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To: Swordmaker

Two reasons for why a Mac seems less vulnerable.

#1, far fewer hackers care about Macs because hardly anyone use them compared to PCs.

#2, the purpose originally for windows was to be almost automatic with windows and the internet for updates, and when it was made so, hackers were able to make access to it.

So if Mac ever gets a following in the future and their use grows, expect Macs to get more bugs.
Regarding MS, I think future versions will become more hack proof.

Of course if you click YES when you shouldn't, you can still invite adware or malware in under the best of situations.


11 posted on 03/14/2005 10:01:23 PM PST by A CA Guy (God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
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To: A CA Guy
#1, far fewer hackers care about Macs because hardly anyone use them compared to PCs.

The "Security by obscurity" claim has been shot down so many times I am not even going to bother doing it again... suffice it to say that the UNIX underpinnings of Mac OSX are considered "Industrial Strength" security.

#2, the purpose originally for windows was to be almost automatic with windows and the internet for updates, and when it was made so, hackers were able to make access to it.

To a certain extent I agree with this.. Windows problems arise from trusting too much... however, Macs also are updated from the internet and are set to check for updates automatically, but the difference is that on the Mac, before you can update or install software, you MUST enter your administrator password. Nothing can touch the core OS files without a proper password... and even that password does not get you access to anything that requires ROOT access.

Of course if you click YES when you shouldn't, you can still invite adware or malware in under the best of situations.

That's true on PCs... Macs still require that pesky password before anything gets installed. Just clicking "Yes" in email or on the internat won't do that much damage. Even then, it could only trash that particular user's files and could not touch anything else.

12 posted on 03/14/2005 10:40:43 PM PST by Swordmaker
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To: A CA Guy
the purpose originally for windows was to be almost automatic with windows and the internet for updates

The purpose originally for Windows was to be an un-networked, one-user, non-multitasking machine with no security architecture at all. They later made NT to be multi-user, networked and multitasking but they used the API model from the un-networked, no-security Windows when they did it.

Contrast that with Mac, which is based on an OS that was born with networking (the first to include a TCP/IP stack, which Microsoft later cribbed), multi-user and security in mind. It was designed to run mainframes so it had to have all that.

22 posted on 03/18/2005 8:57:48 AM PST by antiRepublicrat
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