I'm not fully sure what your point is. Yeah, Macs can trap Windows viruses, but they're not affected by them.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
anti-virus?
- Thread starter brentg33
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I'm not fully sure what your point is. Yeah, Macs can trap Windows viruses, but they're not affected by them.
They are worth exactly zero. Just in case Willis was not clear, your blocked files have Windows viruses. A Windows virus on the Mac is just so much wasted space. Other than that, it is about as harmful as a match at the bottom of a swimming pool.
for what it's worth ......
http://att.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=76502&stc=1&d=1181771390
fwiw, you oughtta change your computing habit. just be thankful that you are using os x!
so granted macs can carry non-threatening viruses, should one keep those potentially-windows-harming viruses on their computer? of course there isn't anything that can damage a mac or the properties of the user but shouldn't one be worried about getting rid of these viruses? what do you suggest there? what programs? just to be safe...
No viruses written yet? Oh? Really? Interesting.
It's not that difficult.
http://www.seanmcollins.com/blog/?p=16
Then check out the Hacker's Handbook Series on Rixstep. I have a link to it.
It's not that difficult.
http://www.seanmcollins.com/blog/?p=16
Then check out the Hacker's Handbook Series on Rixstep. I have a link to it.
You raise a different but important issue. This issue under discussion here is the danger of Mac viruses and the prudent measures to protect your computer from them. Well, there are no Mac viruses. No measure, however lax or draconian, can protect you from something that does not exist.
As for protecting a Mac against Windows viruses, that is a completely different story. The Mac is automatically protected against Windows viruses because Windows viruses cannot run on the Mac. There may come a day when they can run on the CrossOver frameworks, but there are no reports of that. This possibility is still only conjecture.
This leaves us with using the Mac to protect Windows users from Windows viruses. I have done this in the past. I do it today. I will do it in the future. I have lent my PowerBook to Windows-using colleagues for their PowerPoint presentations because their laptops were brought low by viruses. These acts of kindness would have been dangerous if Windows viruses were dangerous to Macs.
I am keenly aware of the important role that Macs can play in stopping the spread of viruses. In a work environment dominated by Windows, relaying an infected file will be met by unsympathetic IT. Claims that my Mac didn't create the virus and cannot be infected by it will fall on unbelieving deaf ears. My Mac has Norton Antivirus installed. Its only benefit to files modified since 2001 is to disinfect Windows viruses.
And your Mac is actually working with this hog in your system? I guess the next step would be to install anti-space-aliens program then, since the space alien threat is just as real.
where can i find this anti-space aliens app.? google shows nothing.
Actually, wouldn't SETI kind of cancel an app like that out, especially if people are doing the distributed computing thing in their spare processor time? I don't think you will see that module in "Google Sky" just yet.
Back on topic: I am using ClamXAV, as my computer often touches Windows files. I don't know about system performance hits, I haven't really checked. But I am often moving stuff back and forth, so I do it just in case.
How would one even get a Windows virus on their computer? All Windows viruses are embedded in executable files, such as EXEs. And of course, EXEs don't run on a Mac. So why on earth would anyone have a bunch of EXEs on their Mac to begin with?
I suppose if you're running Windows on your Mac, you'd have some EXEs in your virtual machine/boot camp partition, but those won't affect your Mac (and in Windows, you should either run AV or use common sense....I choose the latter in my Parallels VM since I rarely ever go online with it, unless I'm testing a webpage I worked on in IE)
And, if for some reason, I did have a bunch of Windows EXEs infected with viruses on my Mac, big deal. The only thing they'd be doing is wasting hard drive space
If you had read my post, then you would know that Norton Antivirus cleans infected files that I may receive from Windows users. This eliminates any possibility that I will relay an infected file to another Windows user. Aluminum foil on the head provides sufficient protection against space aliens.
I don't run an anti virus on my mac and I'm just fine.
Mind you, I only have an anti-virus on my windows box 50% of the time. I'll install one now and again just to check, but it always comes up clean. I put it down to safe browsing. I've never had a virus.
Mind you, I only have an anti-virus on my windows box 50% of the time. I'll install one now and again just to check, but it always comes up clean. I put it down to safe browsing. I've never had a virus.
I would have known that even without having read your post - but thanks for pointing it out. I just think that voluntarily slowing down your own Mac for no reason other than to mend security holes inherent to Windows is a futile entreprize: Windows has more holes than even the fastest Mac can handle. It is Quixotic windmill fighting.
Now that you said it out loud, the space aliens will read this and come up with foil-piercing devices and all my defenses will crumble. What do I do now???
Still sounds like a waste of time, money, space, system resources, blah blah blah. Seriously, how often are you getting infected files on your Mac?
