[X Newbies] Viruses on X

[TheMacintoshLady]

Steven Rogers tapped out this message on 7/31/2003 12:09 PM 

>
>On Thursday, July 31, 2003, at 10:43 AM, TheMacintoshLady wrote:
>
>> I am hoping the answer to this question is a resounding NO. Can OS X 
>> be infected by these .pif, .exe, or .scr files that are sent by PC 
>> users?
>
>In short, no.  But you can get macro viruses that affect various things 
>in the Microsoft family, like Word, and probably some of the 
>Outlook-based viruses might cross over if you were reading mail using 
>that Outlook (e.g. LookOut!) clone for the Mac. So the basic idea is to 
>not open Word/ Excel/ Access, etc. files from people that you suspect 
>don't have good virus prevention habits. 

Well, there is no Outlook Express for X, is there an Outlook? I would not 
be using that unless forced to use an Exchange server (yuck) and I have 
no Office on there since AW seems to handle all that now.

Here is a response I just sent to Andy:


Andy Carroll tapped out this message on 7/31/2003 11:55 AM 

>I don't know about OS X, but I do know that these viruses often fake 
>the From e-mail addresses, so it may well not be from the person it 
>says it is. Often looking at the e-mail headers can reveal this if 
>you really know how to read them. So it may not be your sister's 
>computer that is infected, but rather someone who has both your 
>addresses somewhere on their computer.

Yes Andy, we are going back and forth about this, and my cousin swears 
it's not her, however, the other night I called and she was indeed ON the 
computer at that time I got the mail and her BROTHER, the only other 
likely suspect, was NOT......so, I guess she will just have to face up to 
it that it's her!
I HAVE gotten mail from her brother's "address" but the information 
attached even had her name in it with her financial information and stuff 
about where she'd surfed so I knew it was her. (NEA Teacher benefits, 
Fidelity Investments, Morningstar Trading, Baby stores as she is a new 
grandma, etc.....all stuff that had her name on it even though appearing 
to be sent by her brother's computer -------- she was horrified! LOL)

Of course, being on a Mac, she was amazed at how I knew all this stuff.. 
<veg>
It's kinda funny.....not really but you know what I mean. :-)