[X4U] Malware for Mac...

[Randy B.Singer]

DZ-Jay said:

>And just to make sure that we're all in the same page: the article 
>references Dashboard widgets, and Dashboard is a feature included in OS 
>X 10.4 Tiger only.  There is no Dashboard for 10.3.x, so if you are 
>concerned about the widgets mentioned in the article, you are safe.


Just as a point of interest, I visited the "zaptastic" Web site will 
booted into OS 8.6 (my b&w G3 can do that), using Mozilla.  I have OS X 
on a different drive than OS 8.6.  The zaptastic widget still 
auto-downloaded, and even though it isn't set as my default download 
disk, the widget was installed on the disk that had OS X on it!  Scary.

For folks looking for a quick, easy way to disable or uninstall widgets:

Widget Manager is a free Preference Pane for OSX 10.4 that allows you to 
inspect, remove, and disable Dashboard Widgets. To remove a widget 
without it, you would have to browse your Library/Widgets folder, delete 
the .wdgt file, and either log out or force-quit the Dock. 

http://www.downtownsoftwarehouse.com/WidgetManager/



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

Routine OS X Maintenance and Generic Troubleshooting
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html