Cleaning my Mac
in [UK Mac]
|
From: chris on 6 May 2010 11:20 On Thu, 06 May 2010 15:23:07 +0100, whisky-dave <whisky-dave(a)final.front.ear> wrote: > > "James Jolley" <jrjolley(a)me.com> wrote in message > news:84fjocFb13U2(a)mid.individual.net... >> On 2010-05-06 09:50:23 +0100, David Kennedy >> <davidkennedy(a)nospamherethankyou.invalid> said: >> >>> Conor wrote: >>>> >>>> You're not being paranoid. Exploits DO exist despite the fanbois in >>>> this >>>> group saying otherwise. >>>> >>> >>> Reference? >> >> Not this again. We know there are security threats, there's always going >> to be them on any platform. The safe thing is to not act an idiot, > > Yep that's correct but it seems rather more difficult for PC users to not > act like idiots ;-) But in reality it's unlikily that even clicking on a > 'virus' file > it wonl;t affect the Mac OS X. > I've even tried launching some of those exe files you sometimews get inn > scam emails and nothing happens. Someone tried running Windows viruses via Wine in Linux and even managed to get one running! Although, it didn't actually propagate or cause direct damage to the linux install: http://www.linux.com/archive/feed/42031
From: Rowland McDonnell on 6 May 2010 12:50 J. J. Lodder <nospam(a)de-ster.demon.nl> wrote: > Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig(a)flur.bltigibbet.invalid> wrote: [snip] > > [1] Except for Stefan Haller, author of MacSoup, who has not equipped > > that particular bit of software with anything to spy on users, no matter > > what any clearly mad and apparently Dutch people might claim. > > Sure, you have to activate the spyware feature yourself. > But we've been over that before, For those who might be worried: Jan thinks that MacSoup is `spyware' because when you post to Usenet, it includes a User-Agent header, which secretly informs some secret agency all about your personal, private information. Well, actually, it doesn't - it just tells the world that you are using MacSoup. If that's spyware, then Jan's a Togolese. Rowland. -- Remove the animal for email address: rowland.mcdonnell(a)dog.physics.org Sorry - the spam got to me http://www.mag-uk.org http://www.bmf.co.uk UK biker? Join MAG and the BMF and stop the Eurocrats banning biking
From: James Jolley on 6 May 2010 13:10 On 2010-05-06 17:50:58 +0100, real-address-in-sig(a)flur.bltigibbet.invalid (Rowland McDonnell) said: > J. J. Lodder <nospam(a)de-ster.demon.nl> wrote: > >> Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig(a)flur.bltigibbet.invalid> wrote: > [snip] > >>> [1] Except for Stefan Haller, author of MacSoup, who has not equipped >>> that particular bit of software with anything to spy on users, no matter >>> what any clearly mad and apparently Dutch people might claim. >> >> Sure, you have to activate the spyware feature yourself. >> But we've been over that before, > > For those who might be worried: > > Jan thinks that MacSoup is `spyware' because when you post to Usenet, it > includes a User-Agent header, which secretly informs some secret agency > all about your personal, private information. Well, actually, it > doesn't - it just tells the world that you are using MacSoup. > > If that's spyware, then Jan's a Togolese. > > Rowland. Thanks, I was a little curious as to what was meant by the spyware. Thanks.
From: Rowland McDonnell on 6 May 2010 13:17 J. J. Lodder <nospam(a)de-ster.demon.nl> wrote: > Jim <jim(a)magrathea.plus.com> wrote: > > > Basil Jet <johnr(a)journeyflow.spamspam.com> wrote: > > > > > On 05/05/2010 21:27, J. J. Lodder wrote: > > > > Basil Jet<johnr(a)journeyflow.spamspam.com> wrote: > > > > > > > >> As someone who recently migrated from PCs, I'd like to start doing > > > >> internet banking on my Mac... how can I check my Mac for snooping > > > >> software? > > > > > > > > Don't worry, be happy. > > > > > > > > You've got a Mac, remember? > > > > > > I'm new to this, remember. I don't want to be paranoid but I don't want > > > to be naive either. > > > > As others have mentioned, 'Little Snitch' is a good way of finding > > programmes that are making outbound connections. However, lots of > > programmes will check for updates when you start them up so you may find > > yourself overwhelmed by false positives until you've got it trained. > > > > In general there's effectively no malware out there for Macs - the > > actual number is greater than zero, but not by much. Any non-zero number is infinitely greater than zero: Jim's suggestion that low risk equates to zero risk is a counsel of recklessness. The risk of me ending up dead due to my next trip on the motorway is tiny - but the only reason it's safe for me to ride on the motorway (or anywhere) is that I know that that tiny risk is non-zero, thus I take reasonable care to avoid the risks. One should behave the same way with respect to any risk - do not be stupid and conclude that a small risk is a zero risk, but be sensible: do a sensible risk assessment, and take whatever precautions are sensible to deal with the risk. > > I've got no > > antimalware apps, don't use Little Snitch, and don't currently feel the > > need for either. > > All the malware there is is user-installed, > so you should know whether you might have it, `Should'? Hmm. Well, anyone trusting software downloaded from the P2P networks deserves all that they get, but I do recall reports of a nasty wave of trojan infections that swept Mac-land on the back of a dodgy, erm, iWork? installer from Bittorrent IIRC. There is in effect a significant amount of Macintosh malware - significant because significant numbers of Macs do in fact get infected with it. The fact that I've never met any in the wild is irrelevant. But the risks are /several/ orders of magnitude less for Macs than for Windoze. ClamXAV is a free malware checker for Macs. The reports I've read *AND* my own personal tests show that it's been better at picking up the latest malware than the commercial anti-virus utility Virex. Clamav (the engine behind ClamXAV) finds out about the current threats sooner than I do. Virex lags behind the current threats by weeks in my experience. Yep, I've done tests here. btw, the only time any virus checker I've run has detected malware capable of infecting a Mac, it was when I had downloaded Mac malware from a dodgy archive years ago (anyone remember l0pht heavy industries?) `just to take a look'. I've probably still got it on floppy somewhere. Never let any of it run... Rowland. -- Remove the animal for email address: rowland.mcdonnell(a)dog.physics.org Sorry - the spam got to me http://www.mag-uk.org http://www.bmf.co.uk UK biker? Join MAG and the BMF and stop the Eurocrats banning biking
From: Rowland McDonnell on 6 May 2010 13:17
J. J. Lodder <nospam(a)de-ster.demon.nl> wrote: > Basil Jet <johnr(a)journeyflow.spamspam.com> wrote: > > > J. J. Lodder wrote: > > > Basil Jet<johnr(a)journeyflow.spamspam.com> wrote: > > > > > >> As someone who recently migrated from PCs, I'd like to start doing > > >> internet banking on my Mac... how can I check my Mac for snooping > > >> software? > > > > > > Don't worry, be happy. > > > > > > You've got a Mac, remember? > > > > I'm new to this, remember. I don't want to be paranoid but I don't want > > to be naive either. > > If you don't respond to phishing emails > you should be perfectly safe, Only if you also download nothing from the P2P networks. I've not heard of Macs being infected via emails. I have heard of Macs being infected by trojans downloaded from Bittorrent. Rowland. -- Remove the animal for email address: rowland.mcdonnell(a)dog.physics.org Sorry - the spam got to me http://www.mag-uk.org http://www.bmf.co.uk UK biker? Join MAG and the BMF and stop the Eurocrats banning biking |