“I have no fear of viruses, worms or trojans infecting our computers at all. No, not all of the family members are computer geeks like me but it is just a matter of identifying and using superior technology when you see it,” Rom Feria writes for The Manilla Bulletin.
“I have two Apple powerbooks, a 15” and a 12” powerbook running Apple’s latest operating system, Mac OS X 10.4 or Tiger. In addition, there is another computer running Linux that is being used by my brother and sister. These are connected, wired and wirelessly, on a single network to a Linksys broadband router running Linux as its firmware. Although there are viruses for the Mac OS X and Linux in the labs, there are no known viruses on these platforms (ok, there may be some but not in the order of magnitude as those infecting the other platform). However, there may be trojans out there that are distributed thanks to unsuspecting users. So far, I have not heard of a massive infection the same way that viruses, worms and trojans infect the other platform,” Feria writes.
“It is often argued that virus creators target the system with the most number of users. Whilst it is true to some extent, it is also because of how the system is designed. If it is designed to be easy to exploit, then you will find more viruses, worms and trojans,” Feria writes. “This is where superior technology comes in. Mac OS X, which is Unix-based similar to Linux, does not allow applications to be installed without the user entering the administrator (or root) password. In circumstances that applications are installed by the user (without admin/root password), the possible infection is contained within that user’s space only and not the entire system. This is how the system is designed. This is also why it is NOT encouraged for users to login as administrator or root for their day-to-day basic computer use.”
“Linux and Mac users often ask me this question. My simple answer is no, if you know how to deal with e-mail attachments, spyware and avoid downloading from untrusted web sites,” Feria writes. “So, if you are tired of being paranoid about your computer system getting infected, try a much more superior technology – use Linux or Mac. So, would you rather live in fear and be dictated as to where you want to go today OR just think differently and live in an open but secure environment? The decision is yours.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: There are zero Mac OS X viruses.
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