Why most people should buy a Macintosh rather than a Windows PC
Written and compiled April 2000
Updated January 2006

Why this site....?
( introduction)

Design

Cost

Ease of use

Installation and troubleshooting

Extending your computer

Reliability and security

Laptops and Working across platforms

What schools should do

Where Windows is better than the Mac

Price watch

References

Contact

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Broken Links...
It is very hard to guarantee the currency of links on the Internet. If you get an error that a link could not be found (often a 404 error) please go to The Internet Archive
http://www.archive.org/index.html
where you may be able to find it. Please report all broken links.

This site will soon be moved to a new server. The new URL for this page will be

http://homepage.mac.com/corourke/advocacy/relandsec.html
and the main page will be http://homepage.mac.com/corourke/advocacy/

Please adjust your bookmarks

Reliability and Security

Reliability

 

Secunia advisories
Mac OSX; Safari 2.x
Windows XP Pro ; Internet Explorer 6.x
Firefox 1.x

Microsoft admits Wi-Fi Security Hole (January 2006)

Why can't Microsoft just patch everything? by George Ou (November 2005)
"If smaller software companies can patch all of their bugs serious or minor, why can't Microsoft just patch all of their vulnerabilities with their massive army of programmers and massive budget?" (original emphasis)

Windows bug awaits Microsoft fix (January 2006)
Users may have to wait another week for Microsoft to finish fixing a serious bug in the Windows operating system.

Why Worms Shun Apple's OSX
Successful assaults by viruses and other malware on the Mac operating system are rare as it has better security and attackers are less keen

Hanging Up On Dell?
Friday September 30 2005
"Complaints to the Better Business Bureau rose 23% in 2004 from the year before, and they're up another 5% this year. And Dell's customer-satisfaction rating fell 6.3%, to a score of 74, in a survey by the University of Michigan. Dell's score puts it right at the PC industry's average for the study, in which Apple Computer Inc. led the way with an 81."

Dell Falls, Apple Gains in Customer Satisfaction, Survey Says (August 2005) University of Michigan polls about 80,000 consumers annually to ask how U.S. companies are faring in terms of customer service

Holden hit by Windows worm - costs $6m. August 2005

Viruses on the increase: report - but still none for Macs (July 2005)
"The time it takes for a PC to get infected by an internet worm is dropping, according to a security firm.Research from security firm Sophos found that there is now a 50 percent chance of an unprotected, unpatched Windows PC being infected by an internet worm within 12 minutes of being online. The company also detected 7944 new viruses in the first six months of this year, a 59 percent increase over the same period last year"


"In a remarkable switch in top rank within the Government computing environment over the last twelve months, the most breached Operating System for online systems has now become Windows (57.74%) followed by Linux (31.76%) and then BSD and Mac OS X together (1.74%). This is in stark contrast to the situation six months ago, when Microsoft Windows was significantly lower in terms of recorded government server breaches in comparison to Linux. The number of recorded breaches against government online computers running BSD or Mac OS X worldwide remains very low." (emphasis added)

The Security Paradox by David Pogue
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/technology/circuits.html
" ... it took Microsoft six months to write the patch that fixed the Sasser hole. Six months!? Man, it wouldn't have taken six months if Microsoft weren't a monopoly, I'll wager.
Second, this may sound slightly insane, but should Microsoft really be fixing these obscure holes at all? Think about it: the virus writers would never even have known about the hole if Microsoft hadn't patched it! As the PC World article puts it, "You have to wonder whether this cure is worse than the disease."
So what's the answer? (It's probably a bit much to suggest that corporations switch over to, for example, the Macintosh, for which not a single virus or worm has yet surfaced.) "


For Mac security, communication is key
June 3, 2004, CNET News.com
" When it comes to security, Apple Computer's report card reads like that of a gifted child: high marks for achievement, but needs to communicate better with others."

Apple accused of downplaying security holes
TechWorld May 2004

OS X Trojan Horse Is a Nag
"Security experts on Friday slammed security firm Intego for exaggerating the threat of what the company identified as the first Trojan for Mac OS ... Technically, the threat isn't a Trojan Horse by the standard definition: It isn't a working piece of malicious code and can't easily be spread to other computers, experts said. Instead, it is a demonstration of a possible threat."


