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nightsurge on 31 March 2009
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famousringo said:
nightsurge said:
Jordahn said:
Microsoft can spend their funds anyway they want to advertise. But they'd be better off using those funds to fix their software problems so Apple ads will have nothing to point out. Those Apple ads wouldn't have a leg to stand on if it weren't true.

Most Apple ads aren't even true.  They talk about old issues or things that only occur in small numbers, and blow them up to be huge problems.  As far as actual security, Apple OS is far less secure.  I can take my OS X disc to almost any Apple machine I want and get access to it within a few minutes time with complete ownership rights.  It is laughable how little security these things have.

 

Uh, yeah, it's pretty well known that any computer you have physical access to can easily be made your bitch.

Besides physically locking up your machine when you aren't around, encryption is the only real defense against somebody who can get at your computer. If you're a paranoid Mac user you can turn on FileVault to protect the contents of your home folder from the installer disc-wielding scourge. Your data will be safe unless they get their hands on your password or spend a lot of time on brute force.

And I'll backup StarrGazer's account of Target Disk mode. I've only ever seen it fail on bad hardware. I'd really appreciate if you could provide some kind of source for this, James.

You seem to be missing the point.  Macs can be made your bitch with absolutely no tech knowledge or hacking involved.  That's much less secure than a PC.  If you want a PC user's password, you at least have to know how to find a good program, burn an ISO image onto a DVD, then boot to that DVD and run the software.  WIth the OS X disc, you just put it in, boot to it, and voila.

And as you just said "unless they get their hands on your password".  If they use the OS X install disc, they can change your password without even having to know your original one or any other security questions.  Then your Mac would be screwed once again (which is what I was describing earlier).