Hi, I'm a n00b I know. I always scan the forums and now I have a question...
Some random guy IMed me on AOL, who was from another forum I'm on and sent me this link. I clicked on it and it was code. (I'm normally not that stupid but I new him vaguely) Then his away message was on. I IMed him today and he said it's a virus that sends links to people and it's done nothing to his computer. He has a PC. My question is...
Should I be worried? since I run a mac and all? thanks. -Jen
macs are very hard to get virses. if his pc didn't get it,then yours probably won't so don't worry about it.
macs are very hard to get virses. if his pc didn't get it,then yours probably won't so don't worry about it.
he did get it, it just sends IMs to people on your buddylist with the virus passing itself on. Thanks for your help though. I am somewhat relieved.
The most known Mac OS X virus is called the Leap-A virus. It transmits itself by a Trojan horse, whose filename is "latestpics.tga". When opened, it executes some code, and copies some files onto your hard drive. It then tried to send latestpics.tga to everyone on your iChat buddy list. You will not be notified when this is happening, but if your buddies open the file, they too will be infected by the virus.
You can find more about the virus here:
http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/02/16/leapafaq/index.php
Hello,
A Mac is a computer, and even under OS X, a very cool and awesome OS, it is possible to get a virus. Not likely, but possible.
If you are running on Mac OS X as a local administrator, you have a better chance of deeply infecting your machine than if you are a normal user.
Also, the standard rules of needing to backup to avoid loosing materials during a hardware failure also apply.
If you are interested in scanning your computer (I scan mine once a week), check out ClamAV.
Christian
Hey, lets try to stay on topic, and not bash Windows or Macs, lets try to help the guy who needs it :).
This is your second post going off topic, just to rant about Macs...
you're all just mac lovers. ...
Is that suprising? What did you expect on a Mac forum? If you're a PC fan, say so on a forum about PCs.
Sheesh.
well excuse me mr jeoprogrammer, if macs are so perfect then why doesn't vmware make their software available to macs? i know what you're gonna say: "well there are plenty of simulation programs for mac to go to a pc forum,bla bla bla bla bla bla bla blabla bla bla blabla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla." and macs can get viruses
As I stated before, there are viruses for Macs.
http://www.symantec.com/press/1998/n980714.html
I'm not saying that Macs are better than PCs. I'm not trying to defend Apple. I am simply saying that you are not being very helpful on this forum (do you even own a Mac??!), so keep out of this if you are not interested in other people's Mac problems.
no i do not own a mac, i'm just trying to make you guys mad.
*Sigh*...... Will someone please close this thread?
And I'm noticing that TheNSS is deleting his previous posts......
Now a days, if you have XP on your intel mac, then a virus caught on your XP os can screw up your entire computer...including OS X.
Now a days, if you have XP on your intel mac, then a virus caught on your XP os can screw up your entire computer...including OS X.
Depends. Windows XP cannot natively read/write to HFS formatted partitions, so unless you download an external program that mounts HFS partitions, you will not get caught with a virus on OS X.
Also please note that even if a Windows XP virus infects your OS X volume, the virus will not do any damage when OS X is running (even if the viruses exists on the partition), so the damage will only happen when XP is running.
As I stated before, there are viruses for Macs.
http://www.symantec.com/press/1998/n980714.htmlI'm not saying that Macs are better than PCs. I'm not trying to defend Apple. I am simply saying that you are not being very helpful on this forum (do you even own a Mac??!), so keep out of this if you are not interested in other people's Mac problems.
Symantec would say that so people think 'oh noes - there are mac virii and I don't have AV software!!'.
This 'virus' (trojan) IMs itself to your buddies. They have to accept the file, decompress it, double click it and then enter their admin password to install it. It is not a virus.
Symantec (and McAfee, Sophos etc) are just crapping themselves because Vista *may* come with a built in windows AV package (or hell, it may even be secure)
This 'virus' (trojan) IMs itself to your buddies. They have to accept the file, decompress it, double click it and then enter their admin password to install it. It is not a virus.
It all depends on how you look at it. Here's Macworld's analysis:
Is this a virus, a worm, malware, or a Trojan horse?
Technically, it’s a bit of everything. It’s a virus, in the sense that it attaches itself to other executable code on your Mac. It’s a worm, in that it attempts to self-replicate and spread from machine to machine. It’s a piece of malware, because it can do bad things to your computer. Basically, it’s a piece of malware that’s delivered via a Trojan horse and then acts in both viral and wormy ways.
It all depends on how you look at it. Here's Macworld's analysis:
You can do no damage to OSX while logged in as a normal user. Its UNIX origins don't allow you to make changes to vital parts of the system without having root privileges.
The problem is that some muppets just type their password in whenever the box pops up - thats how it spreads.
Its not clever, it doesn't exploit the system in any advanced way, it exploits dumbass users who deserve what they get. In my opinion it shouldn't be classed as a virus. Argue away at malware, etc, but if people have to acknowledge that its being installed its not a virus.
It probably gets the same crowd who gave £3,000 to Mr Henry Onwonku personal aide to the former bank manager of the Royal Bank of Nigeria so that he can obtain the safe key to the deposit box containing $12,140,423 (Twelve Million, One Hundred and Forty Thousand, Four Hundred and Twenty Three Dollars) and share it with them.
Hi, I'm a n00b I know. I always scan the forums and now I have a question...
Some random guy IMed me on AOL, who was from another forum I'm on and sent me this link. I clicked on it and it was code. (I'm normally not that stupid but I new him vaguely) Then his away message was on. I IMed him today and he said it's a virus that sends links to people and it's done nothing to his computer. He has a PC. My question is...Should I be worried? since I run a mac and all? thanks. -Jen
Greetings optimistic one,
I can't name the virus off the top of my head, but it is a PC only virus that spreads by IMing everyone it can. On a PC it will have consequences, but not on a Mac or Linux machine... Yayyy!!
But I do keep my OS X firewall up and occasionally run clamXav. On my PCs, I run AVG Free and Comodo Firewall. Feel free to recommend them to your benighted PC using acquaintances.
Carl
Whoa, I was going to say Clam is complicated to install but I wasn't looking at CLamx but something else that's supposed to be platform independent, but needs to be compiled - sounds scary to me if you don't know code to know if it's malware or what...but Clamx looks a lot similar - are they related?
Hi Lads
So what is your advice to stay save on my mac shuld i be always logged is as a normal user? shuld i use any antivirus with firewalls and all that stuff like on my pc? what is the maintance trick for mac's, shuld i divide my hdd for 2 partitions one for system second for my stuff?
shuld i be always logged is as a normal user?
Even when you're logged in as Administrator, you are still required to enter your password to give any program full (administrator) access. Like pty said, you have to enter your admin password for the Leap-A virus to work! So this isn't like the nasty Windows viruses.
shuld i use any antivirus with firewalls and all that stuff like on my pc?
If your Mac is connected directly to the Internet (no router), then you should use Mac OS X's built-in Firewall. It's easy to configure, and will be adequate for most people. As for antovirus software, my advice is this: if you don't do anything dumb, you have nothing to be worried about. If you only use commercial software, there's no way you should use it. And when downloading freeware/shareware, make sure it's from a trusted source.
what is the maintance trick for mac's, shuld i divide my hdd for 2 partitions one for system second for my stuff?
Nope, that won't do one bit of good unless you keep one partition unmounted, in which case there's no point in even having it.
In short, Macs are still very secure, so don't sweat it. I download tons of software, I don't have antivirus software, and I've never ever gotten a virus on Mac OS X.
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