Apple responds to Trojan horse advisory
"...a proof-of-concept Trojan"

Intego Announces Protection against the First Mac OS X Trojan Horse: MP3Concept

 

eEye Digital Security Upcoming Advisories

Mac OS X ‘most secure servers’ Feb 20, 2004

Macs are more reliable than Windows based PCs.

Many surveys conducted over the years confirm this. Read below.

One thing that makes the Mac reliable is that MacOS X has automatic file defragmentation. Everytime an application opens a file for reading, HFS+ checks if the file is fragmented and is less than 20MB in size. If so, it copies the file's contents to a continuous region on the disk and frees up the previously allocated blocks. (The ordinary user doesn't have to do anything to make this happen)
This process is sometimes known as "Hot-File-Adaptive-Clustering."
see http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25668.
Windows also has automatic defragmentation but you have to set it yourself. See also: Making An Operating System Faster
(10 Things Apple Did To Make Mac OS X Faster)
http://www.kernelthread.com/mac/apme/optimizations/#SIX

MacOS X is a UNIX OS and has three built-in maintenance tasks that the UNIX process "cron" performs: daily, weekly, or monthly, based on the schedule contained in a file called "crontab." However, Apple scheduled these daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance tasks to run early in the morning when most users' computers are turned off. So if you use OSX you should leave your computer turned on. If you are worried about the small amount of electricity you will be using there are third party applications like MacJanitor, OnyX or Cronnix (find them at www.versiontracker.com) which will schedule maintenance tasks at more convenient times and send the task results to the user.

Apple computers top reliability poll October 6, 2005

Macs last longer (consumerreports.org - September 2005)
shows that Apple leads in reliability of 5 year old computers


PC Magazine 18th Annual Reader Satisfaction Survey
Apple scores highest AGAIN, August 2005
"Once again, Apple achieves scores that are far and away the highest for all vendors in our survey, earning Readers' Choices in both desktops and notebooks. For Apple, in both the desktop and notebook sections of the survey, every single score is significantly better than the industry average for Windows machines. No exceptions" (original emphasis)

Study: Dell customer rating plunges; Apple leads pack
Customer service, not products, were source of dissatisfaction for Dell

Apple's Big Virus

Windows Server 2003 SP1 breaks 14 apps

Consumer Reports: Mac Laptops Have Fewest Repairs (Feb 05)
http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/40430.html

Australian Consumers' Association finds Apple most reliable computer - AGAIN
99% brand loyalty - November 2004 (same as September 2002)
http://www.choice.com.au - membership fee required to view this report
"Computers from Apple ... were significantly more reliable than other computers
owned by respondents....Apple attracted the most loyalty with almost all its customers (99%) saying they'd go back again"

'Shiny' Details of the Consumer Reports Ratings on Macs
http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/38097.html

Apple's Shine not limited to iPod (PDF)
http://www.theacsi.org/press_releases/0804q2.pdf
American Consumer Satisfaction Index, University of Michigan Business School, Apple Computer led the rankings with a score of 81. That's up 5% over last year's score, which in turn was 5% higher than in 2002.

All the Best by Gary Berline July 16, 2004
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1624254,00.asp
"Once again, Apple demonstrates that it knows how to please its audience. In both desktops and notebooks, users gave the company significantly higher overall ratings than the competition."


PC Magazine 17th Annual Reader Satisfaction Survey by Cade Metz July 14, 2004
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1623706,00.asp
Apple scores highest in both laptops and desktops
"Dell, in particular, may want to re-examine its strategy of outsourcing support. As usual in our survey, the company performs very well in desktops and servers. Dell again tops the server ratings, and only Apple's overall numbers are higher for desktops. But Dell's technical-support numbers have started to drop. They're never better than average on this year's survey, and with servers, they're actually worse than average.

