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Blog Entry
Securities in Macs
Published on the 9th of October 2005
Philip Miseldine is a recent Macintosh converter, around the same time as myself. Like most Apple users, he does not worry about computer viruses, and does not run any virus protection software. He recently wrote a blog entry (external link) about the security advantages in OS X.
I have never worried about security on my computers, mainly because I chose more secure software. Windows has one main weakness - Internet Explorer. Even on a Windows platform you can secure yourself through the one port for viruses - the Internet. Using Opera/M2 and Firefox/Thunderbird your computer is averagely secure.
Looking at Linux distributions and OS X they have one other major advantage over Windows - they do not let any user install just anything. Most Windows users use accounts that have administrative privileges. Even if you are logged in as an administrator in OS X and Linux distros they prompt you for your password on most installs.
Whenever I setup people's Windows systems I always create two accounts for them - one administrator and one user. I always tell them to use the user account and Firefox, and they will rarely see viruses. Recently, I've taken an extra measure and placed a password on the administrator account. I just initially install what they need, and they can contact me if they need anything else. They rarely have had viruses since then.
If having seven flavors of Windows isn't enough to confuse customers, Microsoft is going to have to find a way to end the constant use of "god" accounts. The easiest method would be for a password prompt at every install, so that users always know when something is being added to their system.
Comments
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Sebastian (12 Oct 2005 2:37)
The great advantage with Microsoft Windows is that it's easy to use for first time computerusers. The first system I came in contact with was Windows and it barely took me one hours to get the hang of how a computer works with Windows. It might as well be the easy layout which Windows uses, you cant do anything wrong with it.
About viruses, I wouldn't know since I've never had any. I use Norton Antivirus and I believe my router denies hackers access as well. But it just might be me who surfs the web safely.
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Ethan Poole (external link) (12 Oct 2005 5:34)
I have to slightly disagree. Just using the four major computer interfaces - Windows, OS X, KDE, Gnome - is quite easy. It's close to common sense for all of them. Windows you have the taskbar and start menu, similar concept in Linux. OS X you have the dock and an easy to figure out applications folder.
I remember when I first started to use Windows, boy was I a bit confused (young though). I always used Apple's at school, ancient ones, and I was bilwildered at the Start menu. Great concept though, it's almost plastered in our brains. I do have to disagree though that it's the easiest to figure out.
Windows is not the easiest system to use. OS X is the most user friendly (not the best though). Application installing is as simple as click and drag. Of course it doesn't have to worry about hardware compatiblity much either.
Windows is good though as it runs on every PC, has good hardware and networking support, runs a host of useful applications, is fairly secure (excluding IE), and gives you a nice setup.
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Sebastian (12 Oct 2005 11:30)
I'd say that your "sligthly disagree"-statement turned into a huge one. :P
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