Can a Windows PC ever be as secure as Apple iOS ?

[jetman]

There is a lot of talk in this forum about ways of making Windows more secure. Amongst other things, I hear a lot of talk about AppGuard, Voodooshield, Sandboxie, Rollback RX and various security suites such as Kaspersky, Norton, Emsisoft etc.

However, would I be correct in saying that whatever protection is installed on a Windows system, it is unlikely to be as secure as a standard iPad running the latest version of iOS ?

Therefore, instead of buying lots of Windows security software, would it be better to just to have basic security on a PC (freeware AV suites) and instead carry out most financial and banking transactions on a iPad ?

From what i can gather, the most secure way of carrying out online banking would be through a bank's own iOS application. No Windows system could beat that for security. I suppose the same would apply for online shopping ?

 

[brod56]

However, would I be correct in saying that whatever protection is installed on a Windows system, it is unlikely to be as secure as a standard iPad running the latest version of iOS ?

While you can actually lockdown Windows to a point where the probability of infection is reduced to a bare minimum, it would make the OS a lot less usable at the user's practical perspective.
So I would say that at the real world, with real usage scenarios, an iPad (not jailbroken) is indeed more secure than a Windows PC, though it's not immune to phishing or even malicious apps (which ocasionally break trough App Store).
Whatever you do, always make sure to adopt safe web browsing habits which will greatly dimmish the chance of infection.

 

[Deletedmessiah]

iOS restriction makes it more secure. The biggest threat is the user themselves. iOS doesn't allow them to install apps outside store unless they do jailbreak, the major reason one gets malware is by installing apps from unknown places, downloading cracks and falling for dumb tricks. iOS doesn't allow it with ease. They can still fall for scams and phisings. Appstore gets malicious apps too now and then but its still far safer than outside of store.

 

[JM Safe]

The answer is: it depends. If you have a good setup with necessary protection (a good AV with HIPS/BB, good signatures engine or AntiEXE) with Windows settings properly tweaked (for example SMB protocol disabled, common malicious extensions disabled, etc.) And with common sense (brain.exe) + SAFE habits the answer is yes (overall if you don't click never on suspicious links, email attachments in SPAM folder and you don't download anything and you use Chrome + Sandboxie + Site Isolation and proper extensions).

 

[Deleted member 178]

This is a false debate,

1- you don't compare mobile device OS and desktop OS. Mobile ones are obviously more secure, Windows 10 Mobile was way more secure than Win10.

2- any OS can be secure, some just needs more works.

3- happy clickers whatever the OS will always get compromised at some point.

 

[JM Safe]

happy clickers whatever the OS will always get compromised at some point.

Yes, overall for malicious URLs.

 

[Atlas147]

The basis of iOS security is that it has a ton of restrictions that ensures user's safety while compromising on the customizability of the device. The type of code and what apps can do on iOS is severely restricted as compared to windows 10. Even when comparing MacOS to windows 10, there are so many more features on windows 10 that are lacking on MacOS, however due to these restrictions, MacOS is seen as a significantly more secure platform.

However there are ways of implementing such restrictions on the windows 10 platform to make it almost as secure as MacOS

 

[DeepWeb]

What everyone has already said. Apple achieves their security by dictating what can be done. Microsoft has to worry about being compatible with billions of hardware combinations and any software written for Windows NT including their own.

 

[toto]

I think that microsoft has released a "slim" version of windows 10 which they call windows 10S and it offers many security advantages over the regular windows 10 home/pro due to the fact that it doesn't allow the user to install apps that don't come directly from the store, I would argue that windows 10S is a very secure OS and it could be compared to iOS in that regard. But is it really worth it, is the cost/benefit of having a limited os to ensure security worth it :/

 

[roger_m]

It has been my experience over many years that as long as I keep Windows and vulnerable apps updated and am not click happy, it is extremely hard to get infected on a Windows PC. So for me, while it's true that iOS will be more secure, Windows is more than secure enough.

Of course, if you are click happy Windows user, unless you go great lengths to secure it, it's pretty easy to get infected.

 

[Dhruv2193]

I believe that installing good security software and a little common sense will make a windows OS as secure as apple OS.