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Macs, Viruses and the Gadget Show

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Love it or loathe it (and I do both at times), I regularly indulge myself by watching a bit of The Gadget Show. It's hardly Top Gear / Fifth Gear / any other car show on TV which I can watch all day on Dave and would do if only my wife would let me (and sometimes Microsoft expects me to log on etc at least to show willing) but it can make for entertaining and sometimes enlightening viewing.

Of course they don't always like Microsoft (being realistic, nobody *always* likes Microsoft) and I regularly have to bite my tongue when I disagree or don't like what they say. Hey, that's life. But in the most recent episode (at least I believe it was the most recent episode - episode 8 I think) when Jason and Suzi were discussing what they loved about their Macs, I was more disappointed than outraged (well, a bit of both probably) at the peddling of the "Macs are more secure. They never get viruses." myth.

That's just sloppy journalism. It's not grounded in fact. It doesn't help anyone, least of all the less technically savvy people who might be watching and are perhaps more likely to take that sort of statement at face value. Like my Mum for example. Though I can't really imagine my Mum watching The Gadget Show. And she's very happy with her Vista Laptop. I digress....

We could argue the "more secure" aspect but I'd let that one pass (note "let it pass", not "agree"). It's the "they never get viruses" bit for which I cry "Referee!". I was reminded of my moment of outrage by this article on the BBC website titled "Apple pushes anti-virus for Macs" which in turn refers to this kb article on the Apple site which sensibly states:

"Apple encourages the widespread use of multiple antivirus utilities so that virus programmers have more than one application to circumvent"

Whether you're a Mac or a PC or a Linux for that matter, that's sage advice irrespective of platform.

  [UPDATE] The Apple KB article has since been removed and the BBC article has been modified as a result. You can read more details on tuaw.com (thanks to Zombiesheep in the comments for the link). That said, neither was really the point of my post - they simply served as a trigger which reminded me of my Gadget Show gripe.

Technorati Tags: mac,pc,virus,security,gadget show,tv

Comments

  • Anonymous
    December 02, 2008
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    December 02, 2008
    I'm using Forefront Client Security for antivirus as well as spyware / malware protection. Until recently I used ETrust and Defender but Forefront replaces both of these. Mike

  • Anonymous
    December 02, 2008
    Let's be honest here, the only reason people watch The Gadget Show is Suzi. That's not just me, right?

  • Anonymous
    December 03, 2008
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    December 03, 2008
    I would be more inclined to say that the original BBC story was the sloppy journalism.  The KB article was first published in 2007 (or so I am led to believe), and the wording was ambiguous.  A recent update to the list of AV venders forced the update date to appear as if the article was more recent.  Source : http://www.tuaw.com/2008/12/02/apple-updates-antivirus-version-numbers-security-savants-lose-g/

  • Anonymous
    December 03, 2008
    Well the Apple KB / BBC journalism aren't really the point of my post but I do find it odd that Apple update the article (the change then being picked up by various press etc) and almost immediately remove the article stating it is "outdated" (having just updated it a day or two earlier).

  • Anonymous
    December 03, 2008
    The comment has been removed