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Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17623422

More than half a million Apple computers have been infected with the Flashback Trojan, according to a Russian anti-virus firm.

Its report claims that about 600,000 Macs have installed the malware - potentially allowing them to be hijacked and used as a "botnet".

The firm, Dr Web, says that more than half that number are based in the US.

Apple has released a security update, but users who have not installed the patch remain exposed.

Flashback was first detected last September when anti-virus researchers flagged up software masquerading itself as a Flash Player update. Once downloaded it deactivated some of the computer's security software.

Later versions of the malware exploited weaknesses in the Java programming language to allow the code to be installed from bogus sites without the user's permission.

See Macs can get viruses. Kinda sad that is the only "Good thing" Mac users can say about Macs is not true about them.

Why would someone actually bother to write a virus for a mac?

Whoever says that they dont is a fool.
Its just doenst happen very often.

You have earned yourself a Windows-shaped interwebs-cookie

PS: No viruses is the only "good" thing about macs? Seriously?

Flachzange wrote:Whoever says that they dont is a fool.
Its just doenst happen very often.

You have earned yourself a Windows-shaped interwebs-cookie

PS: No viruses is the only "good" thing about macs? Seriously?

Then they go on how user friendly it is yet they can't support most games...

It's not a virus. It's a trojan kind of malware.

The difference is that a virus installs itself without the user's permission. It's impossible for anything to install itself on a Mac without the administrator granting it installation. (AFAIK this is also a feature of Windows 7.)

The way trojan malware works is to con the user into installing it using his admin privileges. For example, one of those pop-ups that tells you your machine is infected and you need to install a program to get rid of the infection. The program is of course the malware.

That's why it's a good idea to operate your computer from an account without admin privileges. It makes you think twice about installing something the internet tells you to install.

It's ridiculous to expect a Mac to be proof against such attacks. All computers have to be able to install new software, and that is a point of vulnerability.

rockerbikie wrote:Then they go on how user friendly it is yet they can't support most games...

Being able to play PC games is not a necessary component of being user friendly by most commonly accepted definitions of the phrase.

May I get another cookie now?

Why do you need two video cards?

Kilkrazy wrote:Why do you need two video cards?

Because you want to run high-end graphics, and sometimes it's cheaper and easier to get two lower-end video cards than a single high-end video card. Especially if you're going to be running two monitors.

Why do angsty computer game nerds hate macs?

rubiksnoob wrote:Why do angsty computer game nerds hate macs?

Because macs aren't very good for playing games on, thus we nerds have no need for them

Cyrax wrote:May I get another cookie now?

Spoiler:

Hint: They are 3300.00$+tax more user friendly.

No?
Because that was for the OP

Seriously, this discussion annoys me just as much as the PP vs. GW crap! Oh no, someone has their own opinion and/or definition of stuff they like! Quick, lets make a your-choice-sux-thread (nothing against you rockerbikie). If someone wants to drop 7k on that apple bundle its their business! Why would someone get all bent out of shape over that?! If someone else prefers a Win, sure, let them run that.

If anything, it should be the Mac people getting bent out of shape about that image macro, since it's accuracy is highly dubious. You can build the Mac Pro system posted for $6,300 (not $7k), it's certainly "upgradable" despite it not being stated as so - it's just a PC tower; and of course I'm pretty doubtful you can build or buy the PC listed for 2 grand, since it's pictured with $350 of monitors, a $170 keyboard, and $1,558 in CPU's...

Ouze wrote:If anything, it should be the Mac people getting bent out of shape about that image macro, since it's accuracy is highly dubious. You can build the Mac Pro system posted for $6,300 (not $7k), it's certainly "upgradable" despite it not being stated as so - it's just a PC tower; and of course I'm pretty doubtful you can build or buy the PC listed for 2 grand, since it's pictured with $350 of monitors, a $170 keyboard, and $1,558 in CPU's...

It would cost about $3000 or so. Still half the cost of Macs and you don't have to install anything to use any good programs I use.

No, Macs clearly cost more, no question, which is why the false analogy was wholly unnecessary.

And exactly why someone should/would make viruses for Macs, because if people think its ok to spend 2-3 times more for something that does computer needs more or less the same, obviously have extra cash sitting around.

Flachzange wrote:

Cyrax wrote:May I get another cookie now?

Spoiler:

Hint: They are 3300.00$+tax more user friendly.

No?
Because that was for the OP

Seriously, this discussion annoys me just as much as the PP vs. GW crap! Oh no, someone has their own opinion and/or definition of stuff they like! Quick, lets make a your-choice-sux-thread (nothing against you rockerbikie). If someone wants to drop 7k on that apple bundle its their business! Why would someone get all bent out of shape over that?! If someone else prefers a Win, sure, let them run that.

