More spam with Intel based Macs?

[madman045]

I have been tasked with finding out if there are issues with the Intel based Macs as our clients are not wanting to buy them.

They have PPC based Macs at the moment and so far, no issues, however the users in the office that have upgraded to an intel based Mac, have seen their spam levels tripple since having the macs, however the rest of the users who still have a PPC based Mac have had no issues.

Also, I know this is a long time debate, but we have also been asked, are the Intel based one's more susceptable to spyware and virus's then their PPC opposites?

Thanks

Andy

[Bluecube]

I can't see why that would be the case. Spam is CPU independent and is merely an email. Perhaps the new Mac owners have their email addresses up on a website somewhere and they've been harvested by a spammer?

Although the CPUs are different they both run the same OS so they won't be more susceptible to viruses/ spyware etc that their PPC brethren. Viruses, etc are OS dependent.

[madman045]

Thanks Bluecube, reason i ask is i was under the impression that they added win32 code to OSX to run on the Intel cpu, therefore some windows applications would run on OSX as they do on XP...

I need to find some AV now for both PPC and X86 Macs, can you recommend anything?

Thanks

[headbrace]

I'm inclined to say the best AV is a bit of common sense and trying to get users not to open every single attachment sent to them.

I've yet to encounter a Mac virus, although I've also yet to encounter a PC virus either, given that I don't click everything in site.

[Stoo]

i was under the impression that they added win32 code to OSX to run on the Intel cpu

They've done nothing of the sort.. they've recompiled and rewritten OSX to compile under x86/x86-64 code, win32 as nothing to do with anything unless you're running virtualpc or parallels, even then it's in a virtual environment.

I'd say it's down to co-incidence myself..

[madman045]

They've done nothing of the sort.. they've recompiled and rewritten OSX to compile under x86/x86-64 code, win32 as nothing to do with anything unless you're running virtualpc or parallels, even then it's in a virtual environment.

I'd say it's down to co-incidence myself..

Thanks Stoo, I wasnt doubting you or anyone for a minute, just wanted to make sure my facts were straight before I report back to our clients and can give them peace of mind for as much as its worth and remind them, as mentioned not to open everything said.

Andy

[Funkstar]

How about you get the client to swap a user on an Intel mac with a user on a PowerPC mac? if by some miracle it is the Intel architecture causing the increaded amount of spam, then the other user will get it as well.

i'm guessing they wont.

[Stoo]

Thanks Stoo, I wasnt doubting you or anyone for a minute, just wanted to make sure my facts were straight before I report back to our clients and can give them peace of mind for as much as its worth and remind them, as mentioned not to open everything said.

Andy

No Worries chap

Are they using corporate email, or their own individual pop3 accounts?

[unrealrocks]

It must have been something that all the email accounts that people who have upgraded have done (such a list somewhere).

Macs have yet to have a (useful) virus, even the Intel based ones. They still run OS X

[Atomic]

Are you sure its not somthing as simple as a software option?

Id guess they will have had their email accounts re-setup on the new intel macs, is there a 'spamfilter' tick box or somthing thats not been checked?

(Im not a mac email user so dont know, just guessing)

[CAL3H]

Are you sure its not a case of one of those damn circular emails going round the office "w00t click here and enter your email address for a free bag of chips" kind of thing .

I imagine its a coincidence.

Only reason I've been finding people aren't too keen to make the move is that not all software is ready for intel yet or it involves a fee to crossgrade. Rosetta works but its not the best; compare how something optimised for Core Duo works against something rosetta. I know there should be a massive difference but its disheartening to see the potential - iMovie HD for example - and then have to run somethig like PS/Dreamweaver etc. in emulation mode.

Cheers,

[shaithis]

OSX is essentially a cutomised version of FreeBSD with an Apple GUI on top.

Just like any other *nix variant, it can be compiled to run on multiple architectures which is what allowed Apple to keep 2 codebases side-by-side.

I cannot see any reason at all why the intel based ones were more susecptable to attacks/spam.