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Mac players? anyone

Ogcorp Squirrel

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Ogcorp Squirrel

Ogcorp Squirrel

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Just now, Spaceception said:

Edit your first post, and look at the "Content" tab (Below the "Create new topic" headline), Polls will be on it's right.

Thanks, refresh the page soon

4 minutes ago, Spaceception said:

Edit your first post, and look at the "Content" tab (Below the "Create new topic" headline), Polls will be on it's right.

I DONT SEE IT! i'll do it later before i end up breaking my keyboard

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Camacha

Camacha

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23 hours ago, astrokerb said:

I use Mac and iOS exclusively. I've found very few viruses are designed for them, whereas when I used Windows, I once got over two hundred viruses.

 

The biggest problem with viruses is the user itself. If you think Mac is safe, or even safer, you are way more likely to get infected. Risky or stupid behaviour is what generally gets you infected, not the OS.

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I exclusively use OS X.  I find that many other OSs are very thrown together.  I'm looking at you Windows. It's also much more user-friendly, and developer friendly - two things that are very important to me.  If I need hackability, I'll use my linux machine.

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astrokerb

astrokerb

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16 hours ago, Camacha said:

The biggest problem with viruses is the user itself. If you think Mac is safe, or even safer, you are way more likely to get infected. Risky or stupid behaviour is what generally gets you infected, not the OS.

I know, but on Windows I somehow got a virus from downloading Minecraft from its official website.(I am in no way saying Windows is bad. Just that it has more seemingly random viruses) And a virus from using Amazon. And a virus from my school's website. And a virus from reading CNN. And a virus from using Ebay....... I think you can guess what happens next.

Spoiler

And a virus from downloading Steam. And a virus from googling the Apollo Program. And a virus from clicking "Skip Ad" on youtube. And at least thirty more viruses from clicking "skip ad" on youtube. And a virus from clicking on my screensaver. I'm serious, that happened.

 

I've done all those things on my mac and haven't gotten one virus. Though I suppose it's possible the viruses just randomly downloaded the second I opened a website on Windows and it's a total coincidence........

Edited by astrokerb
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Camacha

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16 minutes ago, astrokerb said:

I know, but on Windows I somehow got a virus from downloading Minecraft from its official website.(I am in no way saying Windows is bad. Just that it has more seemingly random viruses) And a virus from using Amazon. And a virus from my school's website. And a virus from reading CNN. And a virus from using Ebay....... I think you can guess what happens next.

  Hide contents

And a virus from downloading Steam. And a virus from googling the Apollo Program. And a virus from clicking "Skip Ad" on youtube. And at least thirty more viruses from clicking "skip ad" on youtube. And a virus from clicking on my screensaver. I'm serious, that happened.

 

I've done all those things on my mac and haven't gotten one virus. Though I suppose it's possible the viruses just randomly downloaded the second I opened a website on Windows and it's a total coincidence........

It seems you have been dealing with problem, but it is very unlikely that all those places actually infected your computer. What is more likely is that you already had been infected with something, which subsequently used or abused your further computer use to infect you with more malware. That one infection leads to more infections is a known phenomenon. There simply is no way that Valve, Mojang, Ebay and Youtube all served you viruses. It would have been a huge deal in IT land and triggered an absolute storm of publications. Though it is possible you were simply misunderstanding the reports you were getting too.

I will repeat again: a properly protected Windows computer is very hard to infect. The biggest risk factor is, again, the user. If the user does stupid things, bad things will happen. Having dealt with large amounts of Windows computers, infections are exceedingly rare, and, in practice, pretty much always triggered by risky user behaviour (clicking unknown links in spam mail, executing things from dubious sources, not being properly updated, etcetera).

Everyone should use whatever suits his needs or wants best. I do not care whether you use Ubuntu, Windows 7, Windows 10 or OS X. All have really nice features and a couple of terribly annoying issues. What I do care about is blatant lies or misinformation being spread, perpetuating damaging rumours and lies. Whatever you use, be smart about how you use it, and protect yourself. If you do that, the end result will invariably be a pleasant experience.

 

18 minutes ago, Kuansenhama said:

But hey look on the bright side no viruses. :rolleyes:

This is simply not true. Simply believing this puts you at risk even more. Every day there are more viruses for OS X being found. This too is not a big deal, as long as you protect yourself and are sensible when surfing the web.

 

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GDJ

GDJ

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Mac OSX and iOS user here.

Are mac's virus free? Uh, no. The OS makes it harder to write virus's for it, but it's not impossible.

Keep 'er clean, use a decent antivirus sweep once a month unless you need to do more, and OSX will be just fine.

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9 hours ago, GDJ said:

Mac OSX and iOS user here.

Are mac's virus free? Uh, no. The OS makes it harder to write virus's for it, but it's not impossible.

Keep 'er clean, use a decent antivirus sweep once a month unless you need to do more, and OSX will be just fine.

It makes it harder to write file infecting viruses, but I have a couple tricks up my sleeve to screw with people.  It's hard to infect, but easy to screw around with.  Because people write malware to make money instead, none of these really exist anyway. :wink:

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18 minutes ago, CliftonM said:

It makes it harder to write file infecting viruses, but I have a couple tricks up my sleeve to screw with people.  It's hard to infect, but easy to screw around with.  Because people write malware to make money instead, none of these really exist anyway. :wink:

WELL....lets just keep that under our hats, Kay?

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9 hours ago, Camacha said:

This is simply not true. Simply believing this puts you at risk even more. Every day there are more viruses for OS X being found. This too is not a big deal, as long as you protect yourself and are sensible when surfing the web.

