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Rubens · Apr 4, 2003, 05:28 AM

Hello Everyone,

I have a problem! I have just installed norton antivirus 8 onto my new Powerbook 17inch, and after the extensions problems documented on the norton website, thought I had everything working properly......

...but I cannot halt the autoprotect process, I have tried using the norton antivirus preferences dialog, but to no avail and also tried sudo kill xxx....

... but the damn process will not disappear ! ! ! !

I thought it was recommended to disabled virus protection whilst installing software etc, so any help from you guys would be greatly apreciated...

Thanks.

ngrundy · Apr 4, 2003, 05:40 AM

Originally posted by Rubens:
I have just installed norton antivirus 8

That was your first mistake

I swear my Ti ran like a bucket of crap after installing NAV, I formated the machine it was that bad, and promptly returned it.

seanyepez · Apr 4, 2003, 05:53 AM

Reinstall Mac OS X.

Rubens · Apr 4, 2003, 06:16 AM

Originally posted by seanyepez:
Reinstall Mac OS X.

Hi Sean, do you mean Reinstall and try norton again, or not bother, I am really confused on this whole mac virus checking thing !

Thanks

Rubens · Apr 4, 2003, 06:18 AM

Originally posted by ngrundy:
That was your first mistake

I swear my Ti ran like a bucket of crap after installing NAV, I formated the machine it was that bad, and promptly returned it.

Thanks for your advice, what virus checking software are you using now ????

Thanks

seanyepez · Apr 4, 2003, 06:32 AM

I've never gotten a virus on a computer running Mac OS X. I wouldn't recommend running any virus scanner, but if you must run one, I highly recommend using Virex, a utility included with .Mac. It's not as intrusive as Norton AntiVirus.

�tomic · Apr 4, 2003, 06:41 AM

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ngrundy:
[B]That was your first mistake

Couldnt agree more - Norton's sucks! I installed once and my system ran like a wet dog. I have been using macs for over 7 years with no virus software installed and I have had zero problems. Dont waste your money on this software.

If you're worried, spend your money on a firewire drive instead and back up regularly (i do this anyway in case of hard drive failure rather than virus worries)

Rubens · Apr 4, 2003, 06:49 AM

Thanks guys.

I guess I won't bother with anything. My only concern is that as a freelancer I wouldn't want to intoduce anything nasty to a clients network.

I already have an external firewire drive. I usually just drag my home folder across at the end of each day...is this enough, or does anyone recommend proper backup software i.e retospect ????

Thanks again for all your help

seanyepez · Apr 4, 2003, 07:41 AM

Keep doing what you're doing. Retrospect is nice, but it's expensive.

donny31 · Apr 4, 2003, 08:06 AM

Originally posted by seanyepez:
I've never gotten a virus on a computer running Mac OS X. I wouldn't recommend running any virus scanner, but if you must run one, I highly recommend using Virex, a utility included with .Mac. It's not as intrusive as Norton AntiVirus.

i hAVE heard this --why is that true? Is it the operating system that lets viruses in?

seanyepez · Apr 4, 2003, 08:10 AM

There are thousands of viruses for Windows, but very few (if any) for Mac OS X.

ngrundy · Apr 4, 2003, 08:32 AM

I don't bother. AFAIK there is nothing out there virus wise for OSX. For backups I just have Disk Copy make a dmg of my home dir to a firewire drive. Copying it accross to your FW drive would achive the same thing

Rubens · Apr 4, 2003, 09:28 AM

Hey Guys

Thanks for all your help, I'm going to rebuild my machine tonight i.e no norton ! and continue with my firewire backups...

Thanks Again

xyber233 · Apr 4, 2003, 09:45 AM

I am running the NAV 9 beta on my computer and it is a thousand times better than NAV 8 and even has a menu bar icon for switching autoprotection on and off. If I were to use an antivirus program, I'd wait for that one. If anyone wants to take a look at it, you can use the link below.

http://www.symantec.com/public_beta/

jtbowden · Apr 4, 2003, 03:47 PM

There are thousands of viruses for Windows, but very few (if any) for Mac OS X.

It's true. I think this can be attributed to two things:

1) Most viruses are written in school computer labs and by basement hackers. How high do you think Mac saturation is in either of these places?

2) Windows opens itself up to many kinds of viruses. No, I am not bashing Windows, per se, but between all of the security flaws and "features" such as autorunning CDs (by default), it has made viruses pretty simple to write for windows.

If and when OS X gains a larger market, you will begin to see more viruses, but I still think the percentage will be lower.

In the end, in my 12+ years of using Apple and Microsoft systems, I have only gotten 1 virus with Apple (on my Mac Classic), and I cannot be sure, it might have just been a bad disk that corrupted a bunch of stuff. While, I have received, in email, and otherwise dozens of Windows Virii. Luckily I caught most of those.

Anyway, my point is, Mac virus protection seems like a waste of money right now. The probability of getting a virus is so low in your computers lifetime that you'd be better off just backing up and reinstalling in the event you get one.

Your choices are:

1) Get a virus scanner, spend $50+, increase startup/shutdown time, decrease performance

2) Don't get a virus scanner, risk a once in a lifetime system reinstall

�tomic · Apr 4, 2003, 07:54 PM

While, I have received, in email, and otherwise dozens of Windows Virii. Luckily I caught most of those.

Even if you hadn't caught them they still woulnot not have done any harm - they simply would not execute.

GlobalNomad · Apr 4, 2003, 08:16 PM

I have been using Macintosh computers almost my hole life.

14 years in total (Almost 19).

I have never EVER had a virus!

If you really want to run virus protection software get .mac and get the included virus protection 'virex'.

When viruses are writen, they are done by 'script kiddies', 'anarchist' and 'lamers' who want to show of to there friends/family or the family cat.

They want to cause as much trouble as they can so they go after Windows, because that is what has the largest market percentage, and because generally there are more 'lamers' using Windows

.

LONG LIVE MAC OS

jtbowden · Apr 4, 2003, 08:24 PM

Even if you hadn't caught them they still woulnot not have done any harm - they simply would not execute.

True, however alot of Windows virii depend on an unsuspecting receiver opening the file unwittingly.

This is another reason Windows virus problems are more rampant. Everyone (90%+) has a Windows machine. It just takes one person to open it and have it send itself to everyone in their address book. I know I have received a half dozen or so emails with maliscous windows viriuses in them. Luckily, I knew better than to open emailed programs and secondly, they wouldn't have opened anyway on my Mac.

icruise · Apr 4, 2003, 11:26 PM

Actually I've never had a virus on the Mac or Windows, but I totally agree that virus protection for the Mac seems like a total waste of time and money at the moment. I have a feeling that at some point a virus may come along for OS X that will catch a lot of people unawares, though.

But anyway, the only time I've seen anything close to a virus on the Mac was a Word macro virus my mom got through opening an infected word file. It didn't do anything, just inserted a string of text into the "author" part of the document info.

nobitacu · Apr 4, 2003, 11:45 PM

First one alll... Norton just plan sucks on Macs, they are great on PCs but crappy on Macs... Second of all... I won't risk putting Norton on my Mac for anything.

Ming

naphtali · Apr 5, 2003, 07:26 AM

Newbie question here: if somehow we Mac users receive a PC virus, we can pass it back on to them right?

swsteckly · Apr 5, 2003, 02:26 PM

Norton SUCKS. Avoid the products at all costs.

You probably should erase and reinstall OSX to get rid of the crap it installed.

If you MUST use a virus program, use Virex. But, it's not really necessary with Mac OS X.