# Hokay, now I've got a dog in the eternal Mac vs. PC fight **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 24, 2005, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hokay-now-ive-got-a-dog-in-the-eternal-mac-vs-pc-fight/309678 "2005-06-24T15:52:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hokay-now-ive-got-a-dog-in-the-eternal-mac-vs-pc-fight/309678/1 "2005-06-24T15:52:01Z")
Our home computer was getting long in the tooth, so Mr. Brown started shopping around. He was getting sick of the virus/spyware/popup ads battle, and said that a Mac would solve these problems for us. So voila, now we have a Mac. So, do I get to go back and resurrect a few Mac threads just to post my “me too” comments? I’m pretty much a dunce about computers and couldn’t see the point of the computer rivalry on the Board, but now I see what you Mac guys are on about. The machine itself is small and quiet, the speed is lightning-like, and I assume that the above-mentioned problems bugging Mr. Brown are now kept at bay. I’m sure there are myriad other advantages important to computer brainiacs, but at the moment I’m ignorant of those; can anyone name any that an average schmoe like me can grasp? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hokay-now-ive-got-a-dog-in-the-eternal-mac-vs-pc-fight/309678/2 "2005-06-24T16:13:25Z")
So waddya get? ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hokay-now-ive-got-a-dog-in-the-eternal-mac-vs-pc-fight/309678/3 "2005-06-24T16:16:12Z")
A [Mac mini](http://www.apple.com/macmini/). Hopefully it’s not so small that it disqualifies me as a real Mac owner. ---
**Author:** ![sewalk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@sewalk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sewalk)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hokay-now-ive-got-a-dog-in-the-eternal-mac-vs-pc-fight/309678/4 "2005-06-24T16:24:55Z")
I’m a hardcore user and I don’t consider the Mini too small. I want 8 (or more) of them so I can have my own mini cluster without having a whole room full of computers. Of course, I have little use for OS X. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hokay-now-ive-got-a-dog-in-the-eternal-mac-vs-pc-fight/309678/5 "2005-06-24T16:42:49Z")
Although Macs are traditionally not targets for virus-senders, I’m curious as to whether there is a way of adding a layer of protection to my new PowerBook just to make sure. Is there – or what’s the best – software available for Macs to prevent infection from viruses, spyware, etc.? ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hokay-now-ive-got-a-dog-in-the-eternal-mac-vs-pc-fight/309678/6 "2005-06-24T16:53:57Z")
I’ve had an iBook for almost a year now. Being a heavy Unix/WinTel/Computer user, it’s been friggen fantastic. There’s things you ‘want’ (Big fast processors, fast video card, lots and lotsa RAM), and there’s things you ‘need’. This laptop fulfills all of my needs and made my realize the things I ‘want’ weren’t necessary. By that I mean, The processor is fast enough, the screen is great, the portability is great, the battery life is great. I wish the hard disk was a little bigger, but that’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hokay-now-ive-got-a-dog-in-the-eternal-mac-vs-pc-fight/309678/7 "2005-06-24T17:08:15Z")
> [@Unintentionally Blank](#): > > There’s things you ‘want’ (Big fast processors, fast video card, lots and lotsa RAM), and there’s things you ‘need’. This laptop fulfills all of my needs and made my realize the things I ‘want’ weren’t necessary. By that I mean, The processor is fast enough, the screen is great, the portability is great, the battery life is great. I wish the hard disk was a little bigger, but that’s about it. The primary reasons I went for a PowerBook G4 are: 1) I needed a computer I could travel with; and 2) I felt I needed a Mac so that I could do some editing. Storage is no problem. I’ve bought a 200gb external drive. Speed is going to be an issue though. I have a 1.5 gHz processor. We downloaded a recent wedding onto my hard drive. When we started to render it, the dialog box said that it would take half an hour. On the G5 at the studio (dual 2.5 gHz processors) the same process took 40 seconds. Still, I’m used to waiting. I have a dial-up connection at my house, and I’ve been using a 500 mHz PC for the last five years. The G4 will certainly be an inprovement, and I can use it to learn Final Cut Pro. (This wedding will be my learning project. If I mess anything up, we still have the original tapes. I have to put out a couple of bushfires around here before I get started though.) ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hokay-now-ive-got-a-dog-in-the-eternal-mac-vs-pc-fight/309678/8 "2005-06-24T19:08:54Z")
