Still on Mavericks, Yosemite stable now?

[AFEPPL]

***********
With all my respect to your knowledge, I do not believe you have a comprehensive way of seeing OS matters.

Less than a month ago I installed in my Mac through BootCamp first Windows 8.1 and then upgraded it to Windows 10.
I did it just for curiosity since I had never used BootCamp before.
I didn't do much with that Windows in the meantime besides installing Office and some Adobe software.
I just installed the free version of Avira antivirus, not a bad choice according to tests I found but certainly not the very best antivirus in the world.
Since I had no intention to use much Windows I was not motivated to buy a paying antivirus.

Now for pure curiosity I made a full scan of Avira and... it found ten (10) viruses, most of them Trojans!
Then Avira went on scanning the OSX partition and I stopped it after a while since there were no viruses at all over there, including anything which would have been active on the Windows side, which sometimes happens when downloading files in a mac.

In a system I hardly used and in less than a month somehow ten trojans found their way to my Windows 10.
If I had sensitive data or had made payments on the Windows side of my mac I would have run serious risks but I only do that in OSX.

I believe that one must see both sides of the coin before speaking so nicely about Windows and writing that OSX is just "a toy".
Ed

Well if you've only done what you said, you must be the most unlucky person that's ever lived.
As a consumer of all OSs, be it windows or OS X or Linux I've never personally experienced anything like what you stated and i work in the tech sector so pretty much live it everyday..

All the recent independent security reports put OS X at the top of the security "vulnerabilities" list.. 654 for 2015 vs 571 for MS. Food for thought while looking at both sides of the coin.

Yosemite wasn't all that stable for me, early version of El Capt were also a little lets say beta but of late most issues seem to be getting addressed.

 

[flowrider]

Some of us need dependable as our work life depends on the mac, especially if travelling around. Not got time to mess about with settings and nonsense.

That's the same reason I went for the iPhone: phone, SMS, email and camera, all reliably work when travelling around. Others with android were always tweaking and updating and playing with settings to get it run stably (might be better now, no idea as what I saw was enough to put me off).

So, yeah, if it was just home use then I'd be happy to update and live with it. In a modern world where most of your work (and livelihood) now depends on a mac or PC, then you play it safe.

Yep, I agree with that. My travel only MBA is never on a Beta OS, it's always on the latest OS that has proved stable for me on my cMP. It's now on 10.11.2. The cMP, OTOH, has 7 storage devices (5 of which are SSDs) those 5 have OSs on them. 2 have El Cap, 2 have Yosemite, and 1 has Mavericks. The 2 spinners are for storage only. So if something bad happens, I'm pretty well covered. El Cap has proved very stable for me. My ONLY issue is with Adobe Bridge. Adobe still has not built a driver that will import from a camera in EL Cap, I need to import in Photos, save, and then open with PS. I wish Adobe and Apple would fix this PITA.

As far as a phone, I use a (Verizon) Samsung S4 running Lollipop 5.01. As much as I would like an iPhone, it just isn't worth it to me, gawd they're expensive. I bought my S4 on eBay from a house that sells overstocks. Cost me $200.00 last July for a brand new, top of the line 2 year old phone. It does all I want it to and more.

Lou

 

[vexorg]

All the recent independent security reports put OS X at the top of the security "vulnerabilities" list.. 654 for 2015 vs 571 for MS. Food for thought while looking at both sides of the coin.

So what are these vulnerabilities and risks? We continually hear that there are no viruses in the mac world, are they talking malware?

If we don't install anything are we still safe, or is there a CSI Cyber type risk of being hacked on OS X without even realising?

A bit like O2 (my mobile provider) trying to sell McAfee for the iPhone as they claim that Apple say that 56% of all IOS devices are infected with something no good. And I've never heard of anyone with an infected iPhone.

