there has been a long-standing perception that macs are indeed safer
than Windows-based pcs with apple even going as far as to create ads saying
macs don't get pc viruses implying that you're putting your data
at much greater risk if you aren't on the mac platform
but how much truth is there to this claim well around the
2012-2013 timeframe it was estimated that about one-third of the world's
computers were infected with some sort of malware and when you look at only max
that number was less than three percent
well since numbers don't lie max must be safer and a video all done now right
well it depends on what exactly you mean by
safer you see while it's true that there are fewer threats out there designed to
attack macs compared to Windows pcs the
reason for that might not be what you think
worldwide just over three quarters of desktop computers run some variant of
microsoft Windows with macOS 10 a very
distant second at just over 12 percent market share that means that the simple
truth is that black hat hackers and
cyber criminals see more value in targeting Windows
it's kind of like how you're more likely to see a pickpocket operating in the
tourist district of a large city compared to in a small town in the
middle of nowhere and if you go back to the apple claim
that max don't get pc viruses it's not
hard to figure out that while it is technically true
it was clearly designed to mislead
while Windows and macOS are very different operating systems in terms of
their underlying code with modern versions of Windows based on the Windows
nt kernel and macOS instead based on unix there actually isn't anything about
macOS that makes it inherently
more secure instead the differences between Windows
and macOS mean that while malware often
has to be coded separately for each platform a mac isn't necessarily more
difficult to attack or less vulnerable than a Windows pc
so saying that macs don't get pc viruses
is about as useful as getting a message on a dating app from someone telling you
that they simply can't catch diseases that only affect cows
which should somehow make them more appealing but at the end of the day
does it matter why fewer viruses that
can infect you exist i mean maybe you should switch to a mac and reduce your
odds of getting a malware infection simply by playing the numbers well
there's actually a legitimate argument to be made there
but here's the thing using a safer platform is no excuse to
drop your guard while it is true that there are fewer
exploits out there for mac it's actually much more common these days for the bad
guys to steal your data by employing social engineering anyway
social engineering includes tactics like phishing attacks that are designed to
trick you into giving up your information through compromised websites
such strategies are independent of what platform you're using so simply by
paying attention and not clicking on suspect links or downloading
questionable files you're likely to avoid the worst of the malware out there
regardless of whether you're a pc or a mac
it also helps that both microsoft and apple have developed pretty
comprehensive ways of securing user systems
and while neither of them is by any means perfect both companies invest
plenty of resources into finding and patching vulnerabilities usually in a
pretty timely manner so the bottom line is that if those are your two options
exercising some caution with how you use your machine and ensuring that you have
a good anti-malware solution installed is far more likely to be helpful than
simply choosing a mac just because there isn't
as much mac specific malware out in the wild and of course if you're really
paranoid you can always just migrate to a system that doesn't allow you to
download any programs that aren't part of a vetted app store like a chromebook
it's just that if you do you might have to give up pirating your favorite games
you renegade you
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