Comments | hederahelix: Vid Rec

hederahelix

Vid Rec

Aug 16, 2007 12:15

First things first. This heat wave? Totally ready for it to be over.

Second thing. Anticipating the paychecks that will come with my insane 60 hour a week schedule over the next few months, and being ready to toss the laptop through the nearest window every time it slows to a halt for no readily apparent reason, I may have ordered a new computer ( Read more... )

mac, weather, vid rec

Comments 9

the_shoshanna August 16 2007, 20:08:41 UTC

I've seen Virex recommended, but honestly, people I trust who are actual experts in this (I'm thinking specifically of Randy Singer, co-author of The Macintosh Bible) say that Mac users do not need antivirus/antispyware. (Unless you are running Windows via Bootcamp or Parallels or the like, in which case of course your Windows installation needs everything any other Windows installation needs.) Use the usual care about phishing, Trojans, and macro viruses, and install Virex or something else if you want (I can't say where to get it, as I don't use it), but there is no known instance of a Mac virus in the wild and doing harm. That won't remain true forever, of course, but for now, just being alert for alerts is all you really need. (A subscription to TidBITS should come with every new Mac; read that and you will always know what you need to know.)

For more info, check out the archives of the Mac OSX yahoogroup here, especially Randy Singer's post here. (I don't know if messages on that group are members-only, but it's easy to join to ( ... )

the_shoshanna August 16 2007, 20:10:46 UTC

Whoops, sorry: VirusBarrier, from Intego, not Virex. You can tell I don't pay much attention to this.

hederahelix August 18 2007, 17:43:45 UTC

This is fabulous and awesome news, and the comments overall seem to say the same thing.

I've got to tell you, each day I get closer to the new machine, I wonder why I put up with PCs as long as I did.

Thanks for the info.

droneish August 16 2007, 20:40:36 UTC

Mac users, what do y'all use for antispyware and antivirus? Because I don't think work supports antivirus software for macs for employees on personal machines

I don't. I did, but it got in the way of running apps I added and it never, ever found any legitimate problems. Spyware has simply not thus far been an issue for Mac users.

There can be virus, etc. attacks via Microsoft products, I *believe*, but then, I don't use those so I really don't know their current status. There have been a few instances of OS X malware in the past year, but none of them, I believe, have been found "in the wild" (i.e., they are theoretical exploits). Your real vulnerability comes from 3rd party applications and security holes in them that allow for direct attack, i.e., your browser being pwned by script kiddies (Don't store your passwords in your browser.) or a worm infecting your word-processor files. These *rare* exploits haven't been attacks on the OS X *operating system*.

I am not alone in this anti-virus disdaining practice. Which, OTOH, is *not ( ... )

hederahelix August 18 2007, 17:46:44 UTC

Dude, people store their passwords in their browsers? I just--::boggle::.

Some of my formative computing years were spent working in an industry in which the work computers had sensitive medical data on them, so we were forced to change our passwords every three months. As a result, I learned early on to come up with ways to remember passwords since I couldn't always use the same ones, and I would never store passwords on a browser.

I run NoScript on Firefox on the PC, so I may or may not run it from the start on the new machine. I'll look into Little Snitch and go from there.

ctbn60 August 16 2007, 21:05:42 UTC

My IT guy says mac users do not need anti virus software. I haven't owned one in the 20 years we've had one going back to dad's original mac he did all of his advertising work on.

hederahelix August 18 2007, 17:47:44 UTC

Again, I am just wondering why I didn't make the switch sooner. Oh, yeah, right: 1)games, 2) the expensive software I'd just bought when the laptop before this died.

I am soooo excited about the new machine. eee!

sarahq August 16 2007, 21:58:05 UTC

So, oh wise Mac users, what do y'all use for antispyware and antivirus?

MacOS.

Ahem. Seriously: nothing. I've never had a problem with either, nor had synecdochic; we've both been using Macs exclusively since the early 90's.

Thank you for the vid rec!

hederahelix August 18 2007, 17:48:35 UTC

Wasn't the vid awesome?

And seriously? The amount of consensus on this? Kind of awesome too. I love my not-yet-here Mac so much already.