Quad G5 + Virex 7.7 = Kernel panic?

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Level 1

24 points

Quad G5 + Virex 7.7 = Kernel panic?

We're in the middle of installing about 25 of the new dual-core, dual processor G5 towers in our company. Ever since building the first machine, we've been having problems with them kernel panicing once every day or two.

In our situation, I removed extra RAM that was added and that had no effect on our problem. The panics continued. My next suspicion was two peices of software that all of our Macs run: Thursby's Dave and Virex 7.7.

A phone call to Thursby's tech support yielded a pre-release of Dave 6.1 that solves problems with kernel panics. Installed that on our test machine. The panics continued.

Next, we removed Virex from the machine. Since removing Virex, the kernel panics have stopped and everything seems good.

Has anyone else had problems on a quad processor G5 with Virex installed? I'm trying to gather evidence that there may be a conflict between the new hardware and Virex. So far, McAfee doesn't know anything.

Thanks for sharing any experiences you may have with this.

PowerBook G4 1.67ghz 1gb 80gb Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Posted on Dec 13, 2005 7:44 AM

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Answer 1

a brody

Level 10

83,393 points

Dec 16, 2005 9:05 AM in response to Jeff Pollard

Not sure, but maybe Dave and Virex are disagreeable. Since both rely on network connectivity, there may be a conflict between those two. Check with Thursby and ask if that might be possible.

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Answer 2

Dec 16, 2005 9:20 AM in response to Jeff Pollard

Virex seems to be a step behind in Apple product releases. When Tiger came out, it started using 100% cpu power until there was an update. I'd uninstall them and wait for the next Virex update. Its not like there are any viruses for OS X anyway, Virex is protecting PC's just incase you accidentally send an infected file to them.

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Answer 3

bonaroo

Level 1

25 points

Dec 16, 2005 9:38 AM in response to Jeff Pollard

I downloaded the Virex remover from McAfee and removed it from my DC 2.3 G5 as one of the steps that the phone tech support person at Apple recommended. I was trying to resolve the freezes and kernel panics I was experiencing on my new machine. I was supprised to see that my .Mac account no longer supports or offers Virex on the new G5s running OS 10.4.4. The clean install from my original discs which came with the computer did not resolve the problem.

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Answer 4

iPhoton

Level 4

2,008 points

Dec 16, 2005 2:09 PM in response to The Innovator

I'll take The Innovator's comment a step further. If the only purpose of Virex is to protect "computers other than Macs" from viruses, then why bother?

Unless you believe that your Macs are a threat to the PCs in your organization because they might pass on an infected file, Virex or any "virus checking software" would seem to be more trouble than it is worth, especially if you suspect it is part of your problem.

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