Survey: Dell customer satisfaction unsatisfactory by John G. Spooner CNET News.com
http://news.com.com/Survey%3A+Dell+customer+satisfaction+unsatisfactory/2100-1003_3-5250704.html?part=rss&tag=5250704&subj=news.1003.5
PC maker Dell continued to have difficulty meeting all of its business customers' expectations for service during the first quarter, according to a survey.

Dell hell, neverending (read Jeff Jarvis' blog of his experience with Dell-June 2005) and here (note latter link contains coarse language)

PCs out sick more than users By Munir Kotadia ZDNet (UK) June 25, 2004.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5247634.html
The average UK PC is rendered unusable for the equivalent of around nine working days every year because the owner is cleaning up spam or fighting viruses. This is two days a year more than the average UK worker takes off as sick leave, according to Yahoo.

Unhinged ( scroll down the page)
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/26/1085461801042.html
"The PowerBook and Final Cut Pro are like the carpenter's bag of tools," Cookes says. "You can run an entire Dateline program on your PowerBook and you can tuck everything under your arm and go anywhere. Other people who use bigger equipment just look at what we do and shake their heads in disbelief."

Growing pains hit Dell's customer service but Apple led the survey for customer service.
http://news.com.com/2100-1042-5162141.html

APC Magazine Service and Reliability Survey November 2003
Apple "Excellent" for both desktops and laptops and servers
Service and Reliability: Desktops
Tech support is an essential part of desktop PC’s attractiveness, according to the survey, and Apple can be considered this category’s top dog.
Apple takes the cake
In terms of a winner, Apple’s “ Excellent” ratings in pre-sales, performance and overall reliability make it the obvious choice. Apple’s result was impressive given it received the largest share of responses in the desktops category — 17% of these concerned the manufacturer..."
APC's 2003 Service and Reliability Survey: Notebooks - Value for money
The 9% of survey responses received from Apple users were very upbeat in their assessment. They rated Apple as “Excellent” in four areas — pre-sales, performance, reliability, and overall.
Service and Reliability: Servers
While generally receiving satisfactory verdicts, issues such as missing parts on delivery and tech support came under scrutiny. Apple and Sun met with the most positive response.
For such a mission-critical tool, there was no shortage of reader responses finding fault with server providers. However, Apple and Sun had the best showing of the assembled company, with an overall user rating of “Excellent”

PC Magazine Service and Reliability Survey July 2003
Apple desktops, laptops and servers in top category.
Macs rates best in setup experience, never freezing and first year satisfaction.
"The stability of Linux and Mac OS may have also helped with the rise of overall user satisfaction. These OSs, our readers say, crash even less often than Windows XP".

Desktop computers: Readers report (June 2003)   CONSUMER REPORTS .ORG
Apple rated most reliable and best for technical support
http://www.consumerreports.org/main/detailv3.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=305449&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=
162693&bmUID=1052484936384


The consumer organization ConsumerAffairs.com has only two computer manufacturers rated as "good guys" : " companies who do well by providing great products and good service". One was Hitachi, the other was Apple. November 2003 update: Apple removed from the "good guys" list!!

 

You Call This Service? 30,000 readers speak out: PC support remains shaky, and reliability is slipping. And the best-backed computer may not be a PC. Brad Grimes From the December 2002 issue of PC World magazine
http://www.pcworld.com/resource/printable/article/0,aid,105854,00.asp
"Last year, PC World readers told us they were unhappy with technical support. This year's survey shows little--if any--improvement. Dell, for example, tumbled in service overall--especially in hold times. The other big news: Apple rated higher than any other computer maker. ...Apple topped every system maker in the desktop arena. The company's customers said they received especially good service. "

Australian Consumers' Association finds Apple most reliable computer - 99% brand loyalty - September 2002
http://www.choice.com.au - membership fee required to view this report
"Apple computers stood out for reliability ...."

