Posts Tagged ‘OS X’
Snow Leopard could level security playing field
August 27th, 2009 | 
Author: Friday’s release of the new version of the Mac OS, dubbed Snow Leopard, could include some security features that would make it secure, or at least push it closer to the level of security that Vista and Windows 7 have, experts said this week.
Contrary to popular Mac fanboy belief, Macintosh is not more secure from a software standpoint than modern Windows; it’s merely safer to use because malware writers prefer to target the platform with the biggest install base, according to Charlie Miller and Dino Dai Zovi, co-authors of The Mac Hacker’s Handbook, which came out this spring.
“Apple hasn’t implemented all the security features that Vista has,” Miller said. “They made some improvements in Leopard, but they are still behind.”
If there is any truth to rumors circulating about Snow Leopard, the operating system security playing field could become more level as of this weekend and Mac users will really have something to brag about.
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Report: Antivirus feature for Snow Leopard?
The next version of Apple’s OS X, which is due out Friday, may bundle antivirus capabilities.
Mac security firm Intego said that the latest version of the operating system, Mac OS X Snow Leopard, could have an antimalware feature, according to reports, in a blog post Tuesday.
The company published a screenshot which it said was of the security feature detecting a Trojan in a download, made via Apple’s Safari Web browser.
Intego pointed out that the most recent Mac adverts compare Mac security favorably to PCs. However, security experts have historically been divided over the relative security of Microsoft and Apple code, while some point out that any comparison is further complicated by the differing market penetration of Macs and PCs.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10318201-37.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Apple to ship Mac OS X Snow Leopard Aug. 28
Apple will ship its newest operating system to customers a little earlier than expected. The company said Monday that Mac OS X Snow Leopard will be available this Friday, August 28.
(Credit: Apple)Apple made it clear from the beginning that Snow Leopard was not as much about adding new features as it was about refining the code in the operating system.
For instance, according to Apple, 90 percent of the Mac OS X code has been worked on for the Snow Leopard release. This isn’t just application code, it also includes working on the Finder, making it more responsive.
Apple says that Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard is half the size of the previous operating system and frees up to 7GB of drive space once installed. No doubt this has to do with the refinements in the operating system, but Snow Leopard also only supports Macs with an Intel-based processors, not the older PowerPC processors.
As for speed increases in Snow Leopard, Apple said that its Mail application loads messages twice as fast, Time Machine does its initial backup 80 percent faster, and the included 64-bit version of Safari is up to 50 percent faster.
Snow Leopard also supports Exchange Server 2007. This means that you can use Mac OS X Mail, Address Book and iCal out of the box with Exchange.
Mac OS X Snow Leopard will cost $29 as an upgrade for Leopard users. For Mac OS X Tiger users, the Mac Box Set, which includes Mac OS X Snow Leopard, iLife ’09 and iWork ’09, will cost $169.
Apple had said at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June that Snow Leopard would go on sale in September, though more recently some tech blogs had been bandying about an August 28 date.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10315866-37.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
