[Ti] Antivirus

[Glenn L. Austin]

On Jan 12, 2006, at 11:55 AM, Mikael Byström wrote:

> Glenn L. Austin said:
>
>> Already exists.
> I know there are a few shareware products, but do they actually  
> carry any
> weight? Where are the support of the major players? And what good can
> they do that Apple or a certified partner couldn't do better? Much  
> better.
> My point is that a software provider claiming to counteract spyware  
> and
> trojans, must be well regarded as a trustworthy and with no hidden
> agenda. So this implies a well known, a little bigger company.

OK, let me be more blunt -- Mac OS X doesn't let the user run as  
"root" by default (and few people would know how to do that unless  
they were told), and requires an administrative password to make  
changes that are more difficult to reverse (Application Support  
files, Library files).  Mac programs, while they may not be tested  
against a "limited" or "managed" user, continue to work properly if  
coded following the standard guidelines.

Windows XP generally lets the user run as "administrator" (read:  
root) by default, which means that user (or programs running as that  
user) can do pretty much anything they want.  Most Windows programs  
are also not tested against a "limited" or "managed" user, and  
because of restrictions, don't generally work for users of that type  
-- so users generally run as an "administrator."  You can install  
software now as a limited user, as long as you know "an administrator  
password" (any administrator password, it appears) which is an  
improvement, but programs still have problems attempting to write to  
places that they can only write as an admin user, so users continue  
to run as admin.

In addition, one Windows program can modify the functionality of  
another Windows program.  That is a standard "function" of Windows.   
You don't know how many times I've read requests from Windows  
programmers for information on how to "modify how XYZ program works,  
like on Windows."

Mac OS X does not let one program modify the functionality of another  
without some work on both the developers' and users' part, and  
requires the user to install the program, which often requires the  
user to enter an admin username and password.

>> Windows has so many trojans and spyware because of the fact that
>> there are so many ways to "tap into" other programs on Windows.
> That doesn't mean it couldn't happen in OS X. Also mac users are
> gullible. That's how trojans end up in the OS. Almost anything can be
> installed with the help of a user with the admin password.

Nothing you can do about that except instruct users to only install  
software that they know about.  Because most Windows users run as an  
Admin user, they often have no idea that anything has even installed  
something until their computer goes crazy.

-- 
Glenn L. Austin <><
Computer Wizard and Race Car Driver
<glenn at austin-home.com>
<http://www.austin-home.com/glenn/>