[X Newbies] Apple and all of these viruses?

[Randy B. Singer]

Chris Walker said:

>Since this is a Newbie list, it might be worth someone posting a quick
>rundown on how to check that your Mac is locked down.  For example, is it
>worth setting up separate admin and user accounts (users without admin
>privileges), given that many machines are single user.  

Maybe.  In any case, it might be a good idea to have both on your machine 
to help you deal with (unfortunately too common) corrupted users 
preferences problems.  See:
http://www.macattorney.com/tutorial.html 
Item # 6

>Check firewall is
>on (but how do you stop malicious code from dialling out).

Well, first, I don't think that using a FireWall is necessary unless you 
are a business user.  It certainly isn't necessary if you don't have 
broadband.  But even then, of all the users on the dozen or so discussion 
lists I'm on, over several years since broadband has become commonly 
available, no one has ever reported that a hacker has gotten into their 
machine through their broadband connection. 

LITTLE SNITCH alerts you to outgoing network connections.

http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html

>Is it really
>worth having anti-virus software and which seems the most effective?

I think that it is a good idea.  You can still pick up a virus that will 
infect Classic.  My favorite anti-viral utility for OS X is:

Intego Virus Barrier X
http://www.intego.com/virusbarrier/home.html

Though a copy of Virex is included with a .Mac subscription, and that 
works just fine.

>OK Randy, it's probably all in the Macintosh Bible, but a quick rundown
>might be useful :-)

The last edition of TMB that I wrote for was the 6th edition.  They are 
now up to the 8th edition, and I no longer recommend TMB.  There are much 
better books for OS X.  I highly recommend Pogue's OS X - The Missing 
Manual.


Randy B. Singer
Co-Author of: The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th and 6th editions)

How To Deal With Common Macintosh OS X Jaguar Problems
http://www.macattorney.com/tutorial.html