Let's not forget Windows' awful default policy of giving user administrative rights. It basically drops down non-reactive defense from malware to zero. And even restricted user account is able to create folders and files in the root directory under Vista. So this restriction is still quite relative and flawed (though of course Vista is a big step in that direction related to XP). *NIX from the other side encourages or even enforces by default usage of truly restricted accounts with write permission to user's home directory only. This way chance that some malware is able to both run arbitrary code through some app buffer overflow and elevate it's privileges to root this way overcoming *NIX permission system is pretty low. Throw SELinux in the equation and that chance gets close to negligible. And this defense is not reactive, so you don't care if malware is known or just barely in the wild.
But of course none of existing OSes can protect itself from a moronic user running untrusted software with root access.
Careful saxon, you might crush their big egos and send them running for their depression meds. No macs, no German cars, no walking around with a $5 cofee in my hand? What's left to live for and do? You are on the money saxon. So many living false and empty lifestyles within a false economy. Problem is that the true pursuit of happiness is just too boring for many.
user habits make difference in system security no win nor mac nor linux can self-defend from a dude admin
I've been using a MacBook Pro for the past 6 months and I don't think I'll ever go back to Windows. I worked heavily with Windows and various flavours of Unix over the years from AIX and Solaris to Linux and BSD, and simply put OS X gives me the power and stability of Unix with the features and capabilities of Windows. From my perspective, security vulnerabilities like the ones listed in the OP are only a problem if they are exploited, or exploitable - many times these security holes are basically impossible to take advantage of. The measure of how often these vulnerabilities are exploited can be estimated by how much Mac malware you see in the wild, and if virus research centers can be believed, the actual number is not zero but it is trivially small compared to the amount of Windows malware out there even taking into account the smalller number of Macs being used. Saying you shouldn't buy a Mac because a PC can do the same things for less money is like saying you shouldn't buy a BMW because a K-Car can get you around town just as well - this is true, but who wants to drive a K-Car?
My PC recently was annihilated by a virus so bad that the PC repair guy could not even fix it. It corrupted BIOS or something - I dont even know what it did, but I still spent 2 days troubleshooting it, and my time is worth $100/hour which comes out to $1,600 which is what the cost of a nice iMac is! I was a power user of PCs for 15 years and always said to myself that if i got a brutal virus i would switch. The time is now. the malware writers are becoming big organized crime syndicates based in Russia etc. Their goal is to OWN Pawns like PC users. I am still concerned about macs but I do think they have some structural benefits and more goodwill (EVERYBODY hates Microsoft). Maybe in a couple years there will be some more viroid for mac, but I am migrating stuff over more n more to mac.
If you cannot afford a Mac pro or laptop then you are not making enough trading Apple is good at separating Userspace from systemspace. One of the reasons OS X is not an easy target. Where in windows shit gets thrown in the windows system32, C:\windows etc.. One monolithic registry prone to corruption,bloat etc.. DLL hell. Too much backwards compatibility which means closing easy issues means breaking stuff. everything runs as admin.
apple required a username and password for any software installation.if a virus were to try install itself it would have to bypass this mechanism which it cannot. i have used macs for the last 6 years without any anti virus software and i have never been hit.
I can't stand those candy ass MAC users.. all happy with their computers.. where are the war stories, where is the grief that must go along with computing? No lost files when their laptop comes out of sleep mode? No blacklisting security software that really doesn't work? What kind of a life do MAC users have anyhow? They shut the machine down and then what, they have to find something to do... what's that about? With a windoz machine there is always something to do, file recovery, virus removal, updates... even if there is nothing to do there is always that nagging feeling that you should be doing something because deep down, you know that those anti virus software companies lie, their stuff is krapware same as Microsoft's.. How do MAC users sleep at night, they aren't building up a legacy of war stories...