|
Welcome to the International Skeptics Forum, where we discuss skepticism, critical thinking, the paranormal and science in a friendly but lively way. You are currently viewing the forum as a guest, which means you are missing out on discussing matters that are of interest to you. Please consider registering so you can gain full use of the forum features and interact with other Members. Registration is simple, fast and free! Click here to register today. |
7th February 2013, 05:06 PM | #1 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 5,519
|
I bought a mac, now do I need to buy virus protection?
I bought a mac and now I feel cool. Everything is the same as my old computer but in a different place. Wow, MAC in JREF has spell checker, now I know why all you mac users sound so smart. Anyways, do I need to plunk down some money for a virus program? Why, or why not? Is there anything I need to change on my system to make it more secure? I got a good price on it on EBAY because she had a bad picture. The thing is perfect! Another thing about a mac, is that there are a million ways to spend money right from the desktop. It kind of has a rich persons toy feel to it. I called apple care with a simple question and they kind of hinted that wanted some money, but they eventually answered the question. They did get some info about me and the system though.
|
7th February 2013, 05:14 PM | #2 |
Confusion Reactor
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 25,141
|
|
7th February 2013, 05:55 PM | #3 |
Gatekeeper of The Left
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: The Universe 35.2 ms ahead of this one.
Posts: 37,538
|
|
__________________
For what doth it profit a man, to fix one bug, but crash the system? |
|
7th February 2013, 06:02 PM | #4 |
Observer of Phenomena
Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Ngunnawal Country
Posts: 87,214
|
Yes. Sophos quarantined another virus on my Mac just today. Mac viruses aren't as common as Windows ones, but they still exist and you should still be protected from them.
|
__________________
So take that quantum equation and recalculate the wave by a factor of hoopty doo! The answer is not my problem, it's yours. Three Word Story Wisdom |
|
7th February 2013, 06:05 PM | #5 |
Guest
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 21,840
|
I used to have a different virus protection on my Mac, but it broke the wifi. Perhaps I'll try Sophos.
|
7th February 2013, 06:16 PM | #6 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 5,519
|
One thing I am noticing about my mac is that it surfs the net fine but downloads really slow. Is this a problem for macs or just my problem? I got a macbook pro 2010
|
7th February 2013, 06:18 PM | #7 |
Observer of Phenomena
Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Ngunnawal Country
Posts: 87,214
|
|
__________________
So take that quantum equation and recalculate the wave by a factor of hoopty doo! The answer is not my problem, it's yours. Three Word Story Wisdom |
|
7th February 2013, 06:18 PM | #8 |
Guest
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 21,840
|
My 2012 MacBook Pro downloads speedily.
|
7th February 2013, 06:39 PM | #9 |
Gatekeeper of The Left
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: The Universe 35.2 ms ahead of this one.
Posts: 37,538
|
What does this tell you? http://speedtest.net
|
__________________
For what doth it profit a man, to fix one bug, but crash the system? |
|
7th February 2013, 06:56 PM | #10 |
Graduate Poster
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,121
|
I've used Macs for over 20 years, and have never bothered with virus protection. I've never had any problems with malware of any kind.
|
7th February 2013, 07:00 PM | #11 |
Philosopher
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 8,276
|
A Mac virus ? Or some windows nonsense ?
I don't run any AV software on any of my Macs. Just use time machine and back up to an external drive, and think twice when you install something that requires you to enter your administrator password. Generally, Mac software is much better about not requiring admin rights unless it actually does, unlike (it seems) half the windows software I try to install. Really, Mac viruses and malware exist, but they are minimal threats if you use a little common sense. The only one of any consequence, IMO, was Mac defender, and this was really a phishing scam. |
7th February 2013, 07:26 PM | #12 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 5,519
|
|
7th February 2013, 08:23 PM | #13 |
Graduate Poster
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 1,501
|
There's anti-malware protection built into the Mac OS, XProtect. It's how Apple was able to disable that vulnerable Java.
|
7th February 2013, 09:09 PM | #14 |
Guest
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 12,221
|
Short answer is no, you don't need to buy virus protection.
Long answer is maybe you do, if you're for some reason a high priority target for scammers, foreign spies, law enforcement or other people who might make it their business to do bad things to your computer but who are unable to (or uninterested in) physically accessing your stuff right now. People saying "there was a virus on my mac!" usually turn out to have found a Windows virus in an email attachment, or to have had a port scanned by an infected Windows computer in Korea or something. |
7th February 2013, 09:16 PM | #15 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 17,646
|
Based on my experiences, I would say you don't need anti-virus on a Mac, but it might give you a little extra peace of mind through the placebo effect. It might also help you avoid passing on a virus to a Windows machine if you forward an infected file.
|
7th February 2013, 09:39 PM | #16 |
New Blood
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 21
|
I run a Mac antivirus periodically, and all it ever finds are phishing scam emails with links, in my email archive, and some old scripts that I saved from one of my websites that was hacked with some iframe injections. I've been using Macs since 1996, and the only virus I've ever encountered was the AutoStart 9805 worm in 1998, which as I recall was spread through CDs and floppy discs.
|
7th February 2013, 09:49 PM | #17 |
Nasty Woman
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 96,386
|
I've only had my Mac for 4 or 5 years, I keep everything updated but don't do anything special. I read the news reports when new Mac viruses surface. So far, they remain rare and localized.
