Apple drops Virex from .Mac

[amac4me]

Hey all, with the release of .Mac 3.0 today Apple has dropped Virex. The interesting thing is that they no longer list Virex as a feature of .Mac

Just go the homepage of .Mac and you'll see what I mean: www.mac.com
You can even verify this by logging in, Virex is no longer listed.

I wonder why they haven't notified any of their .Mac subscribers ...

 

[TigerPRO]

Finally

It's about time. Selling virus software for the Mac is like advertising AOL dial-up to SBC broadband users. Ok, so my analogy isn't perfect; nobody deserves to be spammed by AOL. But point is the same.

 

[kaltsasa]

Virex is still avalable for me under .mac Member Central, I think they are just not promoting it as this great valuable asset with .mac anymore. I don't think they are just going to drop it. I know in my case it has picked up on a couple viruses that have been forwarded to me that I probebly would have passed on to someone else had it not been there. So even if it doesn't protect me it protects me from passing on a virus(though i very rarely pass on forwarded messages).

***UPDATE***

While it is listed, attempts to download it fail, saying it can't find the page. Mabye they are dropping it. Would be somewhat of a shame, at least it gave the illusion of it being worth my 99 bucks to keep my precious .mac email address. If they drop it they better come back with something decent added in.

 

[daveL]

Virex isn't compatible with Tiger. If they continue distributing it, guess what's going to happen?

 

[amac4me]

Apple didn't inform us

Virex isn't compatible with Tiger. If they continue distributing it, guess what's going to happen?

Well, I think it's a failure on Apple's part to inform their customers that they dropped support for Virex. If it's not supported on Tiger than I would rather not have it but failing to inform us is a mistake on Apple's part

 

[kaltsasa]

I would hope they would release an update to make it Tiger compatable then. Or inform me that a feature that was touted as one of the major benifits to .mac when I signed up is now defunct. But since it is listed on the .mac Member Central page, mabye they are just biding their time until a 10.4 compatable update can be made avalable.

 

[yellow]

I suspect Virex 8 (currently in beta) will work on Tiger and we will see a return of it to .Mac.

 

[TigerPRO]

I know in my case it has picked up on a couple viruses that have been forwarded to me that I probebly would have passed on to someone else had it not been there. So even if it doesn't protect me it protects me from passing on a virus(though I very rarely pass on forwarded messages).

That's why there's a whole minatory of anti-virus software for the PC. Let them use it.

 

[Pismo]

Virex is the most worthless and useless app for OS X. It's like buying flood insurance in Death Valley.

 

[amac4me]

Exactly!

I would hope they would release an update to make it Tiger compatable then. Or inform me that a feature that was touted as one of the major benifits to .mac when I signed up is now defunct.

Yeah, I totally agree. I hope they put out some news about what they plan on doing with Virex or any other anti-virus program. We'll have to wait and see.

 

[daveL]

Well, I think it's a failure on Apple's part to inform their customers that they dropped support for Virex. If it's not supported on Tiger than I would rather not have it but failing to inform us is a mistake on Apple's part

I don't really understand your point. If you are a current .Mac subscriber, and you need Virex, you should have it, no? What's the problem? Apple doesn't "support" Virex, Virex does and will continue to do so, at least as far the virus database goes.

How can Apple continue to tout Virex as a .Mac feature if it doesn't run on Tiger? If you are running Tiger, then you'd be pissed about that, wouldn't you?

 

[SpaceMagic]

Virex is the most worthless and useless app for OS X. It's like buying flood insurance in Death Valley.

Ahh.. but with global warming and freak el ninio events, you never know what could happen in death valley. Analogise this to computers... and well, you've got a problem.


Btw, I don't have .Mac nor do I want it or Virex.

 

[kaltsasa]

While it's usefulness may be arguable(not really If it is no more, let the onslaught of viruses commence The fact that Apple would just drop it with out the slightest communication to its customers is not a pleasant thought. Personally if they want to drop Virex, go for it, but why not make their own app based on clamAV. I mean the majority of the work is already done for them anyway. And having the app pads their .mac resume too. It's arguable that it is worth $99(I don't think it is but I didn't want to give up my .mac email so as a true tool I fork over my poor student pittence and survive off of ramen noodles by the light of my monitor)

 

[kaltsasa]

OFF TOPIC

Ahh.. but with global warming and freak el ninio events, you never know what could happen in death valley. Analogise this to computers... and well, you've got a problem.


Btw, I don't have .Mac nor do I want it or Virex.

***OFF TOPIC***
I just got out of a conservation class not 30 minutes ago where we just had a detailed discussion of both El Nino and Global Warming.
***END OFF TOPIC***

 

[amac4me]

I don't really understand your point. If you are a current .Mac subscriber, and you need Virex, you should have it, no? What's the problem? Apple doesn't "support" Virex, Virex does and will continue to do so, at least as far the virus database goes.

