# Question for all you "I" people!



## Wade E (Jan 4, 2012)

Do I phones, Pods, and Tablets come with antivirus and if not do you need some on there. My daughter has an IPod touch and I have Kaspersky, the version thats made for smart phones and the such but she says it comes built into the IPod. I dont think its true but not sure so here I am. Survey says........


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## djrockinsteve (Jan 4, 2012)

Macs don't get virus's but can forward them if sent via an infected computer (e mail)

It is possible to write a Mac virus but very difficult. For the i knock offs I don't know


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## Wade E (Jan 4, 2012)

From what I hear its not that its hard, its just that there arent anywhere as many people that own them vs. the millions of people who own Windows based units due to its price. Thats what Ive heard at least. I woulod imagine noiw with the IPhone and Pod and tablet that will be changing!!!


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## rawlus (Jan 4, 2012)

Wade, check out this link...
http://www.quora.com/Which-platform-is-more-vulnerable-to-viruses-iOS-or-Android

For practical purposes... I don't run anything but a scheduled virus scan on my Mac OS computers... About once a week just as a precaution..I do not run any real time scanners as the threat on Mac OSx is very very low.

iOS devices, the iPods, iPads and iPhones of the world are a different animal. If they are not jail broken, then the only way to get an app is via the app store. And geting an app into the app store is not easy... It must adhere to various requirements and is tested and approved by apple before it is made available. It is a somewhat closed system. The OS itself runs applications in a very specific way too which adds to its security. It is also easily wiped and restored. I would not worry personally about viruses on ios or OSx devices. That's just me.


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## Julie (Jan 4, 2012)

I don't thnk it will change, Wade, Ibglowin will probably have a better answer, since he seems to be the mac boy but I have had an iphone (and I have had one for 4 years) and never had an issue and now I have an ipad and never had to worry about where I went, runs great and I never have to worry about a virus.


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## rhoffart (Jan 4, 2012)

apple guy for 5+ years with no protection. Two Mac book pros, one 1st gen iPad and two iPhones ... my only problem is I buy too many apps.

apple products don't let junk load as easy. Yes you can get viruses ... I have had to clean one iPhone once, but I really think it was a bad app.


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## Wade E (Jan 4, 2012)

Thanks guys, that makes a lot of sense. My daughter did have her IPod jail broken of coarse!  So your saying that as long as shes stays with the Apple App store she should be fine then right? Id hate to put virus software on it as I know it will slow it down on her and maybe even have compatibility problems.


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## rhoffart (Jan 4, 2012)

Correct ... heck that is the only way to get stuff on it. You can't download a program from a website as far as I know.


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## Wade E (Jan 4, 2012)

Cool, what about these other smart phones, are they easily susceptible to virus just like a windows laptop or pc?


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## ibglowin (Jan 4, 2012)

Yes, just say no to them.......

Mac user since 1985.

Never had a virus. I do have Symantec installed but not sure why. If your going to write a virus or trojan why write it for only10% of the OS on the market. The only way to get some bad spyware crap on a Mac is if you are so devoid of grey matter that you fall for some pop up that says "YOU HAVE A VIRUS, PLEASE DOWNLOAD THIS SOFTWARE TO REMOVE IT", or you go to porn sites and fall for the old "TO VIEW THIS AWSOME PORNO VIDEO PLEASE DOWNLOAD THIS AWESOME VIDEO CODEC THAT IS NOT LOADED WITH SPYWARE, I PROMISE........

If you jailbreak and download apps from unknown sources, you are asking from trouble, if you download biTtorrented software and install it you ARE ASKING FOR TROUBLE......

Get the picture?


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## vacuumpumpman (Jan 4, 2012)

Wade E said:


> Thanks guys, that makes a lot of sense. My daughter did have her IPod jail broken of coarse!  So your saying that as long as shes stays with the Apple App store she should be fine then right? Id hate to put virus software on it as I know it will slow it down on her and maybe even have compatibility problems.



My son has a jail broken I Phone for the past few years - with alot of apps! it started running a little slower ,but that is because of the software version , newer version will repair that issue according to apple
running a I phone 3g 8 gig

thanks steve


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## BobF (Jan 5, 2012)

I'm a new Android tablet owner and s/w guy since the late seventies. The sandbox concept in the Android model is pretty tight. With common sense, the threat is pretty low. Android also uses the Store idea, but you can choose to download from other sources.


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## Wade E (Jan 5, 2012)

Cool, thanks everyone!!


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## deboard (Jan 6, 2012)

Macs are generally safer than windows when it comes to viruses, and that makes them overall more safe. BUT, the main reason for this is that there is just no profit in writing mac viruses. If you're going to spend the time to write one, you write it for the OS that has the biggest user base. I kinda get the feeling that some mac users get a false sense of security from this. 

As macs become more popular, there will probably be mac viruses. I know of at least two "proof of concept" mac viruses, but I don't think any have been found in the wild. In fact, it was after the first virus was put out there that Apple began recommending virus scanning software. 

However, if I had a mac, I would be more worried about just straight hacking, particularly in public places like coffee shops, airports, hotels, etc. The macs are almost always the first to go down in hacking competitions. 

http://www.infoworld.com/t/hacking/apple-security-under-attack-the-view-windows-169586

Of course, if you want to be truly as safe as you can be - use linux - I recommend Linux Mint - http://www.linuxmint.com


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## BobF (Jan 6, 2012)

The Android framework sits on top of Linux (currently 2.6). Security is one of the reasons Linux was chosen for Android.


