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Sophos sees OS X virus ghostsAnti-virus software mistakes real applications for pests, breaks systems Anti-virus vendor Sophos has released an update of the Inqtana-B virus identity file for it Sophos Anti-Virus for OS X software due to false positives. The company initially released an antidote that incorrectly flagged various files in Microsoft Office 2004 and in Adobe Acrobat Reader as being infected with the OS X worm. Users in some cases reported that the anti-virus software claimed over 1,000 infections. The false positives have a great impact on users, as the anti-virus program will block access or delete all "infected"...

Michael Lehn has discovered a vulnerability in Mac OS X, which can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user's system. The vulnerability is caused due to an error in the processing of file association meta data in ZIP archives (stored in the "__MACOSX" folder) and mail messages (defined via the AppleDouble MIME format). This can be exploited to trick users into executing a malicious shell script renamed to a safe file extension stored in a ZIP archive or in a mail attachment. This can also be exploited automatically via the Safari browser when visiting a malicious web site.

Apple plans a special invitation-only event to introduce new products next week. The event happens on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 at 10:00 AM Pacific Time. The invitation gives away precious little about what Apple has up its sleeve for the event. “Come see some fun new products from Apple,” says the invitation received by Macworld. The e-mail features a large rendering of an iCal-style icon with the date set to February 28, 2006. The event takes place at Apple Town Hall on Apple’s Cupertino campus.

A new security vulnerability in Safari has been identified by security experts at Secunia. The company - which rates the flaw as “extremely critical” - says that the vulnerability was discovered by a source outside the company, Michael Lehn. It can be exploited by malicious people to compromise a user's system, it warns. The vulnerability is caused due by an error in the processing of file association meta data (stored in the "__MACOSX" folder) in ZIP archives. “This can be exploited to trick users into executing a malicious shell script renamed to a safe file extension stored in a ZIP...

Will Apple adopt Windows? By Jack Schofield / Apple/ Windows 01:15pm "The idea that Apple would ditch its own OS for Microsoft Windows came to me from Yakov Epstein, a professor of psychology at Rutgers University, who wrote to me convinced that the process had already begun. I was amused, but after mulling over various coincidences, I'm convinced he may be right. This would be the most phenomenal turnabout in the history of desktop computing," writes PC Magazine columnist John C. Dvorak. Dvorak predicted Apple moving to Intel chips before that happened, but ... Way back then, Apple was trying...

<p>The first worm targeting Apple Computer's Mac OS X operating system has surfaced,....</p>

First worm for Mac OS X discovered Security experts say Leap-A isn't a particularly threatening worm. But it's significant in one way: It's the first piece of malware to target Apple Computer Inc.'s Mac OS X operating system, which many users consider a more secure alternative to Microsoft Windows. "Some owners of Mac computers have held the belief that Mac OS X is incapable of harboring computer viruses, but Leap-A will leave them shell-shocked, as it shows that the malware threat on Mac OS X is real," Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for UK-based AV firm Sophos, said in a...

A second piece of Mac OS X malware has emerged this week, though this one poses a very limited threat, thanks in part to Apple’s own response. Security software maker F-Secure Corp. describes Inqtana.A, a Java-based “proof of concept” worm that exploits a vulnerability in Bluetooth on some Macs that haven’t been updated with Panther and Tiger security patches. The chances of Mac users actually being affected by Inqtana.A are remote, however — even F-Secure notes that it hasn’t seen the worm “in the wild.” What’s more, Inqtana.A has an internal counter that prevents its operation after February 24, 2006....

JOBS' MOB lawyers have swooped on to a message board run by the OSx86 project which is geared to those interested in using the Apple OS X onto x86 hardware.

Report: Amazon plans to take-on iTunes, iPod By Dan Nystedt, IDG News Service Amazon.com Inc. plans to launch its own Internet music service to rival Apple’s iTunes Music Store, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing unidentified sources. The world’s largest online retailer also plans to sell its own-branded portable music players, and a subscription service that would offer deep discounts and preloaded songs to users of its music players. The company is in advanced talks with four global music companies about a digital music service that could be launched as early as this summer, according to the report. With...

A professor at Rutgers University thinks Apple may be setting up to switch to the Windows OS. John Dvorak of PC Magazine writes that professor of psychology Yakov Epstein has noticed a few "coincidences" that point to Apple moving towards the Windows OS. Epstein's observations include the fact that the Apple Switch campaign is over, and "nobody switched;" the lack of FireWire connectors for new iPods as the PC world is the new "target audience;" very few consumers have switched to Macs after being more exposed to Apple products via the iPod; and the switch to the Intel-based microprocessor. Dvorak...

