[troymurray]

Just received my brand new iBook computer tonight. Coming from the Windows world I wouldn't dare connect my laptop to the University network without a firewall and anti-virus programs.

Now with the Mac, I know that it has very few, if any, virus problems. What about a firewall product? How many of you guys run anti-virus or firewall products? If so, which ones?

Thanks.

[TETENAL]

You can turn on the Firewall in System Preferences->Sharing->Firewall.

[jay3ld]

thats not a very good firewall but it does the simple job. buy NetBarrier and VirusBarrier . there good. Though im having trouble installing my netbarrier

[Macpilot]

Well, since there are no known viruses for Mac OS X, and for anything to do serious damage to your machine, you would have to enter your name and password, I run no anti virus or firewall software.

Don't worry about it.

Enjoy the Mac!

[SMacTech]

Originally posted by Macpilot:
Well, since there are no known viruses for Mac OS X, and for anything to do serious damage to your machine, you would have to enter your name and password, I run no anti virus or firewall software.

Don't worry about it.

Enjoy the Mac!

ditto� and if you do get infected, be sure to report it. You will be famous.

[TETENAL]

Originally posted by Macpilot:
Well, since there are no known viruses for Mac OS X

There is the Opener virus.

[Macpilot]

Originally posted by TETENAL:
There is the Opener virus.

"Opener" is NOT a virus. It requires the admin name and password to be entered. It is something like a script. You must give it permission to run.

[tooki]

Yep, Opener isn't a virus, and it cannot be "caught" accidentally.

I run neither a firewall app (though I do have one in my router) nor a virus program, because there's nothing for it to protect me against!

tooki

[TETENAL]

Originally posted by Macpilot:
"Opener" is NOT a virus.

Opener is a virus, because it spreads over the network.

[tooki]

No, it cannot reproduce on its own. In fact, it requires an admin password.

It is not a virus, it is a so-called "rootkit". The media sensationalized it without doing even rudimentary research, and some of the antivirus companies hyped it up in order to promote their products.

Also, learn the definitions: viruses by definition must infect a host file. If it is self-contained, it is called a worm.

Opener is absolutely not a virus, because it does not infect files. It is also not a worm because it can't self-replicate.

tooki

[yukon]

thats not a very good firewall but it does the simple job. buy NetBarrier and VirusBarrier . there good. Though im having trouble installing my netbarrier

Was going to be sarcastic, best not to be, I'm just surprised no one has said anything about this. IPFW is a good firewall, if there's better for OS X it's PF if it can be run. NetBarrier is a commercial program, I wouldn't say it's questionable but I wouldn't trust it. You won't have trouble installing IPFW, go to terminal.app and type "sudo ipfw show" to see what it's doing already. On a more personal note, by your spelling and post count, I'd guess you're new, please check things out before offering an opinion on them (I ran NetBarrier on OS9, it wasn't necessary but it pissed off nmap).

And antivirus, http://www.markallan.co.uk/software.php?page=clam , dunno if it's trustable since it's just freeware, but ClamAV (what it's built on) is.

[Millennium]

Apple's built-in firewall is very good, but the interface they supply for it is very poor. It'll get the job done for basic needs, but for any serious work you should use one of the third-party frontends out there. I'm a fan of Brian Hill's excellent BrickHouse myself.

[Millennium]

Originally posted by TETENAL:
Opener is a virus, because it spreads over the network.

Actually that would make it a worm, not a virus. It's not a proper worm either, however, because as others have noted its spreading mechanism is not fully automated; it requires user intervention.

[Dr. Smoke]

I concur with prior comments that the built-in firewall with Mac OS X is an excellent firewall, but is more easily configured using Brickhouse.

If you're in a university environment, I'd take the "better safe than sorry" approach and use Anti-Virus software. You're potentially susceptible to Macro viruses in applications such as MS Office, especially if you do not set the preference to alert you before running Macros.

For some more general thoughts on this, see my Detecting and avoiding malware and spyware FAQ.

[yukon]

Antivirus is actually quite simple on OS X, but I'd argue it's really not that difficult on Windows either, though there's more precautions to be made as well as necessary protection software.

On OS X. Patch the system reasonably often to evade worms and such that could exploit security holes. It would be prudent to avoid running IE, but much more so to never install Office, as it opens the MacOS up to malicious macros that can sometimes have an effect under MacOS (I realize some people need Office, though they shouldn't).Don't run programs you get off P2P, and watch executables for being disguised Applescripts (as they are easy for novices to create maliciously). Virex is having troubles in it's latest incarnations, I'd only suggest the antivirus I mentioned above, scan once in a while with ClamAV, just to be a nice network citizen. IPFW may be useful to keep services from being offered to the net, in case your services are misconfigured or not done so restrictively.

Tips for Windows, including the above tips. Never, ever, run IE outside windowsupdate, you avoid a whole lot of Malware this way. Run an antivirus program, like McAfee for servers, I'm told Kaspersky's is good on the desktop. Use a spyware detector, Spybot is free, SpySweeper is more able currently though I dislike it. Be behind a firewall at all times. Use a program like TeaTimer or AdWatch to keep an eye on the registry changes. Kill Windows Messager. Offer no network services on Windows if possible.