http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Aug 25th 2009 8:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/
Clearly, the hundreds of Windows machines that I've spent hours cleaning out didn't have this feature. SpyBot and SuperAntiSpyware were the required tools in my Mr. Fixit toolkit.

This is just Apple putting up a roadblock to stop any potential infections... something Microsoft hasn't done very well over the years. Windows Defender was a good start... but you can't undo the stigma of years of crap that got installed on millions of Windows machines over the years. Windows XP and IE6 were the breeding ground for spyware. People never forget that.

On the Mac commercials... when Apple tries to convince people to buy a Mac... they are betting on the fact that lots of those people have had Windows machines full of spyware. I've certainly seen my share of messed up machines over the years.]]>Aug 25th 2009 9:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Aug 25th 2009 9:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Aug 25th 2009 9:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Aug 25th 2009 9:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/]]>Aug 25th 2009 9:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Why such thing do not exist in america? Every OS must have viruses the only reason Windows have more because it's the most wide spread OS by miles and windows have more experience with viruses and the security is really high specially with Windows vista.

Vista+Firewall+Antivrus/Spyware Guard = it's freaking almost impossible to get any virus at all
I have windows vista with no Anti-virus to begin with on my laptop for 2 years never got a virus and never formatted my laptop and im a heavy user.

People should drop internet explorer for firefox too if they care about security and viruses ~. ]]>Aug 25th 2009 10:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Aug 25th 2009 10:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Aug 25th 2009 10:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Aug 25th 2009 10:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Aug 25th 2009 10:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/
When you say "Vista+Firewall+Antivrus/Spyware Guard = it's freaking almost impossible to get any virus at all," that sounds the same as someone saying "OS X = it's freaking almost impossible to get any virus at all," so I don't know what you're mad at. Except that the OS X box comes from the factory able to say that.]]>Aug 25th 2009 11:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/In all my years of computing I have gotten 2 windows viruses, and 1 mac virus.]]>Aug 26th 2009 12:30AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/
take administrative rights away and this becomes almost impossible to become infected. You're left with exploiting software flaws, e.g. remote buffer overruns in network-aware services, which every piece of software suffers from. Not just windows, not just mac, not just linux.

what's interesting is that microsoft would find themselves in court again if they shipped any form of actual virus protection in windows out of the box. Windows defender is not AV, it's primary role is stopping software writing digging in to an OS install where the user is running as an admin, or not thinking about UAC. It needs some basic knowledge of malware to do that job. One hopes that this feature in OSX is similar to windows defnder in intent, otherwise apple may find themselves in some legal difficulties with AV vendors.]]>Aug 26th 2009 4:23AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/
Then I can safely say Windows Vista and 7 have no viruses either. They're all trojans since you have to approve their installation through UAC.]]>Aug 26th 2009 6:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Aug 26th 2009 9:31AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Aug 25th 2009 8:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/
(yeah, and this is from a mac user... :P )]]>Aug 25th 2009 8:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Aug 25th 2009 8:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Aug 25th 2009 8:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Psh..]]>Aug 25th 2009 9:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/
My friend got a trojan on his mac that asked for his password to install under the guise of iWork 09 (Pirated).

It got root privileges, meaning it had EVEN MORE POWER THAN HIM (And could do anything).]]>Aug 25th 2009 9:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Actually I would rather have the virus attack he system and leave my user files alone]]>Aug 25th 2009 9:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/
Of course, if you would actually stop and try to learn before shouting your mouth off, you would not look like a fool.

Also, where is that Apple fanboy from a couple days ago saying that anti-virus is what slows down Windows computers? Can we expect the same from Apple?]]>Aug 25th 2009 9:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Aug 25th 2009 9:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/And yea, they'll just keep spouting out: "Hey, we don't get viruses because nobody cares enough about our shitty all in one system"]]>Aug 25th 2009 9:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/
HAHAH. Which one are you? Dumb or an uninformed troll? Everyone knows OS X has zero viruses. I bet you had no idea there viruses and trojans are different things.]]>Aug 25th 2009 9:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Aug 25th 2009 9:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/
A small, yet substantial, change.

]]>Aug 25th 2009 9:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Aug 25th 2009 10:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Aug 25th 2009 10:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Aug 25th 2009 10:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Aug 26th 2009 12:39AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Aug 25th 2009 8:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/
People like to lump it all together, but there is a major difference. There are worms. There are malware. Viruses in their classical definition are as good as gone. Worms use OS native ways to propagate themselves to other connected system. Malware is something you download and has to run for it to activate itself.

