questions: OS X internet safety.
This is a quote from someone at MysteryManor.net regarding why I want to buy a macbook pro in the first place:
the mac's OS X is for surfing the net as i have a tendency to come down with malware on my Windows PC's sooner or later (think someone who is always coming down with bronchitis while his friends stay healthy. it just happens.) and i'm planning on dual booting into Windows XP to play my backlog of older games (as well as the newer games plus the "here-and-now" latest games on the mac via vpc/vmware player/ under windows 98se/dosbox, i'll be able to take this computer with me if i go traveling and i'm planning on selling my current laptop since i'll have the macbook pro, which also has a firewire port.
My nephews told me I'll be a lot safer on a mac when I'm on the internet than I am on a pc, but some people at MysteryManor.net kind of disagree. Here's what one of the mods at MysteryManor.net said about this: (see quote below)
What do you mac users say about this?
Quote:
Originally Posted by draclvr
Why are you buying the Mac Mini? To be secure from viruses when you go on-line. (Only partially true - you will NOT be 100% secure.)
Why are you buying the Mac Mini? To be secure from viruses when you go on-line. (Only partially true - you will NOT be 100% secure.)
the mac's OS X is for surfing the net as i have a tendency to come down with malware on my Windows PC's sooner or later (think someone who is always coming down with bronchitis while his friends stay healthy. it just happens.) and i'm planning on dual booting into Windows XP to play my backlog of older games (as well as the newer games plus the "here-and-now" latest games on the mac via vpc/vmware player/ under windows 98se/dosbox, i'll be able to take this computer with me if i go traveling and i'm planning on selling my current laptop since i'll have the macbook pro, which also has a firewire port.
My nephews told me I'll be a lot safer on a mac when I'm on the internet than I am on a pc, but some people at MysteryManor.net kind of disagree. Here's what one of the mods at MysteryManor.net said about this: (see quote below)
Quote:
Originally Posted by draclvr
K515, there is no such thing as getting malware infections out of thin air. The computer user is the one and only person responsible for either getting malware or staying clean of malware. NO exceptions. Such a statement perhaps explains WHY you keep getting infected over and over.
Having said that, I still think you have a worthy goal here for your specific needs. I'm just glad you have made a decision that works for you because that's the only thing that matters.
K515, there is no such thing as getting malware infections out of thin air. The computer user is the one and only person responsible for either getting malware or staying clean of malware. NO exceptions. Such a statement perhaps explains WHY you keep getting infected over and over.
Having said that, I still think you have a worthy goal here for your specific needs. I'm just glad you have made a decision that works for you because that's the only thing that matters.
What do you mac users say about this?
Comments
i'm planning on dual booting into Windows XP to play my backlog of older games (as well as the newer games plus the "here-and-now" latest games on the mac via vpc/vmware player/ under windows 98se/dosbox
For games, VMWare is quite a good choice out of the virtualization software but Bootcamp is better. Obviously that means having to reboot into Windows natively but if you need any web access on Windows, just use Firefox and only that.
You can run your Bootcamp OS in VMWare so if you install a game that doesn't work or it crashes at a point in the game, you can just reboot and start where you left off.
What do you mac users say about this?
It's certainly true that getting malware is partly down to a user's browsing habits but the reality is that for whatever reasons Macs just don't get malware or viruses and it's very easy for Windows to pick them up. It is circumstantial but I've seen people connected to the internet without anti-virus for no more than a few weeks and they had hundreds of malware items but using Internet Explorer.
I think the Macbook Pro would be a good choice. Irrespective of the benefits of the Mac OS, the hardware is pretty well built and will be a solid gaming machine.
Thanks Marvin; does Firefox come included with the MBP, or do I have to buy that extra? Is Firefox supposed to protect me from the malware on my MBP if and when I might have to go online to activate some PC games through the internet while dual booted into Windows?