Consumers unhappy with PC support By Ian Fried Staff Writer, CNET News.com August 8, 2002.
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-949018.html?tag=cd_mh 1

While consumers are paying less for their computers, a new survey shows they are also increasingly unhappy with the level of customer support they are getting with those PCs. ... The lone bright spot in the survey was Apple Computer, which grabbed the top spot in the survey with a score of 74 out of 100 and was the only company to earn higher marks this year than it did last year.
Original report from consumereports.org

Apple laptops get A from PC Magazine in 15th Annual Service and Reliability Survey (July 2002)

Which? Magazine
http://www.which.net/media/pr/nov00/which/compsurv.html
Results out today (2.11.00) from the largest ever Which? computer survey, consistently rate Apple, ... as top brands for reliability, user satisfaction and speed of support helplines. ...Apple was the clear winner for laptops - four out of five owners would definitely recommend them, way ahead of the other brands in the survey.

Apple Computer: Winner of ZDNet's Support Star Award Satisfaction
Apple Computer successfully makes its customers happy with courteous and prompt technical support service. By Wendy Dittamore, October 16, 2000
http://www.zdnet.com/special/stories/main/0,11415,2635820,00.html

Stability


Troubles Surround Windows Server 2003 SP1
April 20, 2005 Updated: As was the case with Windows XP Service Pack 2, the latest Windows Server update is breaking apps—Microsoft's and third parties' alike.

Microsoft still plagued by security issues - Gates admits Windows crashes (NY Times, 24 July 2003)
"Microsoft has been plagued by a series of embarrassing computer security flaws, including a new security hole in a program used to play video and audio files that it made public on Wednesday. Mr. Gates acknowledged today that the company's error reporting service indicated that 5 percent of all Windows-based computers now crash more than twice each day."


One of the greatest frustrations encountered by computer users is a system crash or freeze. The Mac OS is less prone to freeze unexpectedly or crash than its Windows counterpart, according to a study by Evans Research Associates. This study showed that users who have used both Macintosh computers and PCs find, by a margin of two to one, the Mac OS to be more stable than Windows 95.12 . However it is easier to fix an unstable Mac than an unstable PC (see below).

The Mac OS uses fewer extensions (which are a cause of computer instability) compared to the number of DLLs used on Wintel PCs (DLLs perform a similar role on the PC as extensions on the Mac13 - they enable printing and communication, for example). The Extensions Manager on the Mac allows one to easily figure out what Extensions and Control Panels belong to a particular program. By viewing as packages (View > as Packages), you can quickly tell what Control Panel or Extension belongs with what application. It is easy to turn them on and off to find the troublesome one

Unlike Mac OS Extensions and Control Panels, Windows DLL files are often installed in a plethora of places and can be extremely difficult to associate with a specific application and thus more difficult to isolate and disable if an application is playing up. Windows technicians refer to this as "DLL hell"!



Year 2000.
All PCs operated under a date format that used two digits to represent and store the year, so they would falsely claim that the year 2000 (or "00") falls before the year 1999 (or "99"), which might cause the machine to malfunction. This problem never affected the Macintosh. Since its introduction, the Macintosh has had the ability to correctly handle the year 2000 and beyond. Windows 95 had the YK2 problem and Win 98 and NT still had minor problems even with service packs released in 1998. Y2K compliance required large expenditure, some estimates in the press putting it into the trillions of dollars worldwide. This added to TCO (see above). This author is aware of a small business which spent $A70,000 upgrading software and hardware (2 servers and 12 workstations) in 1999 in preparation for the Y2K issue. This would have been enough to reequip that business with all new Mac hardware and appropriate software.

Applications launch once on the Macintosh; with Windows 95/98/NT , some applications may launch multiple times. If you double-click an application on your Macintosh and that application is already open, the Finder will simply take you to the running application. Windows will often launch additional instances of the application each time you open it, which creates a crowded task bar and consumes memory. This negates many of the memory management advantages that Windows might have had over the Mac.

Security


The Macintosh provides easier security customisation features. Unlike Windows , the Mac lets you easily match the user interface to each person's age and level of computer experience. Menus let you quickly decide which desktop each person should use. You can easily control each user's ability to open, delete, copy, or rename specific files. You can also assign passwords to each user and to individual files as well as access to printers and networks. OS9 has voice/keyboard-activated “keychain” security. Security is available on Windows XP Home restricting access to some parts of the PC and to files, but it is not as easy to set up nor is it a user-specific. XP Home will also not allow some programs to run properly (according to the Help program in XP) and it is relatively insecure compared to MacOSX .

