antivirus worth it?

[MisterMe]

I personly would be ticks if I lost the ablitly to email exe. Mainly because I yes I email them to friends when they ask for it and I have to email in assments that are exe. I think people who program will understand how bad that would be. General there is a simple rule in dealing with attachments that are programs. first if you dont know who it is from. DONT OPEN IT. 2nd rule if you where not expecting it dont open it.

Those are my rules for dealling with most attachments. If I dont know who it is from or if I was not expecting it I dont open it. The only attachment that vollnt that rule are from my school and those are maybe a word file or a pdf type file. But then again I do know there sorces and they are sent though my schools email address that is among the worst in dealing with viruses.

Autoexecuting .exe email attachments are a convenience on the Windows platform that were developed to mitigate several of the OS's weaknesses. This convenience was then exploited to become a major threat vector. We see this with lots of convenience developments on Windows. They get exploited to become vulnerabilities in the system.

One specific weakness that autoexecuting .exe files mitigate is that the Windows set of essential standard utilities is woefully incomplete. Missing is standard archiving software such as .zip. MacOS X has .zip built into the OS. Every Mac and every copy of MacOS X ship with a copy of Stuffit Expander. MacOS X includes a built-in disk image mounter for .dmg and img files. Every MacOS X users is guarranteed access to three archiving technologies, not just one.

The MacOS 9 version of DiskCopy allowed the creation of self-mounting disk images, .smi files. This feature makes no sense on a preemptive multitasking OS like MacOS X. The self-mounting image feature was removed from the MacOS X version of DiskCopy/Disk Utilities. Aladdin Systems (now Allume Systems) followed suite with Stuffit Deluxe. You can create a self-extracting archive (.sea) for MacOS 9, but you can't do it for MacOS X. I have never heard of a MacOS 9 exploit based on .smi or .sea (Stuffit, Compact Pro, or Zip). However, Apple chose not to develop self-extracting archive technology in MacOS X. Although they could jumped into the breach to satisfy the crybabies, no third-party Mac developer did so. The end result is that a totally unnecessary exploit path was never created. And what's more, this makes an executable file attached to email automatically suspect.

Now, for your little rule about not opening email from people that you don't know. Where have you been? That guarantees you nothing. There are worms out there that copy your email address from your Windows-using friends's address books. They then capture an unprotected computer in Guam or Geneva or someplace and send emails in your cousin's name to you.

 

[Chaszmyr]

My personal feelings about .exe files is that they should be banned. Period.

I seriously hope that you just mean banned from being emailed. Without .exe files Windows would have fewer programs than OSX

 

[Timelessblur]

Now, for your little rule about not opening email from people that you don't know. Where have you been? That guarantees you nothing. There are worms out there that copy your email address from your Windows-using friends's address books. They then capture an unprotected computer in Guam or Geneva or someplace and send emails in your cousin's name to you.

read rule 2. If I am not expacting the actment I dont open it either. I know when I have one be sent to me. If I didnt know that it was coming I check with that friend or they contact me telling me about it so I know what it is.

 

[~kilroy~]

VIRUSES NOT VIRII

Virii is not an English word. The correct usage is Viruses

 

[MisterMe]

I seriously hope that you just mean banned from being emailed. Without .exe files Windows would have fewer programs than OSX

The context of the post is email attachments. Just in case you are confused, I am speaking of the autoextracting compressed files that Windows-users attach to their emails. I was not including other .exe files, but now that I think about it....

 

[7on]

no it not that. general it everyone respiblity to try to keep down the spread of viruses. Most windows users have AV on there computer but general take a very same % of the computer out there to bring things to a crashing halt and to cause an huge amont of damage.

what this tread does prove is how stuck up mac users are and how little they care. They seem to think they are invible to virus which they are not and they seem to beleive that they never will get a virus or so. If that is the case then why are secuirty updates release by apple if there OS is so perficet. OH YEAH because it is not and it has it holes in it. Problem is a lot of people dont keep there computer upto date. You are dumb to think that there never will be a Mac virsue that spreeds like wild fire.

Is it likely to happen soon or with in the next year no it is not. The question is no if there ever will be. the correct question is when will it happen. Sad part is it more than likely going to use a secruity patch release by Apple that is seveal months old. Kind of like Blaster did on windows. The hole it used was patch 6 months before blaster came out. People who keep there computer updated or had upto date AV software where more or less immuend to it.

is there going to be any real for warning before it happens no. It will basicly crop up over night.

Ummmm, Anti-virus does not prevent future viruses from attacking. It was a Windows Patch that stopped the virus from infecting certain computers. And if a virus comes out for OSX, I'd rather install a patch from Apple than run anti-virus. Anti-virus is worthless. Didn't run it when I had a PC and I don't run it as a Mac user. Mainly because Premiere warns you to disable antivirus before running... but that is besides the issue ;P

 

[Timelessblur]

Ummmm, Anti-virus does not prevent future viruses from attacking. It was a Windows Patch that stopped the virus from infecting certain computers. And if a virus comes out for OSX, I'd rather install a patch from Apple than run anti-virus. Anti-virus is worthless. Didn't run it when I had a PC and I don't run it as a Mac user. Mainly because Premiere warns you to disable antivirus before running... but that is besides the issue ;P

ummm you are wrong there. All good antivirus have a thing called bloodhound built into them. anything that is run the AV looks at it really quickly. If it a new virse that not been discoved yet but have virse like props it will warn you and recomended a solution. Normal it to quantien or block it from running. You can always over ride that. I had to do it when for a add on in firefox call Firefox view. When I ran it from in IE my AV warned me about it since it was a script designed to kick up another program from another location (which was firefox) a normal virse trick. I over road it and told it that it was ok and it was happy.

