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You can protect yourself from stuff like this by running all users (including yourself) as limited users. Then using a full administrative account only to administer the machine.

Just run a system scan at the end of the day once a week and you will be all set.

I don't like the idea of running a limited account. I'm sure it is safer, but I'd rather just run the administrative account.

I do run a system scan every week. I guess it's all I need to do, at the moment.
 
Jaygee,

Why dont you like running limited? OS x gives you the opportunity to do any task you want, you just need to enter the admin password to do it. Its no hassle at all.

Much less hassle then running XP as a limited user.

Don
p.s Please reply WHY?
 
then you wouldn't know if you had a virus ever if you never used antivirus. BUNK!

i went away one weekend and left only AIM running, with a firewall turned on, on my xp machine. Before i left, i had a clean machine, when i came back, i had a virus alert from mcafee enterprise. i use plenty of common sense and the computer was behind a locked dorm room.

all windows computers have had viruses no matter how good a computer user anyone is.

I'm sorry, but that's just flat out wrong. Sure you may have gotten a virus on XP in that situation, however if you did your version of XP was NOT updated. Since there have only been a very small handful of viruses that spread with no users intervention on Windows (dating back to even windows 95). And the few that attacked XP all came out AFTER the patch was released. And any new install of XP since SP1 on will have that patch, so all new Dells and such are, and have been, protected.

Now I'm not an advocate of not running an A/V on windows, I think it's irresponsible and ignorant. However I haven't had a virus on windows in over 10 years because I practice good habits (like not opening attachments) and I keep my system up to date. Common sense things. So you're statement of " all windows computers have had viruses no matter how good a computer user anyone is." Is completely wrong.

To the users saying OS X can't get a virus, or trojan, or malware because it's UNIX... sorry but that's completely false too. As I just mentioned most viruses don't spread with zero user interaction on Windows (two or three in the past 8 years, all using nearly the same exploit). So the fact that windows security is junk, and OS X's is far better really doesn't play that large of a factor. What it does is limits (to a possibly large extent) the impact a piece of malware may have on the system, but that's about it. If OS X was targeted far more, and users showed the same irresponsible habits that windows users show (e.g. opening attachments) then it will spread just as easily on OS X as it would on Windows. And working in an environment of 600+ users running macs, they open attachments exactly the same as windows users do.
 
I ran ClamXav for the first time last night and it found three things (can't recall if they were trojans or what right now), all of which were in my VMWare XP files.
 
Its really simple Do Not install anything that you won't find a long term use for.

I'm a new mac owner myself, and for the most part I have only installed software that is from apple's download section or I know of other people using the software and have no issues with the app.
 
I run AV because I often exchange files with windows machines. If I were to be an unwitting host to something I'd prefer to know about it so that I don't pass stuff onto others.

If this is not a problem for you and you are sensible then you should be ok. MacScan can help you out if you think you may have inadvertently installed a trojan or been infected with malware.
 
Why? if there dumb enough to not have a AV installed then they shouldn't be using a computer in the first place

True, but at the same time you have users who will shut off their AV for various reasons... sometimes agaisnt the true administrators wishes. So, while the user may deserve to get a virus for being an idiot, sometimes the innocent will get punished by having to clean up (or deal with) the aftermath. Be in a Sys Admin, or an ISP.
 
Why? if there dumb enough to not have a AV installed then they shouldn't be using a computer in the first place

Although I am computer savvy, I recognise that not everyone is that way inclined.

By the way, it's "they're" not "there". If there dumb enough to use the English language... ;)
 
Although I am computer savvy, I recognise that not everyone is that way inclined.

By the way, it's "they're" not "there". If there dumb enough to use the English language... ;)

No need for insults mate one typo makes me dumb ?, I teach IT so 99.9% of the people i deal with on a daily basis are professionals so i would expect them to have a AV installed that is why i made my comment.I cannot speak for your average joe user but with all the info on the internet about security threats i would imagine 99.9% are aware of the fact
 
I know there is a javascript exploit the can be ran by just loading a page in firefox that will destroy an unpatched intel mac.
 
No need for insults mate one typo makes me dumb ?, I teach IT so 99.9% of the people i deal with on a daily basis are professionals so i would expect them to have a AV installed that is why i made my comment.I cannot speak for your average joe user but with all the info on the internet about security threats i would imagine 99.9% are aware of the fact

As theyellowdart already pointed out, my intention was not to insult. The point I was trying to make was that not everyone is computer savvy, and just because someone isn't computer savvy, it doesn't necessarily mean that they're dumb! Using computer literacy as a basis to determine a persons intelligence level is dumb and arrogant IMO.

And, whilst there is a boatload of information available on the Internet, not everyone knows how to access that information. That's why I tend not to assume so much.

Software cannot destroy hardware.

According to these guys it can...

Also, been thinking about this. What happens if I suffer a power-cut during a firmware update on my iMac? DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR COMPUTER... Anyone got any experience of this?
 
As theyellowdart already pointed out, my intention was not to insult. The point I was trying to make was that not everyone is computer savvy, and just because someone isn't computer savvy, it doesn't necessarily mean that they're dumb! Using computer literacy as a basis to determine a persons intelligence level is dumb and arrogant IMO.

And, whilst there is a boatload of information available on the Internet, not everyone knows how to access that information. That's why I tend not to assume so much.

Yep my bad & I'm sorry,but it was early in the morning when i posted my comment, I'm not saying using a persons computer literacy is a gauge to determine if they are dumb or not ,maybe in my original post i should have mentioned the fact i deal with professionals who should know better and maybe should have worded things differently,like i said sorry

As for joe bloggs i still think that their is enough info not to have security if your a windows user ( god forgive & help them ) you have only got to buy a PC these days from a retailer and not have security shoved in your face at point of sale. Even if you buy online you often get something like " the person who bought this item also looked at these items or words to that effect"

Not only that when you install windows you have it's security centre flashing warnings at you every two seconds stating you don't have a AV installed or it's turned off
 
The article you quoted was not relevant. It referred to computer-controlled turbines, not computer hardware.

Correct - interesting reading though. What about the other point about firmware? It'd be interesting to see what damage it could do?
 
Correct - interesting reading though. What about the other point about firmware? It'd be interesting to see what damage it could do?

Even corrupting firmware by a power loss would not physically damage hardware. Firmware is still software. The device could be re-programmed and used.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brick_(electronics)

Thought I'd throw this into the discussion whilst I was thinking about it.

I don't know why you're wasting the time to pursue this, especially since it has nothing to do with the thread discussion. If you take the time to read the original posts:

I know there is a javascript exploit the can be ran by just loading a page in firefox that will destroy an unpatched intel mac.

Software cannot destroy hardware.

Bricking a device is NOT causing physical damage. Just because the software doesn't run on the hardware doesn't mean the hardware is "destroyed". Also, the original reference was to an Intel Mac and to Mac OS X viruses, which has nothing to do with a turbine or iPhone or gaming device.
 
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