macs and linux can get viruses as easy as windows does, they just aint as many users using it as windows so it gets reported less often

I'm afraid they can't. Well technically they could if there were a malicious bunch out there willing to write for them, but there arent. If we lived in a point in time where malicious coders knew how to effectively write in 8086, then it would be possible for u to visit somewhere and be infected on a machine language basis as opposed to OS platform specific.

Ipsofatso, if there aren't the sites out there, or email tags, preloaded with anti-macos or anti-linuxos stuff to get u infected. It's all 85% win32 based, around 10% a64 based, and the remainder a variation of a theme.

There are certainly viruses out there for linux and apple, and indeed other forms of OS, but tbh if ur gonna write one, it'd be pretty fruitless.

BUT they certainly do exist, in all my time, all the macs, linux, the last non-windows based computer I had to de-virusize was an Amiga.

To say it's just as easy to get a virus on a mac/linux as a windows platform is like saying the lottery is easy to win.

How ever they decide to code it, it hink that it will be times faster than windows.
There must be so much crapware in windows, expecially the way that windows has been written, then patched over and over again.

The only reason there arent as much viruses on mac os's as windows is because of the user base.

the reason windows gets so many viruses isn't just because of the amount of normal everyday users,
it is because most viruses for windows can also be used in unix systems which is what windows is based on and a byproduct of.
Unix is used as server os and also for large businesses because of its wide abilities which is also its down fall.
The problem with windows is that most of the time viruses get on it because of people go round surfing for Porn, and most dont even know they need a anti virus and a spyware checker,

edit
80% to 90% of windows problems is down to peoples laziness and uneducation.

the reason windows gets so many viruses isn't just because of the amount of normal everyday users,
it is because most viruses for windows can also be used in unix systems which is what windows is based on and a byproduct of.
Unix is used as server os and also for large businesses because of its wide abilities which is also its down fall.
The problem with windows is that most of the time viruses get on it because of people go round surfing for Porn, and most dont even know they need a anti virus and a spyware checker,

FACT
95% to 99% of windows problems is down to peoples laziness and uneducation.

I can't even begin to tell u where the first paragraph is incorrect.

The 2nd statement is very unfair. The arguement could be that the reason people have windows problems is cos it's a thrown together OS that still, to this day, harps back to the reverse engineering of xerox photocopiers.

(w8s for nat)

There is also a history behind why viruses exist on windows platforms.

I can't even begin to tell u where the first paragraph is incorrect.

The 2nd statement is very unfair. The arguement could be that the reason people have windows problems is cos it's a thrown together OS that still, to this day, harps back to the reverse engineering of xerox photocopiers.

(w8s for nat)

im here rast, fear not!!

What makes you say its a thrown together OS? You seen the source code or know something we dont? or you just saying it becuase your anti-microsoft anything. yes theres bugs, but there is in anything thats coded, even linux distros, mac os and any other os.

i think saying 95% - 99% of problems is caused by people is a little high. But i certainly do agree that the user plays a big big part in most windows problems. I mean you dont get many computer illiterate people using a linux distro or even a mac (although i think this will start to change).

Simple things like not installing an AV, visiting dodgy sites and clicking on things.

i know you wont reason with anything, so im gonna bow out of this thread! :p

nath out!

What makes you say its a thrown together OS? You seen the source code or know something we dont? or you just saying it becuase your anti-microsoft anything.

There's source code ? I kinda felt each compile starts with Win1.0 and is patched all the way up to current levels :p (we joke, but there isn't that much humor behind that)

We have a ying-yang going on, I feel I'm as anti as ur pro ;)

There's source code ? I kinda felt each compile starts with Win1.0 and is patched all the way up to current levels :p (we joke, but there isn't that much humor behind that)

We have a ying-yang going on, I feel I'm as anti as ur pro ;)

Neither of us know what code is from an older version of windows. So i cant comment. (although they would be a pretty stupid company to reinvent the wheel with each os). OSX certainly isnt a whole new OS each time.

I'm not pro windows. I'm pro "using an OS that suits my needs".

I use windows for my main os, emailing, programming, browsing etc. Debian for some of the servers i make (proxy filtering etc) and i might buy a mac when i can afford it.

All OS's have their pro's and cons.

Neither of us know what code is from an older version of windows.

You can if you disassemble some of the contents of system32. What u find are same files, sometimes renamed by a letter and revisioned.

It's partly why the bad boys are so quick to find how to exploit the OS on an 8086 level. What tends to happen is a the new OS is released and the same files are searched for. Cunningly the names may be changed, by the contents of the files are often from the previous OS incarnation *minus* some of the patches that were introduced to plug the exploitation.

i.e. as soon as Windows 7 hits the shelves, I can assure u similar mistakes will have been made, and within hours atleast the activation circumvention will be out, following that (or included in some packages) some security lapse that will foul ur pc.

But then u shouldn't be using such things in the 1st place ;)

U would think such a big corp would make such mistakes, but not everything is held in with the black tape.

Damn, I had to mention black tape.

You can if you disassemble some of the contents of system32. What u find are same files, sometimes renamed by a letter and revisioned.

It's partly why the bad boys are so quick to find how to exploit the OS on an 8086 level. What tends to happen is a the new OS is released and the same files are searched for. Cunningly the names may be changed, by the contents of the files are often from the previous OS incarnation *minus* some of the patches that were introduced to plug the exploitation.

i.e. as soon as Windows 7 hits the shelves, I can assure u similar mistakes will have been made, and within hours atleast the activation circumvention will be out, following that (or included in some packages) some security lapse that will foul ur pc.

But then u shouldn't be using such things in the 1st place ;)

U would think such a big corp would make such mistakes, but not everything is held in with the black tape.

Damn, I had to mention black tape.

hmm, this research you've done yourself? or read somewhere? any links?

has the same time been spent Linux and OSX. i'll bet my house that there are files on both the latter OS's that are the same as a previous generation OS.

Nothing I would be allowed to specifically link to on OC3D. Astalavista can be a decent source of papers on this, only be careful what links u follow if using windows :p