I get asked this question, which operating is safest from viruses. Is Linux safer or is Windows safer or is Apple safer? The answer when it really comes down to it is none are really safer than the other. Sometimes it's just being at the wrong place at the wrong time. You can go to a website and if their server has become infected then you will have a good chance of becoming infected.
Lets take a look at these three operating systems and see if any are more secure than the other and why. I see more windows operating systems infected than the Apple Mac systems. The same thing with Linux, I see very few infected Linux computers. I believe the main reason why windows xp, vista, seven and now eight are more infected is just because they are the most popular systems with people. The Apple systems are just more expensive and less people have them. I have seen some apple systems come in infected as of late. It looks as if the individuals basically targeted where the population is, so they can take out larger numbers. I would bet that the number of Apple computers becoming infected will rise in the next few years as people flock to them because they believe they are safer from becoming infected.
Another reason why Apples system is less likely to become infected is because it is UNIX based. This seems to be especially true for the latest systems Lion and Mountain Lion. Since Snow Leopard the apple system has a built in virus protection called XProtect. Here is an interesting article on viruses and malware with apple systems http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/02/20/yes-apple-really-does-have-a-serious-problem-with-computer-viruses-and-malware/ . Back in April 2012 there was a wide spread virus that attacked and infected quite a few mac computers. No one had to click on anything it just got in by downloading itself. Then it opened a backdoor and things got worse. Here is an article about it http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/06/widespread-computer-virus-indicates-mac-users-no-longer-safe/?_r=0 . Things are just not as safe as we think or are led to believe.
Like I said earlier windows operating systems are just plain popular. It's like the predator going where the main supply of food is in the wild. Some of the features with windows make it more prone to attack as well. One is because more code or instructions are run in the kernel mode. This gives more normal users the access to hardware and privileged resources. Another item is that in windows we run as administrators and when it gets in it can run with administrators privileges and now it has the permission to change the system files.
Now for Linux and very few infections. In a Linux system you only have one root user and all other accounts are standard users. These users have restricted privileges, therefore less chances of infections changing the system. It also seems that Linux is less prone to infections is because there are so many different distributions. Another point is that email in the Linux system are all very different. In windows systems the email generally the same such as Microsoft outlook and windows live mail. The internet explorer is always being updated due to security problems, which directly effect the email programs in the operating system. Linux on the other hand uses Firefox, which is not directly associated with email. Here is a very good article on why Linux is safer than windows http://www.pcworld.com/article/202452/why_linux_is_more_secure_than_windows.html .
In the long run the being safe relies on two things keep your virus software up to date and always have a good back up system. That way you are as protected as you can be and if something does happen you can just wipe out the system and reinstall it with a clean back up. Also always back up your current data to a flash drive or an external hard drive.
I hope this information is helpful stay safe and have a nice day.
All comments are welcomed.
No comments:
Post a Comment