Indeed security is becoming a more important issue given the burgeoning of "always on" Internet connections like cable, satellite and ADSL. Microsoft has a whole section of its main website devoted to security. Visitors will find there a plethora of information about how to fix [???] bugs in Microsoft software (some are called "patches"), problems that Microsoft knew were there when they shipped the software!!

More cracks appear in Windows Never-ending patch cycle (January 2006)

Australian book retailer Angus and Robertson uses Firefox browser as a result of concerns about security with Internet Explorer.

Windows Security Flaw Is 'Severe' PCs Vulnerable to Spyware, Virus December 2005
"computers can be infected simply by visiting one of the Web sites ...Mac and Linux computer users are not at risk with this attack..."

Another Black Eye for Microsoft Patch Creation Process October 28, 2005

Five Architectural Flaws in Windows Solved In Mac OS X

Home PC face security onslaught (August 2005)

Why Microsoft AntiSpyware Is Untrustworthy

Paul Otellini, the new CEO of Intel Corp.recommends a Mac as a security measure
"Mr. Otellini had a startling confession: He spends an hour a weekend removing spyware from his daughter's computer. And when further pressed about whether a mainstream computer user in search of immediate safety from security woes ought to buy Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintosh instead of a Wintel PC, he said, "If you want to fix it tomorrow, maybe you should buy something else."

New TCP/IP flaw found in Windows
http://www.itnews.com.au/newsstory.aspx?CIaNID=18883

Why Viruses Have Trouble Penetrating the Macintosh
http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/42120.html

PowerPC Gives Edge to Security ... (April 2005)

Study says over 1m Windows PCs compromised SMH March 2005

Clarke rips Microsoft over security (February 2005)
Former White House adviser alludes to its vulnerabilities: "Given their record in the security area, I don't know why anybody would buy from them," the former White House cybersecurity and counterterrorism adviser said yesterday, when asked for his thoughts on Microsoft's forthcoming line of security software."

Security firm claims 10 holes in XP SP2
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Breaking/Security-firm-claims-10-holes-in-XP-SP2/2004/11/12/1100227567560.html

Microsoft Security Flaws Renew Calls For Alternative Web Browsers CRN 3 July 2004
http://www.crn.com/sections/breakingnews/breakingnews.jhtml?articleId=22103619
"A pair of virus attacks exploiting its vulnerabilities has led security experts to recommend that Web surfers consider such alternatives as Mozilla and Opera.
Continuing to use Internet Explorer is "like playing the lottery," said Johannes B. Ullrich, chief technology officer of the nonprofit SANS Internet Security Center."

Internet Explorer Is Too Dangerous to Keep Using June 28, 2004 by  Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
http://www.eweek.com/print_article/0,1761,a=130396,00.asp

MS issues warning on Web attacks, pushes XP SP2 beta (June 25, 2004)
Microsoft acknowledges that IIS and holes in IE are being used in widespread attacks
http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/06/25/HNmspushesxpbeta_1.html

Broken Windows by John Gruber 4 Jun 2004
http://daringfireball.net/2004/06/broken_windows
Here’s a billion-dollar question: Why are Windows users besieged by security exploits, but Mac users are not?

Why Windows is a security nightmare (May 2004)
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/21/1085120110704.html?from=storylhs
"A typical Windows system follows a simple lifecycle: it starts out with a clean installation, which gradually deteriorates as programs are installed, and uninstalled. Eventually, the registry accumulates so much crud that the user is forced to do a clean install. When a user does a clean install that user's system loses all the previously applied security updates, and becomes a sitting duck for worms and other malware.
Things wouldn't be so bad if the user was able to update the new system with security patches painlessly, but Windows Update makes it very hard to do so.
The whole idea of Windows Update is a joke. Using an unreliable and insecure network as the primary means of distributing security updates is simply idiotic. This is like asking people to walk through a minefield to get to a shelter."

