antivirus

Currently there are no virus' in the wild.
The only malware in the wild are trojans-both require downloading stolen software or downloading software from sleazy sketchy sites-installing the software and giving it your password.

My advice-don't steal software or trust pron sites to install software.

Eventually, it may be someone will write a virus for OS X.

Message was edited by: Johnathan Burger

There are no viruses that affect Mac OS X.
There are a few Trojan horses you can get if you download pirated software or video codecs for p0rn, but that about covers the sum total of Malware targeted at Mac OS X.

What you need is to be aware and the first step towards awarness is knowledge.

Here is one take:

http://blogs.pcmag.com/securitywatch/2009/08/yessnow_leopard_includesanti.php

...and another...

http://antivirus.about.com/b/2009/09/01/apples-snow-leopard-antivirus.htm

An mine...I've never purchased anything beyond what Apple provides with the OS. I do take steps to be aware when I use email and surf the 'net and I always keep track of any portable computer closely when working/traveling etc.

According to MacWorld one virus decades ago affected 14 total computers. that being said it was suppose to wipe out the world - so I don't worry too much about a virus affecting my Mac. But I do worry about harboring malware via internet or email and then passing it back and forth with Windows users (me included as I have a win laptop and work uses windows: I email myself files and emails from time to time).

I have VMware Fusion 2 and run winXP with McAfee installed. Can I use that to scan my Mac hard drive for nay win viruses?

Hello I:

ive always heard macs cant get a virus,is this true?

There are no documented viruses that affect a Mac running OS X - none. Having said that, nothing, of course, is impossible.

do i need a antivirus?

IMHO, no. A/V software on a Mac will not catch anything that does not exist. A/V software on a Mac will, however, frequently cause other problems.

Barry

* http://www.macworld.com/article/135900/2008/10/antivirus.html*

*This is what I was referring to about the 49 Macs.... From an article in MacWorld:*
"Twenty-four years after Elk Cloner, Leap-A emerged. Disguised as an image file, Leap-A modified files on an infected Mac and, when iChat was opened, would send infected files to the victim’s iChat buddies.
Many people thought at the time that Leap-A signaled the end of OS X’s bug-free idyll. But Leap-A managed to infect a grand total of 49 Macs, and in the two years since, the Mac virus floodgates have yet to open: A few proof-of-concept viruses have cropped up, but almost none have been observed in the wild. Question is, why?"

BTW after installing VMware Fusion 2 and winXP, I ran the McAfee Antivirus program from within the virtual winXP and it did read the entire iMac hard drive and found a trojan (on a pdf file). so thru VMWare the windows app can read the OS X hard drive format and clean it of windows viruses. This was NOT an OS X virus.

Message was edited by: SLYmac

Message was edited by: SLYmac

Hey Guys,

Pretty new to all this myself and I've too heard that MAC's are not prone to being infected by viruses, however of course I know about Trojans and Malware ....

I see on the Apple Downloads there is already an offering for AV from Avast! and ProtectMac ... so since there are some offerings, it must either be to make some quick cash off MAC users or there is something in the horizon that we don't know about.

I don't do torrents or pron sites .... got a windows pc for those risks ... hahaha .... but whats the realitiy behind needing AV for MAC

Hi FunkMaster007;

Didn't you read the posting in this thread you attached your question to because it is answered in the replies above.

Allan

I gotta ask this:
How do you know if the software is stolen?
Are movies or TV shows stolen also?
Are fonts stolen?
Are you stealing if you install SL on a Tiger OS?
What is a sleazy site?
What is a pron site, and how can I get there?

Ok all,
I figured out just by doing it! I installed VMware Fusion 2 (free upgrade from 1 and it came with NAV). I ran NAV (Norton's AV) and told it to scan a specific folder (OS Snow Leopard folder) and it works as I hoped it would.

No I am not worried about an OS virus on my Mac; but I am worried about PC viruses since I work with PCs and email back and forth.