With regard to #1, that is a patently false statement. ClamXAv, Avast and several others are clearly good antivirus apps and are not even remotely Trojan horses.
Each user should make a decision as to whether or not to run an antivirus app, but it should be a risk based decision based on the likelihood of an actual Mac virus showing up on your computer, and not based on FUD like that below. > On 20 Nov 2016, at 5:50 AM, Colin Yarwood <[email protected]> wrote: > > Bill, et al, > > I hesitate to share my thoughts when such august advice is already there but > I'd like to offer a few suggestions I have found (so far - touch wood!) work > and which are used and commended by many current and long time Mac users with > various OS versions running. > > 1. DO NOT BUY ANY SO CALLED VIRUS prevention app for the Mac! None of them > work and some are themselves Trojan horses of sorts. Also avoid free SPAM > catchers - they often send out SPAM and PHISHING Mails to all your address > book contacts without your knowing it and yet show your name as the source. > These are more frequently found on PCs but just take care. > > 2. Be very careful of any Cleaner or so named apps. > > 3. Get Etrecheck from Etresoft.com - its free and does an excellent job of > checking your system and shows a report indicating any problems. Its author > is accessible if you have a problem. > > 4. Etrecheck includes a Malware filter but also reccommends - as I do too - > Malware Bytes (https://www.malwarebytes.com/antimalware/mac/) which is again > free and does an excellent job speedily checking for any problems that have > got through your gate. > > 5. Onyx (http://www.titanium.free.fr) is a superb and very reliable tool > including all manner of cleaning and reorganising gear. Again its free and > its authors personally deal with problems and advice requests. Versions for > every OS since 10.3 are available... I have it running on my Pismo and my > MBPs and my other halfs iMac. > > I have never heard of anyone having problkems wit the above and indeed those > who use them speak for them as highly as I do myself. Having an author > actually accessible is a real assurance! > > One question for our friend and sage at ASU - do you still have your TERAK? > > Kind regards and good luck with your new President! Fingers crossed that, > like Brexit which is a pain for us, wisewr counsel will be heard and all will > be well! > > Colin Yarwood > Apple User since '77 and still running an Apple ][! > > > > > On 19 November 2016 at 07:43, <[email protected]> wrote: > [email protected] Google Groups > Topic digest > View all topics > • Macs and viruses - 5 Updates > Macs and viruses > Bill Spencer <[email protected]>: Nov 18 06:02AM -0800 > > Hi there: My wife has lately been getting spam emails, allegedly from her > email provider, which include links to click to resolve "problems"--you > know the drill. She has not taken the bait, but when I contacted the > provider on her behalf to triple-check that her account is still in the > clear, I got quite a lengthy sales pitch for all sorts of Mac-related > anti-virus and security stuff that they want us to buy. I have never really > worried about that sort of thing in the past, but times do change and I > thought I would see what the received wisdom is nowadays about the need for > such programs...and if there *is *a need, what to install. She's on 10.10.5 > and I'm on 10.11.something. > > (FYI, she does not want to switch email providers, even to save the $100 or > so a year, because of the understandable headache of notifying everyone, > changing her business cards, her website, etc., and needing/wanting to keep > her old messages in one place.) > > As always, my thanks in advance! > > ***************** > > Bill Spencer in Maryland > Older iMac and newer Mini, OS-es as above. > "Bruce Johnson" <[email protected]>: Nov 18 04:13PM > > On Nov 18, 2016, at 7:02 AM, Bill Spencer > <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > > Hi there: My wife has lately been getting spam emails, allegedly from her > email provider, which include links to click to resolve "problems"--you know > the drill. She has not taken the bait, but when I contacted the provider on > her behalf to triple-check that her account is still in the clear, I got > quite a lengthy sales pitch for all sorts of Mac-related anti-virus and > security stuff that they want us to buy. I have never really worried about > that sort of thing in the past, but times do change and I thought I would see > what the received wisdom is nowadays about the need for such programs...and > if there is a need, what to install. She's on 10.10.5 and I'm on > 10.11.something. > > So long as her system is set to update automatically, Apple routinely pushes > out new definitions for their built-in anti-malware stuff so there’s that > protection first off. > > The overwhelmingly vast majority of malware out there still targets Windows > (and increasingly Android) so a security suite for OS X is, in my > professional opinion, largely unnecessary. If you want a more detailed > analysis mention what they’re offering. (If it says Intego or Norton’s > anywhere in the name it’s garbage, IMO) > > If you want to pay for a decent one, ClamXAV is inobtrusive, low on resource > use and flexible. > > <http://www.clamxav.com> It used to be shareware now it’s commercial, $30 for > any computer you own. ($21 if either of you are associated with an EDU > institution) > > My University provides us with Sophos Antivirus, which is also not half-bad, > but requires an annual subscription. > > As our UA policy (especially in a college that routinely deals with > HIPAA-protected data) requires that all computers, regardless of OS run some > sort of antivirus, I’ve gotten ClamXAv, mainly because it lets me manually > scan any mounted volume or folder, whereas Sophos only protects the boot > volume. Since I have to routinely mount ‘foreign' disks this is useful. > > But any antivirus or antimalware software is necessarily reactive; they only > protect against threats they know of, and most of the current threats aren’t > viruses, but ransomware, keyloggers to steal banking credentials, and ‘fake > antivirus’ offers. > > Apple’s taken some