On Windows to get infected you simply need to do the usual stuff - you do not even need to run programs from Internet, since IE can and does run automatically ActiveX anyway. My friend recently experienced that (for sake of experiment) on his new desktop with Windows Vista: in just three months of using IE, he got about dozen malware running on his box. Those are worms. For normal malware, you still need to run something manually to get infected.

On Mac OS X worms are pretty much non-existent. There are literally no vulnerabilities in default setup of Mac OS X, as all network services are turned off by default. Worms simply have no ways to propagate themselves. That leaves only malware.

Malware would be a problem on any OS. Regardless of security or user proficiency. E.g. there were already several occurrences with hijacked autoupdates of legit program, installing malware without any user intervention. And that's what Mac OS X now has to address too.

But it still a difference between Windows and Mac OS X. For the Windows you have to have some sort of A/V installed so that all activities would be checked: there are way to many infection angles in Windows. In Mac OS X case you do not need anything more special than trivial file check after download, because there are not that many infection angles.]]>Aug 26th 2009 5:23AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Aug 26th 2009 7:09AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Aug 25th 2009 8:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Aug 25th 2009 8:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Aug 25th 2009 8:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/
"And thus their main marketing point against PCs becomes bull"

hahaha! Another dumb-ass that has no clue about the difference between viruses and trojans. It's been 9 years since OS X came out and there are still ZERO viruses. Where are the OS X viruses big boy? show us proof!]]>Aug 25th 2009 9:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/
If OS X was impervious to viruses and trojans, then why would it need anti-virus? Figure that one out, dumbass. I find it funny that you essentially censored my post when you replied. Censor this: FoxKenji, you're a dumbass and you're full of bullshit.]]>Aug 25th 2009 9:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/
Consumers don't care what it's called... Malware, virus, trojan. Just because they can't get one of the three, doesn't mean they are happy about being able to get the other two]]>Aug 25th 2009 9:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/
So you're going to take security advice from Symantec of all companies? Read the comments above you, they beg to differ from the perfect Mac world that you're imagining in your delusional mind.]]>Aug 25th 2009 10:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/Aug 25th 2009 10:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/
From: http://www.apple.com/getamac/faq/

"... No computer connected to the Internet is completely immune to all viruses and spyware..."

Jeez. Take an Operating Systems class. Even Apple themselves says that even OS X can have viruses. That's not to say Mac OS X users aren't well protected. It just means viruses are possible.]]>Aug 25th 2009 10:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/
You don't deserve that screen name, Lando. Or maybe you do: Lando ratted out Solo to the Empire...

Anyway, about your conundrum with figuring out why OS X needs an antivirus... It's based on something that's been figured out for millions of years: if something's possible, you take measures against it.

"Never being attacked by a sabertooth in your cave" might be a result of a sabertooth never finding your cave, or it might be the result of keeping close watch and lighting a fire any time one comes near the cave. Either way, you are entitled to say "Never attacked by a sabertooth."

And... Who still says "dumbass" anymore?

So Lando, I'll leave you with some words from Han Solo: "Hey, you lost her to me fair and square."]]>Aug 26th 2009 12:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/
Yeah, I'm really gonna cry myself to sleep tonight.


Actually, I kid for effect. I haven't worried about viruses since I ditched Windows for Linux in '95. OS X is a new hobby for me.]]>Aug 26th 2009 12:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/
I haven't worried about viruses at all because I'm vaguely competent.]]>Aug 26th 2009 3:16AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/
I'm sorry but you are talking just about as much nonsense as FoxKenji. The idea that the presence of anti-malware software implies the presence of malware is just ridiculous. Are you suggesting that we are about to see a flood of malware for the Macintosh platform due to this software? The situation tomorrow will be just the same as today, which essentially boils down to the only real malware to the Macintosh platform being delivered in Torrents of pirated software, something that I honestly hope continues (software pirates deserve to get burnt).

I will finally note that the Apple's main marketing point is simply that they aren't Windows.]]>Aug 26th 2009 3:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/25/snow-leopard-packing-antivirus-software/And to all those whiners that claim that once Apple marketshare grows, the virus threat grows.. no. The amount of trojans and possible malware available is correlated with marketshare, that's probably true. But the amount of actual virusses and malware that has serious malicious effects on the system is also a matter of how well an OS is built; and objectiviley-speaking OSX is pretty securely built.


]]>Aug 26th 2009 3:43AM