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## Brew and Wine Supply (Jan 6, 2012)

Just got my first I phone, took me 15 min. to figure out how to make a phone call.


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## Wade E (Jan 6, 2012)

Roflmao!!!


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## deboard (Jan 6, 2012)

BobF said:


> The Android framework sits on top of Linux (currently 2.6). Security is one of the reasons Linux was chosen for Android.



Absolutely, I have an Asus EEEpad transformer, it's great. Ipad 2 equivalent hardware for at least 100 bucks less, freedom to choose where I buy my apps, and no itunes to hose up my computer.


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## Wade E (Jan 6, 2012)

I have tons of MP3's, does an IPhone play them or only I tunes?


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## ibglowin (Jan 7, 2012)

Of course, but the iPhone uses iTunes to sync, so those mp3s would need to be imported into iTunes to be used/synced to the phone.


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## grapeman (Jan 7, 2012)

So in other words it is about the same for getting viruses on a PC. Those are all the same ways to get a virus and spyware as on a PC........... I guess the most important thing to take away from this is to be careful out there!


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## ibglowin (Jan 7, 2012)

The difference is you don't have to anything on a PC to get a trojan or spyware installed. Just navigate to the wrong site "accidently" and your (web browser, etc.) is infected or double click on the attachment and your infected. 

That doesn't happen on a Mac, the bad guys basically have to trick the user to install the spyware by getting them to fall for something like you need this video codec to view this video, download and install this software which if you do by giving the software root access to do so by entering your admin password your infected. 

Same thing with the pop up that says your Mac is infected. YOU the user has to download and install the spyware by falling for an old trick that your machine is infected and you need this software to remove it which is nothing more than spyware.

The fact that only 10% of the computers are running Mac OS and you can't just take root level access of a Mac with out tricking someone into giving you that access is a big difference in the way trojans or spyware can be propagated between the two platforms.


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## deboard (Jan 7, 2012)

ibglowin said:


> The difference is you don't have to anything on a PC to get a trojan or spyware installed. Just navigate to the wrong site "accidently" and your (web browser, etc.) is infected or double click on the attachment and your infected.
> 
> That doesn't happen on a Mac, the bad guys basically have to trick the user to install the spyware by getting them to fall for something like you need this video codec to view this video, download and install this software which if you do by giving the software root access to do so by entering your admin password your infected.
> 
> ...



I don't want to get into a windows vs mac discussion, because truthfully I think both are terrible, insecure pieces of trash. BUT, a lot of what you say about windows above applies to windows XP, but not as much to Windows 7. Win 7 has the concept of admin access to install software, and essentially a user will have to be tricked into supplying a password to install something. This is essentially what would happen on a mac as well.


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## ibglowin (Jan 7, 2012)

Agreed, I don't have the time nor energy for a lengthy debate and I know for a fact that Windows has gotten better at patching things (or rewriting) over the last few years. Lots of folks are still running XP though! Given enough time and energy any OS can be compromised. 

Alrighty then!


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## BobF (Jan 7, 2012)

XP can also be safe, you just have to be proactive about configuring things for security. Unfortunately this means you can't load & run with default settings and be safe. It also unnecessarily requires people to be geekier than they would otherwise need to be.

All of the systems have pros/cons -- it's not the machines that suck. It's the malware writers that suck!


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## rawlus (Jan 8, 2012)

there are not very many russians writing viruses for a relatively small population of macs. if mac OS were the international corporate standard for computers, the tables would be flipped and there'd be many more viruses for macs and more effort expended to compromise macs. their relative lack of popularity is their biggest advantage against viruses.

as far as ipads and iphones go - they are more like appliances in their design than computers. they perform like a toaster - turn it on and use it. its not really the same as a desktop computer OS experience.

Personally i find android to be overall buggier from a software dev POV and from a user's POV. to me, and this is my opinion only, this is due to the fact that, like windows, Android is meant to run on a number of hardware configurations - there are a ton of manufacturers making devices that use some flavor of android - some will work with one version of the OS but not others - some will run android better than others.

this is not the case with Macs. the inherent advantage (or disadvantage depending on your POV) of Macs is their vertical integration and closed ecosystem - the hardware and software are designed to coexist from the beginning. in the case of i-devices, they are built around the OS and vice versa. its been my experience that the hardware tends to remain relevant for longer periods... people are still using 10 year old macbooks without major issues. not too many 10 year old windows laptops still able to keep up however.

You dont really see this with any other consumer devices of this nature. This makes the test-bed for the software developers relatively predictable and stable - you can ferret out more bugs in development because the device universe is known and relatively uncomplicated. unit testing and regression testing is more straightforward.

Virus threats may soon become something more to worry about on Macs. if the trend of PC users permanently switching to MACs continues.

I will agree, if you are heavily invested in windows machines, then an iphone may not be best for you - i havent found itunes to be all that reliable on windows. on mac its a different story in my experience. anecdotal as it may be, it seems like the popularity of idevices is really driving the switch from PC to Mac. Users have a strong and positive first experience with an apple product now via these idevices and then set about making larger changes in their lives and adopting the Mac platform across the board. My parents in their 70's did exactly that. got an itouch, that led to two ipad2's and a 27" imac, all happily coexisting with automatic time-machine backups, easy networking, and cross-device synching of everything from their address books and calendars to their photos, movies, books and music.


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