John,
That’s really bad advice to give anyone. If your router is performing NAT then there is a decent chance it has some FW capabilties built-in...or at the very least is not exposing other network enabled devices to the public internet.
In any event there are quite a number of OS-X exploits and this list is growing. Not to mention the fact that many MS-Office Macro viruses will function equaly well in the Mac version of Office. Furthermore, there ARE as I’ve pointed out, plenty of hardware vulnerabilties for network capable devices. If you haven’t gotten hit it’s because you’ve been lucky....and also probably because your router is not exposing any devices except itself to the public internet... and blocking broadcast packets from coming onto your private network.
Furthermore, most people who’s computers are compromised never actualy know it. It’s not like every piece of malware out there is going to pop up a big banner saying that you’ve been hacked or erase your HD.
Forgive my forwardness...and I’m not saying you have been... but if you haven’t been running a FW, virus monitor, spyware scanner etc.... how do you know you’ve never actualy been compromised?
It has the same NAT and Firewall capabilities as nearly every other wired router out there. It's just another cheap wired router. I don't do wireless - unauthorized access to wireless networks is an entirely different game, and I realize that. I'm a desktop/wired guy.
In any event there are quite a number of OS-X exploits and this list is growing
Nonsense. I'll call you on that one. Name one - JUST ONE - that has affected the Mac community at large. By "at large" I mean general users doing ordinary things through everyday connections - NOT programmers and geeks in a special environment.
Not to mention the fact that many MS-Office Macro viruses will function equaly well in the Mac version of Office.
I don't use Microsoft products, other than a VERY old copy of MS Works from about 1993 that STILL RUNS under "Classic" on OS X 10.3.9 fully 15 years after its final release!
Forgive my forwardness...and I’m not saying you have been... but if you haven’t been running a FW, virus monitor, spyware scanner etc.... how do you know you’ve never actualy been compromised?
Because there is no spyware in the wild for OS X. No viruses, either. There was note of some kind of Trojan that tricked you into launching it, through some kind of porn site. Not interested.
Back in the days of OS 9, I used John Norstad's free "Disinfectant" INIT and application, and that was it. Oh yeah, had an old copy of Norton Anti-Virus for OS 9, actually ran it a few times. Never found anything, so I stopped runnng it.
Didn't Norton exit the anti-virus market for modern Macs? Who needs it? I'm guessing there really isn't much of a demand for Macintosh anti-virus software at the moment.
If my Macs have been "compromised", I hope the compromisin' keeps on comin', because they run pretty durn good! This g4 is still on its ORIGINAL SYSTEM SOFTWARE installation from back in 2004. I've done the periodic updates through "Software Update" from time to time, and have defragmented and optimized my boot drive, but that said, it's never had a "re-install" of the basic System. No need to!
I stand by what I posted:
For most Mac end users, all they need to do is take the Mac out of the box, plug it into their DSL or cable modems, go with the OS X "default" firewall protection, and stop worrying.
Having written that, I'll call out to the other Mac users reading this:
If you are on OS X, how many times have you been troubled by a virus, adware, spyware, etc.?
- John