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Please explain "Trojan" to a newbie!

M

mooshoo

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 14, 2004
122
0
Well, actually, I sort of know what it is. But, since I'm not technically savvy, I need to know how to avoid this problem.

An example:
I was surfing the web (ahem, it was a freebie pron site), and once in a while the download pop-up page would come up, indicating that it was auto-downloading something (in this specific case, something called RAM.ram). Obviously I didn't open it; I deleted it immediatley. What I want to know is how to prevent the downloadinng from happening, unless I initiate it myself.

Thanks!
 
A Trojan is a program that is installed or copied to your computer undetected. Once installed (and mostly in the Windows world) that program will grant an unauthorized user access to your computer at some level.

A .ram file is a real audio stream, but its possible the file that automatically downloaded was trying to make use of an exploit in real player or something.

Either way, you made the right move by deleting it and not opening the file.

This is a much bigger problem in for PC users, but its always a good thing to know.
 
mooshoo said:
Well, actually, I sort of know what it is. But, since I'm not technically savvy, I need to know how to avoid this problem.

An example:
I was surfing the web (ahem, it was a freebie pron site), and once in a while the download pop-up page would come up, indicating that it was auto-downloading something (in this specific case, something called RAM.ram). Obviously I didn't open it; I deleted it immediatley. What I want to know is how to prevent the downloadinng from happening, unless I initiate it myself.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
A .ram file is a Real media file. In the last few weeks, there was a scare--unconfirmed in the wild--of applications that masquerade as media files. If such a file were a threat to MacOS X, this is what it would be. Since the scare, however, Apple has released patches to eliminate this already vanishingly small threat.

In general, a Trojan Horse is a malicious program that pretends to be something else. Usually the something else is something that you really want to use. The something else is usually something that you are not entitled to, as well.
 
Thanks for the help guys. Is there a way to toggle off the auto-download feature in OSX?
 
mooshoo said:
Thanks for the help guys. Is there a way to toggle off the auto-download feature in OSX?
Click to expand...
Umm dont click on them? ;)
Or install RealPlayer and use them
btw, wikipedia is always a great place to start:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_horse_(computing)
 
question fear said:
i was really hoping this was going to be a thread about the other kind of trojans....
i swear i heard "trojan man" as i clicked it...
-carly
Click to expand...
Well they do have that new TV commercial running.

"It heats up when you use it..." :rolleyes:

Of course the Darwin Awards site probably has a couple ways NOT to use Trojans.
 
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