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Mountain Lion and anti-virus - what gives?

post #1 of 24
7/28/12 at 9:47am
Thread Starter 

I realize that Mac's have been relatively resistent to viruses.  That said, there are reports of Trojan viruses as well as adware issues on Macs.  On the introduction day, I downloaded Mountain Lion to my 6 mo. old iMac.  I was favorably impressed until receiving an email from my McAfee anti-virus.  

 

It stated:  

 

"OSX Mountain Lion was released by Apple this week, but unfortunately it is not compatible with McAfee Family Protection. Upgrading to Mountain Lion will cause your Mac version of McAfee Family Protection to stop functioning. 


Please do not upgrade to OSX Mountain Lion if you wish to maintain complete functionality of your McAfee Family Protection Software. 

We are currently working on making McAfee Family Protection for Mac compatible with OSX Mountain Lion. We will inform you when a Mountain Lion compatible version of McAfee Family Protection is available."

 

 

 

Great to learn this after the fact.  Why wasn't I warned when looking at the upgrade, not to mention, just as I was  downloading Mountain Lion that this was the case.  WTF?

 

I'm waiting for Apple's response.


Edited by Cheesehed - 7/28/12 at 2:15pm
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post #2 of 24
7/28/12 at 11:46am

This is called FUD. Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt.


They are lying to you. Why you have McAfee at all is beyond me. You're wasting your money to give your computer a virus.


Just get Mountain Lion, install, and be happy. Nothing will ever run on your machine without you specifically letting it, and you can set Mountain Lion to run absolutely nothing but what is in the Mac App Store if you're really paranoid, which makes it impossible for any sort of malware to get on your device.

 

Apple won't be responding to that nonsense at all. If McAfee doesn't want to upgrade its own software, then they can kiss their Mac marketshare (which should be 0%) goodbye.

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post #3 of 24
7/28/12 at 12:36pm
Thread Starter 
Heard from Apple who confirmed that they are not lying. In fact, Apple urged me to contact them (McAfee) as to WHEN they will have compatibility with Mnt. Lion. He went on to state, blah blah blah, why they can't logistically give the buyer warning about these compatibility issues. I think it's Apple giving the load of BS!

I have McAfee because it's included with my Cox Internet, so it's not the cost of the anti- virus that bothers me. It's the failure of Apple and McAfee, for that matter, to warn BEFORE downloading. All of you keep failing to realize I had already bought and downloaded Mnt. Lion before being advised of the incapatibilty issue(s).

I am not overly concerned about not having the antivirus, because I know it is temporary and that Mac's compared to PC'shave less problems as far as viruses are concerned. There are more Mac issues recently, however. And, we're still vulnerable to malicious spyware/adware and my son's iMac (month older than my 6 mo.old one) had a Trojan virus picked up by his McAfee, which btw is made for Mac platforms.

Finally, I know that having anti-virus software be it for a PC or Mac is not a guarantee .
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post #4 of 24
7/28/12 at 1:44pm
Originally Posted by Cheesehed View Post
Heard from Apple who confirmed that they are not lying.

 

I don't buy that Apple told you that you need McAfee for any operation.

 

…why they can't logistically give the buyer warning about these compatibility issues. I think it's Apple giving the load of BS!

 

Explain to me what Apple has to do with any of this. Explain to me why it should be Apple's responsibility to spend billions of dollars to ensure that cut-rate basement coding operations make software compatible with their newest OS. This has nothing to do with Apple. This is McAfee's laziness and disinterest in the platform, nothing more. Combine that with the lack of necessity of the software in the first place and you're given a recipe for uninstallation.

 

It's the failure of Apple and McAfee, for that matter, to warn BEFORE downloading.
 

It's the failure of McAfee to warn you. They've had months to tell users not to update. If, as you say, they haven't done so, this is their fault. Not Apple's.


And, we're still vulnerable to malicious spyware/adware…

 

Find one of those and I'll install it on my own machine. I've only ever had EXEs download themselves, much to my amusement.

 

…and my son's iMac (month older than my 6 mo.old one) had a Trojan virus picked up by his McAfee…
 

Oh? Which one?

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post #5 of 24
7/28/12 at 2:11pm
Thread Starter 
No where did I say that Apple told me I "need" McAfee. They did tell me to contact McAfee about them updating or fixing the issue.

Apple is selling this product. All I'm saying is that a simple disclosure in their "buy update" section saying that there new O.S. may not be compatible with compatible with some computer's software such as some popular anti-virus software. Explain to me why this would cost billions if dollars (LOL) to do something aline these lines. I don't disagree with you on McAfee's laziness and hold them responsible also, if not more so than Apple.

