Malware alert?

[Goggs Mackay]

Gene, I am getting a malware alert when I try to read the thread 'a perfect balance ..lance moody' (sorry paraphrasing the title).

It was my PC's AVG security that picked it up. Anything to worry about? Anyone else getting this?

 

[Gene Steinberg]

Nothing here, but I'm using a Mac.

 

[Goggs Mackay]

Another nail in the PC/Window coffin then.

 

[Muadib]

Angelo brought up the same thing in the thread you mentioned. I haven't seen anything myself, but I also have the other sites that this site links to blocked by NoScript so that might have something to do with it.

 

[dyingsun]

Didn't have anything happen here. Opera, and a self made firewall ( ).

 

[Randall]

Another nail in the PC/Window coffin then.

Nah ... Whenever the "Macs don't get viruses" people came into the store where I sold computers, it was always a treat to show them the Symantec Antivirus for Mac. Here's a report from April this year:

Mac OS X Report: Virus Infects 600,000 Computers - ABC News

According to Wikipedia Apple was also the first computer system to be affected by viruses:

"A program called "Elk Cloner" was the first personal computer virus to appear "in the wild"—that is, outside the single computer or lab where it was created. Written in 1981 by Richard Skrenta, it attached itself to the Apple DOS 3.3 operating system and spread via floppy disk."​

 

[Randall]

Gene, I am getting a malware alert when I try to read the thread 'a perfect balance ..lance moody' (sorry paraphrasing the title). It was my PC's AVG security that picked it up. Anything to worry about? Anyone else getting this?

It's probably picking up the cookies from the banner ads that track where you go and interpreting that as malware. You can probably adjust the sensitivity someplace with a slider or checkbox. I dumped store bought and third party freeware antivirus programs years ago. These days I just use MS Security Essentials. It seems to work fine. But once in a while I'll download Malware Bytes and run a full scan anyway.

 

[Muadib]

While it may not be true that "Macs don't get viruses" it is true that there are far fewer viruses out there that infect Macs when compared to Windows based systems. So statistically speaking you're less likely to be infected with some type of virus if you're using a Mac. There are new viruses created for Windows based PC's on a daily basis, I don't think the same can be said of Macintosh PC's. Though I think that speaks more to Windows dominance of the marketplace than anything Apple has done. Macs are good if you want something steady and easy to use, Windows PC's are faster and have more customization options, not to mention better gaming. It's really a matter of personal preference.

 

[Wade]

While it may not be true that "Macs don't get viruses" it is true that there are far fewer viruses out there that infect Macs when compared to Windows based systems. So statistically speaking you're less likely to be infected with some type of virus if you're using a Mac. There are new viruses created for Windows based PC's on a daily basis, I don't think the same can be said of Macintosh PC's. Though I think that speaks more to Windows dominance of the marketplace than anything Apple has done.

I imagine given the huge number of iphone and ipad users out there, it will be just a matter of time before this gets turned around?

 

[Muadib]

I imagine given the huge number of iphone and ipad users out there, it will be just a matter of time before this gets turned around?

There are viruses out there that effect Iphones and Ipads and I'm sure there will be more, still I don't know if it will ever even out, Windows has more users overall so they're going to be the main target of hackers looking to compromise people's personal info. Even people who own an Iphone or Ipad usually have a Windows based PC that they use for something, I know I did when I had my Iphone.

 

[Randall]

While it may not be true that "Macs don't get viruses" it is true that there are far fewer viruses out there that infect Macs when compared to Windows based systems. So statistically speaking you're less likely to be infected with some type of virus if you're using a Mac. There are new viruses created for Windows based PC's on a daily basis, I don't think the same can be said of Macintosh PC's. Though I think that speaks more to Windows dominance of the marketplace than anything Apple has done. Macs are good if you want something steady and easy to use, Windows PC's are faster and have more customization options, not to mention better gaming. It's really a matter of personal preference.

Macs are like the Typhoid Marys of the home PC world. One study showed that 1 out of 5 Macs carry Windows malware that doesn't affect Macs, but that pass the infection along to Windows based systems. Fortunately Windows is way farther ahead in defending against malware attacks due it being under constant attack. Windows even supplies its own free antivirus software. Apparently 1 in 36 Macs are also infected with some kind of malware that does affect them. Source here. According to this article Windows 7 RTM x86 had a rate of 5.3 per 1000 machines ( based on data collected by Microsoft's automatic updates and anti malware tools ). The same article also had rates for Windows XP and other Windows OSs. So let's do the math: Windows 7's highest infection rate is 5.3 per 1000 or .53 per 100 or .53% while Mac is 1 in 36 or 2.77 per 100 or 2.77%. So it would seem that the actual statistics based on these numbers indicates that you are actually over 5 times more likely to be infected if you own a Mac than a Windows 7 x86 PC ... amazing what math can do .

