Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/08/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Aug 24, 2007, at 1:47 PM, Brian wrote: > If you run Windows on your Mac, your exposure to viruses is > identical to what > you'd have if you were running Windows on a PC. > > Viruses on Macs are not impossible. The reasons why there have been > so few of > them are not absolute, and could change. Just a minor quibble. If you run Windows on an Intel Mac in Boot Camp, you are, in effect turning the Mac into a PC and it is subject to all PC viruses. On the other hand, if you run Windows on a Parallels equipped Mac, you are running it in an emulated virtual PC that connects to the internet through the Mac drivers and firewall. It is a bit slower but much more virus resistant. When our university bought a flock of Intel iMacs for our computer lab, we ran some of them on Windows using Boot Camp. Within 24 hours every one was infected with viruses or spyware. Rebooting onto the Mac mode showed that the infection was localized to the Windows volume on the HD. As a precaution, we switched to Parallels and had little trouble with viruses, even running Windows. The last time my Mac was infected with a serious virus was when I was running OS 8 at the Univ. of Wales. Some of our computer science students like to show how clever they were. There are some pernicious Unix viruses around. Recompiling them for the Mac OS shouldn't be too hard. Be careful out there! Larry Z