Transfering music- viruses?

lmvo23 · lmvo23 #1 (**permalink**)

10-19-2008, 08:54 PM

I'm getting a 20" iMac 2.66 Ghz in the next couple of weeks. Tonight I started organizing my files to be transfered and my boyfriend (who has been an apple user his entire life) mentioned something that got me thinking. Is it possible for my downloaded music files to have a virus that doesn't affect PC's but may affect a Mac?

Spork · Spork #2 (**permalink**)

10-19-2008, 09:02 PM

More than likely, no. Most viruses are designed for PC but it would be possible to get a virus if it was ment for OSX. It's about a 1% chance you're going to get a virus from transferring your music.

lmvo23 · lmvo23 #3 (**permalink**)

10-19-2008, 09:04 PM

That's what we figured. BUT I do have 16gb of music...which slightly increases my chances.

I may just delete all of it and start fresh.

Kash · Kash #4 (**permalink**)

10-19-2008, 10:04 PM

Spork actually exaggerated the number, there is a ZERO chance of you getting a virus when you transfer music from your PC to your Mac unless you actively went out there and purposefully downloaded a Mac virus and inserted it into your music directory.

I transferred music library much larger than yours from my PC to my Mac with no ill effects. No need to waste your time starting over.

Aeaus · Aeaus #5 (**permalink**)

10-20-2008, 12:59 AM

Are you slow?
There's no way to put a virus in a .mp3 or .m4a file...
It's freaking sound.

fungry · fungry #6 (**permalink**)

10-20-2008, 02:23 AM

Aeaus is correct. Your files are audio files. In other words, they would not contain any viruses -_-. Unless you have executable files within the folders which is beyond me because why would that be in a music library.

Eric559 · Eric559 #7 (**permalink**)

10-20-2008, 03:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aeaus

Are you slow?
There's no way to put a virus in a .mp3 or .m4a file...
It's freaking sound.

Haha. That is correct.

Viruses are usually found in exe files and such others.

lmvo23 · lmvo23 #8 (**permalink**)

10-20-2008, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aeaus

Are you slow?
There's no way to put a virus in a .mp3 or .m4a file...
It's freaking sound.

It was an honest question. No need to be a jerk about it.

To everyone else:
Thanks for your input.

Aeaus · Aeaus #9 (**permalink**)

10-20-2008, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lmvo23

It was an honest question. No need to be a jerk about it.

To everyone else:
Thanks for your input.

Well not to be rude, but I never knew someone could be so computer illiterate.

MacFanBoy · MacFanBoy #10 (**permalink**)

10-20-2008, 10:52 PM

People have been known to rename xxx.exe files to xxx.mp3.exe and hope that you have the show files extension turned off in windows so it would show as xxx.mp3

MacInWin · MacInWin #11 (**permalink**)

10-20-2008, 11:13 PM

And, you can imbed executables in image files, so it is theoretically possible to do the same in audio files. Just for now, no one has done that (as far as we know).

Forum Shark · Forum Shark #12 (**permalink**)

10-20-2008, 11:13 PM

Man, she had a question. It got answered, you didn't have to be a jerk about it. This is the switcher forum, so she obviously isn't a computer genius, she may even be a really casual user. (Like my mom. She can't even copy and paste.) Really, if you're not going to say anything nice, don't say anything at all. Didn't your mommy teach you?

xstep · xstep #13 (**permalink**)

10-20-2008, 11:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aeaus

Well not to be rude, but I never knew someone could be so computer illiterate.

LOL! Well then, you've shown your ignorance at least twice in this thread then. At least that is fixable if you are open to learning. Being rude, as you were, can be more difficult to over come. Good luck with that challenge.

xstep · xstep #14 (**permalink**)

10-20-2008, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jakerich

And, you can imbed executables in image files, so it is theoretically possible to do the same in audio files. Just for now, no one has done that (as far as we know).

Exactly!

