sophos at sophos.com is by far the best and fastest virus checker i've found. they've got a free demo, but it doesn't expire which is good as it's priced for commercial users (in which case i'd encourage you to license it). it will check macs or pc's for mac and pc viruses (even in archives, i.e. zip or hqx or sit files)! very nice. having said that, i've downloaded 1 virus in 10 years, from a soviet block ftp server and i did find it before i unstuffed the file. it can also be set to check floppies etc. when they are inserted.
depending on the setting, a firewall may or may not be worth the trouble. even on dialup i get a huge number of incursion attempts (often several an hour!) but so far none that the mac would have been succeptable to. however, the mac os does have known vulnerabilities (though relatively few) and it's possible for the application to have security holes, i.e. i wouldn't trust internet explorer on a good day, much less outhouse express (the virus magnet!). don't forget there are many macro viruses that affect microsoft stuff on pc's or mac's and that can spread from one os to the other. there are also other viruses types that are less dependent on the os and could be a problem. a lot depends on the nature of your network, if you have sensitive business info, you're a fool not to run a firewall (and just because one person hasn't had problems doesn't mean you won't, and if the intruders are thieves rather than vandals you may not ever know they stole your files without a good firewall). on the other hand, if you don't have personal info on your machine and just play with it, no problem, what could they do? (other than steal credit cards if you make online purchases). if you've got R/D info on the network, it's hard to say what would be overboard, industrial espionage has always been a huge problem and few ever admit to being compromised. -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
