Antivirus software?

[Dani]

Do you think that it might finally be time to go install the ol' antivirus software on a trusty OS X system?

[kc0arf]

Hello Dani,

I am behind a firewall, and have managed to avoid internet spam. Thus, I do not see much stuff fly by me. But then again, I am not running MS Office and having files with macros sent to me either.

That said, I think that any responsible computer owner should have antivirus at the ready. I am liking McAfee, but am evaluating Sophos as we speak on both my 2000 server, linux server, and Macintosh OS X. SO far, so good.

I think that you should start evaluating the software, as any computer that has electricity to it, and a valid OS, is prone to some sort of infection.

Be aware that VIREX from McAfee still disrupts Palm OS operations on a Macintosh.

Christian

[Sheriff Mole]

I've been using macs most hours of most days now since the mac plus came out around '86. My first modem was a 14k in the days when that was all there was, and for the last 5 years I've been on line on broad-band most of the time, I've never knowingly experienced a virus, I do have some virus protection running, it just tells me no problem every time it runs.
Maybe it helps that I have an aversion to all things Microsoft, I don't know, I just find that most of the problems I have ever had, have been whilst using MS software.
I do however suffer from a massive amount of spam, and so I am interested in your firewall, any recommendations would be appreciated. :D

[kc0arf]

Hello,

A firewall, by definition, prevents network attacks from getting into your network. Think of it like a breakwater on a large lake... big waves hit the breakwater, but on the other side, where the boats in docks are, the waves are much smaller, and calmer.

Firewalls cannot tell between real email messages and spam. To the firewall, they are a bunch of bits and packets. A second type of defense is required: either you setup some sort of email scanner (I have a server between the internet and my home computer, so I can do this) that will remove spam messages, or you have your email program such as Eudora apply filters, and send all the crap one direction.

The only real way to get away from Spam is to change your email address, and hope the crap does not follow you. Avoid posting your email on web pages and web forums... and newsgroups. It is amazing how long archives like google keep email address alive and well for robots to scan and collect.

If you need to, create a hotmail or yahoo account and use that for your public email transactions. Sacrifice that account for crap management... and accept that you might find one legitimate message out of 500 in there.

Christian

[Sheriff Mole]

Thanks, that's pretty much what I thought, but you've made the choices much clearer. I would love to have just one email address, a one I realy like, but I can see I'd never escape the spam.
I do use a "tools and rules" self made list of 'froms' and 'message content' alerts to redirect spam to a delete file, but the list keeps growing as the spammers find another ways to spell out their crap, and it takes a lot of time to maintain.
It really is a great shame the web has to have this pollution, I would love to get a few of my frail old relatives emailing and surfing (there's not a lot else they can do), but if they received the spam I do, they'd die of shock!
Thanks again for your reply.

[n90]

I have NOD32 on my computer and it has been running for more than 3 years but I must say that I am a careful user. Sometime, I felt like re-installING my OS but after some thinking - running too long, I cannot find a reason why I should do that. My computer has been running perfectly well.

Some people commented Kaspersky is great and I have tried BUT it is a bad choice!!
Don't just listen to others, I recommend you to try it by yourself.

One thing I also like to share, I noticed that Kaspersky has many updates - maybe 150 updates per week. I also tested Norton, it has around 220 updates per week.
Some people said it is better to have more updates but to me, why NOD32 only has 20 updates and yet it can protect my computer equally well. This also tells me the different is in their technologies. The point I like to share is - WHAT HAPPEN IF YOU ARE TRAVELING AND CANNOT UPDATE DAILY OR HAS NO INTERNET CONNECTION FOR 8 DAYS??
NOD32 user will missed 20 updates, Kaspersky users will missed 150 updates and Norton users will missed 220 updates. NOD32 doesn't really depends on updates to detect viruses due to the nature of their technology, I guess the risk will higher for those brand that heavily depend on updates. After 8 days, the moment you connect to internet, your computer will get hit even before you click on the update button.

[N6MEJ]

I've been a personal MAC user since 1984. My kids grew up on them, using Windows only after graduation and into college (poor kids). I run the full suite of Norton "Anti' software and have for several years now. They've come a long way in the MAC UI and the various applications are a breeze. They include Anti-Virus, Confidential and Firewall. Yes MAC OS X has a firewall, which in and of itself isn't to bad. Norton is better. I haven't found a MAC related virus since about 1996 and that network in question was inundated with viruses - so Yes Macintosh viruses do exist. It took some time, but I fixed it. I have not personally run without some form of anti-virus or protection software since then. I also depend on Norton for its anti-phishing capabilities which has given me enough concern about a couple of sites to do the research and go somewhere else - after notifying the WEB Administrator of the real site that the had a problem. Norton's Firewall offers much more flexibility than does that of the MAC, which I don't disregard by this comment. The MAC firewall is functional and does a great job. It's just that Norton does it better. Just recently, Norton notified me of two High Risk efforts to attack and gain entry into my machine, They were blocked. The viruses, had they gotten into my MAC, would have reeked great havoc. As a standard, operating in the background, the Norton firewall as does the MAC firewall, keeps track of authorized access to the internet as well as unauthorized, or blocked, access. It REGULARLY denies access to suspicious or user (me) targeted sites I have no use for. I could go on ... however, I think I've made my point. The Bad Guys are out there just looking for any open port so they can dig in and start their nefarious little and at times highly costly -to you - games. Disregard ANYONE who says you don'r need anti-virus or other internet protection for your MAC. They are wrong. Note that I am not selling Norton. I am selling the idea that protection against internet scum is Vital To You. Spend the money and buy whatever you think is right for you.

Cheers