Here’s a recent post I sent to several clients that are using Macs in a Windows domain environment:
“Recently, there has been an increase in virus activity for Macs. This is just a friendly reminder that Macs are not immune to virus attacks.”
The article below discusses a recent virus similar to the Windows Fake Antivirus Virus, which has a
pop-up that says your machine is infected; and it won’t go away until you pay for the full version of their software. This virus is apparently written by the same Russian group that is writing the Windows version.
I am not recommending purchasing an Antivirus product, but just be aware that your Mac is not immune and, as always, exercise caution while browsing the web and installing programs.
Below is the link to the article and below that, a link to Clam AV. Clam AV is a free Antivirus program for Mac. As with many free AV products, it is not automatic and must be updated and run by you. It will not “real time” scan and block infections as they enter your computer. I advise you to download Clam AV, install, and update it – just to have it in case something pops up (a virus). You might want to update and run it periodically.
If you want a full blown AV product for your Mac, the article suggests two: Sophos and Intego. Sophos appears to be free, but I have no experience with these products and can’t make a recommendation. I might spend some time in the future looking at AV products for the Mac, but I’m not sure it’s needed now. Awareness is what is needed now…”
Safe computing-
Wayne
Clam AV
http://www.clamxav.com
Intego
https://secure.intego.com
Sohpos
http://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-antivirus-for-mac-home-edition.aspx
I get this same question a lot; what’s the difference between viruses, malware, and spyware?
It used to be that we distinguished viruses from malware and spyware. Viruses really screwed up your computer and malware and spyware just slowed it down and annoyed you – Now, they‘ve all morphed into what we affectionately call “Infections.”
Infections affect your computer in many ways and while there are some that don’t seem to affect the performance, they may be stealing information from you — Yes, they’re all bad.
Over the years we’ve tried many Antivirus products with mixed results and we have tried them all! The standards, Symantec and McAffe along with others are very good, but can slow down your computer or even keep it from functioning properly– and they don’t stop many common infections. The popularity of social networking sites, particularly Facebook, has infections on the rise exponentially.
In the last half of 2010, we finally concluded that there was no product that was effective in keeping a Windows XP machine from getting infected – We began to recommend a two-product solution:
If you or your company has already paid for an Antivirus product, we advise to leave it installed and use it instead of Option 1.
Test Case:
When we acquired the Waterloo Ice House organization, they had a chronic problem with repeated virus infections despite the fact that every machine had a working and current Antivirus solution installed. In the first two months, they had 17 infections that took an average of 45 minutes to eradicate. In some instances, a reinstall was necessary. Big Village IT purchased Corporate licensing @ $18.00 per workstation and installed it along with their current AV product (yes, you can do this with Malwarebytes) – We configured Malwarebytes to update and scan nightly. The infection rate decreased by 90%!
I t doesn’t take much math to figure out the potential savings, not to mention the productivity gains.
The really good news is that Malwarebytes is free to home users. The slight drawback is that the free version only runs manually. That is, you have to update it and run it. However, this is what we use most of the time to remove infections from client’s computers and very effective even when downloaded after you’ve been infected. The full version cost is $24.95 and a very good value. This version will update and scan automatically once configured.
You can download here: http://www.malwarebytes.org
You will be directed to another site (that’s ok) to download the install. Be careful when going to these other sites, they may try to trick you into downloading something else, so remember, it pays to pay attention. The file you want is called – mbam-setup.exe – As a courtesy to the makers of Malwarebytes, we don’t provide a copy of it.
Here’s a video of me installing Malwarebytes on a computer so that you can see how it is done:
Install Malwarebytes today for more peace of mind and safer computing.
If you have any questions about Malwarebytes or any other IT related needs, please call our office.
Wayne Kimes
