dont you have to give permission to run a virus containing program? If you have common sense there is no virus risk. But that seems to be lacking these days so...more power to you. Enjoy bogging down your computer.
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I just installed Norton Antivirus for my Mac.
- Thread starter Boesky
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Agreed. Ironically the programs that I have experienced turn Windows systems into a slow mess have always been antivirus programs, not malware. My work computer takes forever to start because of the damn F-Secure antivirus.
At home I don't use antivirus on OSX or Windows 7. Both are more secure than XP to begin with but I also use that common sense approach. It's no longer like it was back in the late 90s where every shareware program came with spyware and viruses were rampant. With modern operating systems (no, that does not include XP) you have to generally approve any malware to install in the first place. I haven't run an antivirus since I started using Vista (and now Win7) and have had zero viruses.
I would have suggested that if you do use an AV on mac NOT to use Norton.
Norton and Symantec (same company) are TERRIBLE at finding viruses and removing them. Anyone who says otherwise has never worked in IT.
Not only will Symantec/Norton not find lots of viruses on a machine, but even if it sees it it may not do anything about it just like the computer on my desk right now at work. The virus is found, but not removed cause "windows wont let it be removed" meaning I have to caddy out the drive, stick it in linux and delete the stupid file.
This is not a one time occurance either it happens all the time with Norton and Symantec. Utter complete garbage. Your better off going with free AV software it will find much more.
Norton and Symantec (same company) are TERRIBLE at finding viruses and removing them. Anyone who says otherwise has never worked in IT.
Not only will Symantec/Norton not find lots of viruses on a machine, but even if it sees it it may not do anything about it just like the computer on my desk right now at work. The virus is found, but not removed cause "windows wont let it be removed" meaning I have to caddy out the drive, stick it in linux and delete the stupid file.
This is not a one time occurance either it happens all the time with Norton and Symantec. Utter complete garbage. Your better off going with free AV software it will find much more.
Just throwing in my "Don't use Norton" message.
Anti-Virus is a good idea if you're communicating with Windows computers as you may otherwise, inadvertently, pass on infected Office documents etc to other Windows users.
Anything made by Symantec would get vetoed by me, though. Try and find something a bit more lightweight.
I, personally, don't use AV on my Macs.
Anti-Virus is a good idea if you're communicating with Windows computers as you may otherwise, inadvertently, pass on infected Office documents etc to other Windows users.
Anything made by Symantec would get vetoed by me, though. Try and find something a bit more lightweight.
I, personally, don't use AV on my Macs.
I second this. For the record, I've been using Macs for many years and I've yet to have an virus attack and all my systems are online 24/7.
But that doesn't mean it's a bad idea to have some anti-virus installed - kinda useful if your sharing your network with a windows box....but most of us don't - though I can only speak for myself
I bought an iBook G4 about 4 years ago through the UK's home computing initiative. It came with Norton AV, so I installed it.
During the 4 years, the logs showed only one file that was quaratined. It was a word document with suspected viral vbasic script in it.
I found that it really slowed the iBook down. Especially in recent time when trying to view content on the internet, such as the BBC iPlayer, coded at high bitrates.
I also believe it helped to kill the battery on the iBook as the extra processing shortened usable time on a battery, making me do more re-charge cycles than I would have done otherwise.
I now have a MBP, and have not installed any AV protection. I do however have the firewall in my router enabled to stop port scans, etc.
The flip side, is that although there are only 70 known viruses for the Mac versus a few million for the PC, the increasing popularity of the Mac will result in an increase in people writing viruses for the Mac, so maybe a future issue!!
Phil
During the 4 years, the logs showed only one file that was quaratined. It was a word document with suspected viral vbasic script in it.
I found that it really slowed the iBook down. Especially in recent time when trying to view content on the internet, such as the BBC iPlayer, coded at high bitrates.
I also believe it helped to kill the battery on the iBook as the extra processing shortened usable time on a battery, making me do more re-charge cycles than I would have done otherwise.
I now have a MBP, and have not installed any AV protection. I do however have the firewall in my router enabled to stop port scans, etc.
The flip side, is that although there are only 70 known viruses for the Mac versus a few million for the PC, the increasing popularity of the Mac will result in an increase in people writing viruses for the Mac, so maybe a future issue!!
Phil
So if this was installed this on your mac you wouldn't care? Stealthy != no impact. Stealthy means it simply doesn't alert the user as to what it is doing (ie: stealing your information - keystrokes, passwords, etc).
I suppose you are expecting those hollywood movie type viruses with a big skull and crossbones on your screen to let you know something bad is happening (lol). The point should be taken that security through blind ignorance is not security.
i find the topic of Norton very hilarious. you have installed it to save your computer from getting viruses, but in doing so you have installed a virus onto your computer all by yourself!!
it doesnt matter if its windows or mac, Norton is one big massive virus.
its great that you care for the protection of your Mac, but in ALL honesty - there are none for mac (and if there was one for Mac Norton would hardly find it quick enough). all Norton does is searches your files for PC viruses and quarantines them so that they cannot be transferred onto a PC and infect it. quite frankly i dont care if PC users get viruses, thats what they get for using windows without protection
it doesnt matter if its windows or mac, Norton is one big massive virus.
its great that you care for the protection of your Mac, but in ALL honesty - there are none for mac (and if there was one for Mac Norton would hardly find it quick enough). all Norton does is searches your files for PC viruses and quarantines them so that they cannot be transferred onto a PC and infect it. quite frankly i dont care if PC users get viruses, thats what they get for using windows without protection
1. In my experience, Norton/Symantec Anti-Virus is the WORST anti-virus software you can purchase - it slows down any machine to a crawl. On Windows, I'd recommend ESET NOD32 (best cost/performance ratio). I don't have an anti-virus software installed on OS X, so I cannot recommend one.
