Viruses On Os X

nancy86 said:
Hi bro,
Viruses sometimes acts very rude to your system's information's and in most of the cases it damages or corrupts it by using executing any arbitrary code coded in it.

So, it is better for you to use any anti-virus software in this regard. The anti-virus software's are effective enough to prevent virus invasions and protects your valuable data's in the system. In case some of your data's are already been corrupted or lost due to viruses then in such circumstance I will prefer you to use any Data Recovery Mac software and recover the data's effectively.

All the Best!
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I call TROLL.

(And not a well informed one, at that.)
 
I recently installed Intego's VirusBarrier X6. It caused havoc (slow downs, programmes freezing, system not loading up after logging in etc.).

These problems immediately stopped after deleting it (involving some colonic irrigation to get all the Intego deposits in various library folders).

This is a shame as I am sure Intego are usually pretty reliable (I have notified them).

I now have ClamXav installed instead, although I am still not entirely convinced I need any anti-virus protection.
 
I found--as did others--that ClamXV can run the processor hot in periods that then require you to quit the program. There are numerous complaints about it on the site . . . which they have all deleted! That is not exactly responsible service.

If it works for you, then it works for you. I dumped it and do not miss it.

--J.D.

P.S. iAntivirus suffers from the same problem consistently.
 
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I've noticed the same thing as Doctor X concerning ClamXV and iAntiVirus.

My solution: I have ClamXV set to monitor certain key folders all the time and then once every few weeks do a whole system scan along with my routine maintenance rituals. I haven't experienced any slowdowns/crashes related to ClamXV doing this.
 
Does anyone know if there is a sign in console for any wierd trojans or anything? I don't mean I expect it to be a virus blocker or anything but some lines are suspicious. I'm getting a line that says
'4/30/10 5:31:45 PM [0x0-0x11011].com.apple.Safari[114] DrawDirtyStuff()
4/30/10 5:32:02 PM [0x0-0x11011].com.apple.Safari[114] Resource loading time: 12914ms
4/30/10 5:32:02 PM [0x0-0x11011].com.apple.Safari[114] Filter time: 65
4/30/10 5:32:02 PM [0x0-0x11011].com.apple.Safari[114] Broken filter? false
4/30/10 5:32:02 PM [0x0-0x11011].com.apple.Safari[114] Slow filter? false
4/30/10 5:32:05 PM [0x0-0x11011].com.apple.Safari[114] Images created: 4

I also saw one that said machine-destroy right after a crash. The titles make me a bit suspicious...and I've been having weird issues since the crash. I'm looking into other causes but these console lines give me pause. Is there a good reason a bit of code would have such a label?
 
Starhorsepax,

It's very unlikely your machine is affected by a Trojan because there aren't many that affect your Mac. It's common for there to be a lot of system log entries, such as the ones posted by Safari.

If you're worried about it, get the free iAntivirus, install it, and check your machine. I wouldn't waste your time running it all the time. There just aren't many threats out there. (The one exception is if you have Microsoft Office 2004 or Office X and use documents with macros a lot. If that's the case, it might be a good idea to scan your docs for macro viruses. The latest Microsoft office, 2008, can't do macros, so no need to scan if you have 2008.)

If your computer crashes to a kernel panic ("You need to restart your computer."), you may have faulty RAM or a buggy or incompatible kernel extension. I used to use Parallels, whose kernel extension sometimes crashed my machine.

Good luck!
Bot
 
Its a sad fact, Macs spread windows viruses because peeps feel they dont need to worry about anti virus software. Although for us mac lovers, we dont give a crap. What relates to us is the simple fact that their ARE MAC VIRUSES!!!!!! They work much differently, and are much much more rare. But they do exist, and always have. Ignore you grand pappy, they will destroy your data if you get a bad one. (although again rare, it happens and has happened to me back in 2001) To protect your mac ignore cookies, (most websites no longer require cookies to operate), or turn off the 3rd party cookies. Set up a firewall in your system preferences, and if you want to go all out, buy a program like LittleSnitch and block all those bulls^$t accesses by port scanners and free apps. All of these will add greatly to your computer security, and make it just that much more unlikely to have to realize the horror of one of the mac viruses.

MORE: If you are thinking of anti virus, sadly none of them really work, yes they detect the virus, but only after infection (kinda the opposite of anti, isn't it?). Although if you still want to use one, Id suggest Norton's Anti Virus, its one of the more popular ones, and offers the best mac compatibility I've ever seen with the types of applications.
 
You kidding me? Of course there are viruses. I've heard of some from reliable and tech-savvy to some degree friends.
I know macintosh fanboys like saying the mac's security is uber perfect, but this is seriously too much. Even I, who thinks macs are the best OS's around, will not accept this lie.
 
Just because there are few viruses for the Mac doesn't mean that the Mac is more secure. While I do believe that by the nature of the FreeBSD / Linux / Unix based OS X creates more inherit security this is by no means full proof. In fact any security guru worth their salts would point out that in the Pwn to Own competitions of recent years OS X has fallen due to browser 0-Day exploits. The fact that iPhone continues to be jailbroken in both tethered, untethered, and instant over the USB port all from exploits in the OS.

Apple is not perfect, the saving grace is the small percentage and high cost of entrance to the market of the Macintosh. It could break at any point in time.
 
Edit: ah, screw it. I'll believe it when I see it. "It could break at any point in time" is like saying "One day the human race will go extinct, so all humans today are at risk." It's been argued to death, and only one test remains (which was previously offered, yet no takers):

I'll put an up-to-date Mac OS X box, fully exposed, on a public IP address. First to "hack" it and install an actual true, blue virus without human intervention (I'll even accept a rootkit) gets to see me eat a pile of dog feces on YouTube.
 
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TitanShadow said:
In fact any security guru worth their salts would point out that in the Pwn to Own competitions of recent years OS X has fallen due to browser 0-Day exploits.
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This could have been done with the other two computers in the contest just as fast if the other teams had been smart enough to do the same thing.

And the guy who did it (Mr. Miller, a former NSA employee) custom tailored a website and an exploit especially for the contest.

On top of that the 2009 Macbook (and the Ubuntu and Vista boxes) were standing at the end of the first day. It wasn't until the second day, where the rules allow direct access to the computers (i.e. user input) that the Macbook was taken down. So the fact that the Macbook was "hacked" had just as much to do with user stupidity than fancy hacking antics.

And to top it all off, I don't believe it was a virus that was the culprit. As far as I know TippingPoint hasn't disclosed the nature of the exploit and Apple hasn't said anything either. I'd like to know how Mr. Miller did it but my money is on a worm, not a virus. Which, as Diablo pointed out, are two very different things.


Long story short: As long as you take basic precautions and exercise common sense your Mac will be perfectly safe.
 
Mr. Miller did it with a trojan -- which is tricking a user into doing something on their computer that would then allow a malicious person/computer the opportunity to install software or otherwise gain access to a computer.

A virus can do this without human intervention: a computer simply connected to the internet and powered on can be infected with a virus (via backdoor or a bug in some software). A trojan cannot do this.

That's why the computers were still standing on day one: day one was "virus" day -- "try and compromise this computer without physically touching the computer." Day two, when someone could actually sit down and do something "stupid" on the computer, was "trojan" day.
 
ElDiabloConCaca said:
I'll put an up-to-date Mac OS X box, fully exposed, on a public IP address. First to "hack" it and install an actual true, blue virus without human intervention (I'll even accept a rootkit) gets to see me eat a pile of dog feces on YouTube.
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We will all have been annihilated by an errant asteroid by the the time you turn on your iSight camera.
 
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