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Sep 29, 08 - 10:40 am Comment from: Wandering joe

Best way to not get a virus!!

well for starters, it's a macbook pro, not a macbook

He's a PC (Preventive Cure).

Sep 29, 08 - 11:08 am Comment from: Metryq

Wasn't it Norton that made Mac OS X less safe? (Opened holes, that sort of thing?) Or am I thinking of some other AV app?

"Or am I thinking of some other AV app?"

MakeAfee has had problems.

"McAfee Virex for Mac Insecure File Permissions Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability"

"An exploitable vulnerability exists in McAfee Virex that can be used to gain root privileges on an affected system. This vulnerability exists within the feature that enables users to define files for scan exclusion. The configuration file used to store scan exclusion files has insecure permissions of "rw-rw-rw" and as such can be modified or removed by any user."

Sep 29, 08 - 11:18 am Comment from: Erk

classic

not surprised in the least

Sep 29, 08 - 11:19 am Comment from: Predrag

That is just so amazingly ironic. And I'm pretty sure he has no AV software on that MacBook Pro; not even his own Norton for Mac (he could at least have it installed).

If there ever was a worse unspoken PR message for a company I have yet to see one.

Do as I say.


Not as I do.

Norton is not recommended by Microsoft for use with Vista. I had problems with it and replaced it with Windows One Care which I have doubts about. Norton still works on an older machine that runs XP.

Of course, I don't have to worry about any of this on my Mac.

A firewall is important on any computer, but viruses are mainly avoided by being smart about what you do, e.g. don't open email attachments from sources you don't know, etc.

Next, you'll see the a senior vice president of Ford driving a Porsche for style and safety reasons only.

The Ford analogy would work better if you said the senior VP of a company that made safety products for Ford vehicles drove a Volvo because they are safer.

I don't find this article ironic in the least. Rowan Trollope is clearly interested in having a safe computing experience. He uses a Mac for that reason and does what he can for Windows Sufferers.

Seems like a pragmatism to me.

So... all the Mac fanboys agree that the only reason anyone would choose a mac is to avoid viruses? Really?

Sep 29, 08 - 12:01 pm Comment from: Big Al

In my house, their father's OS is Mac OS X.

Who's your Daddy?

Sep 29, 08 - 12:04 pm Comment from: Big Al

@ Noraa Haras

Ford owns Volvo. Nice try though.

@ (Un)Rationalist
" ...the only reason anyone would choose a mac is to avoid viruses? Really?"

You deduce that ... how?

Geez, you MS fanboys are reeeeally grasping.

No, that's just one of many reasons. Wow, you are pathetic.

Dear Missy Pants:

Maybe you do not quite understand? You say: "Geez, you MS fanboys are reeeeally grasping."

To me it looks more like: "Geez, you MS fanboys are really gasping."

He's using a MB Air's adapter (or more unlikely, it's auto/air adapter) and it won't charge the batteries as fast. He must like waiting a long time for it to charge and put unneeded stress on the poor adapter...

"Ford owns Volvo. Nice try though."


(And I knew that! Hence my choice.)

Hoo boy now the cheering squad's in a wee tizzy../

@Missy Pants: By virtue of the fact that nobody seems able to believe that an exec at a security company would choose a Mac for any reason other than security, like for example ease of use, or any of the other numerous reasons that lead anybody to use a Mac. Also, as a side note, I'm pretty damn far from an MS fanboy, nice assumption though.

@@Rationalist:
Is it at all possible, in the most remote parts of your imagination, that it's not one of the reasons at all?

Fact is, there are vulnerabilities in Apple products (anyone wanna go count security advisories so far this year?) and there are plenty of non-security related reasons to use them anyways. The only reason Mac users aren't getting owned up left and right just like MS users is that until very recently, there weren't enough of us for it to be profitable. Anyone who doesn't see that is either uneducated on the matter or is willfully deluding themselves (ie fanboys).

Dude.


Scoreboard.......

Seriously though, I spent my week cleaning Antivirus XP malware off of several windoze boxes. my iMac and my MacBook have not yet contracted a virus or malware. I am not saying it's never gonna happen, but I am saying, it hasn't happened yet. I have heard DOOM AND GLOOM since Apple went to intel about how the virus floodgates are coming....we will deal with it if and when it happens.. in the meantime

STFU