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virus programs
- Thread starter AudiGuy
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Apple do not ship computers with pre-installed viruses. They are not negligent! They also do not ship with pre-installed anti-virus software. As there are no known viruses that target OSX anti-virus software is mostly unneeded. All the anti-virus packages for OSX seem to have a raft of people who hate them!
AudiGuy said:
PC world..huh!
Look in Apple's web site for one. If you can't find it, you don't need it.
Macaffee had a virus app that came with .Mac but the current version is not compatible with 10.4.2.
Whatever you do, do not use Norton!!
I have been using Macs every day of my life since 1984. The last Mac virus I saw was probably in about 1989. Agree with Yenko, stay far, far away from Norton. If you need a disk utility (you generally don't really need to defrag OS X hard drives, either), I would recommend TechTool Pro or DiskWarrior.
EDIT: Now that I think about it, I think I did get a virus in 1993, when I was on AOL ... but still ... it hasn't been a problem for me in years.
EDIT: Now that I think about it, I think I did get a virus in 1993, when I was on AOL
... but still ... it hasn't been a problem for me in years.
Your machine will not be affected by any Windows virus and ZERO have been
successfully written to exploit Mac OS X. ZERO!
If you have lots of P/C friends or your job requires you to have some
kind of anti-virus protection, then you can prevent a virus from passing through your machine to theirs by installing something like ClamXav. (freeware)
I'm still using the older 7.2 Version of McAfee Virex and have never once found a virus in 7 years. Unfortunately Virex 7.5 is a bad CPU hog and that's why Apple does not recommend Virex 7.5
Norton's is absolutely the worst.
The most important thing you can do to protect your machine is to avoid
questionable downloads from unknown sources, incuding most P2P networks.
There IS a proof of concept "sudo" trojan that can piggyback onto another
file, then launch when the user enters their administrator password to install a program.
The risk of this can be greatly reduced by setting up a secondary SuperUser
account for all your normal daily functions, but preventing any software installs. All software installations should be limited to your primary administrative account.
It's not necessary for you to buy anti-virus software to protect your machine, but it can't hurt to have a program installed to catch something someone else sends you from passing on to someone else.
I never accept or open multiple address forwarded e-mails and politely tell
the sender that they will not be accepted.
I hope this answers your question.
successfully written to exploit Mac OS X. ZERO!
If you have lots of P/C friends or your job requires you to have some
kind of anti-virus protection, then you can prevent a virus from passing through your machine to theirs by installing something like ClamXav. (freeware)
I'm still using the older 7.2 Version of McAfee Virex and have never once found a virus in 7 years. Unfortunately Virex 7.5 is a bad CPU hog and that's why Apple does not recommend Virex 7.5
Norton's is absolutely the worst.
The most important thing you can do to protect your machine is to avoid
questionable downloads from unknown sources, incuding most P2P networks.
There IS a proof of concept "sudo" trojan that can piggyback onto another
file, then launch when the user enters their administrator password to install a program.
The risk of this can be greatly reduced by setting up a secondary SuperUser
account for all your normal daily functions, but preventing any software installs. All software installations should be limited to your primary administrative account.
It's not necessary for you to buy anti-virus software to protect your machine, but it can't hurt to have a program installed to catch something someone else sends you from passing on to someone else.
I never accept or open multiple address forwarded e-mails and politely tell
the sender that they will not be accepted.
I hope this answers your question.