Virus Question - Please Forgive

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A while ago, i downloaded some music from Bee mp3 (all deleted now and honestly paid for instead...), but I've become afraid that I could have picked up some viruses/trojans/spyware/adware etc - not that anything seems wrong but I wonder if the possibility's there...(never downloaded anything else from anywhere else, btw)

Reading around: It seems the matter of 'Mac safety' is quite foggy - perhaps because anti-virus software wants to drum up some trade.

On the subject of anti-virus; I gather paid for ones can actually do damage. I've heard ClamXav only gets rid of PC viruses. iAntiVirus seems to have very mixed reviews. And the Mac website tells me that Macs automatically scan downloads from Safari.

I've also read that no Mac viruses/trojans/spyware/adware exists yet. Is this DEFINITELY true? Can I DEFINITELY have peace of mind? Does anyone recommend any sort of protection?

Sorry for this - well, probably really paranoid - question, but I ADORE my Mac and I want to get on with my life again!!!

Note: I use a Mac OS X, version 10.4.11 (Tiger)
 

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A while ago, i downloaded some music from Bee mp3 (all deleted now and honestly paid for instead...), but I've become afraid that I could have picked up some viruses/trojans/spyware/adware etc - not that anything seems wrong but I wonder if the possibility's there...(never downloaded anything else from anywhere else, btw)



Reading around: It seems the matter of 'Mac safety' is quite foggy - perhaps because anti-virus software wants to drum up some trade.

On the subject of anti-virus; I gather paid for ones can actually do damage. I've heard ClamXav only gets rid of PC viruses. iAntiVirus seems to have very mixed reviews. And the Mac website tells me that Macs automatically scan downloads from Safari.

I've also read that no Mac viruses/trojans/spyware/adware exists yet. Is this DEFINITELY true? Can I DEFINITELY have peace of mind? Does anyone recommend any sort of protection?

Sorry for this - well, probably really paranoid - question, but I ADORE my Mac and I want to get on with my life again!!!

Note: I use a Mac OS X, version 10.4.11 (Tiger)

Long story, made short, there are some malicious programs for Mac OS X, but at the moment, they are limited to trojans.

A trojan is a program that is disguised as a desirable program that does undesirable things. Trojans are present on every platform known to man because they are incredibly easy to make and rely on social engineering to get the user to purposely install them. One can avoid a trojan simply by applying a bit of common sense (i.e. not downloading pirated software, or software from dodgy sites - and if you are prompted for your admin password during a software installation, be especially wary of what it is, where it came from and why you "need" it).

As far as the state of anti-virus software for the Mac, most of it does more harm than good - and the vast majority of these packages scan for Windows malware, which your Mac is not susceptible to.

There is no malware I'm aware of that is contained with MP3 or other music files, so you're probably fine.
 
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There are no Mac viruses. True statement about Clam XV.

If you didn't have to enter a password to "activate" the downloads, you probably did not pick up a trojan or worm. Just refuse to do that and you should be fine.
 
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Thanks for your replies - you say I probably don't have any Trojans/Worms, but is there no way I can be certain?

As I said before, I have defiantly not installed anything/entered my password for anything...
 
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Thanks for the article (I've actually read around so much it's one I think I've seen before)!

What I gather from it is this: you can't get a trojan unless you've installed something??? What about a worm?
 

cwa107


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Thanks for the article (I've actually read around so much it's one I think I've seen before)!

What I gather from it is this: you can't get a trojan unless you've installed something??? What about a worm?

Pretty much.

There was one worm for Mac OS X about 4-5 years ago. It was patched by Apple. So, if you're up-to-date on Software Updates, you're good to go.
 
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I hate to play the devil's advocate here, though if you're running a Mac in a mostly Windows environment, and often do file sharing, I would shoot the hoops for some sort of antivirus program for Mac (not Norton). If you aren't running a Mac in a Windows environment, then you should have no worries.

Of course, one can go overkill on security with computers...
 

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I hate to play the devil's advocate here, though if you're running a Mac in a mostly Windows environment, and often do file sharing, I would shoot the hoops for some sort of antivirus program for Mac (not Norton). If you aren't running a Mac in a Windows environment, then you should have no worries.

Of course, one can go overkill on security with computers...

Don't you think the onus is on the users of the vulnerable system to protect themselves?
 
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I hate to play the devil's advocate here, though if you're running a Mac in a mostly Windows environment, and often do file sharing, I would shoot the hoops for some sort of antivirus program for Mac (not Norton). If you aren't running a Mac in a Windows environment, then you should have no worries.

Of course, one can go overkill on security with computers...

Why not Norton may I ask...?
 

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Why not Norton may I ask...?

As with most of the current crop of Mac AV solutions, it's flakey. Norton is perhaps the worst on the market.
 
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Why not Norton may I ask...?

You may well ask. A program that bloats and slows your computer and think of this. You pay to download virus definitions for Windows viruses which cannot run on the Unix operating system.

Give it a miss. Safe browsing, keep away from pirate sites and do not provide your password to load codecs from these dodgy sites.
 

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