Macro Virus

I opened a document that warned me of a macro virus. I am not sure i clicked the correct button. What are the symptoms of a macro virus on a macbook pro? I have looked on chat boxes on different sites but none match my laptop specifications which results in confusion.

Fingers crossed.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, Mac OS 9.2.x, macro virus

Posted on Apr 6, 2014 5:42 AM

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4 replies

Apr 6, 2014 7:32 AM in response to caitlin249

You should be ok. Macro viruses in the Mac world have mostly been done as a proof of concept, proving that in fact there can be viruses for Mac. There are few instances of actual viruses in the wild that can affect Macs. It is always important though to never continue on a false sense of security. If a criminal really wants what is on your computer, they will put in the effort to get it. I run Symantec virus protection on my MacBook Pro because, there is always a chance. There are vulnerabilities and exploits on websites that could in fact place malware on your Mac. This woul be more in the Trojan virus or RootKit type of malware rather than a Self Replicating Virus.


Take a look at this support article from the Microsoft site. It discusses macro viruses and what you can do to save your data or eliminate the effects of Macro viruses. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/291824

Apr 6, 2014 9:25 AM in response to dtraser

All Symantec products should be avoided. Their protection varies from so-so to abysmal, depending on which one you're talking about, and Norton is well-known for bringing healthy Macs to their knees. Do not use any Symantec product on a Mac.


Also, note that Word macro viruses really don't need to be coded specifically for the Mac, because they are written in a programming language executed by Office apps. Any Word macro virus can infect certain versions of Office for the Mac, though it's unlikely that they will be able to do much other than reproduce and possibly damage your Office documents on the Mac. They're also much more than proof of concept...

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Macro Virus

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