Well, Lesr, I didn't want to reply to this without some hard facts. I hate it when people make up numbers and stats just to sound intelligent.
I apologize if I came across as being pompous. I had simply wanted to point out a different way of looking at a situation for the standard " Mac's have no market share"
Anyway, there's one very simple reason why the lion's share of viruses are Windows specific. Again, I will bring up market share. According to NetMarketshare (a respected organization that collects and sells data on cross-platform statistics) 90.7% of all desktops in the world are running either WindowsXP, Vista or Windows7. Keep in mind that doesn't include any of the server OSs or legacy systems still running Windows2000 or even Windows95. Macs only account for 4.39% of the world's desktops (that's Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6. If you were a hacker which would you program for? Affect 90% or 4%? Yeah. (
OS market share)
I do not disagree with the numbers given. I have just a different way of looking at this. These numbers show Mac OS's that have been out since 2007 10.5 and 10.6 - Vs - XP, Vista & 7 that have been out since 2001 [A bit of a difference.] As well my main point was that a number of Windows based computers are used for tasks that I personally do not think of as being all round computer use such as used as a cash register. I had seen a number several months ago that indicated this amounted to some 47 - 48 % of the total number in service as these units tend to stay in service for a long time. I did not take the time to look this up at the time and sorry to say can not find it now. My way of looking at this would say that only looking at day to day computer users - the me and you - the percentage of Mac users go up from the numbers shown.
Also, this whole issue of Macs not getting viruses is a myth. Here's an example of one documented on Sophos' website (
OSX/Leap-A Macintosh worm (CME-4, MacOS/Leap, MacOS/Leap!tgz, OSX.Leap.A, OSX/Leap) - Sophos security analysis) For those that are unfamiliar with Sophos they are a premier antivirus software company (more reliable than Symantec).
Yes there are "proof of concept viruses" - I agree with you - they are a very small % and tend to not affect the me and you computers.
That particular virus is the root of many other viruses and is similar to the windows viruses you mentioned assembled by script kiddies.
When it comes down to it, a lot of Mac users don't even use anti-virus software. So unless they got a really nasty virus that deleted their hard drive, they wouldn't even know it. Many viruses are simply trojans that run silent processes on your hardware - unknown to you. But I suppose, unless it disrupts the Mac user's use of their system, then it's OK. Yeah, right.
While I certainly do not know every thing I have never come across a Mac Virus nor trojan in all of the units I have serviced nor have I hear of one from any of my fellow tecks that service Mac's
On a slightly different tack: if Macs don't get viruses, how come the Apple website recommends running antivirus software on every Mac? (
Mac OS X 10.6 Help: Protecting your computer from harmful applications)
It would be a very poor computer company that did not recommend this. We all know that viruses will come to the Mac [ All compters ] if not today then some time
For those that are gonna bring up Linux and Unix as being "more secure" and "don't get viruses": think again. Here's a few from 2005 (
LXer: FeriCyde Chat: The Linux Virus Threat List for 2005, and I'm sure there are more now. That's one thing you can rely on in the world of computer security - the number of potential vulnerabilities is always growing.
I don't want to sound like a jerk here, but I'm a IT professional with over 20 years of experience. I have a degree in Information Technology and Networking, which included courses on computer security and operating systems. When you get right down to it, the differences between operating systems (Windows / Mac OS / Linux / etc) are growing smaller everyday. This largely stems from a unified set of user needs that crosses every platform. There is also a lot of cross-platform hardware sharing. You can find Unix-based code within just about every operating system on the market today. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that they are the same. They're not. But the underlying logic is similar enough across the platforms that hackers can use the same logic to hack any system. The only things that change are the unique system vulnerabilities and the tools created to exploit them. Those change almost daily.
So, in short, I'm really tired of hearing people tout Macs and Linux platforms as the end-all-be-all solution to the world's computing woes. They're not. They're just another platform, with more or less the same potential vulnerabilities.The biggest vulnerability ANY system has is the user using the system. Do you know how many times I've seen people answer spam phishing emails and include their username, password, address, phone number, and occasionally social security number? It's insane!