PC to Mac: My Not-So-Genius Switch

[ozz]

Attachment 15983At least the Mac will not be sporting any of these
stickers.

 

[craiglester]

Umm nor would any PC thats running up to date windows. Frankly anyone who gets hit with a virus is lazy or stupid these days. The flaw conficker used was one that had already been patched, so there was no reason for anyone to get infected if they updated windows.

I wonder do some Mac owners turn off the updates function too? I never understood why anyone would do that.

 

[ozz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by craiglester /img/forum/go_quote.gif Umm nor would any PC thats running up to date windows. Frankly anyone who gets hit with a virus is lazy or stupid these days. The flaw conficker used was one that had already been patched, so there was no reason for anyone to get infected if they updated windows. I wonder do some Mac owners turn off the updates function too? I never understood why anyone would do that.

The sticker art was meant in humor and yes most if not all the Mac owners
I know of keep their system updated and as for my PC the security updates
are updated daily but I am surprised at the amount of people that don't.

 

[Arainach]

Given that Macs are consistently the first to fall and that hackers point out that even when similar vulnerabilities exist, Windows machines are considerably tougher to hack than Macs, I wouldn't be bringing up the security point if I were a Mac user debating operating systems.

 

[ozz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arainach /img/forum/go_quote.gif Given that Macs are consistently the first to fall and that hackers point out that even when similar vulnerabilities exist, Windows machines are considerably tougher to hack than Macs, I wouldn't be bringing up the security point if I were a Mac user debating operating systems.

The three years I have used my Mac the only way that something can get in
is if I give it permission if something is attached it always notifies this has an
application do you want it and if it were easy everyone would know it would be
major news on the net.

 

[iriverdude]

The only times I've been infected on the PC is when I opened a dodgy EXE, you have to go out of your way or be a noob. If the OS & AV is updated, you don't open attachments in emails, or exe you'll be fine.

And can play PC games.

 

[jude]

My previous-generation MacBook Pro 17" has been generally excellent since I switched to it (after my troubled run of unibodies). But, over time (recently), the drive felt more laggy (increasingly common, random "beachball" waits), and today I've been greeted with disk errors that Disk Warrior can't work around. What Disk Warrior did do, however, is reconstruct enough from the drive to allow me to copy a lot of files/directories from it to an external drive, which is what I'm doing now. (By the way, Disk Warrior is an essential app, in my opinion, and has saved me a couple of other times.)

Those Disk Warrior salvaged files/directories are last-resort option to restore from later that I thought I should take while it's available to me. My primary backup is a full Time Machine backup on a 1-terabyte drive (a drive used exclusively for Time Machine).

The plan now is to go to the Apple Store first thing tomorrow to get the drive replaced.

From a productivity standpoint, this was immensely not-cool timing, as I have a heavy workload this weekend. (Well, such a problem with one's main computer is never well-timed.) Having only one Mac is a bit of a problem at times like this, and I'm now considering more seriously getting the least expensive MacBook as an operatonial backup (which still isn't cheap) for situations like this.

As an alternative to a second Mac just for operational backup, I'm considering MediaFour's MacDrive which would allow my PC's to read my Mac drives. This would give me the option of working from my Mac's backed-up main directories (for those apps, like Office, that work across both platforms). Is anyone familiar with this app? Does anyone have a recommendation for something better? (Being free isn't a requirement--MacDrive is priced at $59.95 for a two-computer license.)

What a weekend for such things. In a separate situation, my 1-terabyte network backup drive died yesterday, but is still under warranty. That warranty might not be valid, however, if I feel inclined to dismantle the thing to see if I can get the data off that disk otherwise.

 

[ozz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jude /img/forum/go_quote.gif My previous-generation MacBook Pro 17" has been generally excellent since I switched to it (after my troubled run of unibodies). But, over time (recently), the drive felt more laggy (increasingly common, random "beachball" waits), and today I've been greeted with disk errors that Disk Warrior can't work around. What Disk Warrior did do, however, is reconstruct enough from the drive to allow me to copy a lot of files/directories from it to an external drive, which is what I'm doing now. (By the way, Disk Warrior is an essential app, in my opinion, and has saved me a couple of other times.) Those Disk Warrior salvaged files/directories are last-resort option to restore from later that I thought I should take while it's available to me. My primary backup is a full Time Machine backup on a 1-terabyte drive (a drive used exclusively for Time Machine). The plan now is to go to the Apple Store first thing tomorrow to get the drive replaced. From a productivity standpoint, this was immensely not-cool timing, as I have a heavy workload this weekend. (Well, such a problem with one's main computer is never well-timed.) Having only one Mac is a bit of a problem at times like this, and I'm now considering more seriously getting the least expensive MacBook as an operatonial backup (which still isn't cheap) for situations like this. As an alternative to a second Mac just for operational backup, I'm considering MediaFour's MacDrive which would allow my PC's to read my Mac drives. This would give me the option of working from my Mac's backed-up main directories (for those apps, like Office, that work across both platforms). Is anyone familiar with this app? Does anyone have a recommendation for something better? (Being free isn't a requirement--MacDrive is priced at $59.95 for a two-computer license.) What a weekend for such things. In a separate situation, my 1-terabyte network backup drive died yesterday, but is still under warranty. That warranty might not be valid, however, if I feel inclined to dismantle the thing to see if I can get the data off that disk otherwise.

