Apple Security Ping!
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Posted on 04/12/2015 6:27:05 PM PDT by Utilizer
Phrasing! /archer
Popular though Mint is, I feel I should point out that there are other distros not as well known that are pointed directly at the laptop and notebook -using section of the populace.
Usually using a more lightweight desktop such as LXDE, they are not as demanding upon system resources as some of the main distros and in particular are pointed towards extended battery life, power monitoring daemons and usage options, and minor things such as lightweight apps and fonts that do not require a lot of CPU processing power for greater speed and operating time.
Just a thought. :)
Can your model upgrade to at least Mountain Lion?
I can understand that it might not -- I have a much-beloved old 2007 white 13" MacBook that will only go as far as Lion (it's currently at a release before that, Snow Leopard). Like some of the other posters, I've considered putting some flavor of Linux on it, but frankly it works fine with the old OS X release, and I can't think of any good reason to lose an OS X platform, even an old one, given that I've got plenty of Linux platforms already. I guess I'll upgrade it to 10.7, but that's the end of the Lion...
Damn that Apple hardware that keeps working 8+ years. :-) *sigh*
It has 10.7.5, and I can’t upgrade past that. Is that Mountain Lion or Lion, I don’t recall?
Not asking for OS advice, folks.
Update to Yosemite. It doesn’t cost anything.
Thanks, you’ve been very helpful.
That's Lion. You're at the top release level that hardware can support. Same here.
Free isn't any good if the hardware doesn't support that release.
There are few times I listen to Rush anymore, but the things that just flat out made me turn him off were his shilling his tea and kids book and Applemania. Now I'm sure that at least two of the three he was paying himself to shill above and beyond product profits. Not that there is anything wrong with that but the time spent was ridiculous.
The first 9 releases of OS X were codenamed after big cats; the next two have been famous places.
Given the company's recently increasing social awareness, the next release will be codenamed after a hip clothing style.
OS X 10.11 -- "Drop-seat". Motto: "Feels like a cool breeze." :)
Man, I seriously hope Tim Cook puts his sexuality back in his private life, shuts the hell up, and just runs his company. The jokes are too easy, if even I'm making them.
ROTFLMAO!
Okay, true.
ping
Ah... I don’t need a ping, mate. I started this thread.
Ehrmmm.. actually, you are. “Lion”, “Mountain Lion”, and “Yosemite” are all OS’ that run on macs. Other OS’ were mentioned in an attempt to help you.
If your particular set-up is functioning normally then you can probably continue with what you have, especially if this backdoor does not affect you.
If you wish to upgrade beyond what you have now then the rest of the advice in this thread applies, yes.
That is just the way it is. Apple is able to devote a lot of resources to new products because they spend a lot less supporting okd products and because they control the hardware.
Your reply shows your complete and total ignorance on this topic. Microsoft supported XP for more than 12 years, and is still supporting Windows 7.
Apple puts relatively more resources on new products, and has less support for old stuff (and zero support for non Apple hardware). This business model works well for them because they have a nice base of users that will happily fork over their money for the latest and greatest. Microsoft, on the other hand, sells products into corporations whose IT departments upgrade slowly and who demand long term support.
I have used both Windows and Mac products. Never had a virus on either. From a security perspective, it is just not accurate to claim Apple is more secure than a recent MS OS without security features like UAC disabled. In fact, Apple loses the hack competitions pretty much every year. Apple users benefit indirectly from Apple’s relatively low market share because the malware authors target the platform with the most users (Windows) but as that market share climbs, don’t expect it to last. Apple has finally, though, started taking security more seriously, so hopefully things will improve.
Regarding life of your Mac Air, 4 years is not an unusually long life. I had a Macbook Pro that lasted about that long, although over that lifespan it had 2 MB replacements (at Apple’s expense), 1 hard drive replacement, and an internal video cable replacement. My Asus Zenbook, very similar to mac air, is going on 3 years, but has had its MB and an SSD replaced already. My wife typically gets a new laptop every 4 or 5 years, but she doesn’t travel with it so it gets a fraction of the abuse that mine do.
If you want on or off the Mac Ping List, Freepmail me.
I could start in on the Windows 7 and 8 platforms that I've had to clean up from malware that have had UAC activated. . . But that a subject for DayGloRed' Windows thread. this is about Mac security.
First, the "security by obscurity" canard has been disproved so many times it gotten boring, but there's always someone who hasn't gotten the memo, like you. There are close to 100 million OS X macs in the wild with most of them, 99%, running completely without third-party anti-virus software in the possession of people who statistics show have a higher disposable income than do Windows PC users. These Macs are, in a phrase, sitting-ducks; yet you claim that target is too small to interest criminals. the same criminal that a few years ago wrote the Witty Worm virus to infect the 20,000 known Window PCs left unpatched six months after Black Ice closed the door on the vulnerability Witty exploited. . . and thirty minutes after the Witty Worm was released into the Wild, every single vulnerable computer was infected! So much for you "security by obscurity" myth. That is NOT the reason Macs don't get infected.
As for you claim of Apple products fell first at hacker contests WAS true but not due to ease of cracking. It once was the prize for cracking at these contests was the computer you hacked. The hackers all targeted the Macs. . . And their exploits were not spur of the moment cracks but exploits that took months of research and coding to prepare, sometimes by a team of programmers such as Charlie Miller's team of ex-NSA specialist who won four years in a row, but only seconds to execute. When asked why he went after Apple, Miller said because he wanted to win the MacBook Pro.
Now, they've added cash bounties as prizes and the hackers go for the biggest prize purse which can range up six figures. . . and they are targeting Google Chrome, Microsoft, Java, and perhaps Apple Macs as an afterthought. . . every exploit at this year's contest was on a Windows platform! Sorry, but that's the way it is.
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