Help! SW folder??

snowster · February 8, 2003 3:45AM

Hi!

On my startup disk there is a folder named sw. I dont know where it has come from. Inside of that folder is a folder called lib, which includes the following files:

libcrypto.0.9.6.dylib, libcurl.2.0.2.dylib, libcurl.2.dylib, libdl.0.dylib, libssl.0.9.6.dylib

The owner of this folder is system and I cannot remove it. I guess I could remove it with an root account, but I need to know if this is a folder that actually is needed and usually just doesnt show up (should it be invisible?).

So basically my question is what is it, can I remove it or is there a way to make it invisible again.

-Snowster

elric · February 8, 2003 6:37AM

Never seen that, have you installed anything recently?

niconono · February 8, 2003 10:19AM

The /SW folder comes from the Fink installation. Nothing to worry about

<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />

jaske · February 8, 2003 7:00PM

That folder is also created by Virex 7.2 . . . reason enough to delete that piece of crap.

logan cale · February 8, 2003 7:44PM

And if you use fink, DON'T use Virex 7.2.

jaske · February 8, 2003 8:08PM

Yeah, here's the news from Sourceforge

" The Virex 7.2 package, currently being distributed free to all .Mac members, has a serious conflict with Fink. Fink users should not install Virex 7.2 under any circumstances. Installing it after Fink is installed will damage your Fink installation; installing it prior to Fink will make it impossible to install Fink without damaging Virex.

This bug has been reported to Virex's manufacturer. We will keep the Fink community informed about the situation as it develops."

snowster · February 8, 2003 8:12PM

Thanks to all of you. I have just installed Virex 7.2 so that is all.

-Snowster

vandewaals · February 8, 2003 8:16PM

lol...I came in here to start a thread about this exact subject. I look at Genius Bar and..."Holy crap..it's not just me!"

Well that's a relief. I was afraid some weird Trojan Horse got in somehow.

BTW, WHY does Virex 7.2 do this? Is it because of the new eUpdate feature?

I nearly rmd'd the damm folder. AI: keeping me from doing dumb things to my Mac since 2002.

iamthesquidthing · February 9, 2003 2:54AM

Why do we have virus scan software when there are no Mac OS X viruses? what is it actually doing when it's "scanning?"

Andrew

ghost_user_name · February 9, 2003 3:10PM

Quote:

Originally posted by iAmTheSquidThing:

Why do we have virus scan software when there are no Mac OS X viruses? what is it actually doing when it's "scanning?"

If you have anything that is infected with an old Classic Mac OS virus or a Windows virus, it will remove those as well.

Important note: While Windows viruses will never affect Mac OS X directly, if you get files that are infected froma Windows user, you can consider yourself a "carrier". If you send that infected file off to another Windows user, he will then get the virus. So, using Virex is basically just being nice to Windows users, preventing the further spread of their viruses.

If you never use Classic and you never share files or e-mails with Windows users (or don't care if they get viruses), using Virex would be a waste of time.

microtrash · February 9, 2003 7:37PM

It appeared on my computeur when installing Virex 7.2

reboot in OS 9 and use Resedit or sometime like it to make this folder invisible.

When I wanted to do it in OS X, a msg informed me that I did not have pemissions for.

buonrotto · February 9, 2003 10:14PM

You can probably log in as root to do it, though you might want to make a copy for posterity (and safety) before you tinker with it too much.

alcimedes · February 9, 2003 10:51PM

Quote:

Classic Mac OS virus or a Windows virus

are you sure of this? the only reason i ask is that the Mac version of NAV DOES NOT catch PC viruses on a Mac.

-alcimedes

ringo · February 9, 2003 11:01PM

I use it with VPC. When I download an .exe it automatically scans it for virii. I'm already a dotMac customer, so it's just a nice feature.

ghost_user_name · February 9, 2003 11:28PM

Quote:

Originally posted by alcimedes:

are you sure of this? the only reason i ask is that the Mac version of NAV DOES NOT catch PC viruses on a Mac.

It caught the Klez and a few other weird Windows viruses that were in my Mail.app mailbox. So, yeah, I'm pretty sure about this.

[ 02-10-2003: Message edited by: Brad ]

frawgz · April 2, 2003 12:14AM

Ok, I'm thinking I need to install Fink just to make my life easier (see other thread). Should I just trash Virex and this 'sw' folder?

ghost_user_name · April 2, 2003 1:01AM

Yes, you should delete Virex and the /sw folder before attempting to install fink. You shouldn't really have any serious problems (I think) if you just leave the folder there; fink *should* just overwrite the files with its own.

Still, to be safe, I'd recommend trashing them both.

Help! SW folder??

Comments