[X Newbies] Apple and all of these viruses?

[Randy B. Singer]

Steven Rogers said:

>Second - a widespread Mac virus would certainly attract 
>big press. If the Mac were as good for viruses as the PC, one good 
>virus should be able to cripple a substantial portion of Mac users. And 
>given the way the press likes to pounce on any Apple foible, that would 
>certainly be huge headlines.


I don't disagree with your overall argument, but the above statement has 
already proven to be false.

Two years ago the Simpsons virus, an Applescript virus that ran under OS 
8/9 and which propogated itself via Outlook Express and the user's e-mail 
address list, hit the Macintosh, and it neither "crippled a substantial 
number of Mac users" (surprisingly it was stopped quickly and it was not 
widespread) nor did it garner "huge headlines."  In fact, few Mac users 
even know about the existence of this virus.

Simpsons virus info:
http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_99102.htm
http://www.macintouch.com/simpsonsvirus.html

Randy B. Singer
Co-Author of: The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th and 6th editions)

How To Deal With Common Macintosh OS X Jaguar Problems
http://www.macattorney.com/tutorial.html