Viruses thwart security measures
Viruses are causing big business big problems. Half of UK businesses were damaged by computer viruses in 2003, despite most of them using anti-virus software.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3523489.stm

Mac OS X ‘most secure servers’ Feb 20, 2004

Vuln exposes soft underbelly of Mac OS X by John Leyden Nov 2003
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/39/34240.html

Richard Formo's response to the DHCP issue:"Muckraking, the PC Way" (16 December 2003)
also posted at The Register

If You're Getting Tired Of Fighting Viruses, Consider a New Mac Wall Street Journal by W. Mossberg
http://ptech.wsj.com/ptech.html      23 October 2003

New Flaws Found In Windows Code Oct. 15, 2003
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/15/tech/main578269.shtml

Over reliance on Microsoft - Threat to the global economy? October 2003
http://mi2g.com/cgi/mi2g/frameset.php?pageid=http%3A//mi2g.com/cgi/mi2g/press/311002.php

Microsoft: a threat to global IT and job security? by John Lettice
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/33082.html
" ... monoculture itself is not of necessity bad for security, nor in theory is Microsoft monoculture, provided Microsoft is prepared and able to reform itself. If however it is not, then the Microsoft monoculture is a clear and present danger to global IT security, and it must be reformed via external means."

Government issue Macs could help defend federal agencies from cyber attacks
By David Zeiler

Mac Viruses By The Numbers - Word Macro: 553, Classic Mac: 26, OS X: Zero
http://www.macobserver.com/editorial/2003/08/29.1.shtml

Backlash - Readers contend Mac's OS X is much tougher to crack than Windows
http://www.sunspot.net/technology/custom/pluggedin/bal-mac082803,0,1353478.column?coll=bal-business-indepth

Microsoft Windows: Insecure by Design
By Rob Pegoraro The Washington Post Sunday, August 24, 2003
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34978-2003Aug23.html

Stream on - How Microsoft, on the Brink of Defeat, Could Still Win the Streaming Video War
By Robert X. Cringely August 21, 2003
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20030821.html
"... the rest seems as it was 12 years ago. Despite specific suggestions from a big customer, Microsoft did almost nothing, and here we are, wormier than ever."

Microsoft defends security track record (July 2003)
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2137005,00.html

XP update pulled, causes more problems than it fixes
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/05/28/1053801426726.html

Warnings about Linux virus risks rebuffed - Specialists say Windows is the real security risk
28 March 2003 http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/index.cfm?go=news.view&news=3192
"the Windows operating system is an intrinsically insecure system, the whole design of which gives rise to security risks that other operating systems like Linux or Mac easily avoid".

Critical Windows flaw revealed Ted Bridis March 20, 2003
http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6155836%255E15318,00.html

Experts: Microsoft security gets an 'F' Saturday, February 1, 2003 CNN
" ...the philosophy of patching is fundamentally flawed and leaves people vulnerable, Cooper said. For example, Microsoft didn't follow its own advice as executives confirmed that an internal network was hit by the worm. "Microsoft was completely hosed (from Slammer). It took them two days to get out from under it," said Bruce Schneier, chief technology officer of Counterpane Internet Security, a network monitoring service provider. "It's as hypocritical as you can get."

"Schneier said he was thinking of switching from Windows to the Macintosh platform because of all the security issues. "My wife has a Mac and she doesn't worry about viruses, trojans, leaks..., " he said."

Apple Mac OS and SCO Unix least vulnerable to attack (October 2002)
http://mi2g.com/cgi/mi2g/press/311002.php
" Since Mac OS has a relatively low visibility, we naturally expect the attacks on Mac OS to be occurring in lower numbers. However, ..., attacks on Mac OS systems are less (0.05%) pro rata than what would be expected by solely taking "the security by obscurity" issue into account.
Response: Microsoft calls 'foul' on OS vulnerability data   
http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,75721,00.html

Security Alert: UCSB bans Windows NT/2K ByÊ Brett Glass October 8, 2002
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,603430,00.asp

Lead Windows developer bugged by security
http://archive.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/02/09/05/020905hnmssecure.xml

