It is actually possible to hook one of those up to the internet, you know. There are apparently some geeky folks out there with a lot of free time on their hands. And in case you think I’m joking, here’s some screen shots from the C64 Hyperlink web browser: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/cwi/hl/shots.html
If you boot from a linux live CD you are immune to viruses for pretty much the same reason as the c64. You can’t write to the ROM in a c64 and (assuming you’re not using a RW CD) you can’t write to the OS image with a live CD either. Some public access computers have gone this route. They are configured to be fairly well locked down, and reboot after each user logs off to make sure that no nasties stay behind in memory.
Norton: I’ve never seen an installation that didn’t cripple the computer. My impression is that it’s bloatware of the very worst kind.
McAfee: I had free access when I was in university, so I used it, but I had one very bad trojan infection in those years that it couldn’t deal with. It alerted me to it, but it couldn’t control it. I lost a lot of data.
AVG: I used it for a long time and had no problems; it seemed to sit very lightly on my system. Then recently they began to make threats about making people pay for the effective version. I wasn’t interested in waiting around for that to happen, so I tried
BitDefender: Bogged my system down. Now I use
Avast. Free, sits lightly, and I haven’t had any problems with infections. I use AdBlock with Firefox, too.
Well, yeah, if you use the default settings the way they come out of the box. The default settings are set on ‘Stupid’ to be sure.
If your version comes with File Save and Restore turn that shit off because it is trying to back up every move you make. This solves most of the slowness/bloatware issues.
If you take the time to customize the settings I find that Norton works very well. My version includes System Works utility which I favor over the diagnostic tools that come with Windows. Speed Disc, Wipe Info, Win Doctor, etc., the Start Up application manager is handy, quite a few other tools. I also have Malwarebytes, SuperAntiSpyware, and SpyBot, which I have ran occationally and they have never found anything that Norton has let through, so I think I will uninstall them soon.
Norton has never allowed any threat to get through the settings I have chosen in the probably 15 years I have been using it. It has even protected me from the Dope threats.
Which reminds me, if there isn’t some new Dope-served malware issue by the end of the year I am going to owe Ed an apology and a subscription, because I said I would. He appears to have fixed those ad problems here.
Speaking as a security professional, there’s more than a ring of truth to it.
Run OS X, Firefox with Ad Block and NoScript, and I can’t think of a single thing that’ll get in of you don’t install outside software.
Is there malware out there that targets Macs? Sure. Are they more than a lab curiosity? Not really.
Frankly, I’m more concerned about Facebook Malware than OS X malware, and to my knowledge there’s not a whole lot out there that’ll protect against it.
Did you actually LOOK through that list? They’re mostly:
“freeware client-server remote administration tool”
“is keylogging software”
“a freeware application designed to work as a remote access and administration tool.”
"a powerful freeware kernel base keylogger "
None of these are Virii, worms, or even really Malware. They don’t have an infection vector, and it would be pretty hard to launch them unless you have physical access to the system.
In the Virus and Worms section, there’s some for ‘Mac Classic’ and a few that “entices users to download and install”. FWIW, Flash( Warning: Hot button Mac topic ahead!) could be considered malware, too…it entices you to download and install it. It then consumes your battery at an accelerated rate. (Not really, but the point is: You can convince someone to double click ANYTHING)
Of the 116 threats (woo!) on that page, how many do you REALLY need to worry about?
Here: You will (eventually) need to use some kind of 3rd party threat mitigation on OS X. You don’t yet. I haven’t since I got back into the Macs around 2002.
I have seen half a dozen times where the system works bootloader/recovery system tanked leaving a system that cannot be repaired without reloading from scratch and in 3 of those cases didn’t even leave an intact file system. Then again I see many of the worst case scenarios being an onsite tech.
I would leave mbam on there and update it every once in a while just as a backup. In my shop we see virus infected system running norton and or Macaffee DAILY
Look, there’s nothing wrong with buying a machine that isn’t riddled with virus vulnerabilities. It IS a pain in the ass to mess with antivirus software. That’s why somebody started a thread about the problem in the first place, and got dozens of replies. Why in the world would anybody WANT to struggle with this issue?
My work group is full of scientists and engineers and we all have corporate PCs. There are IT people just down the hall, full time coders one floor below me, and many millions spent yearly on computers and support in my company. My laptop still took a dive 2 weeks ago with a virus the help desk remote login couldn’t fix, antivirus software or not. UNIX is a perfectly good operating system that is way more secure than Windows, and making the move is absolutely an option when considering how to deal with viruses.
OSX isn’t a bad OS but Safari is a poor browser for security. It always gets beaten down in short order at hacking competitions like pwn2own, usually taking just a few minutes for a drive-by download to give the hacker complete control over OSX. Likewise for quicktime which gets exploited to gain access.
So the base OS is ok (though by no means completely secure), it’s the rest of the software Apple put on that opens the doorway to a simple website visit being enough for someone to take control of your Mac.
IE and Firefox get beaten as well though usually it takes longer, Chrome seems to be the only browser they test that never gets beaten so if you want to stay safe online switching to Chrome would be a good idea.
The arrogance/ignorance of some Mac owners is a bit worrying, they may not catch a virus that starts wreaking havoc but they could have trojans and keyloggers galore and never know anything about it. At least Windows owners are more responsible and realise the need for good protection.
FWIW as an IT technician I have seen serious infections on computers running every single type of antivirus software going, none of them offer you 100% protection, the best way to avoid getting infected is using your own judgement, if you are completely careless then you will get infected regardless of which security suite you use.