What makes the mac NOT get virus'?

J

jasfa131

The Lone Deranger
It feels great to not have to worry about virus' :). But I was always wondering, what are the differences between mac and windows computers that make the mac virus-proof? [hardware and software] (I actually thought that the intel switch would allow virus' on mac...) Anyway, I'm just curious.
Thanks!;)
 
Low market share. No ones bothering to write viruses for OS X, (yet).
And OS X is much more secure.
 
Like bobw says, little point, most people believe in Windows (poor them) and therefore want to destroy windows machines. There are no OS X viruses as yet but if there is McAfee Virex to sort out the problem.
 
One technical reason that it's hard to deploy viruses for OS X is simple: we don't use rely on other Microsoft products. Most Windows viruses don't exploit holes in Windows itself, but rather Explorer or Outlook Express, both of which are riddled with bugs and holes. Most Windows viruses would be unable to spread if people would just use Firefox and Thunderbird instead.

The few proof-of-concept "viruses" we've seen for OS X use similar tactics: they go through Safari and Mail. In a way, it's a shame such a majority of Mac users use Safari (especially the less tech-savvy ones). The lack of diversity makes Safari an appealing target, just as Explorer is on Windows. And Apple just did something dumb with their "Open 'safe' files after downloading' feature. That's been exploited two or three times now, and while Apple has since patched those specific vulnerabilities, I think it's just a matter of time until another one is found. I recommend, as I always have, that you turn that option off (and any similar options in Mail).

Also, I think Mac OS X's default settings lean more towards security than Windows XP's. I've heard that Windows has some remote services enabled by default that probably shouldn't be. (I'm no expert on Windows, so I don't know the details.)
 
When I started to work at the university, I was one of the few of the department that did not use Mac; I used Windows instead. Also, I was only who did not have viruses on my computer.

Ok, there was no OS X then, so I guess Unix kernel helps somewhat.
 
When I started to work at the university, I was one of the few of the department that did not use Mac; I used Windows instead. Also, I was only who did not have viruses on my computer.
Click to expand...

You really can't expect any knowledgeable Mac users to believe this.
 
Actually, even in the pre-OS-X word viruses were few and far between. I had a Power Mac Performa 6220CD at home during the mid-90s running System 7.5.x up to 8.1, and I had never encountered a problem like that. This computer was also used to get on the Internet and for downloading files (albeit ever so slowly on dial-up). Before then, I had worked with the Macintosh SE, SE/30, and Centris/Quadra series of Macs and I had never encountered viruses either. Even my Quadra 650 to this day doesn't have anything to worry about like a Windows computer does. I think bobw pretty much summed the reasons up with his first post.
 
Back then, Windows also had less virus trouble, though. Worms and viri etc. simply didn't have much "fun" out there before the internet was that "always on" thing it is nowadays.
 
It is possible that a single windows user in a Mac department might be the only one without a virus (however slim the chances might be) especially if the windows OS was NT, and the administrator (if there was one) had no time, or knowledge of Mac viruses, and the department did not have internet access.

Picture a doofus Mac user (probably a department head), brings a Mac virus to work on that wizzy zip disk he carts back and forth from home, and gives it to everyone. PC unaffected.

Again, odds are pretty slim, but it could happen. Especially if the only available Mac support was a large corporate IT department.
 
I started using Macs back in 1987 (OS 6.0.4) and "got connected" in 1995. I've never encountered a Mac virus, worm, trojan, spyware, whatever. That's never; not once.
 
The fact that Mac OS X runs on top of a Unix-like operating system really helps stave off viruses.

In Windows, a computer administrator can access all of the hard drive and change all of the system files.

On the Mac, the system files are owned by the system... The user cannot touch. Being an administrator on a Mac simply means that you have the ability (with a password) to do periodic system changes.

These days, 90% of windows viruses / spyware behave in the same way... Thanks to signed binaries, the ability to compromise an executable in the traditional virus manner is fading. Most viruses you see on Mac will be trojans exploiting autoruns and doing their best to hide themselves.

Code: 
* /etc system
* sudo defaults write com.apple.loginwindow LoginHook /path/to/script
* sudo defaults write com.apple.loginwindow LogoutHook /path/to/script
* launchd

To name a few. Apple really needs to implement signed Apps, and ensure that the app they are running is really the App they intend to run. Right now - if I replace Finder with a customized version (or Dock, or whatever) - it'll happily load it.
 
bobw said:
Low market share. No ones bothering to write viruses for OS X, (yet).
And OS X is much more secure.
Click to expand...


I suspect the latter is the key. After all, before OSX there were probably even fewer users, but I remember several viruses being around.
 
IIRC, there were a few hundred viruses for the classic Mac OS (compared to many thousands for older versions of Windows).

In my 7 or 8 years using the classic Mac OS, I encountered exactly 1 virus. It was the MBDF 2 virus. All it really did was cause my computer to crash almost constantly (it was supposed to do something more vile, but it was not really compatible with OS 8!). I got it off a "Software of the Month Club" CD, or something like that. It drove me insane. I went through two clean system installs before it even occurred to me that it might be a virus. It killed the better part of a day. Then I ran good ol' Disinfectant, and the problem was solved in a few seconds. I felt pretty stupid that day...

But enough reminiscing. :eek:

Today's dominant style of virus is relatively new. I'm not aware of ANY classic Mac OS viruses that spread through email or instant messaging or web sites like most "viruses" do today (I put "viruses" in quotes because many of these are technically not viruses, but worms).

OS X is in no way immune to viruses; you can write a virus for ANY system. It's trivial, really. The hard part is deploying them — making them spread effectively (and if possible, evading anti-virus software). That's not easy on OS X.
 
Mikuro said:
IIRC, there were a few hundred viruses for the classic Mac OS (compared to many thousands for older versions of Windows).

...
Click to expand...
IIRC, the number is more like 26. However, the release of Word 6 gave us the first cross-platform Windows/Mac macro-virus. The release of Office 98 brought Visual Basic for Applications to the Mac. VBA was a virus-enabling technology. On Windows, VBA has the run of the system. On the Mac, VBA is limited to Office.
 
so lets talk about what the best mac virus scanning program is... really. I know there are a few, like Norton / McAfee, but do they really work?

If I had an office of about 15 users, which mac anti-virus software would I want to deploy on a new network?

Thanks
 
Since you basically only need this for protecting _Windows_ users, I'd say the best investment is no investment. ClamXav is free.
 
Back in the old Mac Plus days there were things like NVIR etc. I never found one that actuaslly did anything. They alll seemed to have 4 letter names.
 
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