| During a recent talk radio interview, in response to a question about one of the recent mega viruses, the Blaster Worm, I mentioned that I checked all my e-mail on an Apple computer (also known as a Macintosh or Mac) and was therefore immune to all these attacks capable of instantly crippling a business computer network.
The interviewer was really surprised by this and I went on to offer this explanation.
Basically, when someone sits down to create a virus, what they are really doing is writing a custom application to run on your computer. And, just like when you install Microsoft Word or software to run your digital camera, the virus gets installed and also runs on your computer. Only, instead of doing something to make your day a little easier or more efficient, the virus is a program designed with some sort of malicious intent in mind.
Now, consider that if you were to take Microsoft Office or any other program made for your PC and attempted to install it on a Macintosh, it just wouldn't work. The two operating systems, Windows and Apple, are based on different technology and are unable to run each other's programs.
Therefore, because of the differences in the operating systems, a virus created to run on a Windows computer will have no effect on a Mac. In most cases, if a virus did get sent to a Mac user, the e-mail would show a generic attached file that would remain dormant and it would be unable to execute any action on that machine.
On the other hand, I don't want to make it sound like Macs are unable to have the same programs that run on a PC. Just because specific programs made for a PC only work on other PCs with similar operation systems doesn't mean that you are limited with what you can do on a Macintosh computer.
In fact, there are Macintosh versions for almost any major software package you may use on your PC. And, the actual documents you create are compatible back and forth between Windows and Macintosh operating systems.
In other words, if a client sends me a Microsoft Word document with new text to add to their Web site, I can open, read and make changes to it on my Mac and send it back to them to review with no problem whatsoever.
To be fair, Macs are not magically immune to all viruses ever created. Just like with those versions of Word or other programs made for one operating system or another, viruses can be programmed to work on the Apple operating system and infect other Apple computers just as easily as Microsoft-based computers.
But, the goal of the hacker is to infect as many computers as possible and to accomplish that goal, they target weaknesses in the most widely used operating system and software program ˜ a Windows computer usually running Outlook or Outlook Express to check e-mail.
If you find yourself tempted by the security advantages of Apple's operating system, die-hard Mac fans claim there are many other advantages as well.
Going all the way back to when the personal computer was a new concept, Macintosh has been on the cutting edge and continues to play a major roll in determining how we interact with our computers.
Most people find the interface to be elegant in design and extremely user-friendly.
And, Mac has gone to great lengths to make it simple for average users to network their computers, set up printers and other peripheral devices and even perform hardware upgrades to their own machines.
Finally, for all you Windows users who experience crashes, Apple's new operating system OSX has been completely redesigned from the ground up and is based on proven UNIX technology, making it incredibly stable.
To find more information about Apple or the security issues mentioned it this article, check out these online resources:
Apple Computers
http://www.apple.com/switch/
Symantec Virus Protection
http://www.symantec.com/
McAfee Security
http://www.mcafee.com/
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