GodBless said:
I read somewhere in a thread (although I looked hard and couldn't find it) that x86 processor individual software processes can control each other. Because of this a virus can easily be written for any OS if the processor is an x86. I don't know how factual this is, but if it is true it is very sad for us Mac users because we will be vulnerable to viruses.
I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies... - Green Day
How's the virus going to get
running is the real question. Sure, once an x86 virus (at least one that's written in true assembler or very low-level C) is running, it could wreak havoc on any system running Intel.
Windows has virus problems because there are multiple (and fairly obvious) holes in Internet Explorer that allow viruses to get to the processor. This is a prime concern, because IE's engine is built into the core OS, and used by tons of applications (Explorer, Outlook, Outlook Express, Kazaa in its web panel, etc.). It's so integrated that you practically can't
not be running it in some fashion or another.
OS X doesn't suffer from the exact same vulnerabilities as Windows. That's not to say that it suffers from
no vulnerabilities - it does. But it carries none of the typical backdoors that viruses take advantage of on a Windows system.
An additional advantage of OS X is its Unix foundation. The applications that you are running at any given time belong to only you, which means that any code run because of a vulnerability in those programs still only has your priveleges (SP?). Essentially, this means that a virus could delete your home directory files (suck) or create a bunch of popups (double suck) but it literally
can't touch your system files, or other applications without gaining root privs. Most viruses lose there "Ha Ha, U R 0wn3D!" luster when they have to popup password boxes.
Hopefully that clears some stuff up. You won't be catching Windows viruses for a while, at least.
-rand()