General Mac hardware discussions: Anti-virus
Anti-virus
by big mig - 10/18/06 10:58 AMI have a new MacBook and am wondering if I should invest in anti-virus software. I don't have XP but I do have Office for Mac. The reason I'm asking is that I have just brought back a virus from school and contaminated my old PC.
At the risk of getting flamed,
by mrmacfixit
- 10/18/06 12:13 PM
In reply to: Anti-virus by big mig
There are currently no viruses in the wild for Mac OS X. None. Note that I said currently. Six years and counting.
However, if you want to prevent yourself from forwarding Windows viruses that you receive by email from other Windows using peopel, you can get the FREE ClamXav AV software for OS X. Just Google for it.
BTW, this conversation usually ends up with a whole bunch of people claiming the opposite. 
P
Dude what about the iChat virus?
by shahrokhan - 11/6/06 4:56 AM In reply to: At the risk of getting flamed, by mrmacfixit
I heard theres an iChat virus and another one which I heard about on CNET itself(Not the forums but from the editors themselves).
I fully support Mac even though I haven't used them.
I support them because of what I have heard about them and mostly because anything would be better than Windows.lol
Once again
by mrmacfixit - 11/6/06 8:27 AM
In reply to: Dude what about the iChat virus? by shahrokhan
there are NO viruses in the wild that affect OS X.
That includes the iChat thing that was never a virus and the current scam called OSX/Macarena. Proof of concept happens inside a lab and NOT in real world scenario's and usually means that the computer is not patched, has out of date software and a Root password with only one letter.
No system is bullet proof some systems are more bullet proof than others.
Note how Vista production slipped because they found another hole! How many have they missed.
P
as in "late AGAIN!"
by boya84 - 11/6/06 1:54 PM In reply to: Once again by mrmacfixit
"Note how Vista production slipped because they found another hole! How many have they missed."
It depends where you start counting. I sure hope everyone realizes that Vista is now 4-5 YEARS late. Just because MS says "it is shipping on time" does not mean it is the first time they have scheduled it. That said, it really does look like this year-end (corporate) and early next year ship (consumer) schedule will stick.
So, if you go back to the ORIGINAL ship date, I have lost count of the number of holes that have been identified. Even more amazingly, there are already viruses (several of which have been around for a few months) in the wild waiting for Vista - and the production release of this OS is still months away.
no need for anti virus
by benzslrpee - 11/10/06 10:59 AM In reply to: Anti-virus by big migfor your Mac you don't need anti-virus software...if you really want to i guess you can try the Norton Antivirus stuff but the feed back on it ain't so great.
another option i kinda like is a program called clamxav. it's free, nothing fancy, and it works well. other than that i suppose you could always install/update the anti-virus software on your pc?
Anti-Virus Information for MAC
by SIRKGM14vg - 11/13/06 6:07 AM In reply to: Anti-virus by big migHi,
I'm here to answer your question directly.
There are several Anti-Virus software applications avaliable for OSX. Symantec the publishers of Norton have a non-branded version of their Virus Protection software that runs on 10.3 however not on 10.4 as of yet.
I strongly suggest not using Anti-Virus software as OS X (10.4.7) has many security features which allow applications not to install/execute without adminstrator permission.
In response to question about viruses from your PC being transfer to MAC, this is impossible considering most PC viruses are in binaries rather .EXE which DO NOT execute (excuse my pun) in OS X, rendering them useless!
Safe Computing!
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