Firefox is a free browser that you can download and it has a popup blocker. It should help stop malware getting onto your machine when you are booted into Windows. If you keep web use lower on the Windows side - only use it for necessary stuff and use Firefox for it as well as avoid downloading software for Windows that isn't from trusted sites, you should be able to keep Windows pretty clean from viruses and malware. AV software on top does help like AVG free but adding in that you will be installing a clean version of Windows (SP2 required) then you shouldn't have much trouble.
Yes infections don't appear out of thin air, someone creates them and it gets passed along.
The computer user is the one and only person responsible for either getting malware or staying clean of malware. NO exceptions. Such a statement perhaps explains WHY you keep getting infected over and over.
Yes the computer user is responsible for keeping their machine clean of infections.
This would involve keeping Windows machines completely off any network, including the internet, not exchanging files or running any programs, online games or even hooking up any third party hardware devices that might be infected. Because the fact is unless your a operating system programmer, nobody can keep their machine protected from the unknown.
So what kind of computer using existance is that?
I had a PC friend who thought like this guy, he said he never gets infected. He's got all the latest anti this and that.
I said let me look at this marvelous Windows PC that doesn't get infected.
I ran LiveCare on it and it was infected with spyware that was keeping his machine free of other malware.
You will be safer on the internet using a Mac, because of it's better security. However Mac's are not bullet proof, updates and attention to Mac related news about potential exploit adversion actions you need to take.
3D Windows games running under VM Fusion or Parellels won't work very well. You have to use Bootcamp and a copy of Windows for better performance, opening up your machine to the hostiles if you 3D game online.
There is another option, CodeWeavers. Which will allow you to run Windows games in OS X without Windows at all.
Haven't tried it, ask around about it.
Firefox is a free web browser. Download and enjoy the plug-ins. However I wouldn't say Firefox is better at security than Safari. It's is better than Internet Explorer on Windows though, but even Firefox for Windows has security issues.
Right now Chrome from Google is the most secure for Windows, perhaps because it's so new and the bad guys are not up on it yet. There isn't a Mac version yet.
I second the advice only using Windows online to update the OS. That's what I do. Don't forget Windows is running while using OS X/Safari/Firefox to surf potentially hostile sites like pRons, you'll be in for a nasty surprise.
OS X running VM Fusion/Parallels with Windows will not protect your machine from a intrusion.
Mac's are indeed "on the radar" of the bad guys. I've been hit by websites hoping to exploit a unpatched Mac.
(RSS feed, Javascript, metadata etc)
So make sure your up to date on OS X, check daily!!
3D Windows games running under VM Fusion or Parellels won't work very well. You have to use Bootcamp and a copy of Windows for better performance, opening up your machine to the hostiles if you 3D game online.
In Windows, I never game online. All my PC games are played off-line, even the 3D games.
I second the advice only using Windows online to update the OS. That's what I do. Don't forget Windows is running while using OS X/Safari/Firefox to surf potentially hostile sites like pRons, you'll be in for a nasty surprise.
What do you mean, Windows is running while using OS X/Safari to go online? Won't I be dual booted into OS X only at this time?
OS X running VM Fusion/Parallels with Windows will not protect your machine from a intrusion.
1) What do you mean by this?
2) I'm planning on running VMware Player, DOSbox, and Virtual PC on my mac when dual booted into Windows. I am not planning on buying VM Fusion nor Parallels.
I've been hit by websites hoping to exploit a unpatched Mac.
what's an unpatched mac? How do I patch my mac? is it free?
So make sure your up to date on OS X, check daily!!
does this mean I have to dual boot into OS X to go online every day just to keep up to date on OS X? And when Snow Leopard comes out in October, will I have to switch to Snow Leopard even though I'd brought a brand new MBP in June (after the WWDC ends on June 12) of 2009 that's running Leopard just so I can keep OS X up to date?
3D Windows games running under VM Fusion or Parellels won't work very well. You have to use Bootcamp and a copy of Windows for better performance, opening up your machine to the hostiles if you 3D game online.
I think they are up to DX9 support. Yes it will be slower but old games will likely be playable.
OS X running VM Fusion/Parallels with Windows will not protect your machine from a intrusion.