How can Apple continue to tout Virex as a .Mac feature if it doesn't run on Tiger? If you are running Tiger, then you'd be pissed about that, wouldn't you?

Dave ... think about it for a moment. You have to realize that on prior versions of .Mac Apple always touted Virex and it's benefits. Now with the release of 3.0 they remove it but make no mention of it. Don't get me wrong, it's probably a good thing that they took it off .Mac because of it's problems with Tiger (at least that what we are led to believe considering that they made no mention why they removed it). I wouldn't want a program running on my system that wasn't compatible with the OS. However, failing to inform PAYING customers that a once highly touted feature has been removed is nonsense. At least Apple should have let people know, that's all I'm trying to say.

Imagine this ... you take your car in for an oil change and the dealer says we now offer a new oil change service with the "latest and greatest - upgraded oil". But when you take your car home you realize that they failed to put in an oil filter. When you ask them where the oil filter is they say ... that's not ncluded in the new upgraded service.

This is exactly what Apple has done with .Mac

 

[WildCowboy]

Virex is the most worthless and useless app for OS X. It's like buying flood insurance in Death Valley.

Going off-topic again here, but many of the roads in Death Valley have been closed for months due to flood damage, and parts of the valley have been underwater within the last several months (Badwater expanded to a 5-mile wide lake complete with kayakers), although it is drying up now. So yes, flood insurance would be of use in Death Valley.

But I will agree with your first statement.

 

[TigerPRO]

magine this ... you take your car in for an oil change and the dealer says we now offer a new oil change service with the "latest and greatest - upgraded oil". But when you take your car home you realize that they failed to put in an oil filter. When you ask them where the oil filter is they say ... that's not ncluded in the new upgraded service.

This is exactly what Apple has done with .Mac

Well, not "exactly" as you have put it. Because if you follow through with that illustration, then you have to consider that you are already using a hybrid car that has no need for an oil filter. The engine is perfectly sealed off and immune to foreign particles. So while the oild change service place failed to mention that the "newly upgraded service" doesn't include an oil filter, they also forgot to tell you that the "newly upgraded service" actually voids the very need for it in the first place.

 

[TigerPRO]

Going off-topic again here, but many of the roads in Death Valley have been closed for months due to flood damage, and parts of the valley have been underwater within the last several months (Badwater expanded to a 5-mile wide lake complete with kayakers), although it is drying up now. So yes, flood insurance would be of use in Death Valley.

But I will agree with your first statement.

LOL. I think my AOL analogy holds up a little better then. Although at first I actually thought yours was way more funny; but not if this is the case. heh

 

[h0e0h]

here is a shot from the member's area on mac.com

(notice bottom right corner)

My only question though, if Tiger was in development for so long... and announced 2 weeks before it shipped... then wansn't there ample time to port the app to support tiger?

 

[yellow]

My only question though, if Tiger was in development for so long... and announced 2 weeks before it shipped... then wansn't there ample time to port the app to support tiger?

Dunno, ask Cisco about their VPN client!

 

[DJY]

I noticed that they have redone the Virex page in .Mac.

We already knew that 7.5 is not Tiger compatible...
but it seems that 7.2 is!

Anyone reinstalled 7.2?

 

[yellow]

Anyone reinstalled 7.2?

I never uninstalled it, and it works just fine.

 

[DavidCar]

I noticed that they have redone the Virex page in .Mac.

We already knew that 7.5 is not Tiger compatible...
but it seems that 7.2 is!

Anyone reinstalled 7.2?

I went to Apple then .Mac, but I cannot quickly find the Virex page.

BTW, this was just noted on Ars, from the .Mac support page:

".Mac will be undergoing scheduled maintenance from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM PST on Monday, June 6th. During this time iDisk will be intermittently unavailable. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Last Updated: 6/03/2005"

 

[DJY]

I went to Apple then .Mac, but I cannot quickly find the Virex page.

Log in to .Mac
go to Member Central and then click on the Virex link under the "Explore" or Sync column of links on the bottom right side of the page.

 

[SteveC]

Well, I think it's a failure on Apple's part to inform their customers that they dropped support for Virex. If it's not supported on Tiger than I would rather not have it but failing to inform us is a mistake on Apple's part

"A failure on Apple's part"? You're getting a bit excited over nothing... lol. Who needs virus software on a Mac? Think about it. Virus protection on PCs is an "insurance policy" against terrible things that can happen to a Windows-based computer. Virus protection on a Mac is not needed. It's available because former PC users or rookie switchers will buy it because they think they need it. It's not even worth the HD space the app takes up.