KeithTeeple · KeithTeeple #15 (**permalink**)

10-20-2008, 11:50 PM

I wouldn't think you'd get a virus. Very very unlikely. From what I've heard, there are something like 10 known viruses for Mac.

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lmvo23 #1 (permalink)
Member Since: Oct 19, 2008 Location: Florida Posts: 11 Mac Specs: iMac	10-19-2008, 08:54 PM I'm getting a 20" iMac 2.66 Ghz in the next couple of weeks. Tonight I started organizing my files to be transfered and my boyfriend (who has been an apple user his entire life) mentioned something that got me thinking. Is it possible for my downloaded music files to have a virus that doesn't affect PC's but may affect a Mac?

Spork #2 (permalink)
Member Since: Jul 17, 2008 Location: Arizona Posts: 182	10-19-2008, 09:02 PM More than likely, no. Most viruses are designed for PC but it would be possible to get a virus if it was ment for OSX. It's about a 1% chance you're going to get a virus from transferring your music.

Kash #4 (permalink)
Member Since: Dec 03, 2006 Location: Irvine, CA Posts: 9,385 Mac Specs: Black Macbook C2D 2GHz 3GB RAM 250GB HD iPhone 4 iPad 3G	10-19-2008, 10:04 PM Spork actually exaggerated the number, there is a ZERO chance of you getting a virus when you transfer music from your PC to your Mac unless you actively went out there and purposefully downloaded a Mac virus and inserted it into your music directory. I transferred music library much larger than yours from my PC to my Mac with no ill effects. No need to waste your time starting over. June 2007 July 2009

Aeaus #5 (permalink)
Member Since: Oct 06, 2008 Posts: 38 Mac Specs: iMac Intel 20", 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, ATI Radeon HD, 250GB hard drive, 8x double-layer SuperDrive	10-20-2008, 12:59 AM Are you slow? There's no way to put a virus in a .mp3 or .m4a file... It's freaking sound.

fungry #6 (permalink)
Member Since: Jul 20, 2008 Location: China/Australia Posts: 42	10-20-2008, 02:23 AM Aeaus is correct. Your files are audio files. In other words, they would not contain any viruses -_-. Unless you have executable files within the folders which is beyond me because why would that be in a music library.

MacFanBoy #10 (permalink)
Member Since: Jan 06, 2008 Location: Hillbank, South Australia Posts: 323 Mac Specs: 2 x 20" iMac Intel Core 2 Duo	10-20-2008, 10:52 PM People have been known to rename xxx.exe files to xxx.mp3.exe and hope that you have the show files extension turned off in windows so it would show as xxx.mp3

MacInWin #11 (permalink)
Member Since: Jul 07, 2008 Location: Winchester, VA Posts: 3,440 Mac Specs: 2011 MBP, 2008 iMac, iPhone 5S, iPad mini, 13" MBP and MacMini	10-20-2008, 11:13 PM And, you can imbed executables in image files, so it is theoretically possible to do the same in audio files. Just for now, no one has done that (as far as we know).

Forum Shark #12 (permalink)
Member Since: Mar 19, 2008 Location: Brantford, ON Posts: 248 Mac Specs: Base Model MacBook (White from early 2008)	10-20-2008, 11:13 PM Man, she had a question. It got answered, you didn't have to be a jerk about it. This is the switcher forum, so she obviously isn't a computer genius, she may even be a really casual user. (Like my mom. She can't even copy and paste.) Really, if you're not going to say anything nice, don't say anything at all. Didn't your mommy teach you? Please follow me to Twitter! http://twitter.com/ForumShark

KeithTeeple #15 (permalink)
Member Since: Sep 02, 2008 Location: Burlington, Ontario Posts: 450 Mac Specs: 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM MacBook, 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo	10-20-2008, 11:50 PM I wouldn't think you'd get a virus. Very very unlikely. From what I've heard, there are something like 10 known viruses for Mac. Press any key to continue, or any other key to cancel. There are 10 kinds of people in the world: Those who understand binary and those who don't.

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