Apple MacBook on BT Broadband - Virus Protection?

fox2319

Marty_J wrote: »

The plural of "virus" is "viruses".

My old Latin teacher would have you writing lines.

Romanus Eunt Domus anyone?
(People called Romanes, they go, the house?)

judderman62

why do people keep stating that folk need to be stupid to get infected by viruses ?

It's simply not true :mad: :mad:

thescouselander

i8change wrote: »

People who write viruses are the common enemy. The large proportion of computers that are PC's take the brunt of the attack. If people stopped using PC's your Macs would be next!

Either that or the virus problem would all but dissappear. Thats the problem when one OS is too dominant. Its good from a compatibility point of view but many people have computers with the same security floors so viruses can spread easily.

If windows dissappeared there would be a much more diverse range of Operating Systems in use and this would make life much harder for virus writers.

nomoneytoday

RobertoMoir wrote: »

No such thing as "virii" out there for Windows or Linux either.



You mean like the malware that people who installed pirated copies of iWork and CS ended up with?

Quite a lot of recent malware for Windows requires at least wilful stupidity on the part of the user to infect a machine too. But lets not let knowing how these things actually work get in the way of pointless operating system debates.

Whether it is virii, virus or viruses, the simple point I was making was there are none in the wild. In order to install a program or virus on the mac you have to go through a warning screen and stick in your password

[Deleted User]

thescouselander wrote: »

I dont see this as my responsibility. If someone decides to run an operating system that is vulnerable to viruses then it is they who should put in place measures to mitigate this. Why should it be down to me to protect someone else's system.

As long as my computer is not part of a bot net or something like that I think I have discharged my responsibility.

I'm glad a lot more people don't think along those lines.

To the OP, I'd take on board the advise that has been given. I'm of the mindset of 'better safe than sorry', being cautious has never been the wrong course of action to take. Also, being able to inform someone they have passed on something malicious by email, memory stick, whatever, could assist them from ending up in the very grim and very real situation of falling victim to fraud etc.

thescouselander

anewhope wrote: »

I'm glad a lot more people don't think along those lines.

To the OP, I'd take on board the advise that has been given. I'm of the mindset of 'better safe than sorry', being cautious has never been the wrong course of action to take. Also, being able to inform someone they have passed on something malicious by email, memory stick, whatever, could assist them from ending up in the very grim and very real situation of falling victim to fraud etc.

Actually, I think I am with the majority here. Very few Mac owners run anti virus. Its probably the same with people who run Linux too.

If PC owners running windows expect others to protect their computers are they going to reimburse me for the cost of the anti virus software or compensate me for the inconvenience of my computer running slower? Will they do anything for me in return? I think not - it all seems a bit one sided to me.

Marty_J

thescouselander wrote: »

Actually, I think I am with the majority here. Very few Mac owners run anti virus. Its probably the same with people who run Linux too.

If PC owners running windows expect others to protect their computers are they going to reimburse me for the cost of the anti virus software or compensate me for the inconvenience of my computer running slower? Will they do anything for me in return? I think not - it all seems a bit one sided to me.

If you were my friend, and you forwarded me an email stuffed with viruses, I wouldn't be very happy with you.

RobertoMoir

nomoneytoday wrote: »

Whether it is virii, virus or viruses, the simple point I was making was there are none in the wild. In order to install a program or virus on the mac you have to go through a warning screen and stick in your password

Oh, you have to type in a password!

Like people would if they were using Windows properly instead of running as admin all the time, you mean?

Like people who use macs are already used to doing as part of software installs all the time, you mean? As more and more packages seem to come with an installer these days instead of the old drag and drop install method.

Like the people who downloaded that trojanised copy of iWork all did, you mean?

I'm a mac user too as it happens, hooray for us both, but the implied idea that macs are somehow magical and bombproof is complete bobbins, sorry. It might be much less likely that you'll have a security related "accident" with a mac, but it isn't magically immune to the problems a bad user can cause.