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The folks who design computers can make them safe or they can make them into magnets for viruses.
 technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

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Should you protect your OS X Mac against viruses?


April 6, 2005


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2005, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2005, The Post-Standard

   Do modern Macs need protection against viruses?
   As of now, there are no viruses for OS X Macintoshes. That doesn't mean, of course, that someone with pebbles for a brain can't come up with an OS X virus in the future. It just means that nobody who runs an OS X Macintosh -- any new Mac sold in the last few years -- has to worry about computer viruses.
   So why, you might ask, does Symantec sell antivirus software specifically designed for OS X Macintoshes?
   You might think they do it as an insurance policy -- the computer equivalent of collision insurance for your car. But that can't be the reason. You drive your car on public highways, where collisions are a part of everyday life. I've had a half-dozen fender-benders and a couple of major crashes in the 47 years I've been driving, and you've probably had your share, too. That's the way it is.
   But that's not the way it is with computers. The folks who design them can make them safe or they can make them into magnets for viruses. Apple designed OS X to be safe.
   Think of Apple's Macintoshes the way you think of Volvo. Even in the late 1950s, when American cars had hood ornaments shaped like spears -- think about that for a minute -- and lacked any kind of safety restraints, Volvos were built like tanks, with safety cages, no protruding objects and genuine seat belts.
   Mac OS X computers were designed with safety in mind. I have no doubt that some jerk with nothing better to do will create a virus for OS X before long. But that does not mean you'll have to worry about it. Viruses don't automatically slip and slide into computers. They have to find an entryway. OS X keeps its entryways shut and its doors barred as tightly as possible.
   It does that two ways. First, OS X computers refuse to let anyone install new software or alter current software without authorization. That means they won't let some rogue software do it, either. Second, OS X Macs don't use ActiveX, the method by which many viruses automatically take over Windows PCs.
   Windows, on the other hand, allows any brat from Bratislava to do anything at all to a PC. It is literally true that an unemployed ne'er-do-well from East Slobovia can have access rights to a Windows PC that even the PC's owner doesn't have. Windows is a security nightmare.
   It should be clear, then, that antivirus software and spyware catchers are far more important to Windows users than they could ever be to OS X users. When the first OS X virus appears, everyone who uses an OS X Macintosh will be ready -- not because of some rushed-to-market antivirus software, but because OS X Macs are designed to resist this sort of thing already.
   Likewise, the first attempts at Mac OS X spyware will have an equally difficult time.
   I'm not saying Macintosh OS X computers can't be overcome by viruses or spyware. Let's face it: Clueless OS X users can break down their Mac's defenses by clicking "OK" buttons when their computer asks if they want to allow certain programs to run. A virus could exploit these clueless users.
   But in every other way OS X Macintoshes are much safer than Windows computers. Maybe it's time Symantec recognized that. My guess is that Symantec's virus-catching software for Macs actually blocks Windows viruses instead, so that Macs don't pass them on in forwarded e-mail.
   What kind of penalty is that? You go out of your way to choose a safe computer and end up paying to keep your neighbor's Dell out of trouble? I don't like that at all.
   How do you feel about it? Let me know. Should you and your Mac be penalized because Microsoft can't make Windows safe? Drop me a note at technology@syracuse.com.