Since it's Apple's product, like many potential liability warnings with a product or it's use, they should be issuing a caution or warning statement, plain and simple. There are a lot of dumb a$$ warnings on products which are much more obvious to consumers than this would be. Not all of us are computer afficionados as yourself, Tallest.

No, I don't save malicious software I've deleted in case a stranger should ask for it.

It was my son's late model iMac which experienced the Trojan, not sure which one.

(BTW, you or anyone reading my posts don't have to accept, agree with or believe them. I have no ulterior motives other than to share my experience and opinion, FWIW.)
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post #6 of 24
7/28/12 at 2:17pm
Originally Posted by Cheesehed View Post
Apple is selling this product.

 

No, McAfee is selling this product.

 

All I'm saying is that a simple disclosure in their "buy update" section saying that there new O.S. may not be compatible with compatible with some computer's software such as some popular anti-virus software.
 

…


I don't disagree with you on McAfee's laziness and hold them responsible also, if not more so than Apple.

 

More as in solely, I hope.

 

Since it's Apple's product… 

 

It's McAfee's product.

 

 

It was my son's late model iMac which experienced the Trojan, not sure which one.
 

Okay, so probably he "had" Flashback, which is a Java problem.

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post #7 of 24
7/28/12 at 2:22pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

 

No, McAfee is selling this product.

 

…

 

 

 

It's McAfee's product.

 

 

 

Thanks for clearing this up.  I actually didn't realize that Mountain Lion was a McAfee product, yet I'm paying Apple  (LOL).

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post #8 of 24
7/28/12 at 2:37pm
Originally Posted by Cheesehed View Post
Thanks for clearing this up.  I actually didn't realize that Mountain Lion was a McAfee product, yet I'm paying Apple  (LOL).


Listen to me. I'm going to say this again. Apple has no responsibility to make sure your McAfee products work with their software. They have no stake in this at all. McAfee is the only one responsible for making sure their products work with any OS. None of this is Apple's responsibility, nor is any of this Apple's fault. It is also the consumer's (you) responsibility to make sure their software works with any new hardware or OS' that may be released. If that means waiting a few days/weeks to read others' experiences or the official statement from the company that makes the software (not the OS), then that's what this means.

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post #9 of 24
7/28/12 at 3:26pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


Listen to me. I'm going to say this again. Apple has no responsibility to make sure your McAfee products work with their software. They have no stake in this at all. McAfee is the only one responsible for making sure their products work with any OS. None of this is Apple's responsibility, nor is any of this Apple's fault. It is also the consumer's (you) responsibility to make sure their software works with any new hardware or OS' that may be released. If that means waiting a few days/weeks to read others' experiences or the official statement from the company that makes the software (not the OS), then that's what this means.

 

 

Don't have to listen to you and do not have to agree.  Apple does not have the responsibility to make sure other products work with their software.  This is true.  Apple should have a simple disclaimer about other's software including anti-virus that may not be compatible with, i.e., work with their new O.S., just as McAfee should have it.  

 

Just going to agree to disagree and put this discourse with you to bed.

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post #10 of 24
7/28/12 at 3:29pm
Originally Posted by Cheesehed View Post
Apple does not have the responsibility to make sure other products work with their software. This is true.

 

If you actually believed that, there's no reason for you to have started this, nor would you still be saying the following:

 

 Apple should have a simple disclaimer about other's software including anti-virus that may not be compatible with, i.e., work with their new OS…

 

Just get rid of the anti-virus entirely and live freely.

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post #11 of 24
7/28/12 at 3:37pm
Thread Starter 

Whatever man...relax and have a beer.

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post #12 of 24
7/28/12 at 4:02pm
Originally Posted by Cheesehed View Post
Whatever man...relax and have a beer.

 

Teetotaler, but the offer is noted.

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post #13 of 24
7/28/12 at 4:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cheesehed View Post

Apple should have a simple disclaimer about other's software including anti-virus that may not be compatible with, i.e., work with their new O.S.

 

 

Why on earth should Apple have to tell you something so darned obvious?

 

If this sort of compatibility issue has actually come as a surprise to you then you probably shouldn't be installing a brand new OS immediately upon release. You might be better advised to wait for the 10.8.1 or even 10.8.2 release.

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post #14 of 24
7/28/12 at 5:22pm

Cheesehed got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Several other developers released Mountain Lion-compatibility updates prior to the Mountain Lion release to accommodate customers who were running developmental versions of the new OS.

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post #15 of 24
7/30/12 at 1:04pm

Apple has given software developers months of access to pre-release versions of ML and documentation, so that those developers can verify compatibility or make necessary updates by launch day. If McAfee didn't take advantage of this, that's not Apple's Fault.

 

I, too, concur that you shouldn't even need this software, especially as ML has added the "Gatekeeper", which adds a new layer of protection against malware. Clearly, McAfee doesn't think this product is very important either.

