Anti-virus Software

[Stef]

One reason why Macs do tend to be more secure:

 

Apple has the advantage of supplying a closed system. They can get a patch out quickly because they only have to test it on a limited number of machines. This is a clear advantage of proprietary systems.

 

This is provably false, though. (And I say this as a Mac user.) Apple relies fairly heavily on BSD-licenced open source software and is noticeably slow to patch exploits in this code, and it's therefore logical to assume that they're equally slack fixing bugs in their own software. (My submissions in RADAR would bear this out, with them taking years to fix a couple of issues.) Next time there's a Security Update, have a read of the things it patches (e.g. Apache, CUPS, libxslt, etc.) and then check when the exploit was discovered and patched on the equivalent open system such as Linux or xBSD. I think you'll find Apple significantly slower than they should be.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of OS X, but Apple's security handling leaves a fair amount to be desired. They could actually learn a lot from Microsoft in this respect – MS has really gotten its act together over the past few years.

[Sheriff Buford T. Justice]

Off topic but I think MoBeats is done with this thread now anyway:

 

Apart from the reduced risks of Viruses or whatever, could someone please explain what people prefer about a Mac to Windows? I don't get it.

 

Is it just to be different or is there a good reason to use one?

[Slim]

Off topic but I think MoBeats is done with this thread now anyway:

 

Apart from the reduced risks of Viruses or whatever, could someone please explain what people prefer about a Mac to Windows? I don't get it.

 

Is it just to be different or is there a good reason to use one?

 

Macs are shinier.

[germann]

Off topic but I think MoBeats is done with this thread now anyway:

 

Apart from the reduced risks of Viruses or whatever, could someone please explain what people prefer about a Mac to Windows? I don't get it.

 

Is it just to be different or is there a good reason to use one?

 

No idea. I rue the day I bought my MacBook. Office 2008 just doesn't cut it, especially Excel, and the Bootcamp drivers for the trackpad are dreadful, so using a Windows partition is just as bad. My only saviour is VMWare.

 

If you use Excel on a daily basis, never buy one.

[Slim]

That free zonealarm offer is up now by the way:

http://download.zonealarm.com/bin/free/sum/index.html

[The Old Git]

Is it just to be different or is there a good reason to use one?

 

Windows drives me nuts, my Macs don't

[Stef]

It's pretty much entirely down to the operating system. I'm a fan of UNIX and having that under the hood's useful to me, the user interface is consistent and well designed, and there's a lot of great software for OS X. Vista's caught up significantly, but Mac OS is still the best I've used so far. Your mileage may vary, but I find I'm more productive using it than Windows; perhaps I'm so used to OS X now that I can't be bothered with Windows any more (apart from making sites work in IE, a fun job indeed). Of course it's not perfect – the Finder's still not great; I wish there was some sort of system-wide application updater; and plenty of other things besides – but overall it's way ahead for me. For all their flaws, Apple are the best UI designers out there. Ubuntu/Gnome's the poor man's OS X, they've nicked tons of ideas straight from it, but Gnome's still just not very nice to use.

 

The hardware itself is expensive for what it is, though it's put together well enough and Apple score consistently highly in customer service. Depends what you're after, really, but there's no doubt that you're not going to get many extras in the way of ports or expansion unless you go for the 'Pro' end models. It's a shame really, and I can see why a lot of people go down the Hackintosh route to save money; I'd be tempted to do so myself if I had the spare time, but it's too much hassle and tends to break on every OS update.

[pongo]

The hardware itself is expensive for what it is, though it's put together well enough

 

The inside of my Mac Pro desktop is a work of art. Drives just slot in and it's good for 32 GB max of RAM although I've only got 8 GB currently.

 

I'm not some rich git btw. I got a great deal on an older model with 3 years of Applecare.

 

Ditto Stef - I also ultimately prefer Unix.

 

Also - I really hate the Windows registry and the way in which Windows programs crud up the system even after they have been removed. And the way in which Windows invariably has to be re installed sooner or later.

[Sheriff Buford T. Justice]

Windows drives me nuts, my Macs don't

In what way?

 

The hardware itself is expensive for what it is, though it's put together well enough and Apple score consistently highly in customer service. Depends what you're after, really, but there's no doubt that you're not going to get many extras in the way of ports or expansion unless you go for the 'Pro' end models.

