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An AppleCare support rep talks: Mac malware is "getting worse"
ZD Net ^ | May 18, 2011 | Ed Bott

Posted on 05/18/2011 10:32:28 AM PDT by Loud Mime

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To: Loud Mime

Thanx for the heads up!

Have not run into this issue yet with my new MacBook Pro. Thanks very much for your advance warning of a potential problem.


41 posted on 05/18/2011 11:28:56 AM PDT by GeorgiaKusic
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To: PA Engineer

Where was I dishonest?


42 posted on 05/18/2011 11:36:58 AM PDT by Loud Mime (Prayers for missing Marizela Perez. Prayers for her safe return.)
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To: discostu
The biggest hole in security always has been and always will be the user. Doesn’t matter how secure the OS is if the user is willing to click yes on every popup and provide the necessary credentials the machine will become a pit of malware.

So true. My son told me about a virus that came in when a lowely employee brought in a floppy from home to work on during break.

The resulting chaos cost tens of thousands in damage

43 posted on 05/18/2011 11:37:11 AM PDT by Balding_Eagle
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To: Loud Mime
virusmakers

In this case, it's malware makers, as the user has to PROACTIVELY give these programs elevated access to the system in order to be installed. Unlike the PC world, your mac is not going to get infected with a virus if you hook it up to the internet out of the box*

* prior to downloading the patches since the OS was installed and the time of purchase.

44 posted on 05/18/2011 11:45:36 AM PDT by SengirV
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To: PA Engineer

Oh! The huge manatee!


45 posted on 05/18/2011 11:46:38 AM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: Waryone

We’re about to purchase a MacBook Pro. We’ve never owned a Mac. How would we go about installing the Sophos?

Have you owned your MacBookPro for very long? Do you like? Love it? Andy Pros/Cons/suggestion?


46 posted on 05/18/2011 11:54:44 AM PDT by This Just In (In America, RINO's belong in zoo's, not public office)
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To: GeorgiaKusic
Okay, let me preface what I’m going to tell you by saying I’ve been surfing the Internet with various Macs for twenty years.

You don't need any kind of anti-virus software. It's a waste of money and system resources.

You can very comfortably assume complete immunity from malware provided you only give your system password to programs you know and want to install.

No, you aren't technically immune to malware with a Mac, but all these windows geeks are telling you to get what amounts to “lightning bolt insurance” to justify they've been flying cheap-a$$ windows kites in the rain.

47 posted on 05/18/2011 11:55:13 AM PDT by papertyger
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To: Loud Mime

For the longest time Apple computers have been relatively safe from this kind of thing simply because the return on investment for a hacker developing an Apple virus/Trojan/malware was just not as good as one for Windows. Now there’s so many Macs that they’re worth attacking and they’re also worth attacking because so many Apple users are utterly oblivious to security issues.

Add to this the fact that Apple users tend to be liberal, urban snobs who almost uniformly sneer at PC users as troglodytes and I find myself with precious little sympathy for them.


48 posted on 05/18/2011 12:00:09 PM PDT by MeganC (NO WAR FOR OIL! ........except when a Democrat's in charge.)
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To: papertyger

As I mentioned to Waryone a moment ago, we will be purchasing our first Mac (MacBook Pro) today (hopefully. was supposed to purchase it days ago, but ran into a snag).

Should we install Sophos? Do you use your Mac for business? I’m trying to compile a list of Freepers who may be able to help if we run into any problems. We live between Nomansland and Nowhere. No such thing as One To One here.

Thanks for your help.


49 posted on 05/18/2011 12:02:04 PM PDT by This Just In (In America, RINO's belong in zoo's, not public office)
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To: RnMomof7

I believe all browsers give you the option of whether or not to automatically open downloaded files....simply choose to not automatically open them. However, I believe most browsers set the default to automatically open the files, so you need to check your “Options” and verify.


