MAC User question re: PC vs Mac

The internal architecture can differ, but basically the CPUs are much the same. The outstanding difference is the Operating System, Apple is much more intuitive, much more stable and so far, no viruses have eve been detected. No blue screen of Death, no having to reinstall the OS because the computer has been infected, in short, Macs are much more reliable. In short, it's the software that is so superior.

As far as I am concerned, there's no contest. Also, buying an intel Mac will allow the use of Windows on a separate partition, so one can have the best of both worlds.










Message was edited by: MGW

Another important difference is security: Windows is prone to attacks by viruses. There are no (none at all) known viruses that can affect Apple OS X.

The weakness is mainly that there are so many PCs out there that it's not worth a hacker's time to write viruses for the Macs, also, the security is more robust, Mac users don't even need, and most don't use, virus checkers.

I think this article:

http://www.familyresource.com/lifestyles/technology/buying-a-home-computer-mac-v s-windows

includes a good explanation of why security on a Mac is greatly superior to that on Windows.

Can I butt in here as I've been looking for something definitive on Macs and viruses. I'm a PC user but my elderly Dad has a G5, with no virus software (not surprisingly.
If what you say is true, that the reason there are no threats to Macs is merely a matter of statistics, a numbers game, that says it's not worth writing viruses, then you are relying on faith and at some stage when virus writers ramp up and take notice, Mac users may get caught out? Or is the firewall protection enough against viral code targetted at a Mac?

I worry about my Dad doing online banking, because he is a bit 'click happy' and downloaded an email from yahoo with an attached keystoke logger (I looked it up but for get what it's called). I found info about checking a certain mac folder that would hold the file if our Mac were infected, and it didn't, but I still feel nervous. Needless to say I know nothing about the inner workings of Macs! So I didn't really believe I'd checked everything. I can't do a restore because we have no original disks. Should I be bothered about security or not?

I would be relieved if it really is impossible to get infected, but less so if it is technically possible, just unlikely!


Thanks.

It basically comes down to the strength of Unix, the backbone of OS X, and the fact that you need your root password to install anything.

You may find my User Tip on Viruses, Trojan Detection and Removal, as well as general Internet Privacy, useful:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1764179

I would also suggest that your father never open any attachments, even from people he knows, unless he is expecting them, and that he never install something he didn't actually download himself. He should be ok if he takes these simple precautions and doesn't visit sites he doesn't know. He should also check his cookies and make sure that only cookies from sites he visits are accepted, not third party ones. He can set that in Safari or other browser preferences.

Microsoft has to make their OS work for an infinite combination of hardware and that's practically impossible and leads to tremendous complexity. Apple optimizes the operating system for the known set of hardware that they provide. Years ago people call this a closed system, but in practice it's the best of both worlds, since Apple provides leading edge hardware and software. The underlying Mac Unix architecture has better security, functionality, and flexibility than Windows. For these reasons the Mac OSX is simpler, less problematic, and more secure than Windows. Apple also provides a lot of software at more affordable prices than Microsoft; Pages, Numbers, iPhoto, the list goes on. To top it off if you want to run Windows, no problem, the Mac can do that too.

Klaus: Just tried having a look at the link to familyresource.com on security.

LOL





Also

http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=familyresource.com

Of the 258 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 4 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 2010-09-26, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 2010-09-07.

Malicious software includes 8 scripting exploit(s), 4 exploit(s). Successful infection resulted in an average of 2 new process(es) on the target machine.

Malicious software is hosted on 3 domain(s), including blamesslek.com/, wallpapers63.com/, ratsix.com/.

1 domain(s) appear to be functioning as intermediaries for distributing malware to visitors of this site, including wallpapers63.com/.

Message was edited by: WZZZ

Duplicate/deleted.

Message was edited by: WZZZ