On the evening of the 13th, an unknown user posted an external link to a file on MacRumors Forums claiming to be the latest Leopard Mac OS X 10.5 screenshots. The file was named "latestpics.tgz" The resultant file decompresses into what appears to be a standard JPEG icon in Mac OS X but is actually a compiled Unix executable in disguise. An initial disassembly (from original discussion thread) reveals evidence that the application is virus-like or was designed to give that impression. Routines listed include: _infect: _infectApps: _installHooks: _copySelf: The exact consequences of the application are unclear, but according to...

Apple on Wednesday updated most of the individual applications that are included with its iLife 06 suite. The updates are available for download through the Software Update system preferences pane. iDVD has been updated to version 6.0.1; iPhoto has been updated to 6.0.1; iWeb has been updated to 1.0.1; iMovie HD has been updated to 6.0.1 and iTunes has been updated to 6.0.3. Most of the applications have been updated to “address a number of minor issues,” according to Apple. iDVD 6 also fixes integration problems with other iLife applications, importing of legacy projects and theme-related issues. iPhoto fixes problems...

A utility has been released that will allow the Intel-oriented version of Apple's Mac OS X operating systems to be run on machines other than the company's own iMac and MacBook Pro. However, the coder behind the patch, Maxxuss, warned that the software is a work in progress and that there's "still a lot of work to do". That said, for folk who like to "play around", he said, the software will help them get started. The code requires a computer with an SSE3-supporting processor. It also appears geared toward set-ups in which Mac OS X is run alongside another...

Apple on Tuesday released an update to Mac OS X Tiger, bringing the current version to 10.4.5. According to Apple the update fixes several applications and technologies including iChat video conferencing and Safari rendering of web pages. Specifically, Apple's Web browser Safari no longer quits unexpectedly when deleting AOL mail messages via AOL webmail. The update also addresses an issue in which you could not sync with an iDisk larger than 4GB. Users of Apple's Portable Home Directories will notice that files copied across the network now show up as temporary files until the transfer is complete in case the...

OS X contains unpatched security flaws of a type that were fixed on alternative operating systems more than a decade ago, according to a security researcher credited with finding numerous bugs in Apple's increasingly popular platform. Neil Archibald, senior security researcher at software security specialists Suresec, told ZDNet Australia that as Apple's market share increases, OS X will come under more scrutiny by security researchers, who he believes will find plenty of "low-hanging bugs". Archibald, who has already discovered a number of security vulnerabilities in OS X, speculates that should Apple's market share continue to increase, users of the platform...

Can you run Windows on the new Macs, or Mac OS X on other Intel hardware? Apple's announcement of new Macs based on processors from Intel raises an interesting question: Since both the Mac and Windows operating systems now run on Intel-based hardware, shouldn't it be easy to run both on the same computer? That simple question deserves a simple answer. But there isn't one — at least not right now. Reaching the nirvana of running the two most popular desktop operating systems on one machine is a lot harder than you might expect. Apple has said that it wasn't...

As readers digest all the announcements from Apple at Macworld San Francisco, we've noted a few interesting tidbits: - Steve Jobs announced that Apple's entire product line will be transitioned to Intel in 2006. This is earlier than previously announced at WWDC 2005. Jobs notes that over the coming months we will hear announcements as each product line is transitioned. All by the end of this calendar year. - MacBook Pro naming. Steve Jobs: "It's a new name because we're kinda done with 'Power' and because we want 'Mac' in the name of our products." This would imply that the...

Apple claims its newest iMac, which features Intel’s new Core Duo processor, is twice as fast as its predecessor. Despite the major change under the hood, the iMac remains with the same design and at the same price as before, with systems starting at $1,299. The new iMac, which starts shipping today, will be Apple’s first computer to feature a CPU built by Intel. Up until now, Apple has used the PowerPC architecture developed in conjunction with Motorola and IBM to drive all of its iMac computers. On the outside, the iMac G5 looks the same as before — it’s...

SAN JOSE, California (AP) -- Five years ago, Apple Computer Inc. was barely an afterthought in the halls of electronics companies. Not anymore. With its best-selling iPods and landmark licensing deals with music and television moguls propelling new ways of consuming digital media, Apple now is the pacesetter.