2. You actually only need an anti-virus software on the Mac when you exchange a lot of files with Windows users. And you don't necessarily need that anti-virus software to protect yourself, but only to protect your peers.
3. OS X is relatively safe as long as you keep it up to date and as long as you do not install any illegal software (I'm referring to those illegal iWork 09 versions that were infected with malware). However, with an increasing market share of OS X you can also expect more attention from the malware authors. OS X is a Unix and thus quite robust by nature, but Apple fixes known security holes only slowly and the complexity of Unix alone makes it impossible to keep it 100% secure.
*facepalm*
ClamXAV would be the perfect choice. Intego Virusbarrier is also great (protects USB devices as well).
ClamXAV would be the perfect choice. Intego Virusbarrier is also great (protects USB devices as well).
Yep. When I worked in IT the only use we had for Norton Antivirus for Mac was stripping Word docs of the Word macro virus, just so the documents wouldn't get opened on a PC and cause trouble...
It would only find about half the documents. I had a document that I knew was infected and it did nothing.
And it never finds anything that comes in over email. Especially if you use Entourage.
You'd be better off putting your money in a pile and burning it than you would be buying Norton Antivirus.
IN MY EXPERIENCE....
Norton IS a virus that slows my computer to all hell and removes money from my bank account.
Norton IS a virus that slows my computer to all hell and removes money from my bank account.
Norton sucks, even on PC, I hate Norton it's just chugs on your system. There's no need for a virus program on your Mac.
On my Windows machines, I run AVG Free. It's good enough and it doesn't hog all of the resources.
Regarding AV software required to access a network, I actually agree with the IT department in requiring one, but not necessarily a specific program. While a virus may not infect your computer, it might be possible that you pass along a file that contains a virus such as a word document with a malicious macro, a shared mp3 file, or video game or even a **ahem** video/picture. Having an antivirus will not add any protection to your machine, but it's being a good steward of the network of which you're allowed to use.
That said, we use McAfee here at work, and it is equally crappy. Takes 100+ MB of RAM for a scan, during every startup. Of course, that's the worst time to do a scan because I'm actually trying to load real programs so I can, you know, work.
Regarding AV software required to access a network, I actually agree with the IT department in requiring one, but not necessarily a specific program. While a virus may not infect your computer, it might be possible that you pass along a file that contains a virus such as a word document with a malicious macro, a shared mp3 file, or video game or even a **ahem** video/picture. Having an antivirus will not add any protection to your machine, but it's being a good steward of the network of which you're allowed to use.
That said, we use McAfee here at work, and it is equally crappy. Takes 100+ MB of RAM for a scan, during every startup. Of course, that's the worst time to do a scan because I'm actually trying to load real programs so I can, you know, work.
I've used Macs for over fifteen years. Back when I used my 266 MHz PowerMac G3, I had Norton installed, but it slowed the system down badly enough that I turned it off and ran it manually twice a year instead. I've still never gotten a virus even with, for all intents and purposes, no antivirus software. On OS X, I've never installed an anti-virus program and don't intend to for quite some time.
To whoever said it's like a wearing a raincoat in the shower: I think it's more like a wearing a raincoat in the desert during the dry season. Completely pointless.
To whoever said it's like a wearing a raincoat in the shower: I think it's more like a wearing a raincoat in the desert during the dry season. Completely pointless.
You do realize that this isn't truly a virus, right? It's a HARDWARE exploit hack.
Just because I've never contracted virus on a Mac, it shouldn't make you angry.
Perhaps not. Perhaps s/he missed it. To reiterate, the original claim was, there are >1 virus on Macs today, and some are stealthy. The counter to that was a request to document any of these claimed viruses. To date, true viruses which can infect Macs total zero -- unless some documentation can be shown.
Or, yeah, troll.
i have seen "viruses"* for macs before on my very computer. it automatically downloaded itself from a website.
what i havent seen are "worms"**, i think that is what you are trying to argue here
*using the proper term, a virus needs user interaction to be installed.
** using the proper term, a worm needs no interaction from the user to be installed.
i have seen "viruses"* for macs before on my very computer. it automatically downloaded itself from a website.
what i havent seen are "worms"**, i think that is what you are trying to argue here
*using the proper term, a virus needs user interaction to be installed.
** using the proper term, a worm needs no interaction from the user to be installed.
I'm not sure I can go along with that interpretation -- A virus, in order to be a virus, must traverse from computer to computer -- and a worm does the same thing, but directly, without intervention or carrier (email message, etc).
What did you manage to download, and what did it do (he asks curiously)?
It's a fine hair to split, and we're playing semantics. Point being, pending receiving further light and knowledge, I stand pat - there are no true viruses (or worms) as of yet. That's not to say there's not malware, disguising itself as one thing while it is really evil.