Microsoft Security Holes Leave Macs Vulnerable
Software giant has released a patch for 'critical' flaws in Internet Explorer and Office for the Mac.
Joris Evers, IDG News Service Wednesday, April 17, 2002
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,94703,00.asp

Editorial: Microsoft Security: Too late? (PC Buyers guide) 14 February 2002

Microsoft Posts Security Fix for IE
http://my.aol.com/news/news_story.psp?type=3&cat=0500&id=0202120842042070
The Associated Press Feb 12 2002 8:41AM SEATTLE (AP) -
Microsoft Corp. on Monday released a patch to correct six new security vulnerabilities in its Internet Explorer browser, including one that could let a hacker run any program on a victim's computer.

Latest Windows Versions Vulnerable (New York Times - free registration required)
(http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/technology/AP-Microsoft-Hackers.html)
Fri, 21 Dec 2001
"Microsoft is urging customers to quickly install a patch to repair serious flaws in the newest version of Windows, which was marketed as the most secure ever. The problems allow hackers to steal or destroy a user's data files across the Internet or implant rogue computer software. A Microsoft official acknowledged that the risk to consumers was unprecedented because the glitches allow hackers to seize control of all Windows XP operating system software without requiring a computer user to do anything except connect to the Internet."

Microsoft admits IE security alert lapse 19th November 2001
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2099453,00.html

Last week Microsoft called a security firm 'irresponsible' for releasing details of an IE security hole. Now it admits the firm gave it a week's notice before going public Microsoft has admitted that it knew about a security hole in Internet Explorer (IE) a full week before it accused a security firm of acting irresponsibly for publicly disclosing details of the exploit.

Survey reveals one in nine IIS servers could be taken over by hackers http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/11/02/011102hnsurvey.xml
ONE IN NINE servers running Microsoft's IIS (Internet Information Services) has software installed on it that would allow attackers to take complete control of the system, according to a new survey by Web server information firm Netcraft.

Study: Windows alternates should be considered for Web
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0109/27.web.php

Denial of Service attacks against grc.com
http://grc.com/dos/grcdos.htm(June2001)
" For no good reason whatsoever, Microsoft has equipped Windows 2000 and XP with the ability FOR ANY APPLICATION to generate incredibly malicious Internet traffic ..."

Which OS is the most / least secure?
http://web.archive.org/web/20010815184909/http://www.securityfocus.com/frames/?content=/vdb/stats.html
No surprises here (last accessed 30.3.03)

Anti-Hacking premiums 25% higher for Win NT
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/8/18324.html
by: John Leyden Posted: 17/04/2001.
An insurance policy against hacker-inflicted damage costs 25 per cent more for companies using Windows NT. This is because "there are so many security holes in Microsoft products", John Wurzler, of Wurzler underwriting managers, told us today.

Exploit devastates WinNT/2K security
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/8/18370.html

Microsoft security fixes infected with FunLove virus
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/8/18516.html
by: John Leyden Posted: 25/04/2001. A virus infection of security fix files on Microsoft's partner and premier support Web sites has forced the software giant to suspend certain downloads for more than a fortnight.

SECURITY HOLE THREATENS SCHOOLS USING MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER
" Software giant Microsoft Corp. is encouraging school districts and other customers to install a patch for a newly discovered security hole in several versions of its Internet Explorer (IE) web browser. The company warned its customers that IE has a flaw that could allow attackers to run programs on another user's computer. The glitch reportedly causes IE to open specially coded attachments in eMail messages automatically, Microsoft said March 29."
For the complete story (http://www.eschoolnews.org/showstory.cfm?ArticleID=2532)


Viruses.
Macintosh-hosted viruses are much less common than viruses specific to Windows. There are about 70,000 PC viruses currently in existence, with new ones appearing every day. In contrast, there are currently only about two dozen known viruses specific to the Mac OS. Macs running emulation software can however be subject to viruses, especially macro viruses directed at the MS Office suite of products. Mac OS users who do not use Microsoft products have no experience of viruses/ trojan horses and thus do not have to spend time and money buying antivirus software and keeping definitions updated. Their TCO is reduced. This author has been connected to the Internet from home (with a Mac) since February 1997, for most of that time without virus protection. He has not had a single virus or trojan in that time (the exception was a worm which he was able to quickly disable)!

