OK, so antivirus....

[dark knight]

i need some advice.

i know there have been many threads on virus software. pretty much any title you name, someone will tell you its useless and there is no point on a mac anyway. on snow leopard, is this really the case or are these companies selling any protection at all?

below is why i ask:

im using snow leopard and have my aol account linked to apple's mail app. just recently its been abused and all my aol contacts have been spammed from my address.
Is this aol's fault so dump them (have done anyway) or could this be a virus still resident on my mac, and if so which software to buy? aaargghh.

 

[GGJstudios]

It's just a hacker has invaded your AOL account and used it to spam. It has nothing to do with your Mail app or whether you use Windows or Mac or have virus protection or not.

A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer. The term "virus" is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware, adware, and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability.

From Symantec:

What is the difference between viruses, worms, and Trojans?

What is a virus?
A computer virus is a small program written to alter the way a computer operates, without the permission or knowledge of the user. A virus must meet two criteria:

• It must execute itself. It often places its own code in the path of execution of another program.
• It must replicate itself. For example, it may replace other executable files with a copy of the virus infected file. Viruses can infect desktop computers and network servers alike.

What is a Trojan horse?
Trojan horses are impostors—files that claim to be something desirable but, in fact, are malicious. A very important distinction between Trojan horse programs and true viruses is that they do not replicate themselves. Trojan horses contain malicious code that when triggered cause loss, or even theft, of data. For a Trojan horse to spread, you must invite these programs onto your computers; for example, by opening an email attachment or downloading and running a file from the Internet.

What is a worm?
Worms are programs that replicate themselves from system to system without the use of a host file. This is in contrast to viruses, which requires the spreading of an infected host file. Although worms generally exist inside of other files, often Word or Excel documents, there is a difference between how worms and viruses use the host file. Usually the worm will release a document that already has the "worm" macro inside the document. The entire document will travel from computer to computer, so the entire document should be considered the worm.

What is a virus hoax?
Virus hoaxes are messages, almost always sent by email, that amount to little more than chain letters. Following are some of the common phrases that are used in these hoaxes:

• If you receive an email titled [email virus hoax name here], do not open it!
• Delete it immediately!
• It contains the [hoax name] virus.
• It will delete everything on your hard drive and [extreme and improbable danger specified here].
• This virus was announced today by [reputable organization name here].
• Forward this warning to everyone you know!

Most virus hoax warnings do not deviate far from this pattern. If you are unsure if a virus warning is legitimate or a hoax, additional information is available at the Symantec Security Response online database.

As of this time, there are NO viruses in the wild that affect current Mac OS X. In the past, there have been a few viruses that ran on older versions of the Mac operating system, but no longer.

There are, as of this time, trojans that can affect Mac OS X, but these must be downloaded and installed by the user, which involves entering the user's administrator password. Trojans can easily be avoided by the user exercising common sense and caution when installing applications. A common source of trojans is pirated software, typically downloaded from bit torrent sites.

 

[dark knight]

thanks

wow, thanks for the reply. i did suspect this was not the fault of the mac. every technical support you ever call passes blame onto your computer.

so to summarise anti virus for mac is utterly pointless?
(and you dont execute trojan's yourself)

 

[GGJstudios]

wow, thanks for the reply. i did suspect this was not the fault of the mac. every technical support you ever call passes blame onto your computer.

so to summarise anti virus for mac is utterly pointless?
(and you dont execute trojan's yourself)

For protecting your Mac, yes, they're pointless. Not only that, how can an AV program detect a virus that doesn't exist? Some will argue that you should run AV on your Mac to scan for Windows viruses, so you don't inadvertently pass them on to Windows users with whom you share files. (It's possible for you to have a file infected with a Windows virus on your hard drive. However, the virus can't execute in Mac OS X, so it would be completely harmless to you.) That's up to you, but IMHO, Windows users should be protected by their own AV.

 

[powerbook911]

you probably just needed a harder to decode AOL password or something.

someone just got your user name and password for AOL it would seem, nothing related to the computer.

hope it all works out.

 

[Zombie Acorn]

I don't even use AV on my PC, I doubt I am going to need it on a mac. Don't go to random porn sites and you won't have any issues.

 

[Aniketos]

E-mail issue

I have an email issue that seems wierd

I keep getting undeliverable responses for emails that I never sent.

In addition, the pseudonyms on these faux e-mails are of very strange names, that are attached to my e-mail addie.

is this a virus? I don't understand the significance...

thanks

 

[GGJstudios]

I have an email issue that seems wierd

I keep getting undeliverable responses for emails that I never sent.

In addition, the pseudonyms on these faux e-mails are of very strange names, that are attached to my e-mail addie.

is this a virus? I don't understand the significance...

thanks

No viruses exist that run on current Macs. (see my earlier post in this thread) Three possibilities are:

1. Someone hacked your email account and used it to send emails or spam.
2. Someone spoofed your email address in spam that was sent.
3. The "undeliverable responses" are hoaxes. In other words, no email was sent from your account and the "response" is really an initial email to you from a spammer. You can verify this by looking in your Sent Items folder to see if emails were really sent.​