Interestingly enough I was asked to look at a Windows PC that was having some err... issues. I discovered that the machine in question had just been treated to an upgrade to the latest Norton suite - after which performance had turned to custard.
Lets just say there was another "convert" to the Apple way of doing things...
I'm not saying that there should never be AV software run on a Mac, but my experience with Norton over the last few years is that their "solution" errr... isn't one.
Lets just say there was another "convert" to the Apple way of doing things...
I'm not saying that there should never be AV software run on a Mac, but my experience with Norton over the last few years is that their "solution" errr... isn't one.
You are both right and I absolutely agree. The Unix platform is superior in numerous ways, but I believe that we have been mislead into a false sense of security and thats just my opinion....I might be wrong. If I am I will be the first to admit it.
One of my main concerns is not about getting a virus that crashes my system but the possibility of "private" or secure information being compromised. This may be more difficult to do on a Unix platform but still a real possibility. Perhaps I am being a bit overly concerned.... I guess time will tell. I respect your position on the issue and if it works for you thats what's important.
As for the cost of software, that is an individual decision. I do know that there are at least three free versions currently available and another three that cost from 30.00 to 80.00 with a year of updates. Again its a personal decision.
As for the effect on performance I tend to disagree with you and here's why. Up until a month ago I was a pc user, my last one was an HP Laptop, 3.4 GHz P4, 1 Gig ram and all the stuff that goes with it. Every AV I tried slowed it down (Norton was the slowest and the biggest resource hog) and believe me I tried everyone software available. I finally couldn't take it anymore ... I turned in my winloser software, PC and Microsh*t stuff.
I bought a MacBook Pro and will never touch another PC. My only regret is that I let a salesman talk me out of a Mac a year ago. Anyway, I decided to go with Intego's Virus Barrier. It does NOT degrade performance at all and is amazingly fast, at least 8 to 10 times faster that the best PC AV software. You can have both, good AV and no-compromise performance.
Proffessor
On an Windows machine, I run AVG free anti-virus software and it works pretty well, but obviously if you download the update every day and run the scan after that every day, it does sap a little something from the system. If you did the same thing on a Mac with VirusBarrier, I'm sure it would be just as bad but there are no daily updates, right? They're available monthly, even when a new Windows virus is available partway through the month.
I don't run anti-virus software on any Mac and I haven't bought any since Virex version 5 in 1998. I tried the version 6 beta but then, McAfee really didn't want to sell the finished product. Strange, that.
There are a couple of holes in Mac OS X and Apple has slowly been fixing things found in November 2006 and January 2007 but a couple of things linger.
The problem with what you're saying is that, strictly speaking, a virus needs no assistance and there is not much to exploit right now that doesn't need assistance to work. There are exploits out there and if someone is foolish enough to enter the administrator password to let them have full rein, they should be able to wreak havoc on that machine.
I don't have a false sense of security but I'm always looking for ways to keep things clean. There are people who believe that nothing will hurt Mac OS X and that's just not true.
Housecall - online free scan
I am a recent Mac convert - and was pleased to notice that Housecall (from Trend Micro) runs great on my MBP.
I scan individual files/folders as needed, and do a complete system scan every week or two... Have been operating like this as a windows (power) user for as long as I can remember. Never had any problem.
I like that there isn't much of a security threat on OS X, but since I use Fusion & Windows - but dl/surf in OS X, it is nice to be able to keep scanning with Housecall.
Free and available at Trend Micro (www.antivirus.com) if you like...
I am a recent Mac convert - and was pleased to notice that Housecall (from Trend Micro) runs great on my MBP.
I scan individual files/folders as needed, and do a complete system scan every week or two... Have been operating like this as a windows (power) user for as long as I can remember. Never had any problem.
I like that there isn't much of a security threat on OS X, but since I use Fusion & Windows - but dl/surf in OS X, it is nice to be able to keep scanning with Housecall.
Free and available at Trend Micro (www.antivirus.com) if you like...
You said it.
These threads are always a lose-lose discussion, based on no one ever proving anything. MOAB 15 appears to be the only thing out there. But I still fail to have any fear regarding it causing any widespread damage. Yes perhaps on an individual machine however it might get onto your computer, but I still stand by the faith that OS X is secure enough to not need Anti-Virus software.
Though I'd be interested in writing the first one for the notoriety. I'd call it the Slack-Worm and it would infect all of your files with my Avatar.
I know you and I have kinda had this discussion before, but how do you run this thing on a Mac? What is an SUID Bit and how common are these .rb files? I'm not familiar with them at all.
EDIT: Ok I read this and get the idea of what it does. But I still don't see how it gets onto a Mac.
http://rixstep.com/2/2/20070810,00.shtml