Mac Newbie Question

[bigdb11]

I have a fairly new Unibody and was wondering if it is possible to get viruses on the Mac from downloading music online - such as through megaupload, rapidshare, or zshare? Thanks.

 

[TEG]

Odds are low (<10%). But it is always a good idea to be careful.

TEG

 

[txhockey9404]

While there are no "viruses" for Mac OS X, there are Trojans. A trojan requires your authentication to install itself, and will usually disguise itself as something else. So, just be careful not to install any software that you don't recognize, don't open anything other than .mp3 or other music files, and you should be good. Note that any Windows viruses you download will not affect your mac.

 

[bigdb11]

While there are no "viruses" for Mac OS X, there are Trojans. A trojan requires your authentication to install itself, and will usually disguise itself as something else. So, just be careful not to install any software that you don't recognize, don't open anything other than .mp3 or other music files, and you should be good. Note that any Windows viruses you download will not affect your mac.

So, pretty much from mp3s its impossible to get a trojan?

 

[ViciousShadow21]

So, pretty much from mp3s its impossible to get a trojan?

exactly. just dont run suspicious files that are executable. called .exe in window or .rar in os x that come with the mp3's if there are any.

 

[clyde2801]

[and will usually disguise itself as something else}

If it can disguise itself as something else, it stands to reason that a trojan can masquerade as an mp3, doesn't it?

I don't want to come off as judgmental or anything, but if you can spend >$2K on a computer, can't you pop $.99 for music? Especially when it may damage the computer?

 

[ViciousShadow21]

it cannot actually disguise its self as an mp3. the computer knows what it is. if you right click it and click more info it cant say its an mp3 when its a .rar for example.

 

[m85476585]

You could install ClamXav to scan files you download, but also follow the precautions everyone else mentioned. Don't rely on the AV software since it might not catch the latest viruses. ClamXav will also find Windows viruses in the stuff you download, which is good if you want to share the files with a Windows computer, but Windows viruses will not run on OS X (except maybe MS Word macro viruses).

edit: can anyone confirm that ClamXav will find Mac trojans like the iWork'09 trojan? I wouldn't want anyone to get a false sense of security using it.