Spyware, etc.

My wife's and my blood pressure has dropped by at least 20 points since we switched to Powerbooks from PCs. However, I am concerned that we might be too complacent about viruses, spyware, and those things. We have no protection at the moment. The Mac's (10.3) internal pop-up software has been infallible in preventing pop-up ads, but is there something we should do or buy to address these other threats? Thanks for any advice.

in general a lot of virus;s are written for pc's, and wont affect a mac, you will also have to let the virus install itself if i recall correctly by entering in your password

i have never even botherd being worried about getting a virus
-chris

Since the Macintosh was first introduced I think there may have been a total of 12 viruses (none since OS X was introduced a few years back).

Spyware can not install itself without requesting the Administrators password so there hasn't been many attempts by companies to attach it to its software.

The only reason you might think of getting virus protection software is if you are on a network with PC's because your powerbook could allow the file to pass since it doesn't affect it but it can still get to the PC

and even then you needn't be worried....only the windows users should...

witeshark said:

Virus/worms depend on the indefensible windows registry. Our equivalent is the kernel (Darwin) and admin or root user. No need for scanners unless you need to network to windows pcs

Click to expand...

so should i be worried while connected to my schools network? i do believe that it is pc based
-chris

if there is a virus, it wont affect your mac, only the pcs you connect it to. which means its not your problem, though still take into consideration that others need those pcs at your school, so better to be safe than sorry, well, maybe not.

witeshark said:

Virus/worms depend on the indefensible windows registry.

Click to expand...

You can't edit the windows registry if you aren't signed in an as Admin

Thanks for the information and reassurance.

mynameis said:

You can't edit the windows registry if you aren't signed in an as Admin

Click to expand...

False...
Part of the registry can be edited as a power user (which is not admin in Windows)

ZDNet Australia reports
Destructive OS X malware spies on Apple users

http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/security/0,2000061744,39164062,00.htm

also check…
http://www.macintouch.com/opener.html

immdb said:

ZDNet Australia reports
Destructive OS X malware spies on Apple users

http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/security/0,2000061744,39164062,00.htm

also check…
http://www.macintouch.com/opener.html

Click to expand...

It appears to me that you have to be an Admin to even install it.

Avalon said:

False...
Part of the registry can be edited as a power user (which is not admin in Windows)

Click to expand...

Then don't be logged in as either at power user or admin when you aren't installing anything.

mynameis said:

Then don't be logged in as either at power user or admin when you aren't installing anything.

Click to expand...

Well, obviously you never tried to work with Windows NT, 2k or XP with a simple user account... because for nearly everything, you need access to the registry. A normal user doesn't have those rights, therefore working becomes a big pain in the a.. with that type of account.

Avalon said:

Well, obviously you never tried to work with Windows NT, 2k or XP with a simple user account... because for nearly everything, you need access to the registry. A normal user doesn't have those rights, therefore working becomes a big pain in the a.. with that type of account.

Click to expand...

I am working on a normal user account right now. I guess I just don't do anything that needs to edit the registry that often.