It probably isn't wise to get complacent about this stuff because OS X is probably the next target and it probably isn't free of flaws that can be taken advantage of; or why are there so many Security Updates for OS X?
That viruses are being written to circumvent Norton et al is a new one on me. Why am I not surprised?
I'm wise enough not to be complacent, but with the millions of machines running OS X and more millions still running OS 9, the safety-through-obscurity argument has long been shot down. Security updates don't change the basic nature of the Mac OS. It won't passively accept every virus, key logger and piece of spyware floating around out there.
I started on Macs with System 6 and have had my own machines since System 7.0 or 7.1, and have never come across a virus or any other piece of malware. That's 16 years, and I stopped running Mac anti-virus apps with System 8, about two months after I loaded it.
Going to a Windows board is like walking down an orchard with every tree dripping free $1,000 bills, but with the eyes of Windows users — those who have a choice — glued firmly on the ground as they engage in deep discussions on how to thwart the malware. These aren't people who must use Windows for some obscure reason or another. Some, if not most, are Joe Sixpacks who can't figure out IE and are lost in the reams and reams of instructions on cleaning up their registries and removing rogue dlls and all the rest.
I know none of this is new. It just struck me again how insane it is.
I also diagnose their cats when they need worming, seems that is quite a similar problem?
Well, that depends on whether they have a worm or a virus!
It just struck me again how insane it is.
One person's insanity is another's SOP...