WindowS & viRuS

[mridul]

I've been using windows for past three yrs and there have been at least 50 occasions when the OS has crashed (not because of me) and half out of that because of viruses. Past six months i've been using linux/mozilla to browse internet. there hasn't been a single virus on my PC. Some of my friends say that even Mac doesn't get infected of viruses. as Linux code is shared by many people it should be easy to find loopholes in that. But it is not so, windows gets all the viruses and others go clean. even big viruses attack big places running Windows based servers. Is this problem becoz so many people hate windows or windows offers this luxary to the people who manufacture viruses.

[ March 26, 2003: Message edited by: arya ]

[Calum]

both.

your assertion that it should be easy to find holes in Free software is totally untrue by the way. if the source code is open to modification, and hundreds of people round the world are checking each others work, because they enjoy doing it, and they all have the opportunity to fix  any problems that they see, then any holes in the code will be plugged very quickly, as opposed to having a few dozen guys (at most) who are paid to look for these holes nine to five, as well as doing a lot of other stuff, plus when a hole does get found out (usually by somebody breaking in through it) you have to wait for the company to get round to releasing a fix, which they might charge money for, then you can easily see which model will produce more secure software faster.

also, how do you think antivirus companies will make money if everybody starts using secure operating environments?

[mushrooomprince]

Working on a secure environment is also a lot less expensive. In the computer world .... windows would have the self defense capabilities of a Lamb.


Where as something like .... Mac os 10.2 would be more along the lines of a

MECH WARRIOR 5000 !!

you get the idea


But the point is  that its worth paying $300 extra for a machine that almost cant get viruses over something that is famous for getting attacked.

See what i meen ?


PC's have all kinds of hidden costs.

[X123]

Only about 50 times in 3 years when it has crashed?

[M51DPS]

What viruses still exist on Macs? I know that there used to be a bunch that infected HyperCard stacks and about the AutoStart worm, but what about today?

[Siplus]

quote:Originally posted by The Knife Thrower:
Only about 50 times in 3 years when it has crashed?

i can see that happening only with windows2k, if it was win9x, then arya didn't use a computer often...

[Pantso]

quote:Originally posted by M51DPS:
What viruses still exist on Macs? I know that there used to be a bunch that infected HyperCard stacks and about the AutoStart worm, but what about today?

I'm not aware of any viruses in OS X and I believe that it is the most secure OS currently, even more secure than Linux. In fact all of the BSDs are a bit safer than Linux.

[Calum]

how is that backed up i'd like to know? surely the major insecurities come from what services are running and this is not OS specific, after a point, it's more specific to the role of the machine and what software is used to do the job.

[Faust]

BSD kernel has less exploits but surely this in no way affects the exploits possible in specific clients / servers?  Well ok some servers (SSH) are bsd made as well, but not all surely?  and crackers will hit the most vulnerable point so if the kernel is secure then why would they care if a client/server isnt?

edit : ok so the kernel can intercept packets before they hit the client server but so?  It would be dumb to stop anything but illegal packets anyway...

and you can still have SUID programs running where they dont need to be so sometimes this depends on the user...

[ April 15, 2003: Message edited by: Faust ]

[Pantso]

Don't get me wrong there people. I was just talking based on statistics. It is true that the BSDs have less exploits than Linux, which of course I consider a really safe OS. After all I use Linux (for the millionth time).  

[Faust]

K.  I suppose OSX can install linux as well as other programs due to the fact that it's based on the BSD kernel...
Obviously being able to install apache would give you some not insignificant level of security.  (Apache is still the most secure web server right?  Or is it old skool now?)
My point that it depends on the admin I think still stands...  No system with telnet open and user:guest passord:guest will be secure no matter the kernel. 8-)

[theangelofdeath69]

Well, that point about HyperCard stacks is kind of moot... Ignoring the fact that I keep saying I use windows, I got lucky and a friend gave me a PowerBook 1400

I noticed while installing OS 8.5 that HyperCard is NOT installed by default.  Though WHY MacOS 8.1 and higher installs Internet Explorer as default browser is both ironic and a mystery...