Even die-hard PC People will admit that when it comes to viruses, the Mac still rules. According to Symantec, the virus designed to infect Apple machines haven't been created yet (or at least have not been released in the wild). So what makes the Mac OS X immune system so tough?

Apple's Mac OS X operating system is configured to have the most secure default installations of any desktop operating system on the market. And this security can still be boosted by enabling additional features and options within Mac OS X. Here are the  features PC People can only dream about:

Communication Ports
The Mac OS X ships with secured (closed) communication ports providing protection from Internet invaders. When a new Mac is booted for the first time, the Mac OS X goes through Setup Assistant; one part of the Setup Assistant setups an Internet Connection. Mac OS X automatically configures a Mac to connect to the Internet but only users with administrator privileges can open additional ports on an as-needed basis. 

Download Validation
The Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger automatically inspects downloads for safety through a feature called Download Validation. It performs checks against potentially unsafe content. Files downloaded via Safari, iChat, or Mail automatically checks for any application in the download. Any unsafe content triggers the follwing  messages:

• "Are you sure you want to download the application?"
• "Are you sure you want to continue downloading?"
• "The safety of this file cannot be determined. Are you sure you want to download?"

Users have the option to cancel or continue. Without a anti-virus software, Windows is unable to perform this security check.

Attachments
Unlike Windows, attachments sent via e-mail or through programs such as iChat are not opened automatically but go through the download validation for security check. It is up to the Mac user to open unknown files manually.

While Apple provides out-of-the-box security for the Mac, it can still be tweaked to make it even tougher for the nasty bugs to penetrate. Make sure the Firewall is enabled and only enable the needed Services. Disable automatic login and enable password for access.

And finally, although it's not found on the Mac, always enable common sense. Don't download files from websites you cannot trust and do not open arbitrary and random email attachments.

Rumors galore! Even if the Mac Leopard would have a late 2006 or early 2007 release date, the backfence talks have not stopped. If rumors are to be believed, iChat 4.0 (to be included with the Leopard) will include the capability to call traditional phone lines, which is like existing VoIP big shot Skype and betas from Microsoft and Google.

Apparently, the site who featured this reiterated the rumor recently since their "sources" had gave them an in-depth preview of the Leopard. With regards to the iChat 4.0, if it's able to call a landline or a cell phone, then that's awesome, but if it could only make PC-to-PC calls, then they don't have nothing new to offer to the table because people had been doing that for a long time already.

Aside from the iChat gossip, there is also the rumor about more transparency, dashboard speed improvements, remote control access, tabbed iChat and whiteboarding among many others.

Well, maybe these rumors could be trashed or verified when it will be previewed in the upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference this coming August 7-11, 2006. Until nothing concrete and official is presented or written, then these will remain rumors.

The world's most advanced operating system, according to its developer Apple, has been updated to Mac OS X Update 10.4.7 Intel. The updated version of the Tiger roars with 200+ new features all designed to make finding and accessing anything inside the Mac easier than ever. Whether it's Intel or PowerPC-based "youÂ?ll enjoy 21st century innovations before anyone else."

The updated Tiger is said to sport a breakthrough search technology, stunning graphics and media, unparalleled connectivity, an intuitive user interface and a virtual toolbox chock full of cleverly integrated features, and a rock-solid UNIX foundation. The result is the "most innovative, stable and compatible desktop operating system on the planet. Period." Which is possible if you're from Earth. If you're reading this from another planet, feel free to disagree.

Anyways, the best OS on this planet includes the Spotlight (Stop looking. Start finding.) where you can find anything from emails, contacts, images, and others on your computer as quickly as you type. Also in is a new Dashboard that checks the time, watches the weather, tracks flights, views stock prices and finds a local restaurant in an instant with a single click. The Safari RSS, which delivers all the latest news, information and articles from thousands of websites in one simple-to-read, searchable article has been squeezed in the update as well.

The 10.4.7 Update is recommended for all users and includes various fixes for:

• Preventing AFP deadlocks and dropped connections
• Saving Adobe and Quark documents to AFP mounted volumes
• Bluetooth file transfers, pairing and connecting to a Bluetooth mouse, and syncing to mobile phones
• Audio playback in QuickTime, iTunes, Final Cut Pro, and Soundtrack Pro applications
• Ensuring icons are spaced correctly when viewed on desktop
• Determining the space required to burn folders
• iChat audio and video connectivity, creating chat rooms when using AIM
• Importing files into Keynote 3
• PDF workflows when using iCal and iPhoto
• Reliable use of Automator actions within workflows
• Importing and removing fonts in Font Book
• Syncing addresses, bookmarks, calendar events and files to .Mac
• Compatibility with third party applications and devices
• Previous standalone security updates

You can get the Mac OS X Update v10.4.7 on Intel for $129 at The Apple Store.

    

Looks like chatting isn't what it used to be. Before all it took was a webcam, a face and things to say, but that's not good enough anymore. Hot on the heels of Logitech's hugely successful video cam effects, Chatfx presents visual effects for iChat using QuickTime, Quartz and Quartz Composer (provided by Apple to developers in Mac OS 10.4).

According to Chatfx "Normal teleconferences are plain. Talking and seeing people in offices and cubicles is ordinary." Why settle for "normal" and "plain" when you can get insane and creepy with special effects like those seen in movies and PhotoShop.

Included in its bluescreen lib are twirl, comic book, alien, interrogation, pencil, vortex, dent, bump, bodyart, facepaint, fisheye, gloom, mercury, on fire, ogre, sepia, sorbel, xray, thermal, and an infinite number of additional special video effects that can be created by using Quartz Composer.

Anyone can do it, according to the company. "Like the special effects in movies anything is now possible to add to iChat," they claim. For example you can make your normally filthy room look like it has been straigthened by the Queer guys. Or make your shoebox office look more Trump-esque.  Or you can make it look like you're on mars, the moon, inside a rainforest, or under the sea.

"Keep video conferences interesting by simulating TV news and weather reports." Weather reports are interesting? There is a practical side to this fun little program. Although Chatfx didn't name even one. Going back to the keeping conferences interesting using visual sfx... whatever happened to smart and witty conversations?