How can I keep my MacBook safe is Apple is no longer supporting Snow Leopard? My MacBook was purchased in 2006 and cannot be upgraded to the newer operating systems.

Apple still sell, and therefore support, Snow Leopard. Recent security updates were for issues that did not affect Snow Leopard and no security update for SL was issued.

You may find this User Tip on Viruses, Trojan Detection and Removal, as well as general Internet Security and Privacy, useful: The User Tip seeks to offer guidance on the main security threats and how to avoid them.

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-2435

More useful information can also be found here:

http://www.thesafemac.com/mmg/

Klaus1 wrote:

Apple still sell, and therefore support, Snow Leopard.

This is purely an assumption that you are making.

Recent security updates were for issues that did not affect Snow Leopard and no security update for SL was issued.

There have been three Security Updates that Snow Leopard has missed out on since it last got one back in September, 2013. You mean to say that not a single one of these many patched vulnerabilities did not apply to the 10.6 architecture? Where is your documentation for this?

Besides, even if what you say is true, it's very difficult to believe that Apple has not found a single new vulnerability in all this time that does apply to the Snow architecture. Until 9/13, Apple had been finding and issuing patches for vulnerabilities in Snow with regularity. It strains credulity that Apple hasn't been able to find a single new one since last September. It is far more likely that Apple has simply stopped investigating vulnerabilities in 10.6.

Yes, your assumptions are probably as valid as mine, but the fact remains that the security update in question was to correct a vulnerability that did not affect Snow Leopard.

WZZZ wrote:

It is far more likely that Apple has simply stopped investigating vulnerabilities in 10.6.

It is far more likely that the denizens of Apple's legal department have advised their principals about the sheer scale of legal liability owed to scores of current Snow Leopard users for a product that Apple continues to sell with no warning of your claimed lack of security updates.

As GM recently proved, it may be considered to be less costly to ignore a safety problem and just pay for upgrades (recalls) when they become known in the automotive world. But in the software world, continuing to leave Snow Leopard Macs open to vulnerabilities for properly using an operating system that Apple continues to sell; it is far cheaper to just maintain a small team of programmers researching and developing updates for security flaws when discovered.

OR: maybe Apple just purchased MUCH MORE INSURANCE! 😁

Klaus1 wrote:

Apple still sell, and therefore support, Snow Leopard.

For what it's worth, from my reading of the Snow Leopard EULA (and I would assume that there is similar language in the EULAs for all other operating systems, as well), I'm not seeing any obligation on the part of Apple to provide Security Updates of any kind, period/full stop. The wording appears to be completely "use at your own risk." I have no idea whether this "use at your own risk" would survive a legal challenge, or if such a legal challenge would depend on whether or not Apple is still selling (or even giving away for free) an OS, or whether local law would, according to this, override the EULA. Perhaps this is why Apple never formally announces EOL or discontinuance of support for an OS. They can always claim that they are still supporting an OS, whether or not in any practical sense, they are. There was even a very late Flashback detection and removal script which Apple issued for 10.5 well after it was clear that they had stopped supporting Leopard. This hardly constituted ongoing support, but perhaps it was to deter the threat of legal action, or maybe it was simply out of benevolence. I don't know.

Besides that, even when Apple was still actively "supporting" Snow Leopard, which I don't think it is any longer, "use at your own risk" would still have applied to a case where Apple may have been late with a patch, or a response, or an adequate response, to a zero-day threat, such as Flashback was, which was constantly evolving. Many thousands were affected by that, and, to my knowledge, at least, there was no legal action directed at Apple throughout or after that episode. If there was any, I don't think it succeeded.

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http://images.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/osx_snow_leopard_sec_upd.pdf

For the time being, what I am hearing is that Snow Leopard is not particularly at risk. How long this will last is anyone's guess. But one thing you should do is stop using Safari, which hasn't seen an update in quite a while and is not safe. I would recommend Firefox or Chrome, which are being updated and patched when vulnerabilities arise.

As GM recently proved, it may be considered to be less costly to ignore a safety problem and just pay for upgrades

McDonnell Douglas decided (on a memo no less) that it was cheaper to let an occasional DC10 drop out of the sky than fix the defective doors. That took more than 500 corpses before it was addressed, and where are McD now?

WZZZ wrote:

There have been three Security Updates that Snow Leopard has missed out on since it last got one back in September, 2013. You mean to say that not a single one of these many patched vulnerabilities did not apply to the 10.6 architecture? Where is your documentation for this?

WZZZ wrote:

For what it's worth, from my reading of the Snow Leopard EULA ..., I'm not seeing any obligation on the part of Apple to provide Security Updates of any kind, period/full stop. The wording appears to be completely "use at your own risk."

WZZZ wrote:

For the time being, what I am hearing is that Snow Leopard is not particularly at risk. How long this will last is anyone's guess.

It took you only three posts to completely reverse your position! 😁

I don't usually reply to your trolling my posts for useless argument, but you really need to sharpen up your critical thinking skills. I haven't reversed anything. This is all I will say. Have fun talking to yourself from here on.