I do have a recalled harddrive but I haven't taken it in yet for the exchange. I did by the hardware and set up Time Machine, it does auto-backups all day long. |
7th February 2013, 10:17 PM | #18 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 17,646
|
Definitely use Time Machine! The backups are automatic, the entire directory structure is preserved, and you will be so happy to have a backup when you screw up, your hard drive fails, or your computer is wrecked or stolen. I use a WiFi system so I don't even need to plug my Mac physically into an external drive.
|
7th February 2013, 10:25 PM | #19 |
Observer of Phenomena
Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Ngunnawal Country
Posts: 87,214
|
You probably have, but it's hidden. They're good at that. Seriously, do a scan.
Sophos cleaned up the threat, so I can't tell you. I'm not suggesting that Mac viruses are anywhere near as common as Windows ones. But they're out there, and they are very real. I get an alert once every few weeks or so. Actually, today's was the first in quite a while - maybe over a month since the last one. Fortunately, Sophos is set-and-forget, and it doesn't take up much memory. |
__________________
So take that quantum equation and recalculate the wave by a factor of hoopty doo! The answer is not my problem, it's yours. Three Word Story Wisdom |
|
7th February 2013, 10:32 PM | #20 |
Observer of Phenomena
Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Ngunnawal Country
Posts: 87,214
|
|
__________________
So take that quantum equation and recalculate the wave by a factor of hoopty doo! The answer is not my problem, it's yours. Three Word Story Wisdom |
|
7th February 2013, 10:58 PM | #21 |
Graduate Poster
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 1,501
|
|
7th February 2013, 11:12 PM | #22 |
Observer of Phenomena
Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Ngunnawal Country
Posts: 87,214
|
Well, it wasn't detected during a scan, it was detected as a realtime event. I ran a scan after Quarantine Manager had removed the threat, and found no additional threats.
However, looking at the system log, it appears that the problem was 'Mal/Phish-A' detected in the Spam folder of my local mailbox. The Mail app opened and synced with gmail this morning despite my repeatedly telling it not to do that. So yeah. It was a crap Windows thing. On another note, the log also shows many, many instances of "Firewall: Stealth Mode connection attempt", lots of them within the last hour. |
__________________
So take that quantum equation and recalculate the wave by a factor of hoopty doo! The answer is not my problem, it's yours. Three Word Story Wisdom |
|
7th February 2013, 11:55 PM | #23 |
post-pre-born
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Santa Barbara, CA
Posts: 25,183
|
|
8th February 2013, 12:43 AM | #24 |
Mostly harmless
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Nor Flanden
Posts: 38,373
|
Maybe his internet is accelerating.
|
__________________
"You got to use your brain." - McKinley Morganfield "The poor mystic homeopaths feel like petted house-cats thrown at high flood on the breaking ice." - Leon Trotsky |
|
8th February 2013, 12:54 AM | #25 |
post-pre-born
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Santa Barbara, CA
Posts: 25,183
|
"Warp Speed, Scotty!"
|
8th February 2013, 01:03 AM | #26 |
Master Poster
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 2,355
|
Re: I bought a mac, now do I need to buy virus protection?
I don't worry about Mac viruses.
Of course, I don't actually have a Mac so every thing is good. |
8th February 2013, 03:37 AM | #27 |
Illuminator
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 4,472
|
Use a non-Administrator account for everyday work, and leave the Admin account for the rare maintenance work. Mostly Mac OS X will ask for your Admin password if it needs it, so you do not actually have to log in as Admin for most work (say, installing and updating software). Pay attention what triggers the question and do not blindly type it when asked. I.e., if the Admin password dialog pops up after you clicked on a porn video on the web, it may be wise to not answer.
That alone takes care of the vast majority of malware that is out there. As far as I know, there are no viruses in the strictest sense of definition in the wild for Mac OS X. There is some malware and trojans, but most of them do require Admin privileges to do serious harm. The biggest problem seem to be classic trojans, that is, installation files for software that do not (only) install the software you want to have, but install (also) some malware. |
8th February 2013, 04:39 AM | #28 |
Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 155
|
Only if you like running random programs you download from the InterNet.
Unlike WinTels, MacIntoshes do not run arbitrary code. MicroSoft.Com added the ability to run arbitrary code in the 1980s and refuses to admit that it is a mistake. Windows running random code without user prompting is such a nice feature —— ¡not!
