When I buy my new imac shortly, does anybody recommend buying a third party virus program like norton or does the new(ish) snow leopard handle viruses fine on its own?
When I buy my new imac shortly, does anybody recommend buying a third party virus program like norton or does the new(ish) snow leopard handle viruses fine on its own?
That's just crazy. I know that there are so many more pc viruses but there are mac ones, as well. I know because a few years ago, my imac got one. That's why I bought Norton. And it was an apple customer rep that helped me figure out that I had a virus and recommended norton to clear it up.
and have NEVER been infected by anything whatsoever.
Not to be rude, but you obviously have no idea what you're talking about. Neither did your customer rep.
That's just crazy. I know that there are so many more pc viruses but there are mac ones, as well. I know because a few years ago, my imac got one. That's why I bought Norton. And it was an apple customer rep that helped me figure out that I had a virus and recommended norton to clear it up.
I installed a PC today. Fresh install for a friend. We both casually used it on the internet for about 2 hours, before I remembered it needed an antivirus. I downloaded and installed Avira AntiVirus. It insisted on running a scan. It found 11 viruses.
I have been using my Mac for about year now, with 1 re-install when I upgraded to Snow Leopard. I have not once had a virus. An antivirus for your mac on OS X is not worth the ram.
There is a possibility that the advice he was given was correct. The only explanation for this situation was if he was still running Mac OS 9.x - which does have a few, now incredibly obscure, virii. As a side-note I dont run any anti-virus programs on any Macs except my MacBook, and even then its simply because without it I couldnt get the right permissions to connect to my college network (they refused to give me the wireless password till I did and still have occasional spot-checks) (I have the Intego solution, and it is totally unnecessary - luckily it doesnt actually sap much if any CPU).
Wow, out of 7 responses to your post, you got 6 that answered your questions directly,
and 1 mildly snarky response from miles01110 and you can't let it go?
You must have a pretty tough time in real life
Woof, Woof - Dawg![]()
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:
What is a Trojan horse?
- 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.
Trojan horses are impostorsfiles 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:
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.
- 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!
That cleared up a lot. I don't have a lot of free time to google all this stuff myself and rely on this website for help with quickie answers to stuff I figure long-time users know off the top of their heads. Thanks again....
Well, I did give you a quick and correct answer, and you called it "crazy."![]()
You are absolutely right and instead of focusing on the one rude comment I got back, I should have first apologized to you! Obviously, the problem I had with my imac wasn't a virus and something else and I shouldn't have posted that without getting more info. No hard feelings I hope...