Virus Scan

Have a look at Thomas Reid's site
http://www.reedcorner.net/thomas/guides/macvirus/

You Mac will not be affected by virus in the strict sense but could pass on virus to Windows contact (including Windows on your Mac per Boot Camp). The Mac could be affected by the multitude of exploits that could come through Trojans. See Thomas' site.

Have a look at Thomas Reid's site

Thanks for the plug! 🙂

The Mac could be affected by the multitude of exploits that could come through Trojans.

Well, I don't know if I'd call it a "multitude"... there aren't really that many that can still affect you, if you can even find them. I did talk to someone recently who had gotten infected with the iServices trojan - so it's obviously possible to get infected, and care should be taken - but that's the first time I've personally encountered someone with a confirmed malware infection since the early 1990s.

Norton Anti virus for Mac works for me.

That's an interesting comment. The general opinion of Norton for Mac is that it's as bad as a virus itself and should be avoided.

In my experience NAV for Mac is worse than most viruses.

You mean that since installing Norton you have not seen any viruses for the Mac? 😉

A bit puzzled by this thread in that:

I have never had any issues with viruses using Norton Anti Virus for Mac. I pay around £25 pa, which allows use of the software on up to 3 macs and it works fine. It has detected one or two viruses in the past and I've never been troubled by anything sinister and attribute this to the efficiency of this software. Would anyone care to elaborate?

Yes. There are no viruses that affect a Mac and there are only about three trojan horses that can be installed if you actually give them your admin password. Two of which are blocked in Snow Leopard.

So, you're paying for something that won't really do anything but find Windows Viruses that might have gotten transferred in a file you got off a Windows computer or downloaded from the internet.

The trouble you are not having is due the the security of the OS and not the efficiency of the AV software. Mac OS X isn't Windows. The structure of the Unix underpinnings make it extremely difficult to do what is commonly done on a Windows OS.

In addition to Barney's comments, I would like to add that your not having any problems with Norton is really lucky. I think that having problems with Norton installed on Mac is more the rule. I think your experience is the exception.


___________________

Allan

I have never had any issues with viruses using Norton Anti Virus for Mac.

That's kind of like saying that you've never had any problems with alien mind-control since donning your tin-foil hat. Since there aren't any viruses for the Mac at this time, you wouldn't have had issues with them without Norton either.

Contrary to what many like to admit, there are trojans that affect the Mac, and there are more than three of them. There was a link to my [Mac Virus guide|http://www.reedcorner.net/thomas/guides/macvirus> earlier in this thread, and you'll find there [a list of all the trojans I'm aware of|http://www.reedcorner.net/thomas/guides/macvirus/malware_catalog.shtml]. (Note that some anti-virus vendors will list other trojans, which are, AFAIK, simply their own name for the same trojans. AV companies all seem to like to claim "first discovery" and thus apply their own name to things, so trojans often end up with multiple names.)

However, none of these are particularly threatening if you use some common sense and think about what you're downloading and what you're giving your admin password to.

It has detected one or two viruses in the past

Most likely those were just Windows viruses attached to e-mails or copied over some other way from a PC. That sort of thing happens with great frequency, but of course you're never told by your AV software that the virus that was found can't possibly infect your machine.

You're being scammed. Paying for that malware is particularly unfortunate. It does nothing except slow your machine down, and risk messing it up more.

I regularly put anti elephant powder around my Mac and so far it's worked no elephants! 🙂

I would not touch Norton with a very long barge pole myself.

Once had experience of Norton on a PC, if you can imagine filling a shotgun with seed and firing it at the windows registry, well Norton seems to do that! Nightmare, you might as well erase the disk and reinstall windows to get rid of it.

So no thank you I for one would never allow Norton within sniffing distance of my Mac.

Phil

Hi Phil;

I had a simular problem with Norton years ago. Now I will not have anything to do with anything from Symantec.



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Allan

So all things said... it appears to me as though I've wasted my money.

How would an innocent user know without being privy to your expert knowledge? I use Leapord given I'm still using a trusty Powermac G5. How much detriment is norton Antivirus installed on my machine exactly and would you suggest I uninstall it? Thanks in advance for your constructive responses.

PS Where can I buy anti elephant powder lol