On Jul 13, 2005, at 11:43, Bruce Johnson wrote:
On Jul 13, 2005, at 12:48 AM, DJ Carli wrote:
Hi.... I'm new here and hopefully this post is on-topic. If it's
not, please respond off list.
Right now I'm in a situation where the same computer (G4-533MHz) that
is used for music production is also being used for net access. Due
to the sensitivity of some of the projects I recieve, I'd like to
make this box immune to spyware, malware, and external hacking.
You have a Mac, you've already done that. Seriously.
There are no viruses, spyware or other such net-borne malware for OS
X, and the design of the OS makes it difficult for any to be written.
Turn on the firewall, turn off all sharing, use a good admin password
and you're pretty much set.
I was asking my father, a die-hard Windows fan, why it is that he
tolerates spyware and viruses, and the need for anti-spyware and
anti-virus software. Part of his response was that, essentially, he
doesn't believe the Mac to be immune... just that virus writers haven't
concentrated their efforts on us yet.
How do you answer such a charge? I mean, being a student of computer
science with a concentration in operating systems design, I can see the
design differences between OS X and Windows, between Safari and IE, and
between Mail.app and Outlook Express. Knowing these differences, I
honestly don't think we'll ever have the problem that Windows users do,
even if virus/worm writers do attempt to write viruses and worms for OS
X.
But how do you convince a Windows user that these differences are real
and legitimate, and that they are what makes Windows insecure and OS X
secure? It is telling that a Windows user will get around most of the
problem by simply avoiding IE and Outlook. (The spyware problem, since
they are essentially trojans, is not eliminated by avoiding these two
software packages. Additionally, I believe spyware will always be a
problem on Windows, just as trojans would be on any operating system.)
Daniel
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