Why Macs Get Less Viruses Than PCs
I have owned many PCs in the past and have fortunately not had any major viruses, but I have had viruses. I have used virus protection software like Norton, Mcafee, AVG and Windows Defender. Now, on my iMac running Mac OS Snow Leopard 10.6.1 I don’t have any virus protection software installed at this current time. It has been said that Macs do not get viruses, which of course isn’t true. Macs get viruses. PCs get viruses. So how do you back up the statement that Macs don’t get viruses? By saying this, Macs get viruses, but not as many as PCs. Yes, we can just say that and let it be set in stone, but there is a reason why Macs get less viruses than PCs. First off, PCs are 90% prone to viruses, because most hacks, viruses and whatnot are coded and developed only for Windows OS running computers. Secondly, viruses can get through even with some viruses blocking software. Macs have their own software to prevent viruses built-in to the firmware and OS. Windows is more easy to get viruses, because it is more likely to have a virus on the PC without the owner knowing. There isn’t a computer or OS that is “virus proof”, but Mac OS 10 is very hard to be hacked into. Windows is also able to be hacked and turned into a Mac via a process called “Hacint0sh”. On a Mac, there isn’t a need to hack Windows on it, because of Apple’s Bootcamp software and third party software like VMware Fusion and Parallels. This post in no way is targeted to be hate for PC or Mac or Linux. It is simply just my thoughts and opinions on why it is more likely to get a virus on a PC than a Mac. And if the Mac were more popular among business and schools as the main computer, they would be almost as prone to viruses. Thanks for reading.
I think you missed the point – Malware is written to make money, no, it’s not written because it makes the author look cool, it’s written by criminals to steal your information and exploit your identity to generate illegal revenue.
As there are more people running Windows than OSx, there are thus more opportunities to make money from the Windows community rather than the OSx, because there are many times more Windows machines to exploit. Even if there was no security for OSx, there still would not be a lot of mallware because there are not enough users to make it worth the effort.
The game is not “who’s most secure” any more, it’s “what kinds of malware create the most revenue generating opportunities”. That’s why there are less and less viruses (because they are easy to detect) and more and more phishing, root kit, and trojan attacks – and of course Phishing does not care if you are using IE, Safari, Chrome or whatever.