This is also simply not true.  Trust me, I'm on a virus forum.  Viruses, or virii if you prefer, are very uncommon on the Mac, as many people are looking for your data, as opposed to screwing with you.  Sure, a little program that shuts down your computer may be considered a virus, but to people who work with this stuff daily, it's considered child's play.  I can only think of 3 genuine Mac viruses off of the top of my head.  Each of which were broken before being released, or never even worked in the first place.  Please check your facts before posting something like this, as you never know who's going to read it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacMag

Note on this one that it was before Mac OS switched to Unix, which is generally less susceptible to viruses.

http://virus.wikidot.com/wdef

Again, same thing

http://virus.wikidot.com/cdef

Again, same thing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INIT_1984

Again, same thing

Quote on Renepo(2006) on We Live Security:

Quote

Renepo was never going to be a serious problem for the vast majority of Mac users, as it didn’t travel over the internet and required the attacker to have access to your computer to install it.

Leap was another piece of malware which did literally nothing.

The majority of others require the user to activate it themselves, and are unable to actually spread.  This removes the definition of virus and replaces it with malware.  The only others are Javascript ones, which are simply annoying, and will forever be a part of the web

I don't know if you were lost in space time, and are stuck in the 90's, but there are really no 'modern' Mac viruses.

So remember, though the mac can get viruses, it is VERY uncommon.  If you are cautious with the internet in the first place and don't go looking up dirty things, you won't be having to have this discussion in the first place.  [/rant]

Edited by Guest
Add a date on Renepo so I don't confuse people.
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Camacha

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1 hour ago, CliftonM said:

This is also simply not true.  Trust me, I'm on a virus forum.  Viruses, or virii if you prefer, are very uncommon on the Mac, as many people are looking for your data, as opposed to screwing with you.  Sure, a little program that shuts down your computer may be considered a virus, but to people who work with this stuff daily, it's considered child's play.  I can only think of 3 genuine Mac viruses off of the top of my head.  Each of which were broken before being released, or never even worked in the first place.  Please check your facts before posting something like this, as you never know who's going to read it.

Let me produce some sources to show that every word is true. It is important that people read about this, to keep them from harm. New viruses for Macs are written and discovered every day. At the same time, the notion that Macs are immune, is causing even more damage. Partly because the problem goes unnoticed and people live with infected computers, partly because people do stupid things because they think they cannot break things. Not to mention your Mac can be a patient zero for Windows systems too. Even if you do not feel the consequences of malware yourself, others very well might. Just like with vaccination, strength comes from numbers. If too many people pass on it, yet more bad things happen.

An Apple press release on malware installing itself on Macs.

Or this interesting article:

Andreas Marx, anti-virus research institute AV-Test confirms that though the majority of viruses is for Windows, a significant amount of viruses is discovered on a yearly basis:

Quote

We have discovered and registered more than 48 million new unique malware samples this year alone, but more than 98% have been written for the Windows platform. Less than 5,000 new viruses were written for Mac OS X, but these kinds of malicious software do exist.

Bogdan Botezatu - Bitdefender’s Senior E-Threat Analyst tells us about the severity of the vulnerabilities:

Mac OS X software has more high-risk vulnerabilities than all versions of Windows put together

The truth remains the same: the only safe system is a system that is fully patched and at least periodically checked. This is true for OS X or Windows PCs alike. Be wary, cautious and slightly paranoid:

 

Quote
  • Keep your operating system and your applications up to date. Always install the latest security patches.
  • Run an antivirus product or a security suite. AV-Test will publish a new Mac OS X report next week, but Andreas told us that Avast, Avira, Bitdefender, Kaspersky and Symantec all scored a 100 percent detection rate.
  • Use common sense and be suspicious. If something looks too good to be true, then it probably is.

Whatever OS you run, it simply is a numbers game. As a platform gains traction, it becomes more and more interesting for criminals to exploit. The Apple ecosystem has seen a huge boom in the past decade, but the dark consequence that comes with that is that it starts making more and more financial sense to invest in Apple malware. No software is without bugs or weaknesses and it is simply a matter of how hard someone is willing to look for them. Though as long as you are sensible and take some basic precautions (on whatever platform), everything will very likely be fine.

Edited by Camacha
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Camacha

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1 hour ago, CliftonM said:

If you are cautious with the internet in the first place and don't go looking up dirty things, you won't be having to have this discussion in the first place.

Thanks, this is exactly what I have been saying. This goes for whatever OS you are on. Do not stick the proverbial fork in the outlet and you will most likely be fine.

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10 hours ago, Camacha said:

The truth remains the same: the only safe system is a system that is fully patched and at least periodically checked. This is true for OS X or Windows PCs alike. Be wary, cautious and slightly paranoid:

 

Whatever OS you run, it simply is a numbers game. As a platform gains traction, it becomes more and more interesting for criminals to exploit. The Apple ecosystem has seen a huge boom in the past decade, but the dark consequence that comes with that is that it starts making more and more financial sense to invest in Apple malware. No software is without bugs or weaknesses and it is simply a matter of how hard someone is willing to look for them. Though as long as you are sensible and take some basic precautions (on whatever platform), everything will very likely be fine.

Very good point.  I just wanted to point out that, unlike Windows, there are not at least 100,000 new pieces of malware being discovered.  On OS X, there are very few found.  I will be the first to admit that there are pieces of malware on the mac, but it is less common due to things like sandboxing.  I think, now, we should end this side discussion, as it's really off topic, and I don't want to create a negative attitude on this community.  :wink:

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