HOME
TOPICS
ABOUT ME
MAIL
People who use Windows computers have 100,000 viruses to worry about. People who use Mac OS X computers have none.
|
| technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983
T h e R o a d L e s s T r a v e l e d
How do you spell 'virus'? Here's a clue: It starts with 'W' and ends with pain
Jan. 28, 2004
By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2004, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2004, The Post-Standard
Something incredible is happening to the Internet e-mail system as I write this. A new Windows virus is flooding the world. Noah would be running around looking for his oars and sails.
Is this sort of mess necessary? Hardly.
Listen to this. Just ONE new Windows virus found so many Windows PCs to infect that it took over the mail system. More than 10 percent of all Internet mail was generated by one new virus as of Tuesday.
Just ONE new virus found so many vulnerable Windows computers that it raced from continent to continent with record speed. The new virus, called Mydoom, was filling my mailbox so rapidly Tuesday that I saw only a few normal pieces of mail. I got far more Mydoom viruses than spam.
Every now and then I get a letter from a Mac user worried about viruses. To all those who are concerned, let me explain something.
The Mydoom virus is a Windows virus. It's not a Mac virus. There are no viruses that can infect Mac OS X computers. None. People who use Windows computers have 100,000 viruses to worry about. People who use Mac OS X computers have none.
That should make you feel better. If you're using a modern Mac, that is. If you're not, you just stumbled across your last excuse for not making the switch. Mac OS X users do not have a problem with viruses.
What's odd about this is the way most reports in the press fail to tell you what's really going on. They refer to "computer viruses" without telling you that they actually mean "Windows viruses." I find that mystifying.
When these same reporters gave you the news about Ford's problems with its Explorer SUV, they were careful to point out that they were referring to Ford vehicles. What's so hard about telling the public that viruses are a Windows problem, not a computer problem? And surely not a Mac problem.
Isn't it time that Apple woke up and started advertising its computers in ways you and I and all the Windows users could understand? You've probably seen the public-service ads about "Parents -- the antidrug." How about "Macintosh -- the computer viruses hate"? Or "Windows viruses would rather die than infect a Mac." Or ... well, you get the point.
Apple should be really worked up over this. It makes a computer that is immune to all the viruses going around and the press doesn't even pay attention. But until Apple decides to fight fire with ire, you can set up your own truth squad.
Tell your neighbor the story of viruses. They're problems for Windows users, not for Mac users. Tell your friends. The next time you get a letter from a sorry Windows user apologizing for sending you a virus, send a kindly note back explaining that you had nothing to fear.
But keep your cool the next time you come across a report on the latest "computer virus." Windows users might not realize the facts, but you do. I do. Other Mac users do. When it comes to viruses, it's a Windows world.
| |