 

[AFEPPL]

Mostly DoS or remote execution of code.
Remember a virus is only one type of nasty code, malware exists in many forms and platforms.
Just keep applying the patches as they are released

stuff like...
Mail in Apple OS X before 10.11 does not properly recognize user preferences, which allows attackers to obtain sensitive information via an unspecified action during the printing of an e-mail message, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-7760.

The LaunchServices component in Apple iOS before 9.2 and watchOS before 2.1 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code in a privileged context or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a malformed plist.

IOAcceleratorFamily in Apple OS X before 10.11.2 and tvOS before 9.1 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code in a privileged context or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a crafted app.

Safari in Apple iOS before 9.2 allows remote attackers to spoof a URL in the user interface via a crafted web site.

 

[Riwam]

Mostly DoS or remote execution of code.
Remember a virus is only one type of nasty code, malware exists in many forms and platforms.
Just keep applying the patches as they are released

stuff like...
Mail in Apple OS X before 10.11 does not properly recognize user preferences, which allows attackers to obtain sensitive information via an unspecified action during the printing of an e-mail message, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-7760.

The LaunchServices component in Apple iOS before 9.2 and watchOS before 2.1 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code in a privileged context or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a malformed plist.

IOAcceleratorFamily in Apple OS X before 10.11.2 and tvOS before 9.1 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code in a privileged context or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a crafted app.

Safari in Apple iOS before 9.2 allows remote attackers to spoof a URL in the user interface via a crafted web site.

***********
There is a great difference between vulnerabilities discovered by researchers and the actual factory industrial production of malware through easily bought ready "kits".
As the german leading computer magazine "c't" published a few monthes ago those "kits" require presently no hacking knowledge at all, are offered incredibly cheap and include both supply of updated statistics of "successes"(infections) and an incredible support with regular updates.
All what s needed from the unscrupulous people willing to make easy money by using them is their lack of honesty.
The kit suppliers fullfil the rest.

All those daily increased thousands of viruses and trojans are targeting the greatest possible quantities of computers in the whole world and that is equal Windows.

I am regularly surprised to discover acquaintances, who have not the slightest idea of what behind their back their computers are spreading, using their name and their list of contacts until I or someone else informs them.
All those cases affect Windows operating computers.
I have never yet heard of a Mac turned into a "bot" even if that may be possible.

Therefore I agree that no OS can be left aside without closing every risky gap someone discovers, but the true jungle is that of the greatest amount of possible victims.
Luckily for us, mac users, we are still, among world computers users, a tiny minority.

 

[AFEPPL]

***********
There is a great difference between vulnerabilities discovered by researchers and the actual factory industrial production of malware through easily bought ready "kits".
As the german leading computer magazine "c't" published a few monthes ago those "kits" require presently no hacking knowledge at all, are offered incredibly cheap and include both supply of updated statistics of "successes"(infections) and an incredible support with regular updates.
All what s needed from the unscrupulous people willing to make easy money by using them is their lack of honesty.
The kit suppliers fullfil the rest.

All those daily increased thousands of viruses and trojans are targeting the greatest possible quantities of computers in the whole world and that is equal Windows.

I am regularly surprised to discover acquaintances, who have not the slightest idea of what behind their back their computers are spreading, using their name and their list of contacts until I or someone else informs them.
All those cases affect Windows operating computers.
I have never yet heard of a Mac turned into a "bot" even if that may be possible.

Therefore I agree that no OS can be left aside without closing every risky gap someone discovers, but the true jungle is that of the greatest amount of possible victims.
Luckily for us, mac users, we are still, among world computers users, a tiny minority.

They are not just discovered by researchers, they are or were real issues that could be or have been used.
In terms of the viruses, many are all related to the same "vulnerability", so should they be counted once or x?

The mac is only as secure of the foundation its built on, which is not that secure just like windows isn't.
The reason these patches are around is to address issues as they are found. Most issues actually live at the application layer rather than the OS. The internet is a pit of snake...