“I received a few e-mails over the weekend from readers who took issue with advice I recently gave to a Web chat participant who asked what he should do to help an elderly friend who was having PC trouble. The questioner said the woman knew nothing about computers and that her Windows machine was besieged with pop-up advertisements,” Brian Krebs writes for The Washington Post.
Krebs writes, “Here’s what I recommended: ‘Yes. You can spend many, many hours trying to diagnose the problem, or you can spend perhaps a bit less time backing up any documents and pictures she’d like to keep and then re-installing the operating system.'”
Krebs writes, “This post represents the fruit of much personal reflection on the topic. After reading this entire entry, I hope some readers may look at the appearance of problems on their Windows machines (security related or not) as an opportunity to start fresh and set up their computers to block most online threats.”
Krebs writes, “Some readers may become deeply discouraged, perhaps thinking, ‘If what I’m doing already isn’t enough, well then I can’t keep up with this anymore. The heck with Windows!’ I heartily encourage those readers — if they have the means — to listen to that sentiment and consider buying an Apple Macintosh computer. The annoying TV commercials aside, Macs are far simpler to maintain from a security perspective. Mac users still must apply patches from time to time (even that can be automated), but they still have little — if anything — to worry about from spyware, viruses or computer worms (at least for now).”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Whit” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s TV commercials for Macs are only “annoying” to those who haven’t figured out the obvious.
Related articles:
Security firm: 38-percent of malware already Windows Vista-compatible – January 22, 2007
Windows ‘Storm Worm’ rages across globe; Apple Macintosh unaffected – January 19, 2007
Apple touts virus-free Macs – August 25, 2006
Microsoft’s Windows is inherently more vulnerable to severe malware than Apple’s Mac OS X – August 23, 2006
Chicago Tribune falls for the ‘Security Via Obscurity’ myth – August 14, 2006
Symantec researcher: At this time, there are no file-infecting viruses that can infect Mac OS X – July 13, 2006
Gartner analyst tries to propagate discounted Mac OS X ‘security via obscurity’ myth via BBC – July 06, 2006
Apple: ‘Get a Mac. Say ‘Buh-Bye’ to viruses’ – June 01, 2006
Apple Macs are inherently safer and more secure than Microsoft Windows – November 22, 2005
BusinessWeek columnist propagates discounted ‘Apple Mac security via obscurity myth’ – September 06, 2005
16-percent of computer users are unaffected by viruses, malware because they use Apple Macs – June 15, 2005
USA Today calls iMac G5 ‘exquisite’ but implies Mac OS X more secure than Windows due to obscurity – September 30, 2004
Another columnist trots out Mac OS X ‘Security through Obscurity’ myth – April 03, 2004
Gates: Windows ‘by far the most secure’ system; tries to use ‘Mac OS X secure through obscurity’ myth – January 27, 2004
Q&A Columnist uses ‘security through obscurity’ myth to defend Windows vs. Mac on virus issue – October 04, 2003
Columnist tries the ‘security through obscurity’ myth to defend Windows vs. Macs on virus front – October 01, 2003
New York Times: Mac OS X ‘much more secure than Windows XP’ – September 18, 2003
Shattering the Mac OS X ‘security through obscurity’ myth – August 28, 2003
Is Mac OS X really inherently more secure than Windows? – August 26, 2003
Virus and worm problems not just due to market share; Windows inherently insecure vs. Mac OS X – August 24, 2003