Has anyone with a Mac gotten a virus or malware?

[bendted]

So on the Kool-Aid forums their contention is that an anti-virus is superflous and just slows things down. Not needed, case closed (no further discussion required). I have an iMac and I run an anti-virus, just in case. When I had Windows, no question, it was needed. I can't tell you how often I needed to reformat. Still, I wouldn't surf the Internet naked, in a manner of speaking, no matter what the operating system.

On to the question: Have you had a virus or malware with a Mac computer (while not running with an a/v)?

 

[andysayshi]

The number of Macs I have owned, set up for friends, managed, administrated and/or used, numbers in the hundreds. There are 9 Macs in my house and dozens in my business. I have never used any kind of third party security on a Mac.

I have seen one piece of Malware, once, a couple years ago, an a friend's iMac. He was a bit of a technophobe and obviously said Yes to something he shouldn't, and ended up with MacDefender on his computer. MacDefender was really just nuisance-ware, popping a window up regularly telling you you had a virus (which you didn't).

MacDefender was the thing that pushed Apple to tighten its defences. If you install OS X's updates regularly, I firmly believe the chances of you installing malware in OS 10.8 are virtually nil. That's why I have never used a/v software, and can't see aneed for it anytime soon.

 

[bendted]

^ Even with going to porn sites?

 

[Corny]

Isn't there some kind of virus scanners included in mac os nowadays (at least if you install your updates)?

Apart from that, there have been quite a few mac os infections lately. even some apple employees got their work-macs infected from a website not too long ago.

 

[pilotguy121a]

Been using my Mac for three years, no issues with viruses. Avast also puts out a mac virus program that is very good. Detects windows viruses on Mac hard drives as well.

 

[borg69unimatrix]

Maybe a stupid question... I use Windows...

If you don't have a virus detector, how do you know you don't have a virus?? They're getting sneaky with the key loggers and such types of info collectors that aren't obvious all the while stealing your passwords and credit card info.

 

[CowboyBob]

I've had 5 macs since 1994 and have never experienced a virus, keylogger, malware or adware. There's been a few warnings at sites where Safari stops me from entering, informing me my computer could be infected if I visit the site so I don't go there. Don't know what would happen if I did.

 

[swerve]

opinterph and I use Macs both personally and for our business -- and over ALL the YEARS of using them (porn sites included ) -- we've only been infected ONCE...

And THAT INFECTION came via an email from a JUBBER!!!

Since we knew who it came from -- we both (independent of each other) clicked on the link that said something stupid like "Hey, check this out..." -- and then EVERYONE in our email system was sent an email from US!!!

INCLUDING ALL of our BUSINESS contacts...

YIGHTZ -- what a NIGHTMARE --because THEY ALL clicked on the links as well...

Oh -- and the JUBBER that sent it to us was a victim himself -- AND he ALSO uses a MAC...

opinterph traced it back to an originating computer near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico -- I can ASSURE you that at the time I wanted to take a vacation there -- but I couldn't figure out a way to MURDER someone in a foreign country and get away with it...

I no longer click on unknown links in emails...

As far as Mac Defender goes -- I bought it once and COULDN'T STAND IT -- it screwed up my computer and was HORRENDOUSLY difficult to completely remove -- so -- I don't use any special software to protect my computer...

 

[earlgrey]

Had it for 3 years and hasn't had an issue.

My cousin was transferring some photos from his USB, and everyone's PC he's come across is now dying. I helped his transfer something too, but don't have an issue on my MBP.

 

[bendted]

Well, it looks as if my fellow Mac-porn viewers here have no problems sans anti-virus, then that is reassuring. I couldn't specifically broach that topic on the Mac forums.

 

[Scealle]

Not that I know off. A lot of my classmates has them and never really heard them mentioned they have problem with viruses or such. Though a lot of games and software are not compatible.

 

[CowboyBob]

Firefox has those warnings too, usually for security certificates that bounce for whatever reason. But one time the warning said the URL is a phishing site or worse; I can't recall the wording.

I was tempted to click on through anyway, since, probably, the same Firefox warnings cover all platforms. But I wimped out.

You're right... the phishing site warning. I have gone into a few of those sites, bypassing the warning but nothing happened. I just didn't click on anything other than a link to another page.

 

[trawler69]

Never had a problem on My Macs myself and nor have any of my friends. The only problem I heard of was someone fell for the Norton antivirus for Mac and it wore out their HD and slowed everything to a crawl. I have alway said that Norton is one of the worst viruses and , if it was any good, it would uninstall itself!

 

[Jack Springer]

I had huge problems with corrupted fonts before OSX. Fonts were all legal -- just caused problems on a regular basis.OSX was the best move Apple has ever made.No issues with viruses ever.I did try Norton's once after a reseller pressured me into buying it -- horrible program for a MAC or PC.

 

[RaKroma]

I have owned Macs since about 1996. I have never gotten a virus, but my other half did download a "dialer" circa 1999.For those of you who don't know what a dialer is, back in the days of dialup, you'd click on an icon, and the dialer would dial to some 900 number in the Bahamas, and you'd get stuck with a $90 phone bill.

Haha good old days. I caught a dialer virus through a porn site in the 90s. Phone was completely possessed and phone calls were made to stripper services in some country. Good thing phone company understood the problem and we didn't have to pay $200 phone bill. It forced me to quickly learn how to remove stubborn viruses that you Norton will never pick up.

 

[LemonMonk]

The idea that Macs cannot get viruses is a huge fallacy. The reason they generally get less, is because viruses are made for Windows in mind, because Windows is the most used OS. Hypothetically if Mac was the most used, more viruses would be made for Macs.

 

[andysayshi]

By the true definition, there has never been a virus for Mac OSX. There have been a few malware items, that's it.

People have claimed this "small market" reason for a decade or more, but I've found the argument a little hard to believe in the past few years. Apple has been selling in excess of 10 million computers per year since 2005. In the past 3 years alone they've sold almost 50 million. That's still a mighty fine marketplace for a Russian scam syndicate to attack. And on a personal hacker level, there'd be serious kudos to the guy who wrote the first real killer virus for OSX.

And yet we're still waiting.

 

[Jack Springer]

^^

You miss the crashes? OSX saved Apple.

 

[LemonMonk]

Keeland, I am a qualified IT technician. I do not know what your day job is, I am not asking. I do not think this is the place to ask.

I work with Linux based OS, Windows based OS and Mac based OS. I have come across viruses on all three types. As part of a course I am doing, I am creating programs, such as malware. The malware I'm making for my own amusement, not as part of the course.

After testing it and all its versions on all OS I can, I've found it works perfectly well on all. FYI, I haven't distributed the malware, so it isn't illegal. It is perfectly legal to create it, just not to distribute it.

 

[andysayshi]

I work with Linux based OS, Windows based OS and Mac based OS.

Hilarious. Please identify the Mac OSX virus, or better yet point us to it.

In other words, give us some proof of your claim.