I’ve just been to PC World to have a look at the new iMacs in person as I’m looking to get one. Walk in and see two 17” iMacs sitting next to each other. A quick check of the about boxes finds that one is a G5 and one is a Core Duo and both look identical, as several people have said. I had to show it to the guy we were talking to because he didn’t think they had them in. I’m definitely getting one after playing with Front Row and Photobooth and other goodies (btw, Comic Life does rock as much as people say it does).

Anyway, enough about me and more about my story. I went over to a 20” iMac to have a look at the hugeness of it and then two people went over to the iMac I’d been looking at and someone from PC World talking to them about it. Then my dad starts talking to them when the PC World guy can’t answer a question and then I walk over. And so we spend about 20 minutes showing them the Mac and explaining all the benefits. They were buying the computer mostly for the woman that we were talking to and she’d obviously been talking to people who owned Macs. One of the first things she said was “So what are the benefits of this over one of these other computers, because all people say when I ask are that they are easier to…
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I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about the “First Mac OS X virus” that has generated a lot of buzz through the Mac community today. The FUD stops here. Here are the facts you need to know, the debunked myths, and the tips to prevent yourself from becoming a victim of malware.

What is OS X/Leap.A?
This little guy made its debut on February 13 in a thread entitled ”Alleged screenshots of OS 10.5 Leopard”. Curious readers downloaded a file called “latestpics.tgz,” expecting Leopard screenshots. Instead, as MacRumors forum poster “yankeefan24” (who may have been the first person affected by this malware) put it, “[when double-clicked] it opens in terminal. not right.” No kidding. If your are running an administrator account, you may not be asked to enter a password. Non-administrator accounts require the user to enter an administrator password to run the malware.

It is hard to classify what this is, exactly. Some call it a full-fledged OS X virus, some call it a worm, others call it a trojan horse. I will call it “malware.”

Andrew Welch of Ambrosia Software has written a more in-depth description of what this malware does.

Wait! I just bought a Mac because I thought there were no viruses! You mean the Mac is vulnerable to malware? *Hyperventilates*
Easy, buddy! There is no such thing as an impervious OS. Every operating system is vulnerable to Social engineering. This malware does not exploit any security flaws in OS X. Virus-free or no, the risk is…
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Ahhh, the venerable John C. Dvorak strikes again with his infamous lack of understanding for all things Apple. Though for once he isn’t declaring Apple’s impending doom, which makes a welcome change. This time he is in fact saying that Apple will be dropping OS X in favour of Windows.

First off, let’s discuss the fundamental flaw in the argument. Dvorak is saying that Apple will ship more Macs by taking away what makes a Mac a Mac and replacing it with the main reason that people buy a Mac over any other computer. Apple isn’t going to just dump the biggest weapon in it’s arsenal. It’s one thing to switch from Classic to OS X or from PPC to x86. It’s another thing completely to switch from the Mac OS to Windows. Not only would you have the major problem of viruses, spyware, trojans etc but you would also cut out software developers. Sure the bigger companies already have Windows apps out there but the majority of the smaller indie application developers rely on OSX and it’s technologies to make their apps so great. For many things there are no alternatives on windows. Plus Apple would effectively be abandoning all of it’s software. No iLife, no Safari, no Final Cut Studio. The only Apple apps that would be available would be iTunes and Quicktime, both of which don’t run as well on Windows as they do on the Mac.

Dvorak then goes on to say that Windows works with so…
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It looks like there is a piece of OS X malware floating around!

A couple nights ago, a user posted a file entitled “latestpics.tgz” in a thread on MacRumors.com’s forums, disguising it as a Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) screenshot. The decompressed file sports a JPEG icon. Double-clicking it launches the Terminal, asks for the administrator’s password, then runs the executable. It is unknown at this time what damage, if any, is caused by this apparent trojan; it may very well be a proof-of-concept and nothing more. Also, it does not exploit a flaw in OS X as far as anyone can tell, but instead relies on social engineering to run and spread. It is also PowerPC-only and will not run on Intel-based Macs.

There have been a few unconfirmed reports of the trojan spreading through iChat or other instant message clients.

Andrew Welch of Ambrosia Software is working on deconstructing the trojan in Ambrosia’s forums.

If you’ve been infected by this trojan and have any further information, please post a comment or email us.

This may be obvious to many readers, but please use caution when downloading files! Do not download a file called “latestpics.tgz”! When you download any compressed file, be certain to check the decompressed file’s file kind in the Get Info window. For day-to-day use, use a non-administrator user account, or at the very least, turn on “Show all file extensions” in Finder Preferences. I know that Mac users like myself can get complacent since we’re not…
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It looks like my last article struck a nerve with our readers! First, I’ll start by addressing some concerns raised by some readers:

“It’s not really a very good comparison, because nobody’s caring to buy those items compared to the traditional tower/flat panel combo”
The first piece was created with the intent of showing how all-in-ones compare from different manufacturers. Also, I don’t think it’s so much that consumers don’t care to buy all-in-ones as much as it is that they don’t know about them. I feel that the all-in-one has a place in the consumer marketplace and can take a fairly large chunk of the market if they were given some promotion. Instead, only one company seems to make all-in-ones a priority: Apple.

This article will focus on a more typical tower PC configuration.

“And what about the Antivirus and Firewall software you have to subscribe to on the Gateway?”
I guess one could make a snide remark about .mac and yearly iLife updates. I choose not to go that route.

“What is the OP really trying to say?  That Macs are truly competitive in prices?  Can’t anyone see how he factored in the discounted Macs and choose any other PC?”
Yes, actually. Or at least some Macs are. And the iMac’s $1299 price tag is indeed the regular price and not a discount. If there is a rebate or discount, I will note both the regular and discounted price. Please note that the prices listed are in United States…
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