Official antivirus, malware, and firewall FAQ

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many thanks, I just got a bit spooked by the Mackeeper references which I thought suggested this was also Clam Xav in disguise.

rgds
Chilts
 

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If you search on Mac Forums for Mac Keeper you will find it's garbage and to be avoided at all costs! Just a heads up!
 
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but is this thee same thing as Clam Xav...I'm getting very confused here
 

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No. ClamXav 2 is an Anti-Virus protection application. MacKeeper is pure junk ware supposedly with the ability to "clean" your Mac. What it does instead is cause havoc. They are not, repeat, not the same.
 
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but is this thee same thing as Clam Xav...I'm getting very confused here

No, they are not at all the same thing.

The earlier reference was to the fact that the MacKeeper folks are so dishonest that they put up a fake Web page ostensibly for ClamXav, that actually referred folks to an ad for MacKeeper.

The two products are not the same, they aren't from the same company, and it isn't likely that you would ever confuse the two.

As for whether or not you need ClamXav (which is an excellent, legitimate anti-virus product), that is a matter of some debate, as there is little in the way of malware that can infect your Mac. See:

Thomas' Corner : Mac Malware Guide

But, in any case, it can't hurt to have ClamXav.
 
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I almost bought Mackeeper until I read your guys reviews and saw the complaints on the web and on their Facebook page. So far I do not have any extra virus or malware protection. My Sony, would get infected every so often with malware but the IMac is running perfect :)
 
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Currently there is almost no malware for the Mac that is a serious threat because it is very hard to write malware for the Mac. However, when Mountain Lion (OS X 10.8) is released this summer, the challenge presented to writing Mac malware may become insurmountable.

Apple - OS X Mountain Lion - Gatekeeper keeps your Mac even safer.

Apple already sees to it that software in the Mac App Store has been checked to make sure that it doesn't contain any malware. With Mountain Lion (ML) Apple will see to it that even software that you don't download from
the Mac App Store has a measure of security. Legitimate Mac software developers
will be issued a unique encrypted certificate code.
That code will allow ML to check to see if individual apps have been
modified (i.e. infected) and it will also allow Apple to keep track of
malware and to keep malware from running on ML via a nightly update.
These steps may see to it that Mac users
never have to give a moment's thought to malware ever again.
 
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I think the gatekeeper concept is great as long as people see that as another layer of defense, not THE layer of defense. It will only work at the moment the malware has reached your machine.
Another layer is preventing malware from reaching your machine.
Then we still have Flash and Java based malware to think about.

The ultimate barrier remains and that is the man at the keyboard ..... Security is more about people and their behavior than it is about machines and their settings.... and sometimes the mouse is faster than the brain.

Having said that, I am happy Apple adopted this concept, it will surely help a lot.

My 2 cents.

Cheers ... McBie
 
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The ultimate barrier remains and that is the man at the keyboard

I agree with that, and that is the only form of malware protection that I currently recommend to most Mac users normally. (I recommend that business users have AV software, not because they *need* it, but because it is a "best practices" thing.)

However, the Macintosh is already hard to write malware for. If Apple then adds another layer of protection that will thwart even the very few instances where someone has figured out how to write a piece of malware, it may be that in a very short period of time that Mac users won't have to "be careful" about anything...because there won't be anything to be careful to avoid.

Most malware writers these days are criminals who are in it to make money. If Apple raises the bar on security to the point where, after it takes many months and tens of thousands of dollars to create a piece of malware (that's what it reputedly took to create Mac Defender), and then after that effort a new piece of malware is blacklisted almost immediately so that the authors don't see a significant return on their investment, the incentive to write Mac malware will simply be gone.

Let's hope that things work out that way.
 
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This Here's What I Carry...

I have always leaned toward Trend Micro for both Windows and now my MBP, iPad and iPhone. I do have a question: I read that when running a Windows OS on a Mac (partition style) to use a Windows-native AV program. However, what if I am running Parallels and both OSs are running at the same time? Will my single Mac AV program work, or do I need to have 2 AV programs running just as I have 2 OSs running?
 

