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MBP - Potential for virus?
- Thread starter ajgrant
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The Mac OS isn't popular enough for there to be too many viruses , however , Windows 7 is quite popular so if you were running that you may have to worry. If you are using Windows , definitely get a good antivirus.
You can still get viruses on both operating systems but you have a lower chance if you are just using the Mac OS.
Some viruses can turn your computer on in certain cases but those seem to be rare.
You should realize that viruses are made by people and those people can gain access to your computer , banking info , etc. due to viruses or something similar. People tend to make viruses because they are selfish and want to benefit from unsuspecting people.
You don't have a virus. There are none for OSX, not because it's not popular, but because it's more secure.
Unless you installed a download from the site you're fine. There is malware out there, but it requires you to install it.
Macs are not immune to malware, but no true viruses exist in the wild that can run on Mac OS X, and there never have been any since it was released over 12 years ago. The only malware in the wild that can affect Mac OS X is a handful of trojans, which can be easily avoided by practicing safe computing (see below). 3rd party antivirus apps are not necessary to keep a Mac malware-free, as long as a user practices safe computing, as described in the following link.
Read the What security steps should I take? section of the Mac Virus/Malware FAQ for tips on practicing safe computing.The "marketshare myth" has been debunked countless times. It has nothing to do with OS X popularity, since earlier versions of the Mac OS had viruses, even though they had a much smaller market share and install base.
OS X can get viruses, but it doesn't, since none exist in the wild.
You don't have to write software for a living to be aware of the malware environment for OS X.
The market share of Mac OS X is very low right now so of course there isn't much motivation to make viruses for it. Most people write viruses for personal gain. If there aren't enough people using the Mac OS , why would someone waste their time when there is less to gain?
Read my previous post. The marketshare theory is nonsense. There are over 70 million OS X users, which is quite enough marketshare to attract malware writers. Your theory doesn't account for the fact that when the Mac OS had a much smaller market share that it does now, there were viruses and a lot more malware was in the wild. Since OS X was released over 12 years ago, the number of malware instances has been reduced to a handful of Trojans, and the number of viruses has decreased to zero. This is been discussed countless times in dozens of threads in this forum. I recommend you read a few of those to get up to speed on the facts.
On a Windows based PC , definitely don't click on things that look too good to be true.
You wouldn't believe how many people fall for the free viagra , lonely girls , etc. emails.
What? The "I earned $2000 in just a few hours on the computer" ads are fake? No way!
My Nigerian Uncle's lottery win will be real enough!
On the contrary, since Mac OS X has existed virus-free for 12 years there is huge incentive to be the person to write the world's first virus for it. Still, no one has done it.
I go to erotic sites every night with my MBA and had NEVER had a virus attack and if it did, it's some exe files masquerading as PDF that would never execute on Mac OS X. If I use Windoze, I would've had all my identity and money stolen a long time ago!
the email attacks tend to try to get you to run a .exe file, which goes nowhere on osx since windows executables don't run under osx.