Anti Virus ??

LordZedd wrote:

It does nothing to protect others or your Bootcamp partition from Windows viruses you may be harboring.

You've done a very accurate job of describing Mac anti-virus software. But I thought you were supposed to be talking about XProtect.

Yes, you have demonstrated you are very good at deception.

Delete Avast using their instructions. Use only reputable antivirus software that has a good history on both Windows and Mac such as Norton's iAntivirus (available free on the Mac App Store) or McAfee VirusScan for Mac.

LordZedd wrote:

stevejobsfan0123, that is false information.

XProtect currently has 52 entries, of which MacDefender are 12 and Flashback are 24. That means out of the thousands of viruses circulating, you are protected from only 17 directly by Apple.

There are only around thirty pieces of malware that impact OS X, which should be the first concern of any Mac user. If we want to be socially responsible to our Windows friends, then yes there are thousands, some of which are even true viruses. For those of us who do not routinely exchange files with Windows users, it's of little to no concern.

XProtect covers 17 of the 30, but most if not all of the remaining ones were patched directly in the OS or application they attacked, so XProtect is not the only solution available to Apple. None of us who follow Mac malware on a daily basis is aware of any of those 30 that are able to impact a fully up-to-date OS X 10.6.8 or above, so if you know of one, please share that information with the rest of us.

For those of us who do not routinely exchange files with Windows users, it's of little to no concern.

If you send or recieve any e-mails from any source, you are exchanging files with Windows users. If you download software from any source other than Apple's Mac App Store, you are exchanging files with Windows users.

Both cases are interactions with windows-based servers that may be infected and you may infect.

LordZedd wrote:

If you send or recieve any e-mails from any source, you are exchanging files with Windows users.

Technically I'm exchanging files with Unix servers all my ISPs use with enterprise level A-V software that detects way more than I could possibly catch on my Mac. I know that it works because I've seen it strip attachments before, but I don't recall the last time it did so. I have never been notified that I sent an infection out.

If you download software from any source other than Apple's Mac App Store, you are exchanging files with Windows users.

Receiving occassionally, but never sending. Most such software come from trusted redistributers who screen their holdings (e.g. MacUpdate, C|Net) or from Mac developers who usually use a Mac host. I could certainly recieve malware in this manner, but the last time that happened was pre-OS9.

Both cases are interactions with windows-based servers that may be infected and you may infect.

I don't consider myself to be infected unless it impacts my computer, but that's just me. Of course I could be a "carrier," but at this moment I feel confident I'm not. I believe I know of all the malware that's currently on my hard drive, OSX, Win, Unix, etc. Other than some test files and malware samples that I've been able to gather, the rest are all JavaScripts that reside in my browser cache where they cannot possibly spread to anybody else's machine. I also have some falsely identified phishing e-mails from my Credit Union which I would not consider to be malware even if they weren't FP's. I do receive some real phishings occassionally, but they almost always end up in my Spam/Junk folders.

Perhaps you could share some of your experiences along these lines with the rest of us.

stevejobsfan0123, please do not deceive people into thinking I am talking about a specific item when I am not.

Would you not wear your car seatbelt just driving down the block? Would you not look both ways when crossing even a low traffic street?

I know that it works because I've seen it strip attachments before

Thanks for admitting you were wrong.

I don't consider myself to be infected unless it impacts my computer, but that's just me.

Thats called irresponsibility.

Perhaps you could share some of your experiences along these lines with the rest of us.

My antivirus program automatically scans and handles everything for me. Thats half the point of having it.

LordZedd wrote:

I know that it works because I've seen it strip attachments before

Thanks for admitting you were wrong.

I definitely never did that.

My antivirus program automatically scans and handles everything for me. Thats half the point of having it.

Sounds irresponsible to me. I would never allow A-V software to automatically handle suspected malware. If I had all my e-mail boxes would have become corrupted, legitamate e-mails would be gone forever and even a piece of my OS would have disppeared last week due to an FP in the definitions. It would appear that Avast was about to do something similar to the OP here.

I definitely never did that.

Except where you said "I know that it works because I've seen it strip attachments before", meaning, you have recieved windows viruses before.

Sounds irresponsible to me.

No, you're just trolling because you're mad.

LordZedd wrote:

Except where you said "I know that it works because I've seen it strip attachments before", meaning, you have recieved windows viruses before.

Meaning that an incoming e-mail showed that an attachment had been stripped from it before getting to my inbox, so I never received it. I have no idea whether it was a windows virus or some other malware

you're just trolling because you're mad.

No, I was actually smiling when I sent that. I don't get mad easily and certainly not on the forum.

You were trolling, simple as that, smiling in frustration at your inability to get your own facts straight.

I think we all know who the troll is here.

BTW, I was very serious about wanting to know what your experiences were with malware found on your Mac. I would not have spent the time in telling you about mine if I wasn't, but since you don't seem to want to contribute anything other than your two recommendations on A-V software, I see no point in continuing our discussion.

Congratulations, the first step to your recovery is admitting you have a problem.

I already told you, AV software is supposed to be in the background and do its job quietly.

I'll let you run away from the discussion, its clear you have no experiance.

Go to the MacApp store and download Norton's iAntivirus, free.

Actually, don't. I dont have a whole lot of respect for iAntivirus. I tested iAntivirus, and it did indeed catch most of what is in my malware collection. Strangely, though, it reported finding more malware than I actually have in my collection. Even more strangely, it apparently didn’t catch a few that were inside .zip files, so I’m a bit confused as to what it actually found. Worse, the quarantine list only showed one item, so there was no way to find out what it found other than that one file. I’m actually a bit mystified at what it did with most of my malware collection, which simply disappeared after the scan. Hopefully there were no false positives in the list, as it would have deleted them outright with no option to reverse it and no way to see what was deleted! I would recommend against using this product.

As to the question of whether anti-virus software is necessary, there is no simple yes or no answer to that question. At this time, the answer is probably no for most people, but that can change. See my Mac Malware Guide for more information. Anyone who wants to use anti-virus software would be advised to use one of the programs recommended in that guide.