what about viruses

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
i'm looking into buying a Mac. i'm just plain tired of the PC world. i keep reading about how Macs don't have viruses which is remarkable. i just have a few questions along those lines. if someone downloads an mp3 from a p2p network, what happens with the file? will it harm the computer at all? also, how come i hear about people buying virus programs for Macs? are they really necessary?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    I'm not sure I completely understand your first question. If someone downloads a file from a P2P network (the legal and moral issues of which are left as an exercise to the reader), it should just play like any normal MP3 file. I don't see how it could possibly harm your computer (issues of hidden Applescripts aside).



    Virus programs for Macs are usually bought because, even though there's not an in-the-wild virus for OS X, attachments in emails can still have Windows viruses. While these viruses can't infect a Mac computer, if you forward the attachment to a Windows user, it can infect them. So, some people feel that the virus scanner is worth it in protecting their and other peoples' Windows computers from viruses. I personally don't use one, but there are people who do.
  • Reply 2 of 10
    randycat99randycat99 Posts: 1,919member
    Well, that's the thing I've always wondered. Do Mac anti-virus programs and PC anti-virus programs even scan for the same kind of thing? ...or do Mac programs scan for Mac-specific viruses and PC programs scan for Windows-specific viruses? If so, then it would seem you could still carry along a latent Windows virus that could infect a PC, even if you are running a Mac anti-virus program (this really applies more to those embedded varieties that hide in an mp3, for example). The bright side is that a Windows virus can't really do much in a Mac environment, so that pretty much cuts its ability to mobilize or operate. It would just sit there like a dormant spore in a folder, and you would have to purposely send that folder to some PC user. It couldn't "jump" into an email attachment or take control of your email program. If you happen to be forwarding an email that has a virus attached, that could still be a problem, I imagine.



    Ultimately, it seems that even that would get bug-stomped these days as the internet service providers have dutifully taken it upon themselves to scan incoming traffic and filter out the crap before passing it on. I don't know if all service providers do it, but I know the spam messages I get are frequently modified with a message saying that such and such virus has been neutralized from the email.
  • Reply 3 of 10
    numarknumark Posts: 5member
    A quick Google search shows that at least Virex, which is the virus scanner that comes with .Mac, detects Windows viruses as well. I don't know about NAV, but I would assume that it would too.
  • Reply 4 of 10
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Randycat99

    Well, that's the thing I've always wondered. Do Mac anti-virus programs and PC anti-virus programs even scan for the same kind of thing? ...or do Mac programs scan for Mac-specific viruses and PC programs scan for Windows-specific viruses?



    If that were the case, the Mac virus checker programs would be very easy to write indeed... there is not a single Mac OS X virus at this time. Not one.



    There are three known example implementations of trojan horses (a malicious app masquerading as something else, such as an MP3 file or the MS Office 2004 Installer), but only the Office Installer has ever been seen in the wild (and that one was on P2P networks... sorry, but anyone who think that a very small (160kB) file found on a P2P network is actually the full MS Office 2004 Installer... well... Darwin had something, didn't he?)



    And that, boys and girls, about sums up the state of viruses, trojan horses, and worms on the Mac right now.



    ie, the only real reason to buy a Mac anti-virus program is to save your Windows using cohorts from their own systems. I say let 'em hang.
  • Reply 5 of 10
    randycat99randycat99 Posts: 1,919member
    I guess all I can say is that earlier versions of NAV surely didn't scan for Windows viruses. I can remember doing a scan, fully realizing that there is an email in my mailbox right then with one of those nasty attachments (before the time when ISP's did their AV filtering), and NAV never found a thing.



    I guess one other thing that may suggest if Windows viruses are really being scanned or not is to take a look at the AV database. If it is several MB's in size, that would be fitting for the amount of Windows viruses out there. If it is just a meg or so, it's probably just Mac known viruses (that have ever existed, period).
  • Reply 6 of 10
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Randycat99

    I guess all I can say is that earlier versions of NAV surely didn't scan for Windows viruses. I can remember doing a scan, fully realizing that there is an email in my mailbox right then with one of those nasty attachments (before the time when ISP's did their AV filtering), and NAV never found a thing.



    Did NAV purport to scan your Inbox, or only files on your disk? See, if you were using a mail client that stored messages in proprietary database files, then NAV would never see it unless it asked the mailer for a copy of each message in turn, and scanned that.



    Norton has an *extremely* bad reputation with their MacOS X offerings, however, so it doesn't surprise me if it failed at its task. (Their Disk Doctor screws up healthy HFS+ drives under MacOS X... never, ever run it if you have the option.)
  • Reply 7 of 10
    randycat99randycat99 Posts: 1,919member
    The attachments of what I was using (Eudora) sit completely exposed in a folder labeled "Attachments". You can be sure I set it to specifically watch that folder let alone scan all the HD's. It never found jack.
  • Reply 8 of 10
    Quote:

    Originally posted by numark

    I'm not sure I completely understand your first question. If someone downloads a file from a P2P network (the legal and moral issues of which are left as an exercise to the reader), it should just play like any normal MP3 file. I don't see how it could possibly harm your computer (issues of hidden Applescripts aside).



    i apologize for that. what i meant was that if someone downloaded a file from a P2P network and the file happened to be a virus, could it infect a Mac? from what i've read in the responses though, it seems that the file would just sit there and do nothing.
  • Reply 9 of 10
    ibook911ibook911 Posts: 607member
    Right now I'm on the trial of .mac, but I own a retail box, so starting in September I will have Virex. I seriously doubt I will install it though. I don't want to slow-down my computer. I get about one little virus/bug on my PC each year, so I'm sure in the virus-free Mac world I should be ok, for now.
  • Reply 10 of 10
    currently I'm battling a horrible program of some sort on my family's pc. I identified it as VX2. It is the most horrible thing in the world, it downloads icons on the desktop (free casino, you know, that kind of crude) it tries to download viruses, it opens pop up windows, and tries to take "nonpersonal info." Everytime I remove it it comes back again, and the only thing that can find it is ad-aware... I'm thinking of just reformatting the computer



    Thankfully my mac has none of these problems, but I still am paranoid, I got virex for free (or should I say not...) for being a college student, ASU gives free virus scan utilities... not a single virus in a year...
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