Well, yes and no. They can infect your VM but if you surf only from it and wipe it periodically (or after every session) and never keep any sensitive info on it then you're mostly safe as long as your host OS isn't exposing any exploitable ports or services and you aren't allowing your VM any other kind of access to your internal network and you aren't using the same passwords on the VM as on other things.
I guess an infected VM may be able to do some sort of packet sniffing or something. If you're getting that sort of attack you might as well start wondering just how secure your router is as well.
I'm planning on running VMware Player, DOSbox, and Virtual PC on my mac when dual booted into Windows. I am not planning on buying VM Fusion nor Parallels.
For your DOS games, you get DOSbox for the Mac, which saves you rebooting. Plus, if you don't want to buy VMWare, there is Virtual Box. It doesn't have the DirectX support that VMWare has though.
But since you will want to boot Windows for games anyway, VMWare Player etc on Windows will work fine too.
does this mean I have to dual boot into OS X to go online every day just to keep up to date on OS X?
No, you don't have to do daily updates.
And when Snow Leopard comes out in October, will I have to switch to Snow Leopard even though I'd brought a brand new MBP in June (after the WWDC ends on June 12) of 2009 that's running Leopard just so I can keep OS X up to date?
Nope, Apple provide maintenance updates for older systems for a long time after they are released. What you sometimes find is that a piece of software may be for the latest OS only but most often there are versions for earlier OSs. There's generally never any urgency to upgrade. I used 10.4 for over a year and a half after 10.5 came out before upgrading and I only moved up because the new OS came with my new machine.
What I would see happening is the following:
You'd buy the Macbook Pro and straight away use the Bootcamp application to partition your hard drive - give it enough space for what you need. I only used 20GB.
Then you install Windows onto it - you can use XP, Vista or Windows 7 but I'd recommend XP for games support, especially older games.
Once this process is finished, you have two systems that exists separately and when you power on your machine, you hold down the alt key to bring up the option to choose which you want to use.
For everyday tasks like browsing, email etc - basically everything that isn't 3D gaming, the Mac side would be the safer option. As I say, you should be able to play at least DOS games on the Mac side. For low intensity 3D games, you can also play games in Crossover, VMWare Fusion but you do have to buy those so you can do that when booted into Windows. For higher end 3D games, you have to boot into Windows.
So for those situations, you would reboot and hold alt again and then choose Windows and at that point, you are running Windows natively in which case you'd try to use the internet minimally and stick to using the 3D games. You probably will need to go online at some points but try to use Firefox, Safari or Chrome. I find Firefox works best but whichever you prefer.
- zero crashes
- zero virus
- zero malware of any kind
- no antivirus or any anti-software installed of any kind
If I were you I would buy a nintendo Wii or some other console game and uninstall emulation software, windows and anything related to windows.
Don't forget Windows is running while using OS X/Safari/Firefox to surf potentially hostile sites like pRons, you'll be in for a nasty surprise.
What do you mean, Windows is running while using OS X's safari to go on the internet? No, I never, ever surf sites like pRons (what is this - pronography?) - is this what you mean by "Ill be in for a nasty surprise"?
I only surf on Google (images, web, gmail) that's it. In fact, when I set up my MBP, I'm going to make Google my homepage/maybe Google Chrome while I'm at it.
Windows XP, admin mode: can happen especially those not properly patched
Windows XP, standard user + software policy: almost impossible
Windows Vista, admin-approve mode: not without clicking YES to the UAC warning
Windows Vista, standard user: not without entering a password
What do you mean, Windows is running while using OS X's safari to go on the internet? No, I never, ever surf sites like pRons (what is this - pronography?) - is this what you mean by "Ill be in for a nasty surprise?
Please, people, this question really puzzles me - will someone please spell it out for me? I've never, ever owned or used a mac before - getting my MBP will be something brand new for me.
Please, people, this question really puzzles me - will someone please spell it out for me? I've never, ever owned or used a mac before - getting my MBP will be something brand new for me.
Windows isn't running while you use OS X unless you use a Mac virtual machine but even then, the system is contained separately so there's nothing to worry about.