10-07-2004, 01:52 AM

I want to know this:

"Can a Mac be hacked, get viruses, and spyware easily?"

I know there aren't many viruses on Mac, i dont know about spyware and hackers. Also,

Can a Mac be kept safe without spyware protection, virus protection, and firewall?

Thanks in advance for your help

10-07-2004, 03:03 AM

Originally Posted by Maxp0wer2004

I want to know this:

"Can a Mac be hacked, get viruses, and spyware easily?"

Well, any OS can be hacked in a certain way, so yes, Mac OS X can be hacked and get spyware. Nevertheless, it needs more user interaction, and the more strict separation between system and user space makes it more difficult than in Windows. Simple rule: If a program you don't know asks for the admin password, just cancel it.

Originally Posted by Maxp0wer2004

I know there aren't many viruses on Mac, i dont know about spyware and hackers. Also,

Can a Mac be kept safe without spyware protection, virus protection, and firewall?

Anti-Spyware and Antivirus software makes sense if your Mac is connected to PCs in your network, because even if PC viruses can't affect the Mac, the Mac can spread them to other PCs. If you don't have a network with PCs, you don't need to worry about it. A Firewall allthough should be setup when you connect to the Internet, because no OS is 100% secure, not even Mac OS X.

Originally Posted by Maxp0wer2004

Thanks in advance for your help

You're welcome

10-07-2004, 07:29 AM

"Can a Mac be kept safe without spyware protection, virus protection, and firewall?"

Well consider this:

If you're running a windows PC, even WITH those safeguards you're not 100% safe.
So on a mac, if you DON'T run them, you won't be 100% safe, but still a lot safer than on a wintel machine.

Btw, I don't actually know of any anti-spyware software for mac, and since there haven't been any real virus problems with OS X, I don't bother with a virus scanner either.

A firewall is never a bad idea, but I just use the one built-in...

Can a Mac be kept safe without spyware protection, virus protection, and firewall?
In my opinion, Yes.

10-07-2004, 09:51 PM

Mac has a built in firewall? i never knew that.

And about the network thing, i would never think of networking my Mac with the PC i use. My PC is full of the stuff i mentioned, except its not hacked.

10-07-2004, 10:25 PM

In system preferences, click sharing, then firewall to turn it on