Premieres tells you to turn it off because you are dealling with HUGE files and lots of them. those big files are going to draw a lot more system resorces when you start editing since it going to need to be scaned a lot. When you install something it is a good idea to turn it off because it speeds up the install and what not.

Lastly even a fully updated computer can get a virse from a file they put on there manual (Some document file for example) No patch is going to see that nor stop it. An AV on the other hand would and most of the time it can remove the virus with out damaging the file.

 

[MisterMe]

Ummmm, Anti-virus does not prevent future viruses from attacking. It was a Windows Patch that stopped the virus from infecting certain computers. And if a virus comes out for OSX, I'd rather install a patch from Apple than run anti-virus. Anti-virus is worthless. Didn't run it when I had a PC and I don't run it as a Mac user. Mainly because Premiere warns you to disable antivirus before running... but that is besides the issue ;P

That is so wrong on so many levels. Without antivirus software, there is simply no way that you know if your computer is infected by a virus or not. Not all viruses display symptoms that are immediately obvious. Among the things that antivirus software does is to disinfect your infected files. OS patches to not remove viruses. If you patch an infected OS, what you have is an infected patched OS. It is quite possible for your infected files to still infect a lot of unpatched computers. To avoid your computer being the Typhoid Mary of cyberspace, you need antivirus software on your Wintel computer. Installing antivirus software on a Mac is one of the marks of a good citizen.

 

[nesuser2]

All windows users should have AV software. Macs don't particularly need it so much, because really...who cares if you pass along viruses to windows machines. As long as they have AV software...which they should, then it won't matter. Viruses aren't so hard to stay away from, unless you don't know what you're doing...which is quite often the case.

 

[Timelessblur]

All windows users should have AV software. Macs don't particularly need it so much, because really...who cares if you pass along viruses to windows machines. As long as they have AV software...which they should, then it won't matter. Viruses aren't so hard to stay away from, unless you don't know what you're doing...which is quite often the case.

well passing virus a long some ISP and email server will deleted you account. I know here at my school if you send out to many virse though your email they just cut off your internet. so even for the mac users need that proctetion. Oh and they dont always cut you much slack.

The more imporant thing to have is the firewall.

 

[nesuser2]

Very much agreed on the firewall and most routers do a sufficient job. But as far as email...I don't think I've ever received a virus in email. I rarely ever receive attachments and I'm a "computer networking major" currently so I usually know about new viruses and old viruses are pretty easy to spot for me. If you can't catch your own viruses......probably just as easy to get AV software. (I changed sides!!)

 

[Timelessblur]

see so basicly you average mac uses needs it because lets be honsted the average computer user is an idiot (Mac or Windows). The dont know what they are doing and they open up almost any attachment or email (example I love you virus) The average person knows knowthing and is blind. They ask the people who know stuff about computers for help and what to do. Those people say oh you dont need AV for emails as long as you dont break the rules. All the average person heard was you odnt need AV and so they will contiun to spreed the virus around.

If you know what to look for and follow the rules then you are fine. Other wise you need it. So if you have to ask you need it because you are an average user who going to break the rules. The average person is an idiot when it comes to computers.

 

[fuijin]

so whats a good cheap/well intergrated anti-virus program for mac?

 

[Kirkus]

Im 18, not that a 14yr old doesnt have a brain either you freaking bigot...

I have used windows computers all my life, and im using one right now. If you are a windows user who is too stupid/cheap to have antivirus protection then its nobodys fault but your own if your infected... nothing to do with mac users.

I'm with JLS on this one. (BTW, I'm 45 years old so being too young won't negate my opinion). Why should I purchase and install virus protection on my Mac to protect Windows users who don't purchase and install virus protection? And we're NOT "all in this together". I'm smart enough to use a Mac... one of the perks? I don't have to worry about a wide spread virus.

 

[Kirkus]

what this tread does prove is how stuck up mac users are and how little they care. They seem to think they are invible to virus which they are not and they seem to beleive that they never will get a virus or so. If that is the case then why are secuirty updates release by apple if there OS is so perficet. OH YEAH because it is not and it has it holes in it. Problem is a lot of people dont keep there computer upto date. You are dumb to think that there never will be a Mac virsue that spreeds like wild fire.

How dare you generalize like that. Mac users are no more "stuck up" than Windows users are mindless robots who believe everything the big "M" tells them.

The fact is, a very small percent of computer users are on Macs. Viruses are written to attack Windows because the vast majority of computers being used run Windows. There have been Mac viruses in the past and there may be in the future. But they will not spread like wild fire for the simple reason that the arsonist isn't going to light a small grove of trees on fire. He's goin' after the forrest.

Please answer one simple question for me: Why should I, as a Mac user buy and install VP software to protect the Windows users who don't buy and install VP?

It's insane to believe that's my responsibility.

 

[nesuser2]

While structure won't be picked apart by me, it does help if everybody knows how to spell and doesn't accidetly foret letters because it's more agivating than you thik it is.