One thing I love about OS X.

Peace of mind. OMG

Malware Removal Instructions

Read a couple of pages. I knew things were bad, but this is crazy.

 

That's why you use Common Sense 2011

 

well, I've haven't had a virus on my PC's in I think 5+years...

 

Neither have I. But that wasn't my point.

Being virus free on a PC is a lot like being an accident free driver of a car.
Except, in the PC world, there are criminal "drivers" that shoot at you, so to speak.

I've owned Macs and PC's, clear back to the 286 and my Mac SE30. But I've never had to "be on my guard" with my Macs, like I am so with my PC's, not to mention the cost of anti-malware and anti-virus solutions.

When friends, co-workers and family ask me to help them with their computers, if it's a PC its almost always some sort of rogue software involved that is the reason. With a Mac, the frequency is NEVER.

 

agree, Forsythe.

you don't realize how much you obsess over things as a PC owner until you have a Mac. I feel like every unexpected pop-up on any website was a potential threat...every accidentally clicked e-mail was stealing something from me just by it being open...every program had to be studied before clicking "next" for fear that it'd install "PC Security 2000" or some crap on my machine because I was clicking too fast to notice.

With OSX, the fear simply doesn't exist anymore. It's like driving on an open highway with the top down and the music up. Under Windows, it feels very much like riding through Baghdad. Don't leave the Green Zone...

 

is it REALLY that hard to not open emails/downloads from strangers, install ad-blockers, and use a modern browser? quite literally, only one of the steps i've highlighted requires diligence

 

Where can I get this? I can't seem to find it anywhere.

 

You'd be surprised, We have a computer at work for staff to use, luckily it's on linux, the stuff I've seen staff click actually scares me, not to mention how many .jpg.exe files I've seen on it.

 

It is really hard for the mass public to protect their Windows machines because most people lack either technical skills (even very basic ones) or common sense. For example, take my grandparents. They get a ton of e-mail a day from their friends that is nothing more than stupid fwd:fwd:fwd:fwd:fwd:fwd worlds funniest dog! type stuff. They click on it as the e-mail is from a trusted source, watch the video, and are then infected with some sort of spyware while the e-mail is automatically forwarded to everyone in their address book (including myself which Gmail automatically tags as spam).

They can also be browsing something as simple as Weather.com, a pop-up randomly takes over the entire screen, they see some fake hard drive scan, and it is telling them that their computer is infected and they need to buy this software to remove all of the malicious content (the software itself is a virus/trojan/worm/whatever). It looks real to them so they go through with it. Are they clicking away at pornographic websites? Nope. They are just reading their e-mails and visiting something as simple as weather.com yet their computer became infected.

I haven't had a major virus on any of my systems since 2005 but it is extremely common for me to come across all sorts of other stuff (mainly tracking cookies). Those are obtained even with a "modern browser" such as Firefox 4. It takes all of 5 minutes to get rid of them but it is annoying that I have to do that on a weekly basis on my Windows machines especially since I am not visiting any sites that should warrant such behavior. I can't casually browse the internet for even a second without some tracking cookie being copied to my computer's hard drive under Windows (whether it is XP or 7 x86 and x64).

It is not a fault on Windows itself as I believe we could be saying the same stuff about Mac OS X in an alternate universe where it was the dominant OS. The issue is that "everyone" uses Windows so people are going to release malware, spyware, trojans, viruses, tracking cookies, etc. for something that is going to infect the majority of users. They aren't going to spend hours upon hours for something that will infect less than 10% of the computing population.

 

wow that list is long

 

Yeah too bad Mac OS is more vulnerable then PC's, we just don't get viruses because the market share isn't there for the "evils" to program and distribute viruses for because its not worth their time to only hit a couple people.

Its like an analogy I like, if you're a unibomber, what are you going to hit? Train station where all the "PC's" are, or the local McDonalds where there are only so many people there at any given time? Of course you're going to go for the most damage so the PC's are a given to target.

 

thats vastly over-simplifying the situation.

 

ehhh, but it works

 

do you mean 10.6.7 is more vulnerable than windows 7 sp1? it would be really hard to make the argument that the mac os is more vulnerable than the average PC, seeing as most people are still running windows XP on the PC side but most people are on snow leopard on the mac side.

anyway, i think security wise (ignoring market share based malware development) they are pretty similar. I would even say that they have more comparable security than vista <-> 7, or leopard <-> snow leopard

Both OS's basically get exploits patched as they are revealed to the companies behind each OS. And, snow leopard recently shoved flash and java off the OS feature list (well, java still has a foot in the door) - and flash in particular was causing a ton of issues and being a constant security problem because it was always several versions behind. That's over now.

 

I hate when people use the whole "market share" line for the reason OS X doesn't have as many viruses. They try and make it sound like there are only a couple thousand Mac users. There are 95 million Mac users that is plenty enough to target. If 95 million wasn't enough for viruses makers to target then why would anyone want to develop Apps for the Mac? It's not market share that is the problem. It's that fact that OS X is more secure then Windows.
How come there are only 4 known Trojans for the Mac? OS X has been out for 10 years now, and there are only 4? You're telling me that there are thousands of Mac developers that create hundreds of thousands of Apps, but because of market share no one wants to write a Trojan for OS X?