 

[Kieran]

Gene, I am getting a malware alert when I try to read the thread 'a perfect balance ..lance moody' (sorry paraphrasing the title).

It was my PC's AVG security that picked it up. Anything to worry about? Anyone else getting this?

Yes, it seems to be that thread only. Google chrome is blocking it for me.

The reason. Content from freeimagehost.net, a known malware distributor has been inserted into this web page.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

Well, it appears a member has inserted a link to a graphic from that site in their signature. I have taken the liberty of removing the graphic and notified the member. So we should be all right now.

 

[Kieran]

The message is gone now, thanks.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

Nah ... Whenever the "Macs don't get viruses" people came into the store where I sold computers, it was always a treat to show them the Symantec Antivirus for Mac. Here's a report from April this year:

Mac OS X Report: Virus Infects 600,000 Computers - ABC News

According to Wikipedia Apple was also the first computer system to be affected by viruses:

"A program called "Elk Cloner" was the first personal computer virus to appear "in the wild"—that is, outside the single computer or lab where it was created. Written in 1981 by Richard Skrenta, it attached itself to the Apple DOS 3.3 operating system and spread via floppy disk."​

I think they had Unix viruses before then.

As to the Java Trojan (Java being a product of Oracle, not Apple), it was long ago addressed by both companies, and Apple took steps to make sure that Macs are protected going forward. This is not the same thing as the situation that has existed for years on the Windows platform.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

The message is gone now, thanks.

I'm sure the member was just trying to spruce up the signature, that's all. We're OK until the next incident.

 

[Goggs Mackay]

I love all you guys here. Never short of advice and help and that means a lot to me - I am far from stupid but I'm not tech-savvy beyond the basics. There is always decent knowledge to be had here!

 

[Muadib]

Macs are like the Typhoid Marys of the home PC world. One study showed that 1 out of 5 Macs carry Windows malware that doesn't affect Macs, but that pass the infection along to Windows based systems. Fortunately Windows is way farther ahead in defending against malware attacks due it being under constant attack. Windows even supplies its own free antivirus software. Apparently 1 in 36 Macs are also infected with some kind of malware that does affect them. Source here. According to this article Windows 7 RTM x86 had a rate of 5.3 per 1000 machines ( based on data collected by Microsoft's automatic updates and anti malware tools ). The same article also had rates for Windows XP and other Windows OSs. So let's do the math: Windows 7's highest infection rate is 5.3 per 1000 or .53 per 100 or .53% while Mac is 1 in 36 or 2.77 per 100 or 2.77%. So it would seem that the actual statistics based on these numbers indicates that you are actually over 5 times more likely to be infected if you own a Mac than a Windows 7 x86 PC ... amazing what math can do .

Now add in Windows 8, plus XP and Vista, which are both still being widely used and supported by Microsoft ( which does include security updates) and you'll get the actual numbers. You're only looking at one iteration of one of Window's OS's, yet you're looking at all Macs as a whole?

 

[Randall]

Now add in Windows 8, plus XP and Vista, which are both still being widely used and supported by Microsoft ( which does include security updates) and you'll get the actual numbers. You're only looking at one iteration of one of Window's OS's, yet you're looking at all Macs as a whole?

That's not really a fair method because people don't use all those OS's on a single machine at the same time. Therefore in reality any given user doesn't have the same chance of getting all those different infections. For it to be fair a user would have to own and run separate Windows machines each with a different OS concurrently, and run all the incarnations of the Mac OS as well on different machines. I chose a 1 to 1 comparison based on the Windows 7 x86 because it had the highest rate of infection in the current Windows OS lineup.

 

[Muadib]

That's not really a fair method because people don't use all those OS's on a single machine at the same time. Therefore in reality any given user doesn't have the same chance of getting all those different infections. For it to be fair a user would have to own and run separate Windows machines each with a different OS concurrently, and run all the incarnations of the Mac OS as well on different machines. I chose a 1 to 1 comparison based on the Windows 7 x86 because it had the highest rate of infection in the current Windows OS lineup.

Fair enough, though some users do run different incarnations of Windows on separate machines, I run XP on my laptop and Windows 7 on my gaming PC for instance. Which Mac OSX version are you using for your comparison? Your original post made it seem, to me anyway, that you were lumping all the Macs into one category while just looking at one iteration of the Windows OS.