Security programs i.e spyware

[anyguy_usa]

are they necessary for Mac?

[Mr. Me]

There is no spyware on the Mac.

[tonton]

There is no spyware on the Mac.

That's not entirely true. There is yet known to be no malicious spyware for the mac. Even iTunes has a spyware element to it, if you activate the mini-store.

[Mr. Me]

That's not entirely true. There is yet known to be no malicious spyware for the mac. Even iTunes has a spyware element to it, if you activate the mini-store.There is a certain mindset among some people that any communication between an applications and the outside world makes the application spyware. This is not the case.

The definition of spyware is as follows:

spy·ware (spī'wâr')
n.

Software that secretly gathers information about a person or organization.
Any malicious software that is designed to take partial or full control of a computer's operation without the knowledge of its user.


from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

[tonton]

There is a certain mindset among some people that any communication between an applications and the outside world makes the application spyware. This is not the case.

The definition of spyware is as follows:

spy·ware (spī'wâr')
n.

Software that secretly gathers information about a person or organization.
Any malicious software that is designed to take partial or full control of a computer's operation without the knowledge of its user.


from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

Well, there are plenty of programs that gather your registration and usage information without telling you they're doing it.

[- Ø®£Z -]

http://aycu22.webshots.com/image/35141/2001081929375716815_rs.jpg

MacScan also said a program I had installed called Keyboard Spy is Spyware.

http://alphaomega.software.free.fr/keyboardspy/Keyboard%20Spy.html