 

The only significant use case for antivirus software on a Mac is so you can notify your Windows buddies when their unprotected computer has tried (unsuccessfully) to infect yours...  ;)

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post #16 of 24
8/3/12 at 3:39am

Hi 

 

I've read this thread with interest!  :-)

 

For my part, as a user of the UK's BT, as my ISP, I've 'enjoyed' free protection from the joint BT/McAfee facility on both my MS Windows machines and on my Apple iMac. It's called 'NetProtect Plus'.

 

Having recently upgraded to Mountain Lion on the iMac, when endeavouring to load McAfee's software I'm now met by this strange message:  http://i47.tinypic.com/o048c6.jpg

 

Has anyone here seen such before?  Is it likely to be because of a failure to keep up to date by McAfee?

 

Just wondering!

 

David

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post #17 of 24
8/3/12 at 9:01am
Originally Posted by Brawdy14 View Post

Is it likely to be because of a failure to keep up to date by McAfee?

 

That's exactly what it is. But you can solve the problem on your own right away! 

Simply delete all files, applications and folders related to McAfee from your computer entirely. 

Boom, fixed.

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post #18 of 24
8/3/12 at 9:29am

Thank you!

 

I'd have added a 'smiley' but they don't seem to work on this board! This is what *I* see when I click the yellow smiley above ^^^^

 

 

                700

 

Any idea *WHY* that may be - anyone?

 

David


Edited by Brawdy14 - 8/3/12 at 1:00pm
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post #19 of 24
9/6/12 at 10:02am

I know this is a slightly old thread but...

 

First off it is an application developers responsibility to ensure whether or not their product supports Mountain Lion, not Apples. 

 

Second, after reading some of the replies about Anti Virus software I am convinced that some have no idea how viruses actually get on systems.  Saying that ML is fully protected as you seem to claim if foolish.  There are viruses that can infect osx just as there are for other operating systems and a number of them are spred through vulnerabilities in things like web browsers and their plugins and email clients like most viruses are.  There are viruses that are spred through Flash, Java, etc... that run in the browser.   There is a PDF viewer exploit .... Saying that anti virus has no reason to be on an osx machine is simply wrong on many levels.  The only time it really would not be beneficial is if you never, repeat never attached it to any network, especially the internet. 

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post #20 of 24
9/10/12 at 4:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by rdrrr View Post

There are viruses that can infect osx just as there are for other operating systems and a number of them are spred through vulnerabilities in things like web browsers and their plugins and email clients like most viruses are.  There are viruses that are spred through Flash, Java, etc... that run in the browser.   There is a PDF viewer exploit .... Saying that anti virus has no reason to be on an osx machine is simply wrong on many levels.

There has never been a case of OS X virus infestation. Occasionally, security vulnerabilities are discovered and patched. Sometimes, I forget to lock my front door when I leave the house, but my house is still intact when I get home.

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post #21 of 24
9/10/12 at 8:24am
Originally Posted by rdrrr View Post

There are viruses that can infect osx just as there are for other operating systems and a number of them are spred through vulnerabilities in things like web browsers and their plugins and email clients like most viruses are.  There are viruses that are spred through Flash, Java, etc... that run in the browser.   There is a PDF viewer exploit .... Saying that anti virus has no reason to be on an osx machine is simply wrong on many levels.  The only time it really would not be beneficial is if you never, repeat never attached it to any network, especially the internet. 

 

Wrong. Get rid of Flash and block Java from your browser (I'm waiting on the "etc." This should be good.) and you'll be covered.

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post #22 of 24
9/10/12 at 1:48pm

Whilst you are on-line, could you please answer post number 18?

 

TIA

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post #23 of 24
9/10/12 at 2:06pm
Originally Posted by Brawdy14 View Post
Whilst you are on-line, could you please answer post number 18?

 

Sure thing: I have no idea. lol.gif AI itself is no longer in charge of the code or hosting of the site, and we can no longer make changes thereto ourselves. mstone has created a bookmarklet that brings them back… Can't seem to find that post right now.


I've just been using OS-level emoji as a replacement, but they're only visible if you're on iOS 5, 6, OS X Lion, or Mountain Lion (so most of the demographic).

😖

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post #24 of 24
9/10/12 at 2:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

 

Sure thing: I have no idea. lol.gif AI itself is no longer in charge of the code or hosting of the site, and we can no longer make changes thereto ourselves. mstone has created a bookmarklet that brings them back… Can't seem to find that post right now.


I've just been using OS-level emoji as a replacement, but they're only visible if you're on iOS 5, 6, OS X Lion, or Mountain Lion (so most of the demographic).

😖

 

I learn something new every day!  :-)

 

Thanks. lol.gif

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