antivirus is a pain in the ass, sometimes causes more problems, especially something like norton, There are NO mac viruses, even though some people say otherwise, there has been about 3 trojans for osx, and not being stupid enough to manually dl install and password verify them ive never had a problem, but antivirus wouldnt help with stupidity anyway.
Thu, 12/04/2008 - 3:16am — Edward Farnell (not verified)
3134
I use sophos on my mac, it causes no issues, protects windows users in case I rather embarrassingly accidentally pass on a virus and you know what they say, pride always comes before a fall. If a mac virus ever doies hit, hopefully I'll be one of the few who still has a working mac
Thu, 12/04/2008 - 3:16am — Edward Farnell (not verified)
2927
I use sophos on my mac, it causes no issues, protects windows users in case I rather embarrassingly accidentally pass on a virus and you know what they say, pride always comes before a fall. If a mac virus ever doies hit, hopefully I'll be one of the few who still has a working mac
Exactly. I don't run virus software on my PC either. On my work laptop I have no choice, but on my home PC I don't waste the cycles or memory.
I have a good firewall, a dedicated device. With that, I know I don't have any trojans installed (it monitors traffic and I regularly review logs, and the obvious things are all blocked).
So far... no identity theft, no crazy traffic, no corrupted drives... nothing. Perhaps I'm on to something...
The only reason that people get virusses is because they are dumb enough to install them.
I've been using Windows for years without a virus scanner and dit not have 1 virus! And no, I don't use a virus scanner on my Mac. I know what I do, so I don't need it!
Wed, 12/03/2008 - 12:35pm — A nice guy (not verified)
3033
I'm a new Mac user and am pleased to be free from the threat of viruses - however, I do check my system occasionally for viruses, using Clamav, so that I don't intentionally pass any on to people who may be affected by them.
Fortunately, I haven't found any yet - which may mean I haven't been sent any, and may mean the software hasn't found any! Who knows?!
But I choose to play nice and (try and) help others, rather than just being concerned about myself. Anyone else considered this or have any feelings / experiences either way?
Wed, 12/03/2008 - 12:38pm — Seattle Mac Dude (not verified)
3430
When I met my ex back in 2005 I installed her copy of Norton Antivirus on my Powerbook. I learned the hard way what many already know: holy crap, that thing was one giant virus. It hogged a huge amount of system resources then took weeks of internet research to remove entirely. What a worthless program.
I used to have Macafee on my G4, starting around 2002. It ran every day, slowed everything down, never found anything. I switched to run every week, it slowed evertyhting down, never found anything, but did it less often. Then I switched it to every month, then every two months. Finally I turned it off, with the understanding that I would run it twice a year, when I observe the daylight savings time rituals, such as checking the smoke alarms. Still never found anything. When I upgraded to Tiger in early 08, I did a clean install and the Macafee just didn't get reinstalled. I meant to, but it never happened. Now I have a MBP with Leopard, no virus checker.
If I was running VMware or parallels, I'd probably install the virus software.
Nope. I found ClamXav unstable and there really is no need if you just don't give applications your password without knowing what they're going to do with it.
I heard about one trojan which complains of a corrupt preference file and asks for your password to remove it. This is on *first launch*, so it's pretty obvious to those who know that there aren't any preference files.
"This is on *first launch*, so it's pretty obvious to those who know that there aren't any preference files"
As a newbie to Mac, I would not know this - maybe I'm one of these "stupid" people that should not be allowed to join your precious Mac-users club.
I consider it extremely arrogant and the argument of saving some CPU or memory is ridiculous as it implies you would never want to run any software so you can admire how idle your CPU is!
As one poster said - pride comes before a fall. Surely a bit of protection is good?
If there was an AV program out there that didn't kill your machine and your productivity, I might install it. But, every AV title I've tried has caused me more pain than a virus itself, so I take my chances.
I don't run virus software on a regular basis because, like most people here, I don't like the HUGE negative performace effect it has on my iMac G5. That being said, I know that while macs can't catch windoze viruses, they can transmit them, so I use ClamXAV a couple times a year to scan only mail folders and internet downloads, etc...
NO NO NO.
NO NO NO NO NO.
NO. Because I'm smart enough to notice when exe or any other weird files are attached to email or are prompted to be downloaded. Constant Vigilance and all.
...the AV companies will have to figure out how to fix it, there will be no zero-day protection regardless. So I'll wait and see if I get one, and then either reinstall my OS or buy a AV software. Why is this so complicated/controversial?
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antivirus is a pain in the
antivirus is a pain in the ass, sometimes causes more problems, especially something like norton, There are NO mac viruses, even though some people say otherwise, there has been about 3 trojans for osx, and not being stupid enough to manually dl install and password verify them ive never had a problem, but antivirus wouldnt help with stupidity anyway.
Pride always comes before a fall
I use sophos on my mac, it causes no issues, protects windows users in case I rather embarrassingly accidentally pass on a virus and you know what they say, pride always comes before a fall. If a mac virus ever doies hit, hopefully I'll be one of the few who still has a working mac
Pride always comes before a fall
I use sophos on my mac, it causes no issues, protects windows users in case I rather embarrassingly accidentally pass on a virus and you know what they say, pride always comes before a fall. If a mac virus ever doies hit, hopefully I'll be one of the few who still has a working mac
8 Macs, 6 years no Anti-virus
I switched to Macs 6 years ago and have never run Anti-virus. This is with two kids on Macs as well......
