Apple/Mac Comps Need Virus Protection?

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PSU4Life

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Aug 10, 2006
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Never had a mac but thinking about getting one.

Some people told me they are way safer than windows comps and you don't need to buy any Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware. Is that really true, almost sounds too good to be true?

Do you need to get Firewall software or can you just buy a mac and your good to go?

Thanks.
 


I've had an apple/mac since I was 3 years old and have never used virus software nor had a virus. There's a built in firewall that you can configure.
 
papajohn56 said:
I've had an apple/mac since I was 3 years old and have never used virus software nor had a virus. There's a built in firewall that you can configure.
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Nice, that is good to know! I'm sick of dealing with trojans and those rogue/fake anti-virus malware that even gets through with real time scanning.
 
papajohn56 said:
I've had an apple/mac since I was 3 years old and have never used virus software nor had a virus. There's a built in firewall that you can configure.
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If you've never used virus software how would you know that you never had a virus? Just plain guessing?
 
Rage9 said:
If you've never used virus software how would you know that you never had a virus? Just plain guessing?
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There's never been any bad effects, and if it tried to phone home, I use LittleSnitch to notify me of all outbound connections. The university required me to install McAfee recently, and it scanned and found nothing. So I uninstalled it as soon as I could.

The only reason people have antivirus on a mac is so they don't pass on infected emails.
 
papajohn56 said:
The only reason people have antivirus on a mac is so they don't pass on infected emails.
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There's actually be an exponentially large increase of outbreaks of viruses, malware, and security holes on Macs over the last few years. While a Unix system is more stable and secure, it's far from safe indefinitely.

The only thing that has kept Apple able to brainwash all its fanboys into the notion that Macs don't get viruses is that up until the last few years, there's been no incentive for them to be made for Mac OS's.

Since the Mac OS for developing Apps for the desktop, iPhone, iPad, etc. are very similar and they can cover a very large part of the market without having to change up their coding, it suddenly became very cost and time efficient to target Apple products with Viruses, Trojans, and looking for security holes to exploit.

Once Apple products started being sold in Asia, it really sped up the process as well.

There's been quite a number of security holes and backdoors in Apple software as well. Especially from iTunes.
 
Rexibit said:
There's actually be an exponentially large increase of outbreaks of viruses, malware, and security holes on Macs over the last few years. While a Unix system is more stable and secure, it's far from safe indefinitely.

The only thing that has kept Apple able to brainwash all its fanboys into the notion that Macs don't get viruses is that up until the last few years, there's been no incentive for them to be made for Mac OS's.

Since the Mac OS for developing Apps for the desktop, iPhone, iPad, etc. are very similar and they can cover a very large part of the market without having to change up their coding, it suddenly became very cost and time efficient to target Apple products with Viruses, Trojans, and looking for security holes to exploit.

Once Apple products started being sold in Asia, it really sped up the process as well.

There's been quite a number of security holes and backdoors in Apple software as well. Especially from iTunes.
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Holes and backdoors aren't viruses. Unless you use OpenBSD, expect security holes. Hence why I use Little Snitch..
 
Does Little Snitch work pretty much the same way Interactive Filtering works when set on a windows based firewall?

It lets u allow/disallow any outgoing/incoming connections?

Is this what windows users do to be more protected?
 
PSU4Life said:
Does Little Snitch work pretty much the same way Interactive Filtering works when set on a windows based firewall?

It lets u allow/disallow any outgoing/incoming connections?

Is this what windows users do to be more protected?
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sort of, it's more detailed though.
 
Little Snitch is essential for OS X - definitely get it. It prompts you any time something tries to access the internet and you can easily set rules for it - allowing/disallowing all communications for certain applications. It'll amaze you how many unnecessary internet communications are made. WTF does the apple calculator app need to access the internet for?
 
cougarclaws said:
Little Snitch is essential for OS X - definitely get it. It prompts you any time something tries to access the internet and you can easily set rules for it - allowing/disallowing all communications for certain applications. It'll amaze you how many unnecessary internet communications are made. WTF does the apple calculator app need to access the internet for?
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to send ur calculationz to Apple duh
 
CatchMe said:
AVG internet security 2010
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I agree with most here that Macs do not tend to NEED anti virus software, but really, i also agree with CatchMe...

AVG is a free resource and a great antivirus, so why not right? just a little more protection...

Its like being in a graveyard at midnight, you dont NEED a shotgun for those zombies, because the chances are slim to none one will show up, but wouldnt it be nice to have the shotgun there JUST INCASE a zombie shows up??
 
Grab Little Snitch - as other said it's great for security but also for pirating software.

Ironically, it's easy to prevent Little Snitch from contacting it's website to check your key by using Little Snitch.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqTGRsk8gXY"]YouTube - How to get Little Snitch for free Mac[/ame]


torrent - http://www.demonoid.me/files/details/2464580/00470419981/
 
papajohn56 said:
Holes and backdoors aren't viruses. Unless you use OpenBSD, expect security holes. Hence why I use Little Snitch..
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Right, but an Antivirus like Kaspersky or Nod32 (both available for mac) can and do help detect such things. Also, you can't block everything out by blocking internet connections. That's one reason I like Kaspersky, it has a vulnerability scan to find those backdoors and security holes. Also, you can read Threatpost to keep up to date on the latest issues with them too.

Yes, Little Snitch is great, and should be used - but thinking it will save your ass all the time is a very bad assumption to make (not saying you are, but someone reading those posts might be that delusional).
 
yeh I use AVG as well. It's never picked up anything on my computer but its good to have. I've never heard of Little Snitch so I think I'm going to give a try. Thanks for the video & torrent -Matt-
 
AVG, especially the free version, is garbage. Do not count on it to protect you, it won't. I've been infected twice with it (and Malwarebytes) running. The second time was especially brutal, which I already documented here, and I've since moved onto Kaspersky and PrevX which haven't failed me.
 
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