[X Newbies] Apple and all of these viruses?

[Florin Alexander Neumann]

On Saturday, Aug 23, 2003, at 22:22 Canada/Eastern, Randy B. Singer 
wrote:

> At this point I think that we should take a look around and realize 
> where
> we are having this discussion, which is on the OS X *Newbies* list.

You're probably right, but you mustn't worry -- clearly, there can be 
no discussion when one of the participants is struck by selective 
blindness and pretends he can't see the replies.

In terms of neophytes, I don't think we must assume automatically that 
a newbie to the OS X is necessarily a newbie to computers. But 
generally, their concerns on this issue are fourfold.

(1) Is my Mac vulnerable to the current spate of viruses everyone is 
talking about?
A: No. They are Windows-only viruses (they're really worms, in 
techspeak) and cannot infect Macs either under OS X or under OS 9, even 
if you're using Outlook or Entourage. However, they could conceivably 
infect Virtual PC, if you're using it. But the infection would be 
limited to the Virtual PC environment and would not affect the rest of 
your Mac.

(2) Does that mean the Mac is invulnerable and I don't need a virus 
utility?
A: No. Mac viruses are rare, and there have been no OS X viruses 
reported as yet. But it's likely that it's only a matter of time before 
an OS X virus shows up. Macs are also vulnerable to cross-platform 
viruses, such as the macro viruses which affect MS Word and MS Excel; 
finally, although your Mac would not be affected, you could 
inadvertently pass on a PC virus to a friend who uses Windows. So it's 
a good idea to acquire an anti-virus utility and keep it up to date, 
especially if you exchange Excel and Word files with Windows users on a 
regular basis.

(3) I've received a message with an attachment and I think it contains 
a virus. What should I do?
A: Delete it. A basic safety rule is to delete any unsolicited e-mail 
containing attachments.

(4) A friend insists he received an infected e-mail message from me, 
but I'm positive I never sent him anything like that. Or, I received a 
notice saying a message I sent couldn't be delivered, and it looks like 
the message contained the virus, but I never sent it. Is my Mac 
infected?
A: No. Some of these viruses spoof the return address. When the virus 
infected your friend's PC, it found your address in the address book. 
When it sent copies of itself to the addresses listed in the address 
book, on some of them it substituted your address for your friend's 
address in the return field.

f