How often do you scan or computer for viruses and/or other risks?

[Game_boy]

KohlyKohl said:

Garcian Smith said:

Game_boy said:
Never, I use Linux.

Because it's actually secure by design not by lack of users (unlike Mac OS X).

*snicker*

*snort*

Whatever you say, man. Whatever you say.

Mac OSX sets new files to executable. Linux sets new files to not be executable. A virus is something that is executed without user intervention. Mac and Linux are both susceptible to Malware, Trojan Horses, Program Vulnerabilities and so on.

Why you would not use a Scanner on a Mac or Linux is beyond me. You can still fall victim to say a keylogger in Firefox or a Vulnerability in Apache that can allow access to your system.

Indeed. However, Linux is more secure by design due to their being a vastly wider pool of developers that can fix vulnerabilities and well-documented, open code that facilitates them doing so.

Social engineering attacks are inherent to every OS, but not having root access by default as Linux users do limits the damage to the user's directory only, which only contains documents: no programs, no sensitive data nd no system files. The home directory is backed up frequently too, so you might lose a day's work at worst. Programs like keyloggers don't work when website scripting is disabled.

Mac OS X is only secure to the extent that it is based on BSD, which itself is based on the same principles and often the same code as a Linux system. Every addition Apple makes to it makes it less secure and less stable, because they use the same principles as Windows of having closed development, letting the developers fall into bad coding practices and assuming the user is a computer expert who knows how to protect their computer.