[X4U] Re: Malware (Was: Consumer Reports)

[Randy B.Singer]

Robert Ameeti said:

>>I've been running Virus Barrier for about 7 years now.
>
>And how many Mac viruses has it found in those 7 years?

In the past 7 years?  It found one classic virus maybe within that time 
period.  In that time it flagged at least a couple of Word macro viruses. 
 And it has flagged a bunch of Windows viruses that have shown up as 
e-mail attachments.  

>Selling a product that portends to find something that doesn't exist 
>is snake oil in my book.

Which Mac malware is it that you don't think exists?  Microsoft macro 
viruses? (Of which there are literally thousands, by the way.)  The two 
or three Trojans/worms that all of the AV reporting sites list, and which 
have been well documented on Macintosh, MacFixIt and on the Apple 
discussion site?  Classic viruses? 

I can easily understand it when folks say that AV software isn't 
necessary for OS X users.  I say the same thing myself.  There is no 
question that malware that attacks some portion of OS X (which includes 
Classic) is very rare.  

What I don't understand is why some people try so hard to insist that no 
malware exists for OS X at all, when it clearly does.  (All that you have 
to do is do a Google search, or look at Macintouch's archives, to see 
that it does.) I've heard folks go so far as to say that there is a 
massive conspiracy among the AV software developers to fabricate the 
existence of malware for OS X.  I've even been told that if I believed 
that there was any malware for OS X that I must be on the take.  (Which 
is news to me and my bank account.)

Come on...



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

People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it's safer 
to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs.  - Rodney Lee