Researchers are always finding security holes in Windows, IE, Office, etc, but the systems normally get patched up before the virus starts to spread or someone can take over your computer. It’s not as common to get virus or get hacked by someone because of an OS level security flaw. Unfortunately, this is how most people end up with malware and viruses on their computer. It doesn’t matter which OS you are on, if you visit a malware-infecting site, click on unscrupulous links or download and open unknown attachments, your computer can become easily infected. The first thing that I explain to people is that all operating systems are prince to malware or viruses from the web and from email attachments. In this article, I wanted to go through the reasons why there are more viruses for Windows and explain whether Linux is really more secure than Windows and why.

The Flashback virus in 2012 infected over 600,000 machines and took Apple weeks/months to release a proper fix. There is some truth to the fact that Linux is a bit more secure, but OS X and Linux both have their share of viruses.Īlso, since a lot of people don’t run anti-virus software on their Macs because it’s deemed not necessary, when a virus starts spreading on OS X, it spreads like wildfire and no one even realizes they have a virus.

Users windows vs mac vs linux