The first option should be
The first option should be "F**k no! Why would I!?"
Exactly. I don't run virus
Exactly. I don't run virus software on my PC either. On my work laptop I have no choice, but on my home PC I don't waste the cycles or memory.
I have a good firewall, a dedicated device. With that, I know I don't have any trojans installed (it monitors traffic and I regularly review logs, and the obvious things are all blocked).
So far... no identity theft, no crazy traffic, no corrupted drives... nothing. Perhaps I'm on to something...
You've read my mind.
You've read my mind.
Nope. But please, can we stop
Nope. But please, can we stop touting that fact? It only makes malware authors more likely to try....
Jimzip
bravo.
bravo.
No ...
... I'm healthy carrier ! :D
I use the best virus control
I use the best virus control program available - it's called COMMON SENSE!
But no, not actually any software.
Uh, yes.
I "force" my mac users to run AV just like the windows users. Just because it hasn't happened, doesn't mean it won't....
The only reason that people
The only reason that people get virusses is because they are dumb enough to install them.
I've been using Windows for years without a virus scanner and dit not have 1 virus! And no, I don't use a virus scanner on my Mac. I know what I do, so I don't need it!
LOL
You said like "I do not have AIDS, since I have not been tested." NERD
You will notice it when you
You will notice it when you have a virus, idem for AIDS
What I mean is that if you know what you do, you really don't need an AV.
think outside the box
I'm a new Mac user and am pleased to be free from the threat of viruses - however, I do check my system occasionally for viruses, using Clamav, so that I don't intentionally pass any on to people who may be affected by them.
Fortunately, I haven't found any yet - which may mean I haven't been sent any, and may mean the software hasn't found any! Who knows?!
But I choose to play nice and (try and) help others, rather than just being concerned about myself. Anyone else considered this or have any feelings / experiences either way?
When I met my ex back in 2005
When I met my ex back in 2005 I installed her copy of Norton Antivirus on my Powerbook. I learned the hard way what many already know: holy crap, that thing was one giant virus. It hogged a huge amount of system resources then took weeks of internet research to remove entirely. What a worthless program.
Virus apps yes
I have intego installed on my Mac's because of "just in case" scenario but mainly as i have microsloth office installed!
you just cant be careful enough, believe me when youv lost all your data and you have no backup you dont know what youv missed until its gone.
been there done that!!!
All backed up with virus protection - come on its common sense
I used to have Macafee on my
I used to have Macafee on my G4, starting around 2002. It ran every day, slowed everything down, never found anything. I switched to run every week, it slowed evertyhting down, never found anything, but did it less often. Then I switched it to every month, then every two months. Finally I turned it off, with the understanding that I would run it twice a year, when I observe the daylight savings time rituals, such as checking the smoke alarms. Still never found anything. When I upgraded to Tiger in early 08, I did a clean install and the Macafee just didn't get reinstalled. I meant to, but it never happened. Now I have a MBP with Leopard, no virus checker.
If I was running VMware or parallels, I'd probably install the virus software.
Nope. I found ClamXav
Nope. I found ClamXav unstable and there really is no need if you just don't give applications your password without knowing what they're going to do with it.
I heard about one trojan which complains of a corrupt preference file and asks for your password to remove it. This is on *first launch*, so it's pretty obvious to those who know that there aren't any preference files.
Arrogance
"This is on *first launch*, so it's pretty obvious to those who know that there aren't any preference files"
As a newbie to Mac, I would not know this - maybe I'm one of these "stupid" people that should not be allowed to join your precious Mac-users club.
I consider it extremely arrogant and the argument of saving some CPU or memory is ridiculous as it implies you would never want to run any software so you can admire how idle your CPU is!
As one poster said - pride comes before a fall. Surely a bit of protection is good?
The biggest hole in any
The biggest hole in any operating system is the one between the user's ears
Whether or not you can patch that hole, however, depends on the specific user configuration.
I've had more luck with some users than with others. But I'm always always surprised at who learns and who doesn't.
What should be done to make
What should be done to make sure you don't have any chance of getting a virus?
Don't double-click everything
Don't double-click everything in sight, that's a start.
Hassle
If there was an AV program out there that didn't kill your machine and your productivity, I might install it. But, every AV title I've tried has caused me more pain than a virus itself, so I take my chances.
I run virus protection so
I run virus protection so that when I sent files to my Pee Cce friends, they won't get a virus from me that I didn't know was there...
I don't run virus software on
I don't run virus software on a regular basis because, like most people here, I don't like the HUGE negative performace effect it has on my iMac G5. That being said, I know that while macs can't catch windoze viruses, they can transmit them, so I use ClamXAV a couple times a year to scan only mail folders and internet downloads, etc...
NO
NO NO NO.
NO NO NO NO NO.
NO. Because I'm smart enough to notice when exe or any other weird files are attached to email or are prompted to be downloaded. Constant Vigilance and all.
When the virus comes...
...the AV companies will have to figure out how to fix it, there will be no zero-day protection regardless. So I'll wait and see if I get one, and then either reinstall my OS or buy a AV software. Why is this so complicated/controversial?
3,000 Votes?
3,000 votes in a day? is that normal for a 9to5mac survey?