Does Bootcamp make Windows less susceptible to some types of viruses?
Before you immediately answer "No" to this question, hear me out:
I use a Macbook Pro with Bootcamp running Windows 7, and I also use a Toshiba Laptop running Windows 7. Both have the same antivirus software at the same time, I've tried Kaspersky, AVG, and Avast.
There is a particularly nasty type of Windows virus which takes over your computer and puts up a screen that asks for money to unlock your computer again. You can not exit or reboot in Safe Mode, even Safe mode is taken over. The only way to fix this virus is to restart in Repair Mode and run System Restore to an earlier time. (you could also boot off of a flash drive with Avast on it and run the most thorough scanning option.)
What I find most interesting here is that since I replaced my Desktop PC with the Macbook Pro Retina, only the Toshiba has been getting those particular types of viruses. Sure there are still viruses hitting the MBP and Avast is blocking them, but the one type of virus that gets past antivirus and takes over everything is not happening on the MBP running Bootcamp Win7 anymore, only on the Toshiba, even after a complete new Toshiba Restore to Factor defaults so I know Windows is setup properly and fully updated.
So here's my theory: This type of virus might be programmed to attack Partition 0, which on the MBP happens to be OSX, so the virus fails to take over Windows. Has anyone else out there running both PCs and Bootcamp noticed that those particular types of viruses occur less often in Bootcamp? Since they are the most destructive and annoying type of virus, and they often get around antivirus, I think that this might be a pretty big deal to Windows users and an additional selling point for Mac hardware, (or OSX software, or however you want to categorize it, it was tough deciding which Mac topic to post this under.)
I use a Macbook Pro with Bootcamp running Windows 7, and I also use a Toshiba Laptop running Windows 7. Both have the same antivirus software at the same time, I've tried Kaspersky, AVG, and Avast.
There is a particularly nasty type of Windows virus which takes over your computer and puts up a screen that asks for money to unlock your computer again. You can not exit or reboot in Safe Mode, even Safe mode is taken over. The only way to fix this virus is to restart in Repair Mode and run System Restore to an earlier time. (you could also boot off of a flash drive with Avast on it and run the most thorough scanning option.)
What I find most interesting here is that since I replaced my Desktop PC with the Macbook Pro Retina, only the Toshiba has been getting those particular types of viruses. Sure there are still viruses hitting the MBP and Avast is blocking them, but the one type of virus that gets past antivirus and takes over everything is not happening on the MBP running Bootcamp Win7 anymore, only on the Toshiba, even after a complete new Toshiba Restore to Factor defaults so I know Windows is setup properly and fully updated.
So here's my theory: This type of virus might be programmed to attack Partition 0, which on the MBP happens to be OSX, so the virus fails to take over Windows. Has anyone else out there running both PCs and Bootcamp noticed that those particular types of viruses occur less often in Bootcamp? Since they are the most destructive and annoying type of virus, and they often get around antivirus, I think that this might be a pretty big deal to Windows users and an additional selling point for Mac hardware, (or OSX software, or however you want to categorize it, it was tough deciding which Mac topic to post this under.)
Comments
Some attacks might not work due to the partition setup but not all of them:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20131006191807AAAGFRC
If you see fewer attacks on the Mac machine, it is possibly because you'd spend more time browsing under OS X whereas all browsing on the PC is under Windows and the likelihood of getting malware increases.