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grand mufti · Mar 19, 2004, 11:11 PM

hey guys new to the mac seen. just got my new ibook and was wounderin witch firewall and anti virus are the best? i have installed as of now netbarrier and norton system works. i have use norton on my PC for years now and liked it. so my first question is how dose it run on OS X ? anything better? i also use sygate firewall pro for my PC and love it and the options you get. what im looking for in a firewall for mac is a menu bar icon that shows activity (out and incoming) you know just something to show me that stuff is goin on. so thanks for reading my book...lol

OptimusG4 · Mar 19, 2004, 11:17 PM

Rule #1: NEVER EVER EVER trust Norton Systemworks on a Mac.
As for firewall, search macupdate/versiontracker for Firewalk or Birckhouse. And antivirus, rarely needed so I don't know what to recommend.

mitchell_pgh · Mar 20, 2004, 12:10 AM

I use Norton Anti-Virus... It's more of a joke because I only pick up the Windows Viruses (which wouldn't bother my mac, but it freaks out).

Firewall, well, the built in one in OS X for starters, plus I have one built in to my Linksys router. The odds of someone hacking in through both firewalls and in to a system will only two ports open is almost impossible... They have easier fish to fry... Like people running windows...

grand mufti · Mar 20, 2004, 12:41 AM

o ok wow im soooo used to hackers and virus that i didnt even think about that... most of the sh*t out there will only effect pc's.. and as far as the built in firewall in OS X i didnt know about this! so you say it works well? i am in the next few days getting a router so that will help out. thanks for the info guys

mitchell_pgh · Mar 20, 2004, 12:45 AM

Yah, well, the built in firewall is used by many variations of Unix so it's not just a Mac thing. I can't name a single Mac virus that has spread... The last one I can remember was back in the days of OS 8 (1998 I think).

I wouldn't say don't worry about hackers, because they will try, but just get a router with a built in firewall, turn on the firewall that comes with OS X, and for the love of God, don't use things like Telnet and FTP (both not secure).

If you have any other questions, seriously, just post them...

Johnny_B · Mar 20, 2004, 04:03 AM

They only make anit virus for mac to earn money on thoose switchers that think that the Mac plattform suffers from viruses as Windows do. Okay that the anti viruses take down Windows viruses, but seriously, who forwards a mail that contain an attachment that ends with .pif or contains MSBlaster and so on

grand mufti · Mar 20, 2004, 09:55 AM

right on guys thanks for the info! them damn peeps tryin to make a buck off da oll switcher!! lol applyin the firewall.. where should i go about doing this? and thanks again boys big help.

chabig · Mar 20, 2004, 09:58 AM

System Preferences -> Sharing -> Firewall

Chris

grand mufti · Mar 20, 2004, 01:55 PM

thanks chris.. found it as you posted. anyone know how the hell to get rid of norton sysworks 3 menu icon? its freakin drive me nuts ! its not under accounts> statupitems.

mitchell_pgh · Mar 20, 2004, 02:15 PM

you should be able to command + drag the icon off... (just like the dock)

mitchell_pgh · Mar 20, 2004, 02:17 PM

Mind if I ask you a few questions (since we are giving you all this free info

1) Approximately how old are you

2) Why did you switch

3) In the past, have you ever owned a Mac

4) Did a friend suggest one

5) Do you own an iPod?

I always wonder why/how switchers switch.

grand mufti · Mar 20, 2004, 03:04 PM

Com+drag not working/ com+click no options.
male/24
why did i switch..
first off i needed a laptop for work and play. so i did my research as i was saving up because i just built a nice gamer PC for myself so funds where a little short. i was lookin to spend around 14-1500 bucks i needed a fast computer with a good size HD alot of memory. I also wanted wireless and CD burning capabilities and most of all batt. life. so i rounded up 3 latops a sony,toshbia and a ibook. as i looked at the features side by side the mac won everytime with price, power, looks and build. so here i am with a 933 G4 14.1inch 40gig HD 256 mem ( getting max from ramseeker.com saving alot! also im lookin in to the few ppl that got 1gig to work ) combo drive. i love it took me 3 days to get a handle as i used PCs for years and only played with mac on the side but now its all good. i dont have any other mac products as of now... lookin at the airport and ipod and other little goodies. i have a friend online that has always had a mac so he gave me some info on the OS and things but for the most part i took a big jump! i guess i needed somthing new and fun and i was tired of the fixing i had to do every day.... i super happy i did. i may never use my PC for anything but gaming and a big mp3 box..witch sux because i just spent all that money. but who knows.. its still early and the newness hasnt worn off yet.

PS: i want to take this chance to thank you guys. the peeps @ macnn have been very cool with my newbie questions pre and post ibook. danke!

mitchell_pgh · Mar 20, 2004, 03:21 PM

I remember switching from OS 9 to OS X... at first I hated it, then I just didn't like it, then I accepted that OS X wouldn't just be and OS 9 upgrade and that it was a whole different OS, and I was cool after that.

It takes a little time, but it's great after that.

sknapp351 · Feb 25, 2006, 04:58 PM

I want to bring this question up again. After this past week I do not fear the good times for Mac owners are over by any stretch of the imagination, but I do think that a little more prudence is called for than most have shown in the past. I agree with ghporter that we need to take precautions. And for that reason I have always run my Macs with similar security precautions that I use on my PC (i.e. software and hardware firewall, sharing turned off, and anti-virus). After a very stressful incident earlier this week with Sophos anti-virus falsely identifying all my work's Macs with Intqana-b, and essentially disabling our machines. I am wondering what anti-virus software people are using now. We are nearly a year after the last post here, and there have now been OS X malware in the wild (however ineffective and inept). What do you use?
SAm

Person Man · Feb 25, 2006, 05:40 PM

Originally Posted by sknapp351

I want to bring this question up again.

so you reopened a 2 year old thread to do it??

sknapp351 · Feb 25, 2006, 09:00 PM

My apologies. I certainly didn't mean to break some protocol. I have, a few times before, seen many posts where the poster was told to search for an answer. I simply didn't realize that posting in the results of that search would be offensive to you in any way.
SAm
EDIT: I posted this post in this thread after reading the Political thread for a bit. My last comment was unnecessary, so I removed it.