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

On Fri, 04 May 2007 01:00:02 GMT, Jolly Roger <jollyroger@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

On 2007-05-03 17:46:52 -0500, PC Guy <pcguy@xxxxxxxxxxx> said:

On Thu, 03 May 2007 22:36:31 GMT, Jolly Roger <jollyroger@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

On 2007-05-03 01:01:16 -0500, michelle ronn <completelyinvalid@xxxxxxxxx> said:

* In Windows, there is only one registry, and any program can modify
the registry, affecting other programs, for all users. Worse damage to
the Registry can render a Windows system unbootable. In contrast, each
user account in Mac OS X has its own preferences folder to which no
other users have access, and even if the entire preferences folder is
wiped clean, the operating system boots up fine.

Not completely true with Vista or Windows XP. Depends on the context,
but it is a true statement in some contexts. OS X has an issue here as
well. Once an application has been given admin privs, any other
application can escalate to admin privs within a sufficiently wide
window of time. To test this for yourself, do an sudo xxx on the
command line in OS X. Replace xxx with your favorite command that needs
sudo. You will have to give a password. Now, do it again for a
different command. You will be able to sudo WITHOUT renewing your
credentials. Yes, this is a security flaw by design.

It's also easily switched off in the sudo configuration.

Not for the GUI it's not.

The sudo facility isn't a GUI application - it's a command-line tool.
And if you change the configuration of sudo, you change it for the
*entire system* - so anything that uses it will be affected.

Uh no, you don't. Damn not only are you clueless about Windows you,
like many other Mactards, are clueless about the platform you
advocate. No wonder it's got such a lousy marketshare.
.

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