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Adware/spyware removers?

G

GiantsFan

macrumors member
Original poster
May 15, 2004
85
0
san jose OR riverside, Cali
are there any good free adware/spyware removers for mac? kinda like lavasoft's ad-aware for pcs.

also, any free online virus scanners for macs? kinda like trend micro's house call.
 
dopefiend said:
Incorrect ;)
Click to expand...
Well, no viruses for OSX

hmm, so its pretty useless to get Norton's Anti-virus 9.0?
Avoid anything remotely containing the word "Norton"

Norton is evil, the executives at Symantec eat babies.
 
dopefiend said:
Incorrect ;)
Click to expand...

Technically, there are no viruses for OS X. Proof of concept trojans, minor security issues, rogue applescripts, etc... but no actual viruses per se. You can look on Version Tracker for some cookie cleaners, and get a virus scanner so you don't accidently pass on viruses to Windows users (especially if you use MS Office). But as long as you enable the built in firewall and don't open suspcious files or attachments, you should be fine.
 
solvs said:
Technically, there are no viruses for OS X. Proof of concept trojans, minor security issues, rogue applescripts, etc... but no actual viruses per se. You can look on Version Tracker for some cookie cleaners, and get a virus scanner so you don't accidently pass on viruses to Windows users (especially if you use MS Office). But as long as you enable the built in firewall and don't open suspcious files or attachments, you should be fine.
Click to expand...

Lol, other than MSOffice viruses how can you accidentally pass on viruses to PC users?

"Oh I've received this email from someone I've never heard of before and a .pif file is attached. I better send it to all my PC buddies"
 
Why?

:confused:

What's with the anti symantec/norton rants???

I have used Norton on Mac and PC for years without any problem. Have the suddenly becaome incredibly unethical or something??
 
I've always been anti-companies that don't do anything.

On the Mac it doen't need anti-virus and Norton Disk Utilities can severely brake your hdd. Symantec is actually discontinuing their Mac Utilities, I've heard.

On Windows boxes, Anti-virus isn't needed either. Why? Because Microsoft has Virus security patched months before viruses come out, it's just on one applies these patches. I do. Therefore I don't get these viruses (neither did my roomate, booya). So why pay money for something Microsoft delivers right to you. Plus NortonAV needs to be updated, just like Windows Update. My mom's computer has like 4 viruses on it that Norton can't see, because she doesn't update it like she doesn't use Windows update.

And for AV programs to be of any use, they need to be running all the time, constantly scanning files. This drastically affects performance. Some programs cannot run with AV programs on. That's my spiel.
 
abhishekit said:
another thread on this.. :rolleyes:
short answer:
there is no spyware on mac..
there arent any viruses either..

cheers
Click to expand...


Actually, there is ONE virus. It comes off of Limewire/Gnutella.


edit: It's actually classifed as a 'rogue applescript.'
 
Miner Willy said:
What's with the anti symantec/norton rants???
I have used Norton on Mac and PC for years without any problem. Have the suddenly becaome incredibly unethical or something??
Click to expand...

Peter Norton Computing was a company that produced useful software. Norton's company was bought by Symantec in 1990. Since around 1996, Symantec has been selling software that is increasingly problematic. When the company cut support for DOS, it removed a lot of the useful functionality in products such as Norton Utilities and downsized other products from 1990-1995. The software became "dumbed-down" to appeal to the common consumer that wanted point-and-click fixes for Microsoft Windows without having to read manuals or understand computers. The value of the software declined, and frequent upgrade cycles were used as an excuse to make people pay money for bug fixes. Symantec started merging with competing companies and downsizing their products to remove the competition without actually improving its own software. The company cut support for older versions of its software and restricted technical support to Web-based forums through which customers were frequently sent useless auto-replies unrelated to the specific problems. Symantec uses Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) to convince people that its software is necessary. The company wants to get lots of money from ignorant users without really improving the computing world through education, which is not what Peter Norton intended.
 
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