Help! Spyware, viruses, adware-What do I need?

Big Dog Dad · Feb 1, 2005

I'm switching to an Imac in the near future and need to know if I will be spending my evenings, as I am now on a windows PC, doing virus sweeps, spyware sweeps, virus removals, spyware removals, and so forth. I don't think the mac gets attacked as much as the PC does, but being a new guy, I just don't know. Is there any recommended spyware and virus programs that I can't live without for the Imac? Final question is are there any real attacks in the mac world?

-=BDD=-

trpnmonkey41 · Feb 1, 2005

No virus's
No Spyware
No Adware

Rest easy

gdestiny · Feb 1, 2005

i recently added the mac mini, but have been a long time 9x/NT/W2K/XP user. and while i do agree there are more spyware and virus for the PC, i think some of them are over-hyped. i have the xp default firewall enabled w/ norton antivirus and automatic critical updates enabled on my PC. and in all the years of using the PC, i have never encountered a virus or spyware.

but then again, i don't go around click yes to whatever websites i go to, so YMMV.

Avid6eek · Feb 1, 2005

Spyware/viruses/adware infestations are common problems if you frequently download unknown programs, or open unsafe email. No matter which system your on, this behavior has the potential to lead to problems.

Like the others have said, you will be much safer on a Mac, as the majority of everything is designed to affect the most users...so of course it goes after PCs.

Meyvn · Feb 1, 2005

The thing to keep in mind is, there's two attributed reasons, both of which IMO play a role in the general 'safety' of Macs: Some people say Unix, some people say it's just because there's not very many people who would want to harm Macs since they want to hurt as many people as possible. I personally think it's partially due to both. I don't think that Unix is as invincible as some would have you believe, but it seems to be really stable from my usage thus far. One way or another, Macs are much more stupid proof than PCs. Being the everyday user that you are (the original poster), I'm sure you don't care which anyway. If you MUST have viral protection, you can get Virex with a .Mac membership, but from I honestly have seen no reason to suit up yet, as all it does is slow your computer down a little bit.

Thud · Feb 1, 2005

Meyvn said:
The thing to keep in mind is, there's two attributed reasons, both of which IMO play a role in the general 'safety' of Macs: Some people say Unix, some people say it's just because there's not very many people who would want to harm Macs since they want to hurt as many people as possible. I personally think it's partially due to both. I don't think that Unix is as invincible as some would have you believe, but it seems to be really stable from my usage thus far. One way or another, Macs are much more stupid proof than PCs. Being the everyday user that you are (the original poster), I'm sure you don't care which anyway. If you MUST have viral protection, you can get Virex with a .Mac membership, but from I honestly have seen no reason to suit up yet, as all it does is slow your computer down a little bit.

Well a BIG reason is that a Mac doesn't come with a bunch of network-aware services turned on by default.
Windows does. At least until SP2. There are all sorts of services listening on all sorts of ports, whether you need them or not, and every one seems to have had an exploitable buffer overflow. That and the fact that a Windows user runs as administrator all the time (in fact, some programs require this!) which means any worm or trojan horse that infects the system also runs with administrative priveleges.

Windows has come a long way but it's still fundamentally based on a design that was never meant to be integrated into a network.

witeshark · Feb 1, 2005

A very important distinction between Mac OS X and Linux and Unix is the core. Here it's the kernel and control the root or admin user. In Windows, it's the registry, and this is indefensible. Worms edit the registry at will, modify, add and delete registry keys. This is why the endless chase for virus scan can never end and the fight for spyware is so frustrating. My switch was a tanker load of relief!

Aptmunich · Feb 2, 2005

So to sum up:

Currently no viruses, no spyware, no adware on macs.

Someday there might be, but it is currently unlikely as macs just aren't targeted.

If you want extra security you COULD consider getting virex, but IMO there's no need.

Mr Bobbins · Feb 2, 2005

If you have a static ip address then it maybe a good idea to get a better firewall. 'Netbarrier' is a good one and their is always 'brickhouse' which toughens up Apples internal firewall. But apart from that your home free.

Help! Spyware, viruses, adware-What do I need?

Big Dog Dad

Guest

trpnmonkey41

gdestiny

Guest

Avid6eek

Meyvn

Thud

Guest

witeshark

Aptmunich

Mr Bobbins

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