New Viruses Hit 30-Month High June 2004 (http://www.informationweek.com/shared/printableArticle.jhtml?articleID=214013320)
Sophos says there were 959 new viruses released on the Internet last month, the most since December 2001.

The BBC television program "Panorama" (broadcast on ABC TV, Australia July 31, 2000) reported that the "Love Bug" virus may have cost up to 8 billion pounds sterling in damage!! This virus did not affect the users of the MacOS (although Windows applications on it may have helped spread it). One wonders if business factors in these costs!?

While Windows and Microsoft Office remains in common use costly virus attacks will continue. For the ordinary user there are alternatives to MS Office (eg OpenOffice, Corel's WordPerfect, Lotus Smartsuite and Sun's StarOffice).

 

More references...

SecureMac.com
http://www.securemac.com/about.php
Has 17 security advisories or updates for 2003

Mac security issues
How Secure Is OS X?
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_title=How_Secure_Is_OS_X_&story_id=23467

Security Flaws Reported in Mac OS X (Filemaker advisor, Doc # 13244
30 October 2003 )
More Security Problems in Apache on Mac OS X (.dS_store, .FBCIndex) Sept 2001

See this link: Hacker to Apple: Watch those downloads   
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-942265.html?tag=fd_top
but it was fixed within a few days.

  • My trip to Windows hell...and back David Coursey, Executive Editor, AnchorDesk (August 2003)
    http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2914454,00.html
  • Mac OS among least prone to attack (October 2002)
    http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/02/10/21/021021hnvulnerable.xml?s=IDGNS
  • Security expert breaks Windows By James Middleton [07-08-2002]
    http://www.vnunet.com/News/1134192
    Report identifies 'unfixable flaws' in operating system A UK security researcher has released a white paper that claims to identify inherent and unfixable flaws in the Windows operating system.
  • Microsoft Media Player "Security Patch" Changes EULA Big Time
    http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/06/29/1254230&mode=thread&tid=109
    " ...if you want your machine secure, you also want microsoft to have free reign on your PC."
  • Old code creates new cracks By Wayne Rash Special to ZDNet June 17, 2002
    http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107-936627.html
    To really rid Windows (and any other operating system, for that matter) of security problems related to legacy code, teams of programmers will have to scour every line of these ancient bits to either bring them into compliance with today's security needs, or eliminate them if their need has passed. About the only operating system that avoids most of this issue is Apple's Mac OS X, which was written new from the ground up.
  • Trust me, I'm From Microsoft What's Really Behind Microsoft's New Commitment to Data Security By Robert X. Cringely (January 2002 - http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20020117.html)
  • Sorry, Bill, but My PCs Work by Chris March
    http://lowendpc.com/box/2001/1210.html
  • Who Needs Hackers? We've Got Microsoft! Richard Forno 20 December 2001: Essay #2001-15 (http://www.infowarrior.org/articles/2001-15.html)
  • Fireproof Mac
    http://www.it.mycareer.com.au/opinion/macman/2001/11/22/FFX8XBPEBUC.html
    now (April 2003) at
    http://web.archive.org/web/20011216223944/http://it.mycareer.com.au/opinion/macman/2001/11/22/FFX8XBPEBUC.html
  • Security Focus
    http://www.securityfocus.com/
  • CERT - CERT/CC is a center of Internet security expertise. It is located at the Software Engineering Institute, a federally funded research and development center operated by Carnegie Mellon University. (www.cert.org)
  • NA - Network Associates (www.nai.com)
    http://www.netaction.org/notes/notes73.html
  • Microsoft security flaws run deep
    http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-201-317126-0.html

12 Evans Research Associates, "Personal Computer Satisfaction," May 1996.

13 DLL: dynamic link library

14 quoted on “dot.com” television program, CNBC Asia, March 2000.

 

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