Virus for Mac, Virus for Mac

None.

Helpful Links Regarding Flashback Trojan and Virus Protection

An excellent link to read is Tom Reed's Mac Malware Guide.

Also, visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on malware.

A link to a great User Tip about the trojan: Flashback Trojan User Tip.

To check for the trojan: Anti Flashback Trojan 2.0.4.

A Google search can reveal a variety of alternatives on how the remove the trojan should your computer get infected. This can get you started. Or the preferred method is to use Apple's protection tool: Flashback Malware Removal Tool 1.0.

Or, open Software Update. If you do not have the Apple protection software installed it will download and install it via Software Update. If no update appears that means you either already have it installed or it isn't needed for your system. The software is only available for Leopard, Snow Leopard, and Lion versions of OS X.

Also see Apple's article About Flashback malware.

For general anti-virus protection I only recommend using ClamXav.

Most anti-virus programs will report files they do not recognize as virus files. But at least for the moment there are no extant viruses affecting OS X. What known items out there you are protected against by OS X's own anti-malware software.

Avast does have a bit of a problem with false positives on the Mac. I'd recommend uninstalling it and using something else, such as ClamXav or Sophos.

Of course, any anti-virus software can have false positives. ClamXav just recently had a problem with identifying a file that is standard on recent Mac systems as malware. That only lasted a couple days, though, and is the first time I've seen that happen with ClamXav in years. (Avast, on the other hand, seems to be known for the problem, which is an entirely different thing.) In any case, the point is, never let anti-virus software automatically "clean up" (ie, delete) anything!

Kappy wrote:

Most anti-virus programs will report files they do not recognize as virus files.

That is not true. The vast majority of anti-virus programs rely on code signatures, sometimes known as virus definitions, to determine if a file is malware. They are strings of binary data that are known to be present in malware. Only if a file contains those strings will the A-V software report it. However, as Thomas mentioned, it is possible for legitimate software to contain those same strings, which can lead to false positives.