eli5: Why do computer operating systems have lots of viruses and phone operating systems don’t?
In: 5085
Simple reason is, that the limitations placed on the two classes of computers are different.
Computers were built by tech people for tech people, before the internet and before the destructive potential of software was identified.
Come internet, computers became a household item, and people who didn’t know what they’re doing were running software.
Software that said one thing and did another, aka malware was created.
When it came to building the smartphone, it was built for people who didn’t know, or didn’t need to know what software even is.
So it was designed to be easier to use while being harder to exploit. It is very difficult to gain root (or “administrator”) access to a smartphone.
With smartphones, there’s (usually) only one place to download software l, that is the app store. Every app on the apple and google store is carefully vetted and reviewed by teams to make sure nobody sneaks malware in.
In addition to that smartphones have a more robust permissions framework, where they have to ask a user whether they may read your contacts or browse your photos, or manage your storage. This prevents malware from doing things the user doesn’t like.
Simple reason is, that the limitations placed on the two classes of computers are different.
Computers were built by tech people for tech people, before the internet and before the destructive potential of software was identified.
Come internet, computers became a household item, and people who didn’t know what they’re doing were running software.
Software that said one thing and did another, aka malware was created.
When it came to building the smartphone, it was built for people who didn’t know, or didn’t need to know what software even is.
So it was designed to be easier to use while being harder to exploit. It is very difficult to gain root (or “administrator”) access to a smartphone.
With smartphones, there’s (usually) only one place to download software l, that is the app store. Every app on the apple and google store is carefully vetted and reviewed by teams to make sure nobody sneaks malware in.
In addition to that smartphones have a more robust permissions framework, where they have to ask a user whether they may read your contacts or browse your photos, or manage your storage. This prevents malware from doing things the user doesn’t like.
Application stores.
In a PC you can download and install any application and no one verifies it.
In a mobile phone you download and install from the application store. Those applications are verified before they go public.
Even with that, scammers and malware sometimes are published, but they are minimal compared to the situation without stores verification and control.
Application stores.
In a PC you can download and install any application and no one verifies it.
In a mobile phone you download and install from the application store. Those applications are verified before they go public.
Even with that, scammers and malware sometimes are published, but they are minimal compared to the situation without stores verification and control.
One reason is that Android is built on Linux, which has always been more secure than Windows. You’ll find there are relatively few viruses in desktop Linux computers too. And phones don’t come with root access, something Windows gives away freely to careless users running random applications.
One reason is that Android is built on Linux, which has always been more secure than Windows. You’ll find there are relatively few viruses in desktop Linux computers too. And phones don’t come with root access, something Windows gives away freely to careless users running random applications.
My dad managed to get a “virus” on his phone… he has a ghost alarm that goes off multiple times a day.. but refuses to factory reset because he doesn’t want to “lose everything”..
My dad managed to get a “virus” on his phone… he has a ghost alarm that goes off multiple times a day.. but refuses to factory reset because he doesn’t want to “lose everything”..
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