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Yes, Windows has many more exposed security risks. Mac's have around an 8-9% market reach right now. As Apple's market share raises you'll see more and more v

Yes, Windows has many more exposed security risks. Mac's have around an 8-9% market reach right now. As Apple's market share raises you'll see more and more viruses targeted at Mac's as we have in the last couple of weeks. Let's see what happens if Apple ever is able to get 25%+ of the market using Mac's. In 16 years of using Windows with no Anti-Virus software installed, I have never gotten a virus. Maybe Microsoft should do a better job of educating users on what not to click on. I run a company that does IT Support for businesses. Once a week or so, I'll have a CEO bring in his kids Laptop with a virus and a good number of times it was caused by their kid using some p2p file sharing program and downloading and running cracked versions of software which contained the virus. This is not yet as big of a problem for Apple as the number of software titles in general is much smaller and thus people downloading cracked copies which might contain a virus is going to be smaller. Two cents.

archangel_one 15y ago
What about a firewall? Because I have seen Windows machines infected through no fault of their users within your 16-year period (Blaster being the most triumphant example). Admittedly this is probably a minority of malware installs out there, but I think it gives Microsoft a little too much credit and their users not quite enough to suggest that it's 100% caused by them clicking on ILoveYou.jpg.exe.
deleted 15y ago
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pitchups 15y ago
Agreed. The problem is that the common user has the misconception - perpetuated no doubt by comments like the one by Eric Schmidt - that somehow a Mac (or a Linux) is just a better designed OS that is not vulnerable to malware and viruses. There are plenty of security holes and vulnerabities in the Mac OS as well as Linux - the malware authors just get more bang for the buck targeting Windows users - because of the 90/10 split in the market. In fact, recent reports clearly indicate a huge recent spike in malware and virus attacks on Macs - see this article : http://www.betanews.com/joewilcox/article/The-Mac-malware-problem-is-bigger-than-you-think/1306458529 http://www.betanews.com/joewilcox/article/The-Mac-malware-pr...
MadWombat 15y ago
Lets correct one sentence. In 16 years of using windows with no anti-virus, you have never gotten a virus that you were aware of.

archangel_one 15y ago

What about a firewall? Because I have seen Windows machines infected through no fault of their users within your 16-year period (Blaster being the most triumphant example). Admittedly this is probably a minority of malware installs out there, but I think it gives Microsoft a little too much credit and their users not quite enough to suggest that it's 100% caused by them clicking on ILoveYou.jpg.exe.

deleted 15y ago

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pitchups 15y ago

Agreed. The problem is that the common user has the misconception - perpetuated no doubt by comments like the one by Eric Schmidt - that somehow a Mac (or a Linux) is just a better designed OS that is not vulnerable to malware and viruses. There are plenty of security holes and vulnerabities in the Mac OS as well as Linux - the malware authors just get more bang for the buck targeting Windows users - because of the 90/10 split in the market. In fact, recent reports clearly indicate a huge recent spike in malware and virus attacks on Macs - see this article : http://www.betanews.com/joewilcox/article/The-Mac-malware-problem-is-bigger-than-you-think/1306458529 http://www.betanews.com/joewilcox/article/The-Mac-malware-pr...

MadWombat 15y ago

Lets correct one sentence. In 16 years of using windows with no anti-virus, you have never gotten a virus that you were aware of.