needs a computer that works all the time? Mine crashes at least 3 times a day, which give me time to go and get a cup of coffee. Some of the pop-ups are actually giving you genuine offers. Last week I invested $15,000 into a Nigerian VAT offer. All I have to do is wait and then I get $60,000 back in 3 months. Also, I’ve ordered 3 crates of Super Viagra which promises to enhance my sex life.
I dunno what I’d do without my PC.
Bora
yes I know he could use a pop-up blocker, but it seems to me if you are a Windows user you need half a dozen extra programs to obtain the standard of functionality of the Mac.
Why do windows users put up with it? My father in law has never used a Mac and just accepted the poor functionality, spyware and viruses as normal.
If I was forced to use Windows no way would I use IE, I’d use ANYTHING else.
Question I have to those that know better – if one could put/create this adware and/or spyware on MacOSX could they?
Or is OSX immune to this?
Or are the number of OSX users is so small that the makers of this adware and/or spyware that they don�t bother with us?
As I’m reading this at my desk this morning (on my G5), our IT guy has spent about 30 minutes at my adjacent co-worker’s desk (on a Dell) doing a search and destroy on all the adware that showed up on her machine over the past day.
Your IT guy spends 30 minutes….hmmm…we just click on ad-aware and let it find it all. Takes a few minutes all by itself.
Pain in the butt that one has to do it, but no need to waste one�s time watching the software work.
Mark Smith nailed it. I use Mozilla on my win98 at work. My only use for IE is to download m$ patches. Is there ANYTHING else it is good for? Joe, in an ideal world you’d be right, but antivirus software is only as good as its definitions, and those aren’t free. I’ve used Adaware, and I can’t claim that I’m impressed. I’ve tried others as well, and I’m back to none of them, but then, I don’t use IE, so they aren’t necessary. I’m the only person in my office who can surf popup-free because I’m the only one who doesn’t use IE. Our boss spends time every morning clearing out temp folders in an attempt to get rid of spam and popups, to no avail. I guess that tells me that the Mac is as close to the ideal world as computing can be these days. All the third party this and that is more complicated than people want it to be. It comes down to the Mac, it just works.
From the article: An anecdotal survey that antispyware company PC Pitstop described on Monday said that “75 percent of the respondents did not even recall installing (Claria’s Gator Advertising Information Network) application on their PC…Adding the tally for users that did not know GAIN was installed to those that read the 20-page license for less than five minutes, an incredible 97 percent of GAIN users are largely unaware of what the application is doing on their system.”
I believe at last count:
Over 38,000 viruses for Windows
To Re Wanna
On MacOSX as well as on other *NIX systems you have to approve installing any software – and type your admin password. And even if you did that it would only infect your current account, not the whole system. Only root user could do that and that account in Macs is by default not on. So to answer shortly: yes it’s possible if you really want to.