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I have always leaned toward Trend Micro for both Windows and now my MBP, iPad and iPhone. I do have a question: I read that when running a Windows OS on a Mac (partition style) to use a Windows-native AV program. However, what if I am running Parallels and both OSs are running at the same time? Will my single Mac AV program work, or do I need to have 2 AV programs running just as I have 2 OSs running?

You need to have an AV product on each VM instance. The host will be unaware of the goings-on on those guest OSes. So, each guest VM will need to be able to protect itself.
 
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I appreciate the advice about not using Mac Keeper, but why is Mac Keeper advertised on this site?

Larry H
 

chscag

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We have no control over that, however, we are trying through our Community Manager to have that particular ad removed.

Thanks for your concern.
 

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Also, note; advertisements on a site don't indicate endorsement... Just like if you see a Ford commercial during your favorite sitcom, it doesn't mean the actors all drive one ;)
 
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I had some email issues a while ago with my MBP and thanks to this forum I down loaded ClamX. (Emails were being forwarded that I never sent). The ClamX found a Trojan in one of my trashed emails and I was able get through that problem.
 

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I had some email issues a while ago with my MBP and thanks to this forum I down loaded ClamX. (Emails were being forwarded that I never sent). The ClamX found a Trojan in one of my trashed emails and I was able get through that problem.

You might want to change your mail password. It's pretty unlikely that was the actual cause of the emails.
 
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Are there more viruses attacking Apple products now, since more people now own them than before? I guess I mean...are more being created to go after the growing number of users on these operating systems?
 

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There are no viruses in the wild that can infect a Mac. The answer therefore, is no. There have been several malware Trojans which can easily be avoided. Read through this entire thread and Sticky.
 
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There are no viruses in the wild that can infect a Mac. The answer therefore, is no. There have been several malware Trojans which can easily be avoided. Read through this entire thread and Sticky.

Hmmmm ...... with all due respect but it is not because something has not happened in the past that it can not happen in the next 5 minutes ( so to speak )
The answer to both questions of "Taint it sweet " is definitely YES and not NO as you suggested.
When you question if the malware is successful today on OS X, that is a totally different ballgame.

It also strikes me that still today, denial and obscurity are used every time when answering questions on malware.
Then the semantics kick in by saying that a virus is not a trojan and vice versa. Whilst technically correct, an end-user doesn't care.
When the damage is done, it doesn't matter if it was a virus or a trojan does it ?

The quotes that your Mac runs on Unix so don't worry is also ...... well ....cutting corners.
People forget how many layers of code are written on top of Unix to make it OS X.
OS X is definitely more robust than other OS'es .... very true.

The biggest threat to OS X ( and yourself ) is what I call Layer 8 of the OSI model, the layer between the chair and the keyboard.
The bad guys will be most successful by simply asking you for your credentials and tricking you into disclosing them ..... hey let's face it, people talk and very often the mouse is faster than the brain.

You will have to be vigilant without being paranoid.
Keep your system and applications up to date at all times.
Update Adobe and Java stuff directly from their respective websites and not through some fancy looking pop-up window.
For applications and/or plug-ins ..... if you did not specifically went looking for it, don't install it.
Think before you type your password.
When in doubt, force-quit an installer and do not trust the logic behind the " No " or " Cancel " buttons.
Do you really need to operate your computer with " Admin " privileges ? ... convenient I know.

These are just a few of the things you can keep in mind in order to lower the threat level.

Don't get me wrong .... and by all means enjoy every minute of OS X ... I know I do.

Cheers ... McBie
 

chscag

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Thanks for the reply McBie but the OP clearly asked:

Are there more viruses attacking Apple products now

My answer was appropriate. We'll leave the future of viruses and threat attacks to the naysayers of OS X. ;)
 
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