You have to worry about Trojans, but then again, if you like downloading and running random stuff just to see whether it will hose your Mac, that is a personal psychological problem. Turn off all plugins in your browser along with Java and JavaScript. Randi.Org is one of the few sites allowing one to post without JavaScript. Bad plugins allow code-injection. Plus, your browser will crash much less. Set your email-client not to load images. That will reduce Spam: In the Spam message you just opened by mistake is the image: http : // Evil _ Spammers . Com / Penis - Pills . Your _ UserName @ Your _ InterNetServiceProvider . Com . Jpeg If you will load images in email, the spammers will know that your email-address is active. They will send more Spam. |
8th February 2013, 04:40 AM | #29 |
Illuminator
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: All Over You
Posts: 3,446
|
I saw an article on a tech site saying that Apple have said that Macs are no longer 'virus proof', but unfortunately I was pulled away before I could read it - it could be one of those articles where someone is exaggerating to have a pop at Apple, but I don't know. Do some InvestiGoogling to be safe.
|
__________________
The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress. - Joseph Joubert Do not believe hastily. - Ovid There is no worse lie than a truth misunderstood by those who hear it. - William James |
|
8th February 2013, 05:33 AM | #30 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: central Illinois
Posts: 39,700
|
|
__________________
I suspect you are a sandwich, metaphorically speaking. -Donn And a shot rang out. Now Space is doing time... -Ben Burch You built the toilet - don't complain when people crap in it. _Kid Eager Never underestimate the power of the Random Number God. More of evolutionary history is His doing than people think. - Dinwar |
|
8th February 2013, 05:45 AM | #31 |
Not bored. Never bored.
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Leicester, UK
Posts: 10,619
|
|
__________________
"Man muß den Menschen vor allem nach seinen Lastern beurteilen. Tugenden können vorgetäuscht sein. Laster sind echt." - Klaus Kinski UKLS 1988- Sitting on the fence throwing stones at both sides. |
|
8th February 2013, 05:54 AM | #32 |
Gatekeeper of The Left
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: The Universe 35.2 ms ahead of this one.
Posts: 37,538
|
|
__________________
For what doth it profit a man, to fix one bug, but crash the system? |
|
8th February 2013, 05:56 AM | #33 |
Gatekeeper of The Left
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: The Universe 35.2 ms ahead of this one.
Posts: 37,538
|
|
__________________
For what doth it profit a man, to fix one bug, but crash the system? |
|
8th February 2013, 10:22 AM | #34 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 5,519
|
Sorry, actually I am taking an introduction to computers class in college this semester. The college WIFI is running at 98 megabits per second. Ping is 5 ms, (I am not really sure what that is.) Upload is 50 megabits per second. Nice. I guess I got the bits and bytes confused there. Good catch!
|
8th February 2013, 10:57 AM | #35 |
Graduate Poster
Join Date: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,042
|
|
8th February 2013, 11:21 AM | #36 |
Illuminator
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 4,739
|
Same experience as me: no viruses since 1998.
Insofar as Time Machine, it seems Apple finally got it right, because the first Time Capsules failed spectacularly, and I had two old ones to prove it. Now, my newest 2TB Time Capsule saved me when my old PowerPC tower died a few months ago (the liquid coolant leaked out) and I was able to restore the hard drive on my new Mac Pro tower. Just a bit of a pain in the neck (at least, for me) to initially set up. Once set up, though, it works just fine. Michael |
__________________
"I want the kids in bed by nine, the dog fed, the yard watered and the gate locked. And get a note to the milkman NO MORE CHEESE!" “Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been.” |
|
8th February 2013, 12:16 PM | #37 |
Not bored. Never bored.
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Leicester, UK
Posts: 10,619
|
I'm pretty sure that I've not had a virus since 1998 (or indeed earlier) either.
|
__________________
"Man muß den Menschen vor allem nach seinen Lastern beurteilen. Tugenden können vorgetäuscht sein. Laster sind echt." - Klaus Kinski UKLS 1988- Sitting on the fence throwing stones at both sides. |
|
8th February 2013, 12:58 PM | #38 |
Graduate Poster
Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,909
|
With all of the smart phones and tablets running on the Mac OS now I wonder if there is going to be increased interest in writing viruses for Macs. Up until now it seemed that the annoying script kiddies mostly played on PC and ignored the Mac.
Anyway, get an antivirus of some sort. Don't listen to the people who say "Macs never get viruses!" Just because Mac has been less interesting to ******* hackers in the past decade doesn't mean that they will continue to ignore it in the future. |
__________________
A quick reminder to all participants that although incomprehensibility is not against the Membership Agreement, incivility is. Please try and remember this, and keep your exchanges polite and respectful. -arthwollipot |
|
8th February 2013, 01:33 PM | #39 |
Gatekeeper of The Left
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: The Universe 35.2 ms ahead of this one.
Posts: 37,538
|
|
__________________
For what doth it profit a man, to fix one bug, but crash the system? |
|
8th February 2013, 02:08 PM | #40 |
Graduate Poster
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 1,186
|
|
__________________
"The sleeping and the dead Are but as pictures. 'Tis the eye of childhood That fears a painted devil." --Shakespeare - Macbeth |
|
Thread Tools | |
|
|