Why are Apple computers immune to the viruses that plague the P.C.?

Question

Why are Apple computers immune to the viruses that plague the P.C.?

Answer 1

They are not immune, they are Unix based which is more secure and there are more Windows users than Mac users so virus programmers target Windows.

Answer 2

They r not but maybe i use PC and its 10 years old i have no probelms with viruses and Apples r slow maybe they have a Virus Protection in it. i dont really know  

Answer 3

I think its the way that the apple computers have been designed, apple must have combined apple security hardware to provide stronger security against viruses

And also Xbox 360 was built by Microsoft to be hack proof by puting its hardware built security.....

Answer 4

Because the os is different.  So many hackers have figured out the Microsoft way of getting into the os. Sometimes, I wonder if ms makes their own hacks and fixes them, like a looping process.....

Answer 5

windows runs off of a form of DOS and Mac runs off of Bash. Viruses creators don't want to make viruses for the mac since there are more windows users.  

Answer 6

One word: launchd.

"I've been writing about these shortcomings for years, and it always traces back to Microsoft's untenable policy of maintaining gaps in Windows security to avoid competing with 3rd party vendors and certified partners. Apple's taking a different approach: What users need is in the box: Anti-virus, anti-spam, encryption, image backup and restore, offsite safe storage through .Mac, and launchd. Pretty soon any debate with Microsoft over security can be ended in one round when Apple stands up, says 'launchd,' and sits back down."

Answer 7

The only reason they cannot get windows based viruses is because they are incompatible with the codes used for windows executable files.

They are complete capable of getting a Virus if it is written in mac OS coding. It is physically impossible to stop viruses on computers. They are simply programs, and when written for a Mac, they will do exactly what they were written to do as long as its running. Its the same way Viruses work for Windows.

Answer 8

Because, when a virus is written, it is written in a certain programming language...and if that language is incompatible with mac, it won't work. Also, the virus might be made to destroy/modify windows files, files that don't exist on a mac.

Answer 9

most virus's are written for windows, the same way some programs will work on pc's only or mac's only.

but don't worry, apple's are not immune to virus's...

Answer 10

Because the windows registry is basically open to anyone who has acces to your computer. that includes spam, trojans and all that good stuff. Mac doesnt. Also mac's run on a completely OS that is designed way different than windows.

Answer 11

Because they aren't binary compatible with win-tel machines so don't necessarily suffer from the same software bugs + the viruses on win-tel are compiled to run on win-tel.

Answer 12

I was a Mac OS 8 user once. Back then, the number of Apple users are small and the hardware expensive, so virus writer have little interest in writing viruses for Mac.

However, I do encounter an Excel Macro virus and a Mac virus once.

It is very rare since the ratio of Mac to PC virus is 1:100000.

The current Mac OS X is base on Unix, which have complicate file system security that prevent virus from spreading easily.

Windows have many features that try to make people's life easier.

Including backward compatibility. Unfortunately, these features make it easier for virus to spread. virus writer make full use of these features autorun.inf, auto_open etc. to spread their virus.

So that why Mac OS X have less virus than Windows.

Answer 13

They run on a more complicated platform. The operating system is based off of Unix.

Now that they have come out with the Intel version we might see some viruses now and then.  

Answer 14

Because first its written under nix, so not many there, secondly, it has a small market share, so virus writers do not waste too much time targeting them.