Well, the common consensus is don't worry about it, am I right? But, I'm a paranoid SOB...so I'm going to worry about it, but only a little. Since it doesn't seem to be a big deal, I don't want to spend any money on an anti-virus program. However, I still like the idea of having one. It gives me some kind of sense of security. Are there any good free ones out there that I might give a look-see? Thanks.
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Free Anti-virus?
- Thread starter Guitarius
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My favorite free virus utility for OS X is called "Reassurance". To use it, remind yourself that there aren't any OS X viruses yet.
Unless you mass email every attachment that lands in your inbox or trade MS Office documents with people, Reassurance will be sufficient for a while.
Let your Mac be a Mac.
Unless you mass email every attachment that lands in your inbox or trade MS Office documents with people, Reassurance will be sufficient for a while.
Let your Mac be a Mac.
Horrortaxi said:
I second that.
The Mac (as of now) does not have any virii/trojans/spyware/ect.
Although once they do become a problem (and they will eventually), try Virex, but don't use Norton! I tryed to uninstall Norton, and I got kernel panicks galor.
Here here, I was in an Office Max, an office supply chain in the US, and was browsing through the software aisle and of course nothing for my mac, but I stopped and read some forms for businesses and while I was there I happened to over hear atleast 3 customers come in a 20 minute time span and ask the poor guy that worked there about how to remove all this spyware and adware and viruses that were plaguing their PC's. I just smirked and said to myself get a Mac. I wouldn't dare second guess anyones decision to buy a 499$ PC only to have to pay subscription fee's to antivirus and anti-spyware companies, much less the time they spent trying to get simple things to work right. Ahhh it's good to be an apple user.
Yeah, it will be weird for a while. You have to actually get used to your computer doing what you want it to the first time. It's hard for recent switchers. You may want to consider some new hobbies since you'll have quite a bit of free time from not having to reboot, reinstall, troubleshoot, yell, and punch walls/CRTs. I'm not trying to be funny at all.Guitarius said:
And maybe one you realize that Microsoft was not a good thing in your life you'll see all the other things wrong with them. It's much easier to see when you're not dependent on them. Which pill are you going to take, Neo?
I guess I'm one of those white sheep among goats too (great imagery- ahahha).
Funnily enough, my dad was having problems (for the second or third time in the past thirty days) with updates to Norton Antivirus on his Dell tower. He told me that he was re-installing Norton because it wasn't working (he reinstalled it less than a month ago!). I told him if he had a Mac he wouldn't have to worry about it. That said, I never had problems with updates with my Norton Antivirus on my old Dell tower, so maybe he just has bad luck with computers.
In the end though, he needs a wintel machine, as, despite MS's (and lots of reviewers) claims, Office 2K4 for OS X doesn't quite transfer all files over to PC adequately. Specifically, transferring Powerpoint files from MAC to PC is an exercise in futility (just plan on spending alot of time fixing display problems as precise positioning of graphics and stuff gets screwed up). So I don't think I'll be able to get him to switch anytime soon. He'll just have to continue installing Norton every other week and complaining about spyware.... <sigh>.
Funnily enough, my dad was having problems (for the second or third time in the past thirty days) with updates to Norton Antivirus on his Dell tower. He told me that he was re-installing Norton because it wasn't working (he reinstalled it less than a month ago!). I told him if he had a Mac he wouldn't have to worry about it. That said, I never had problems with updates with my Norton Antivirus on my old Dell tower, so maybe he just has bad luck with computers.
In the end though, he needs a wintel machine, as, despite MS's (and lots of reviewers) claims, Office 2K4 for OS X doesn't quite transfer all files over to PC adequately. Specifically, transferring Powerpoint files from MAC to PC is an exercise in futility (just plan on spending alot of time fixing display problems as precise positioning of graphics and stuff gets screwed up). So I don't think I'll be able to get him to switch anytime soon. He'll just have to continue installing Norton every other week and complaining about spyware.... <sigh>.