No cookie? You're a little tightwad for a guy handling imaginary cookies.
I'm not trying to say their choice suck or to be "stop liking what I don't like" guy. It's just when a brand have a cult like fan base who argue their over-glorified and over-priced toys are better because according to them plugging a webcam is same as working in CERN, then they deserve to be ridiculed.

I would write a virus for Macs if I wanted to fulfilla vendetta against people that wear turtlenecks.

As a open Mac user, this is actually good news.

It tells me that I'm not an idiot who got a virus using a Mac.

Henners91 wrote:I would write a virus for Macs if I wanted to fulfilla vendetta against people that wear turtlenecks.

I hate Turtlenecks. They're the most uncomfortable shirts ever.

They're also ugly as feth.

And uncomfortable!

I just don't get macs, or mac users. I have a friend that has one, paid three times what I did for mine. When I ask him why he says its for photoshop. He works at starbucks, not graphic design. I ask if he wants to play a game, he says he cant. Then he buys a ps3 because xbox= microsoft, and we still cant play lol. Some people I just don't get.

Perhaps he is trying to better himself.

Photoshop is available on Windows, though.

I don't have anything against Mac users. They just like thier PC to be pretty and don't seem to be concerned that they don't have any access to games, freeware, shareware and open source. MAC users are generally not very tech savvy and the extra support they recieve from Apple is probably what they need but you can get that help a lot cheeper from your average teen geek.

What absolutely totally peeves me off is the fact that they are being sold substandard equipment and told that it is better than the "PC" alternative.

The Apple brand has deliberately persued a line of marketing that is dishonest and exploitative.

It was never true that Macs couldn't get viruses. Its just that they are not really targeted that much due to the much smaller market share that they have so hardly anyone wrote mac viruses.

As someone who has used Photoshop quite a bit on both OSX and Windows, I can comfortably say that there is no real difference between the OSX and Windows version so anyone who pays the Apple tax for doing so is a fool. Most of the Adobe products are essentially ports to OSX anyway, in my experience - their installers work totally different (PC-like) than the normal OSX install process.

As a matter of fact, the only real crossplatform programs I used on OSX that struck me as being really unique were VLC (which at the time looked totally different on OSX but worked the same on both) and Pidgin notifications that used Growl. I've since moved to Digsby which has the same functionality, but better. The real pleasure of using OSX was doing hardware installs, which were completely and utterly a pleasure - installing a wlan card simply involved installing it, turning it on, and then immediately getting an Airport notification asking for the WPA2 key for your SSID. It just worked, as they say. This was before Windows 7, which is a lot better at detecting hardware than it's predecessors. .

And, what's up with their mouse? 1-button for years and years while other mice were at 5. Then, they make it a touchpad? Who wants a touchpad for a mouse?

Each has there own uses. I have a self built win box for gaming (it runs more stuff, I can fiddel with it etc), I have a 'nix netbook. It dose what it needs to do, is completly stripped back, hardware and software, I can do word processing, use the internet and print from it, the battery lasts for ever and if it brakes or gets stolen it cost me less than £100. I have an iPad for sitting at home browsing the internet. I can sit on the sofa, lie in bed, whatever, and play games, use the net, post on dakka, put it on a stand and use it as a cook book, and I don't have to worry about setting it up, messing about with it etc. It works without me having to know anything.

What annoyes me about my windows PC is I have to know stuff and look stuff up. I do, and am able to (hence the linux laptop). But you should not have to, any more than you should have to be a mecanic to run a car.

Grakmar wrote:And, what's up with their mouse? 1-button for years and years while other mice were at 5. Then, they make it a touchpad? Who wants a touchpad for a mouse?

The Magic Mouse is actually way easier than a standard mouse once you learn how to use it.

Electro wrote:Each has there own uses. I have a self built win box for gaming (it runs more stuff, I can fiddel with it etc), I have a 'nix netbook. It dose what it needs to do, is completly stripped back, hardware and software, I can do word processing, use the internet and print from it, the battery lasts for ever and if it brakes or gets stolen it cost me less than £100. I have an iPad for sitting at home browsing the internet. I can sit on the sofa, lie in bed, whatever, and play games, use the net, post on dakka, put it on a stand and use it as a cook book, and I don't have to worry about setting it up, messing about with it etc. It works without me having to know anything.

What annoyes me about my windows PC is I have to know stuff and look stuff up. I do, and am able to (hence the linux laptop). But you should not have to, any more than you should have to be a mecanic to run a car.

Have you seen windows 8 prerelease yet?

Half the objections on here are regarding the fact that Macs can't run a lot of computer games, yet no one has mentioned that not everyone plays computer games! I don't need a computer that can run all sorts of graphic intensive games, because I have no interest in playing them.