Devestation from Viruses (viri?)?

J

Jim on the Wall

macrumors newbie

Original poster

• Aug 9, 2007

• #1

I have heard from a friend who works at a computer repair company (that fixes mostly PCs, but they don't necessarily turn down macs) that yes, Macs rarely ever get viruses(viri?) but when they do, it will wipe the hard-drive completely.

I don't believe him though because he's the only person I've heard this from, although I doubt I'll be getting an unbiased opinion from this forum also (but please answer🙂 ).

Is this true?

 

Aea

macrumors 6502a

• Aug 9, 2007

• #2

rm -rf * from the top directory will do the trick.

 

Eidorian

macrumors Penryn

• Aug 9, 2007

• #3

I opened a trojan once as an administrator but I was being reckless. That was social engineering. 😀

 

C

chaoticbear

macrumors 6502

• Aug 10, 2007

• #4

The plural of "virus" is "viruses". The word "virus" in Latin was a mass noun, so they would have had no need for a plural.

(I'd never post something like this, but it was in question form in your title, so I didn't feel awful for correcting you 😎)

 

Tallest Skil

macrumors P6

• Aug 10, 2007

• #5

Unbiased opinion right here: No viruses. Short, sweet, and to the point. In seventeen years of using Macs, starting with an Apple ][ (yes, an original Apple ][), I've not had a virus. Granted, the ][ doesn't know the Internet exists, but my LC 575 does. Nothing there. G3 iMac DV: Nope. 17" Core 2 iMac: Same. Rest easy, my friend. There's nothing to worry about.

Edit: I like the brackets. If it bothers you, it bothers you.

 

Cromulent

macrumors 604

• Aug 10, 2007

• #6

chaoticbear said:

The plural of "virus" is "viruses". The word "virus" in Latin was a mass noun, so they would have had no need for a plural.

(I'd never post something like this, but it was in question form in your title, so I didn't feel awful for correcting you 😎)

Click to expand...

Was going to post that myself 🙂.