At 11:48 AM -0400 11/2/2010, Dan wrote:
Clam and ClamXav were just recently updated... And now Sophos is offering a free version of their anti-virus tool
At 10:32 AM -0700 11/3/2010, Bruce Johnson wrote:
Sophos was throwing false positives like mad on Java last month
False positives are something we're going to have to watch for, I'm afraid. Signature errors happen now and then. ...But I wonder sometimes if the commercial$ AV companies aren't getting so desperate for Mac sales that they would...
At 8:41 PM -0400 11/3/2010, Yersinia wrote:
Anyhoo, is virus scanning SUPPOSED to take this long?
As mentioned later in the thread, that long / whole disk scan can take a while. After all, there are thousands to hundreds of thousands of files there. Your whole drive vs /Users vs just your desktop, for example. ClamAV's scanner is a bit on the slow side too. The good news is that a whole-system scan should only be necessary in very very very rare rare cases. Mostly you just want the AV software to watch your downloads / desktop folder.
At 8:36 PM -0700 11/3/2010, Bruce Johnson wrote:
Both programs insert themselves into the OS so that when files are read or written; they scan the file before the OS can do anything.
Just to clarify - this isn't a hack. Mac OS X (Tiger and newer) has a real documented service (fseventer) available that lets these products cleanly hook into the access path. They can then filter the events, so they only "trigger" on files of interest (those in your user account, for example). IOW, this isn't something that's going to dramatically break every time Apple blinks at the OS.
At 7:52 PM +0000 11/8/2010, Wallace Adrian D'Alessio wrote:
was it not determined less than 2 months ago the no one had seen a Mac virus ?
Yea, we have discussed this before. There are a few badly-written trojans but no real viruses in the wild. But that's not the point here. The point is to be *prepared* for issues with *reasonable* tools. Hopefully by discussing this stuff we'll weed out the FUD. Try 'em out. Then let 'em just sit there idly, for when you need 'em. IMO, it's better to have them available than to go into a panic and have to find, download, install, learn etc suddenly.
I'm still foolin around with this Sophos product, and the new ClamXav. Both seem nice. It will be interesting to see which is updated faster, as malware are released.
At 7:10 PM -0700 11/3/2010, Jonas Ulrich wrote:
Why would you buy antivirus for mac???? I've never heard of anyone getting a virus on a mac, and I never have before.
That would be exactly the point of us checking out the FREE options. My thinking is that the free ones are far less FUD prone...
FWIW, - Dan. -- - Psychoceramic Emeritus; South Jersey, USA, Earth. -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
