Why does computer viruses are prevalent in Windows machines, but not on Mac or Linux machines?
In: Technology
Prevalence. Windows has around 73% of the market share for computer operating systems. Mac has about 16%, and Linux 4% ish. It’s not worth the effort to create viruses for these systems, as the return on investment is so much higher for windows.
Becuse most people use windows and malware is written to target as many users as possible.
There is lots of aspects that make specific things more or less dificult on different operating systems, but thats the one main reason.
To understand, first you need to ask: “Why do people create computer viruses?”
The answer varies, but two big answers: “To make money” and “to make an impact”.
So with that in mind: what OS has the most money on it and the most visibility?
I don’t know the current numbers, but the classic numbers are that Windows is the predominant OS used by businesses, and if you ignore servers (they often use Linux) it might be the most used overall. This means Windows will have the highest amount of people using it while working with large amounts of money. And this means that the most money available is in Windows computers.
I’m not sure how much this is really true anymore.
To the extent that it is, it’s two-fold. As other posters have said, Windows is a bigger pool to try to fish in. But there’s another point, which is that Windows until relatively recently didn’t have any built-in antivirus tools. And now that it does have Windows Defender, many people turn it off.
There’s also the fact that Windows is still struggling a little bit under its origins from being a single-user operating system. In an single-user operating system, you don’t expect anyone to use the computer except the person that owns it. Once you go multi-user, you need to engineer in a whole bunch of permissions systems after the fact just to handle legitimate, expected access.
While technically original UNIX was single-user, it quickly and early became multi-user. And Linux and BSD Unix (the foundation of MacOS) are both clean implementations from the ground up and have been multi-user (and expected to be on the Internet) from day one or very close to it.
So MacOS and Linux both have fundamentally better security measures *and* there are fewer of them.
Yes, the rich people live in the gated community. But there are a lot MORE people outside of the gated community…and they’re a heck of a lot easier to hit because they don’t have a guard post and a gate.
What’s missing in other comments – Linux and MacOS usually use central approved and tested application repositories for installation of software and Windows is still on I google and download the first exe I find without making sure it looks legitimate approach.
When I worked for Apple this was a point of pride in their sales pitch. They told us to say that the reason Macs don’t get viruses, is because viruses are created on Macs for PCs. Now obviously I cannot confirm this is true, but this is 100% what we were told to say to customers when they asked.
There’s all sorts of viruses for mac and Linux. Especially Mac. I think 3-4 years ago more mac viruses came out that year than windows viruses because mac users aren’t as careful. They think their computers are safe but they aren’t if they aren’t constantly updated. Mac users tend to be more affluent as well so they make great targets.
https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/2/12/21134681/mac-pc-virus-malware-malwarebytes
most people susceptible to viruses uses windows.
The rest of those people use mac, and mac is EXTREAMLY restrictive about what programs are allowed to run. Try to make a virus targeting mac and you will have a bad day.
The few people who run linux as their daily machines are insane and like to tinker with their computer. there are literally thousands of different operating systems that can be called “desktop linux” each one different in minute ways. Its very difficult to target all of them, and the user base are the type who WILL check the hash and file type of everything they download.
They will notice something screwy immediately. All in all a very bad target for a virus. Especially when you can target Jo on windows, the guy who just wants to watch iron man for free, and clicked on your download link to get your “downloader” which is secretly a malware.
They aren’t really. I haven’t used antivirus in years, I pirate all kinds of stuff including software have downloaded some sketchy porn games, I can’t remember the last time I had a virus. However I know what’s supposed to be on my computer and do somewhat regular maintenance, literally unless you chose to download it you probably aren’t getting a virus.
Most people talk about how attractive targets they are, but they are wrong. Internet runs on Linux (yeah, I know, there are a few exceptions, but on a statistical level, it does), and a hacked server is worth much more more than a hacked laptop/desktop.
The difference is that Linux and BSD (which MacOS is based on) were designed from the start with security in mind. Windows, on the other hand, isn’t. It didn’t even have user login in the beginning, and while it has been somewhat fixed, it still treats security as something which can be tacked on later, not something you need to build everything on from the start.
That’s why Windows is such an easy target for malware, while Linux and MacOS isn’t.
Latest Answers