> Viruses are more prevalent in Windows because most virus > developers write for Windows because most users use > Windows. For the same reason, most applications are written > for Windows. That doesn't mean Windows is easier to write > viruses for, or that it's easier to write applications for, just that > there's more motivation to do so.
No. Windows is afflicted with viruses because it's painfully easy to write viruses for Windows.
*) Outlook has long allowed attached scripts to be run without user intervention as a/default/. It doesn't matter if the behavior can be turned off, because most people run applications with the defaults set. MS simply should not allow scripts to run unless the user explicitly runs them. But they have, for years now, even though they/know and acknowledge/ that this makes any number of virii possible.
*) Word has a similar problem with its default template. It can be updated, reloaded, and interpreted (ie: executed) all without explicit user intervention. Ditto Excel. This provides a fertile breeding ground for virii, quite literally.
*) Compounding all this, VBA, Outlook and Office make it possible to write virii using a simple language and high-level commands. Much easier than exploiting the lack of bounds checking by the C function gets() to insert a worm into a UNIX system.
*) An overwhelming majority of Windows users run Outlook and Office (or at least Word) with all the defaults in place, so any virus writer who targets that combination is reaching millions and millions of computers. If there was more platform heterogeneity (even, say, variety among word processor and email clients) Windows would be that much less appealing.
Now, let's look at the Mac:
*) The last major virus (actually a worm) written for the Mac exploited the ubiquity of CD-ROM drives in Macs, and one of the few times that Apple has implemented a we'll-run-it-for-you policy: QuickTime's AutoStart feature, which by default automatically played audio CDs and/or opens CD-ROM media after they're mounted. Apple turned the default off for CD-ROMs and the worm became that much less of a threat (it is still a threat, however, to the systems where CD-ROM autostart is still enabled - remember, most people never change their defaults).
*) MacOS is more pervasively scriptable than Windows is, but no email client can auto-run scripts and Apple's Script Editor is not scriptable - the best any emailer could do is launch Script Editor, but it would still be up to the user to run the script as a deliberate action, and the script would be right there for them to look at before they did.
*) Even though Outlook Express and Office are common on the Mac, VBA is similarly "broken" - Macs that have the MS suite installed can pass the virus on to other machines, but they aren't themselves infected.
*) Starting with the iMac, Apple eliminated the floppy disk as a standard medium. The floppy just happens to be one of the major vectors for transmitting virii, among other security problems.
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> Viruses are more prevalent in Windows because most virus
/default/. It doesn't matter if the behavior can be turned off, because most people run applications with the defaults set. MS simply should not allow scripts to run unless the user explicitly runs them. But they have, for years now, even though they /know and acknowledge/ that this makes any number of virii possible.
> developers write for Windows because most users use
> Windows. For the same reason, most applications are written
> for Windows. That doesn't mean Windows is easier to write
> viruses for, or that it's easier to write applications for, just that
> there's more motivation to do so.
No. Windows is afflicted with viruses because it's painfully easy to write viruses for Windows.
*) Outlook has long allowed attached scripts to be run without user intervention as a
*) Word has a similar problem with its default template. It can be updated, reloaded, and interpreted (ie: executed) all without explicit user intervention. Ditto Excel. This provides a fertile breeding ground for virii, quite literally.
*) Compounding all this, VBA, Outlook and Office make it possible to write virii using a simple language and high-level commands. Much easier than exploiting the lack of bounds checking by the C function gets() to insert a worm into a UNIX system.
*) An overwhelming majority of Windows users run Outlook and Office (or at least Word) with all the defaults in place, so any virus writer who targets that combination is reaching millions and millions of computers. If there was more platform heterogeneity (even, say, variety among word processor and email clients) Windows would be that much less appealing.
Now, let's look at the Mac:
*) The last major virus (actually a worm) written for the Mac exploited the ubiquity of CD-ROM drives in Macs, and one of the few times that Apple has implemented a we'll-run-it-for-you policy: QuickTime's AutoStart feature, which by default automatically played audio CDs and/or opens CD-ROM media after they're mounted. Apple turned the default off for CD-ROMs and the worm became that much less of a threat (it is still a threat, however, to the systems where CD-ROM autostart is still enabled - remember, most people never change their defaults).
*) MacOS is more pervasively scriptable than Windows is, but no email client can auto-run scripts and Apple's Script Editor is not scriptable - the best any emailer could do is launch Script Editor, but it would still be up to the user to run the script as a deliberate action, and the script would be right there for them to look at before they did.
*) Even though Outlook Express and Office are common on the Mac, VBA is similarly "broken" - Macs that have the MS suite installed can pass the virus on to other machines, but they aren't themselves infected.
*) Starting with the iMac, Apple eliminated the floppy disk as a standard medium. The floppy just happens to be one of the major vectors for transmitting virii, among other security problems.