 

I don't think typical sales analogies work to support this argument completely. Malware authors have various motivations for writing malware, but the two most common reasons are notoriety/pleasure and monetary. For both of these reasons, your choice, if given one are to be as efficient as possible. After all, your target market is not a niche, your market is everyone using a computer. Why not pick one that is both most numerous AND least secure. Apple's market share in the world of operating systems is far less than 10%*, so it makes sense for practical reasons to pursue a platform with much broader exposure to your aims or goals. To put it simply, Mac OS X gives the malware author much less bang for the buck, or return on investment.

If on the other hand, you are a legitimate software developer, then you have to deal with the fact that your product is aimed at a niche, large or small, depending many more factors than a malware author.

This is by no means to belittle the other reasons Apple users are less burdened. The reasons are quite numerous actually, to pick one and call it "the reason" is the real flaw in some observations. Here's an article that I think does a fair job at outlining the majority of them. As well,the comment section has a pretty good post by someone who has some recommendations on good Mac security practices to observe.
Why there are no viruses for OS X | Tips and Tricks, Reviews - MacAmour - Your Mac Companion


* Operating system market share news

 

Even so, that is less than 10% of the computing population especially when that means there are over 400 million people using Windows. Would you rather have $95 or $400? The amount of Mac users is not the sole reason why OS X doesn't have very much malicious content for it. However, it certainly plays a large role whether people admit it or not.

Also, as previously pointed out, comparing the amount of app developers to people who write malicious code for Mac OS X is something that can't be done. That is comparing a legitimate means of business to someone who just wants to obtain information and/or drive people nuts. We also know that there are far more programs for Windows out there so using the whole developer logic would mean that there are far more people writing malicious content for windows.

Apple having less than 10% of the computer market is not an insult to the company as they have come a long way since the pre-iPod days. That being said, OS X is still a minority OS.

 

Hate to use the infamous car analogy but it fits in this stance. To a mechanic it's not hard for them to do an oil change on an 18 wheeler or work on the camshaft. To the rest of the non-mechanically inclined it's all foreign. To non-computer geeks just opening an email can be a challenge, really. Try and put yourself in position of what you don't have expertise in and you'll understand when I say that the answer to your post question is YES.

 

Im a recent MAC user and 1 thing I REALLY love about it is no more registry you need to clean every now and then. Unlike on pc that if you ignore this, it tends to slow down your computer big time! Doesnt matter how fast your computer is but if you dont maintain your registry it will eventually slow down (like boot up time etc). On PC, 60% of my time is productivity while 40% goes to maintenance cleaning registry scanning for malware virus etc.. On a MAC, 90% for productivity and 10% for maintenance. Virus / Malware on macs does exists though not as much as on a PC. Hell I dont even know theres such a thing as windows stress until I start using macs hehe

 

1.) Yes, sometimes it is. Sometimes you can look for something online and not realize a website is shady until too late. It's not always obvious.

2.) Yes, sometimes you can mistake a fake email for a legitimate one.

3.) Many people still use Internet Explorer, which does not come with any special protections and no real add-on market to speak of. Many of them are still running IE6 and IE7. You can be mad about it if you want to, but you need to check yourself and remember that most people are NOT tech people. They don't constantly check Windows Update. In fact, I've seen people let the "Updates Available" yellow shield sit in their task tray for 6 months without touching it. They're not being educated on computer security or care. Hell, many of them are struggling just to use their web browser effectively. Forget locking it down with AdBlock PLus, WOT, and FlashBlock. You're lucky to get them to install decent antivirus (and chances are, their current AV software's subscription has run out. lol)

4.) Any step that required diligence will lose a gigantic cross-section of users who aren't technical enough to even think about attempting to engage serious protections.

Sure, in a perfect world, people would understand all these things and keep their systems safer. Everyone would have a legit firewall sitting on top of NOD32 or MSE with Malwarebytes running once a week. Their browser choices would be Opera, Firefox or Chrome and they'd all have a variety of ad and shady website-thwarting tech installed for them. But in THE REAL WORLD, few if any of those things are happening or will happen. They don't have the time or patience. They just want things to work safely so that they can spend the time that you might enjoy running a new scan on...idunno...spending time with their family.

This is why OS X is so enjoyable. Even if you don't care to know or have time to learn all the intricacies of computer security, your computer is most likely going to be secure anyway. It's *hard* to drive a Mac into a ditch. You're free to enjoy what you're doing. Meanwhile, I fix a friend's PC every month.

 

Lets just end it with this picture:


Instead of focusing on the negatives, lets try helping these PC people who don't understand how to protect themselves...there are plenty of people who do not know about these guides/helpful pages/free software and by helping them, you might just make yourself feel good.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/security-anti-virus-software/202330-security-anti-virus-software-forum-general-index-sticky-please-read-before-posting.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/security-anti-virus-software/190538-best-free-security-software.html

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