 

Yes they are expensive. So why pay the extra? What do you get for your extra expense?

 

The inside of my Mac Pro desktop is a work of art. Drives just slot in and it's good for 32 GB max of RAM although I've only got 8 GB currently. I'm not some rich git btw. I got a great deal on an older model with 3 years of Applecare.

 

To me a computer of any kind is about what it does, not what it looks like and this IMO is why Macs have become so popular - for all the wrong reasons. Does it need to be a work of art? It's the inside of a computer at the end of the day. Do you show the inside of your Mac to your house guests and your friends? Do drives need to slot in and out? How often does anyone realistically replace a drive? As for the RAM, why do you need 8 GB? People complain about Vista needing 1 GB and XP will run fine on 512 MB.

 

What does Applecare do other than charge you a fee for bits you could pick up for next to nothing if you had a PC?

 

Also - I really hate the Windows registry and the way in which Windows programs crud up the system even after they have been removed. And the way in which Windows invariably has to be re installed sooner or later.

 

I agree with you here. The trouble is there's so much software available for a PC people just install any old shite regardless of whether it's any good, which sooner or later, will fuck it up.

[The Old Git]

Windows drives me nuts, my Macs don't

In what way?

 

I'll come back on that tomorrow, I'm just enjoying a nice whisky now

 

It's the inside of a computer at the end of the day.

 

Yes, but the good design means that my Mac Pro runs silently and is relatively dust free inside whereas my wife's PC makes a right racket (comparatively) wheezing its guts out with the cooling fans making with worst noise

[pongo]

why do you need 8 GB? People complain about Vista needing 1 GB and XP will run fine on 512 MB.

 

I'm running Photoshop CS3 and Lightoom simultaneously whilst working on files which are relatively huge. I'm likely also running a bunch of other stuff at the same time. I want my system to be zippy and responsive under that sort of load. It isn't that OSX needs lots of memory - it's that I need a machine which is capable of taking lots of memory (and an OS which utilize that memory) with respect to the applications which I need to use.

 

What does Applecare do other than charge you a fee for bits you could pick up for next to nothing if you had a PC?

 

I treat it as insurance against the relatively higher cost of buying into the Apple way of doing things. It isn't for everyone. I'm happy to pay a premium for the better experience. I also use a diy Linux machine btw.

 

The trouble is there's so much software available for a PC people just install any old shite regardless of whether it's any good, which sooner or later, will fuck it up.

 

Ah - yes repeat no: Under OSX the files which a program needs are nearly always effectively installed in 2 folders. Making uninstalling a breeze. There are exceptions. Uninstalling software is trivial because of the way in which the hierarchy is organized.

[manxman2]

anyone want nod32 for free.

 

its a top rated AV it beats kasperski to top place in nearly all AV comparison tests and where it comes second in said tests is because it is more complicated than kasperski to the average joe to use,,#

 

so if your name isnt joe youve cracked a free copy .. its not crack or keygen its direct from eset..

[manshimajin]

Used AVG for years but hated version 8 so moved to Avast. Seems ok.

 

I've got Avast too, seems to be pretty effective. I changed to AVG and it seemed to slow down my PC that much, I changed back to Avast again.

I have a MacBook and an antique Compaq Armada.

 

The Compaq runs AVG 8.0 with firewall etc... Until recently it was fine. I was away for 4 weeks recently and when I went onto the net the Update told me that I didn't have enough free memory to upload the updates. This has never happened to me before - it has always updated itself automatically.

 

I am technologically illiterate (amongst my many other illiteracies) but reading the comment above I wonder if this is a problem with AVG 8.0? I have asked AVG for feedback which I am waiting for - has anyone else experienced something like this or could suggest a fix? Without the updates I am a bit reluctant to go online on the Compaq.

[manxman2]

the antique has probably only got a small HDD. .. sounds like you need to have a clean out to make some room for the updated signatures file .. some AVs just download the updates while others download the whole new signature database.

[manshimajin]

the antique has probably only got a small HDD. .. sounds like you need to have a clean out to make some room for the updated signatures file .. some AVs just download the updates while others download the whole new signature database.

Manxman 2 - many thanks for the suggestion. If they download the whole database would it be stored in the AVG folder? sorry to ask a basic question but that is the level I operate at on the PC - if it works it's great if it doesn't then I panic! I notice that when Microsoft updates there are always files left on the HD - is it OK to remove these?