Nickname: IceMage

Review: In my personal experience, a Trojan IS a type of virus, to say that these weren't viruses at all is simply ignorant. Also, moving to the Intel architecture does not expose an Apple to more Windows based bugs (unless it's running windows, but that's another story). Running a Mac on Intel makes it 500 times easier for hackers to port their viral payload to mac based machines. You'll find that many so called "Windows" bugs are actually third party vendors, and as Mac gains popularity, it will gain software options AND malicious activity WILL increase.

Date reviewed: Mar 3, 2009 3:18 PM

Nickname: Mike

Review: Of course computer security companies will want to stoke fears about Mac OS X. If everyone were to ditch the buggy infested mess that is Windows, they would have no business to peddle.

Date reviewed: Sep 25, 2006 2:35 PM

Nickname: Mark

Review: To ralphrides: There is OS-level security in Windows NT, 2000, and XP, similar to Unix, in fact. A problem is that most Windows users and administrators don't use most of what's available out of the box to secure Windows. A flaw that XP has is it sets up users as Administrator by default (like root on Unix), but it's possible to set up limited user accounts. A flaw that OS X apparently shares with Windows is that they both do not separate code from data in memory. So both are potentially vulnerable to buffer overwrite exploits. Traditional Unix (like AIX or Solaris) plugged this vulnerability a long time ago. Only recently has Intel and Microsoft solved this problem with what's called "hardware DEP," which enforces a boundary between a program's data and running code. WinXP SP2 uses DEP when it's available. OS X can use DEP as well, so long as Apple makes use of it.

Date reviewed: May 14, 2006 4:48 AM

Nickname: Mark

Review: Re: the Mac update social engineering It's a bit funny to see Arik qualify this by saying that "it wasn't the computer that was hacked," but rather the user was fooled into downloading something malicious. From reading about Windows's security vulnerabilities over the years, it's my impression that the vast majority of Windows malware infects computers in just this way. A user opens an e-mail that purports to be something it's not, convincing them to open an attachment that then infects their system with a bot that then e-mails itself to other people, and starts a denial-of-service attack on some Web server, and/or erases/corrupts some of their personal files. All malware needs is a point of entry. If that requires the perpetrator to fool users into installing it, so be it. The computer still gets infected.

Date reviewed: May 14, 2006 4:23 AM

Nickname: BearPatrol

Review: The Mac ads can be seen at http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/

Date reviewed: May 10, 2006 4:48 AM

Nickname: k

Review: For the guy that thinks Linux is reliable: Hah. So not true. You have to spend so much time setting things up it just isn't worth it and it's much more difficult to install and uninstall applications. OSX beats Linux in the general consumer world because things work without having to make them work. No hassles.

Date reviewed: May 9, 2006 7:19 PM

Nickname: pigpen

Review: I have faith in my Mac and never plan a switch to Microsoft.

Date reviewed: May 8, 2006 5:28 PM

Nickname: vortex2

Review: Ok first of all, Windows is not good. I agree with that. Secondly, Mac doesn't work as good as the commercials say it does. What am I running you might ask? Linux. Cheap, reliable, open, Linux. Ever since I got my computer (three years ago) I have been running Linux. I have not had a single problem with it. I once left it on for five months straight on accident and when I got back it still ran perfectly. I could say less about my Windows and Mac computer, which I also left on for same amount of time and I keep around for company stuff. So there really is no winner in the commercial here. The real winner is outside the idiot box.

Date reviewed: May 8, 2006 5:14 AM

Nickname: Jon

Review: You can view the ads off Apple's Web site.

Date reviewed: May 7, 2006 8:58 PM

Nickname: bala

Review: The ads are there on the apple.com worldwide Web site.

Date reviewed: May 7, 2006 6:47 PM