Re: Most secure mainstream OS? (was Re: QuickTime 7.1.6: Java vulnerability Fix)

On Thu, 03 May 2007 01:23:30 GMT, Jolly Roger <jollyroger@xxxxxxxx>
wrote:

On 2007-05-02 17:01:53 -0500, PC Guy <pcguy@xxxxxxxxxxx> said:

On Wed, 02 May 2007 21:57:11 GMT, Jolly Roger <jollyroger@xxxxxxxx>
wrote:

On 2007-05-02 16:48:21 -0500, PC Guy <pcguy@xxxxxxxxxxx> said:

If you define "common" narrowly enough, then you can make a case that
OS X is the most secure common desktop operating system, because you can
narrow "common" all the way down to "Windows and Mac OS," but at that
point it seems a little disingenuous to say that Mac OS is the most
secure operating system rather than simply saying that Mac OS is more
secure than Windows.

Which itself would be erroneous. Windows is more secure than OS X.

In some ways - in others not. I'd argue that the ways in which Windows
is not as secure as Mac OS X *far* outweigh the ways in which it is
more secure.

Can you provide some examples?

Oh wait... are you actually suggesting that Windows is more secure than
Mac OS X in *every* imaginable way? LOL... You're funny.

I did no such thing.

Yeah, I can provide examples, but to be honest, I'm kind of tired right
now, and I have a long drive ahead of me, so it will have to wait until
later when I'm home from work. In the mean time, if you are lucky,
someone else may pipe up. Or you know, you could just Google around a
bit and learn a little about Darwin / BSD and how it compares with
Windows - that is, if you are truly interested in an answer.

Oh I am truely interested in the answer. It always seems to come down
to "OS X is UNIX". Which doesn't really say anything about why it's
more secure.

Some just off the top of my head:

* In Windows, lots of applications don't work correctly if you don't
run them from a user account with administrative privileges. In Mac OS
X, that is an *extremely* rare occurrence.

Which has nothing to do with the security of Windows.

* In Windows, there is only one registry, and any program can modify
the registry, affecting other programs, for all users.

If you're not using an administrative account the only section of the
registry the user can write to is HKCU.

Worse damage to the Registry can render a Windows system unbootable.

This has nothing to do with security.

In contrast, each user account in Mac OS X has its own preferences folder to which no
other users have access,

Just like the HKCU subkey of the registry.

and even if the entire preferences folder is wiped clean, the operating system boots up fine.

Again nothing to do with security.

* In Windows, most applications must be run as administrator, are
installed by complex installer programs that have access to write to
any part of the file system, and modify files in critical system
directories. Uninstalling Windows applications, likewise, necessitates
modification of files in critical system directories. In contrast, most
Mac applications are simple drag-and-drop installs, do not need
administrator privileges to work, and do not have access (or need to)
modify critical system files. Also most Mac applications may be
uninstalled simply by dragging the application to the trash and
emptying the trash.

Essentially the same as your first point.

* Even non-admin users in Windows are able to modify critical system
files. Ever try logging in without admin privileges and seeing if you
can delete things in C:\Program Files\ or C:\Windows\? Try it sometime
(back up first, of course). In Mac OS X this is simply not possible -
non-admin user accounts are truly barred from harming critical files in
the operating system.

WRONG! A non-privileged user cannot modify these files in a default
install.

And even admin users are prompted each and every time a program attempts to modify important files.

Just like Windows.

* Windows' RPC reliance - nuff said!

Huh?

There are lots more, but I'm short on time, so these are just a few off
the top of my head. This is nowhere near an all-inclusive list.

More? Let's hope so because this certainly wasn't anything.
.

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