50 posted on 05/18/2011 12:03:30 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Yo-Yo

Our farmhouse door is typically unlocked and I assure you that if anyone breaks in here we’ll be feeding them to the hogs before their corpse gets cold.


51 posted on 05/18/2011 12:03:39 PM PDT by MeganC (NO WAR FOR OIL! ........except when a Democrat's in charge.)
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To: This Just In
(spoken in a slight monotone and dry voice)
You, my friend, have never lived in a farmhouse, have you? :^)

"Was that the sound of a shotgun pump being racked that I just heard?"

52 posted on 05/18/2011 12:05:46 PM PDT by Yo-Yo (Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: MeganC

“Add to this the fact that Apple users tend to be liberal, urban snobs who almost uniformly sneer at PC users as troglodytes and I find myself with precious little sympathy for them.”

I’ve been sitting on the sidelines for years as I watch this continuous grudge match between Mac and pc users/owners.

You’ve made a sweeping generalization concerning Mac owners, but I must tell you that I’ve witnessed what seems to be jealous envy from pc users.

I have also witnessed cult like devotion by Mac users, but the animosity seems to be equally share by both sides.


53 posted on 05/18/2011 12:07:42 PM PDT by This Just In (In America, RINO's belong in zoo's, not public office)
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To: papertyger

The tricky thing about Windows viruses as opposed with Mac viruses, is that with Windows, many times to get rid of viruses, you have to dink with the Registry. That’s why Anti-Malware programs are a necessity with Windows, you don’t want amateurs going in there are trying to play with the registry.

Seems the virus removal on a Mac is much more straightforward, where really there is not much need for the anti-virus software, it’s not worth using up all that CPU.


54 posted on 05/18/2011 12:07:42 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Yo-Yo

LOL!

That pump-action sound is something that’ll strike fear into a deaf man. No other sound like it. :^)


55 posted on 05/18/2011 12:09:44 PM PDT by This Just In (In America, RINO's belong in zoo's, not public office)
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To: This Just In

There’s a very good reason mac users are passionate about the platform.

Every PC is an electronic roulette wheel. You never know when it is going to crap out on you, nor how long it is going to take to get it back up and running.

Macs don’t work that way. They just work.

Don’t listen to any jackass that tries to tell you we gladly pay three times what they’ll pay for a laptop because it’s a status symbol. We gladly pay three times what they’ll pay, because time is money and we can confidently sit down to do an hours work an hour before the deadline...e v e r y t i m e.


56 posted on 05/18/2011 12:13:26 PM PDT by papertyger
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To: This Just In

No, I just said something that’s fundamentally true. When I lived in California people my age had Apples as some sort of status symbol and they were mostly liberal and they were almost always snobs who bought Apples for the principal reason that they were fashionable among liberal snobs. Now I live in Wyoming and I don’t know anyone here, so far, who owns an Apple. For that matter I think the closest Apple store is in Salt Lake.

Part of the turn off for me with an Apple is that it just seems that it’s liberals and leftists who buy them and that alone is enough to sour me on them.


57 posted on 05/18/2011 12:14:17 PM PDT by MeganC (NO WAR FOR OIL! ........except when a Democrat's in charge.)
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To: papertyger

Something people don’t talk about is the fact that Macs retain their value much more than PCs, you could easily sell a 2-3 year old MacBook for $500-600. So when you want to upgrade, sell the current one, and use the proceeds towards the purchase of a new one.


58 posted on 05/18/2011 12:20:20 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: dfwgator
That is a fine idea, and very true, but I've never seen any substantive value to upgrading a mac in any less than five years, and only then because new software tends to be incompatible after that long.
59 posted on 05/18/2011 12:27:10 PM PDT by papertyger
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To: This Just In

“I have also witnessed cult like devotion by Mac users, but the animosity seems to be equally share by both sides.”

It happens with motorcycle brands too. Vic20 anyone?


60 posted on 05/18/2011 12:28:21 PM PDT by Poser (Cogito ergo Spam - I think, therefore I ham)
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