>NorthernStudio is correct
No he's not.
>other operating systems are vunerable to
>virus', trojans, etc,
Really? If that was the case, then surely the IE-based
BHO trojans would also work with IE/Mac? And the "pretend I'm another site by hiding half my
URL on the address bar" would also scam IE/Mac users as well as IE/Windows users?
>but the people who write these virus' are mostly looking for publicity (even if it is anonymous)
Once apon a time, yes. But not anymore. The chief use of a virus these days is to set a machine up so that it is remotely controllable - unbeknownst to the user - either for a future Dos attack, or as a spam proxy.
> - so why write a virus for an operating system used by 1%
>or 3% of people when you can write one that targets 95% of
>desktops - Mac OS, Unix, and Linux are all vunerable.
Mac OS and Linux are FAR LESS vunerable, due to their better security model. You CANNOT install a program in OSX or Linux that can take control of the system without typing in the administrator's password. The security model on both those platforms is based on user privileges.
If Windows comprised 5% of the computers on the Internet and Linux/OSX had 95%, there wouldn't by more virus attacks on Linux/OSX, because they're INHERENTLY MORE SECURE.
A
BHO "drive by" install just needs to convince a windows user that it is safe (by faking soemthing in the "do you want to install this
BHO" window that pops up) and then by default, Windows gives that browser helper object full access to the hard disk, so it can install, delete and replace files owned by other processes and make any changes it wants to the Windows Registry. THIS IS COMPLETELY INSECURE. This is why we have so many problems with parasites.
The Windows security model is based on "security by obscurity". Very few people get to see the source code, so holes must be found using luck and thus Microsoft need not spend a lot of time improving it's code. Unfortunately there are so many holes that a competent programmer need only a little bit of luck to find a hole. Now, with a big chunk of Windows code out there in the public domain, the cracks are being found VERY quickly. and thanks to Microsoft's lapse attention to security (just making up a few marketing terms like "trustworthy computing" changes NOTHING) there is going to be some really nasty days coming up both for Windows users and for the general Internet population.
Your "Windows has more viruses because it's the most popular" is an easily disproven MYTH. Get over it, and stop spreading such rubbish.
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George Orwell got the date wrong