big strides ‘under the hood’ in 10.11 and 10.12 in locking > down and protecting the system to guard against this kind of thing, too, as a > proactive step…even root doesn’t have access to some parts of the OS without > special authentication being provided, but your userland files are > susceptible to ransomware encryption. Fortunately none of the known variants > are currently able to encrypt Time Machine volumes, so it’s not a major deal > for Mac users if you’re backing up your stuff. > > Vigilance against the phishing (and they’re ALWAYS phishing emails, no matter > how official they sound), and keeping good backups are, in the end, better > than any anti-malware solution, and it sounds like your wife is well versed > in the ‘delete key’ method of dealing with them :-) > > Backing up your stuff is important, because drive failure, computer failure, > damage or theft is much more likely than a malware infection. > > -- > Bruce Johnson > University of Arizona > College of Pharmacy > Information Technology Group > > Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs > Russell Courtenay <[email protected]>: Nov 18 09:46AM -0700 > > Great info for all of us especially coming from a professional environment, > Bruce, thanks. > > Priorities are important in data security. Even on Windows the only virus I > ever had was the 'kak.worm' many years ago, and it didn't infect anything > because I was still using text only for my email. It was interesting > dissecting it to figure out how it worked, a very complex combination of > programming languages as I recall. (I got kicked off a JavaScript forum for > asking too many questions about how the kak.worm worked, I guess they thought > I was dangerous!) > > I have had several hard drive failures though, I still have one with 9 months > of data stuck on it that needs a new main board to resurrect it, so for me at > least, hardware problems are the more immediate threat. > > This modern ransomware threat is scary, I have a separate, removable external > hard drive for weekly backup for this reason on the PC server, just wish I > could get Windows to recognize the mirrored raid on the main drive! > > Well, I wish I could get the wife to agree to work on MacOS, it was setup as > a Hackintosh but I removed MacOS as it was an additional layer of > complication she didn't want and a Hackintosh is not always stable either.... > > Russell Courtenay > > Sent from my iPhone > > "N. Shani" <[email protected]>: Nov 18 01:16PM -0500 > > Bill et al, > > The ISP is NOT doing its job! I work for one (local, not-for-profit) and we > educate our members to ensure that their OS firewalls are up, run a test to > see if any router ports are accessible from the outside (we use > https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2, but I'm sure there are other test > site that do the same), and most importantly, ensure that not only is the > OS updated, but also the combo modem/router! (DSL or cable). > > A few years ago it was found that a commonly used freeware (Allegro's > RomPager) was embedded in many combo modems/routers had a flaw (see > http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/561444) since 2002(!) that got fixed in 2005 > but was never implemented. It took a CERT announcement to force the > manufacturer's of all affected units to issue a firmware fix. > So, we announce it on our web page and invited members to either do the > update themselves or we'll do it for them. Your ISP should be on the > lookout for such things. > > The ISP should be able to implement spam filters - and some are free (I > know because we are cheap), but in general spam is a pain to deal with - > the spammers are not sitting idle. > Aside from the ISP doing its required filtering, you could implement some > filtering of your own, if the messages are can grouped so that the filters > (rules) can do what you intend to do. Takes some time and experimenting, > and may not be foolproof - some spam will get through. > > Hope this and the other messages help you. Cheers, Naftali > > On 18 November 2016 at 09:02, Bill Spencer <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi there: My wife has lately been getting spam emails, allegedly from her > "Bruce Johnson" <[email protected]>: Nov 18 06:17PM > > On Nov 18, 2016, at 9:46 AM, Russell Courtenay > <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > > > This modern ransomware threat is scary, I have a separate, removable external > hard drive for weekly backup for this reason on the PC server, just wish I > could get Windows to recognize the mirrored raid on the main drive! > > > Yep we’ve gotten bitten by ransomware here, our main file server was hit; > fortunately the user account involved only had access to one workgroup > directory. It was a big one though and they were impacted pretty heavily for > the nearly 12 hours it took us to restore from tape. > > It was educational for them; and prompted a few questions like: > > "What would happen if this happened to my home computer?” > “You would have to pay the ransom, or just restore your latest backup. You DO > have a latest backup don’t you?” > “Oooohhhhhh” > > :-) > > -- > Bruce Johnson > University of Arizona > College of Pharmacy > Information Technology Group > > Institutions do not have opinions, merely customs > Back to top > You received this digest because you're subscribed to updates for this group. > You can change your settings on the group membership page. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it send an > email to [email protected]. > > > -- > You received this message because you are a member of the iMac Group, a group > for those using Apple iMacs and eMacs. > The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/imac/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] > To leave this group, send email to [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/imaclist > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "iMac Group" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. — Tom Coradeschi [email protected] -- You received this message because you are a member of the iMac Group, a group for those using Apple iMacs and eMacs. 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