The best virus and spyware protection is a careful ‘clicking’ finger and not needing to open every thing that hits your in box. If you have no choice about email actually coming to and downloading in your computer before you can see what it is and where it is from, then you have the wrong email client. If you follow links just to ‘go see’ , then there is nothing that will protect you. YMMV ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2005, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hokay-now-ive-got-a-dog-in-the-eternal-mac-vs-pc-fight/309678/9 "2005-06-24T19:21:02Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > Storage is no problem. I’ve bought a 200gb external drive. Speed is going to be an issue though. I have a 1.5 gHz processor. We downloaded a recent wedding onto my hard drive. When we started to render it, the dialog box said that it would take half an hour. On the G5 at the studio (dual 2.5 gHz processors) the same process took 40 seconds. Is that the final render, or something you were doing during editing? My 1ghz box isn’t speedy on the final rendering stuff with iDVD, but you can background that and do other things (or go to bed). There’s ZERO impact on your foreground task from background processes in OS X. I _like_ that. And yeah, A G5 would seriously whip up on a G4…I’ll be interested in seeing the speed bump from moving to Intel next year. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2005, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hokay-now-ive-got-a-dog-in-the-eternal-mac-vs-pc-fight/309678/10 "2005-06-25T01:00:12Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > Although Macs are traditionally not targets for virus-senders, I’m curious as to whether there is a way of adding a layer of protection to my new PowerBook just to make sure. Is there – or what’s the best – software available for Macs to prevent infection from viruses, spyware, etc.? How useful is Norton Antivirus version 2.0 against modern viruses on the PC? Sure, today’s viruses didn’t exist back when they released that version, but wouldn’t Nortion protect you against viruses that hadn’t been invented yet? It wouldn’t? Oh… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2005, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hokay-now-ive-got-a-dog-in-the-eternal-mac-vs-pc-fight/309678/11 "2005-06-25T01:10:46Z")
> [@Unintentionally Blank](#): > > Is that the final render, or something you were doing during editing? I’m _very_ new to FCP, so I don’t know. I’ll need to play with it some more. > [@AHunter3](#): > > How useful is Norton Antivirus version 2.0 against modern viruses on the PC? > > Sure, today’s viruses didn’t exist back when they released that version, but wouldn’t Nortion protect you against viruses that hadn’t been invented yet? I’ve installed AntiVirus 2005, so it’s pretty new. Also, I subscribe to LiveUpdate so that I can get the latest virus definitions. ---
**Author:** ![wheelie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b4bc9f/32.png) [@wheelie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheelie)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2005, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hokay-now-ive-got-a-dog-in-the-eternal-mac-vs-pc-fight/309678/12 "2005-06-25T02:54:50Z")
I’ve been using [PithHelmet](http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/18158) for several months now. It blocks the few pop-ups that get around Safari’s built-in blocker. Well worth the ten bucks. It’s fully functional shareware, only pay if you want to. I did. I don’t bother with antivirus software, all it does is keep you from passing on windows viruses to others. My ISP has a good virus filter for e-mails so why should I spend money on software that hasn’t got anything to do. It’s like the Maytag Repairman of software. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2005, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hokay-now-ive-got-a-dog-in-the-eternal-mac-vs-pc-fight/309678/13 "2005-06-25T02:58:20Z")
My point is that there aren’t any MacOS X viruses, so antivirus software written before the viruses are written — the only kind that exists, by definition — isn’t likely to be any more useful than obsolete antivirus software on the Windows platform would be.