Sorry for your bad luck and as for a back-up my friends and several posters
have had great luck with MacBook refurbs .

 

[ozz]

There is an application you may want at the Apple site that is called SMART reporter
2.3.9 that actually warns of hard drive failure before its to late supposedly i have had
it but have not experienced failure yet to verify have friends that claim it works, it can't
hurt.

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arainach /img/forum/go_quote.gif Given that Macs are consistently the first to fall and that hackers point out that even when similar vulnerabilities exist, Windows machines are considerably tougher to hack than Macs, I wouldn't be bringing up the security point if I were a Mac user debating operating systems.

Fix -> Just stay clear of Safari.
...and for comparison they did not run the same test on Safari on MS Windows, so who knows if its just as vulnerable. So don't blame the OS when its a single application that is the guilty/faulty one..

 

[Arainach]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ozz /img/forum/go_quote.gif The three years I have used my Mac the only way that something can get in is if I give it permission if something is attached it always notifies this has an application do you want it and if it were easy everyone would know it would be major news on the net.

It was major news on the net. Did you even read the articles I sent? If you truly think your Mac is secure, you're living in a fantasy world. Macs have roughly as many holes as a hunk of swiss cheese, they just don't have enough market share to warrant large-scale attacks. They don't represent a large enough chunk of the computer market to develop attacks for; if you're going to write a virus to spread, it has to have a decent chance of finding another similar machine to spread; currently, only Windows provides that kind of ecosystem due to its ubiquity. Quote:

...and for comparison they did not run the same test on Safari on MS Windows, so who knows if its just as vulnerable. So don't blame the OS when its a single application that is the guilty/faulty one..

Did you even read my articles? For reference, here's a direct quote from the guy who cracked Safari: Quote:

It’s really simple. Safari on the Mac is easier to exploit. The things that Windows do to make it harder (for an exploit to work), Macs don’t do. Hacking into Macs is so much easier. You don’t have to jump through hoops and deal with all the anti-exploit mitigations you’d find in Windows. It’s more about the operating system than the (target) program. Firefox on Mac is pretty easy too. The underlying OS doesn’t have anti-exploit stuff built into it. With my Safari exploit, I put the code into a process and I know exactly where it’s going to be. There’s no randomization. I know when I jump there, the code is there and I can execute it there. On Windows, the code might show up but I don’t know where it is. Even if I get to the code, it’s not executable. Those are two hurdles that Macs don’t have. It’s clear that all three browsers (Safari, IE and Firefox) have bugs. Code execution holes everywhere. But that’s only half the equation. The other half is exploiting it. There’s almost no hurdle to jump through on Mac OS X.

 

[ozz]

I read it especially the part where the code redirects you to a link which you have to open
in a sense you should raise a flag right there then if it tries to alter an app it still needs
your permission you don't use a Mac do you.

 

[Arainach]

No, I'm afraid you're sadly mistaken. The exploit required no user confirmation or permission. As soon as the user navigated to the website, with no other prompting, the machine was compromised. No permission prompts, no nothing. That's why it's called an EXPLOIT rather than an application.

 

[nineohtoo]

I hate to admit it, but he's right. They had that on Giz too.

What bothers me about that, is since it's so easy, why doesn't someone just do it just to mess with Apple and shut up us elitist Mac owners?

I understand no one is gonna waste the effort if there's nothing in it for them, but with how easy some respectable guys in the trade have made it seem, someone should be able to do it in their sleep. Why not do it?

Again, I'm not questioning the FACT. I'm questioning why no one does anything about it.

 

[Sparky191]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ozz /img/forum/go_quote.gif The sticker art was meant in humor and yes most if not all the Mac owners I know of keep their system updated and as for my PC the security updates are updated daily but I am surprised at the amount of people that don't.

Theres technology "challenged people on Mac and PC. Such is life.