In article <cmcnql$ifk$1@newsg1.svr.pol.co.uk>, Shirley
<shirley RemoveThis @aroundtheclock.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
> I've just converted to a Powermac( it arrives tomorrow) - the old PC is no
> more!
> On the PC I had virus protection, zone alarm, spybots, spybusters, trojan &
> dialler catchers, pop up detectors, ad busters etc etc etc.
>
> Can someone advise what I will need for the Mac in the way of protection. I
> have dial up modem and will probably use Firefox.
> Do Macs have security problems like the PC's??
> Any help or advice appreciated.
You can take the Mac out of the box, hook it up, and be reasonably
assured that you will not have problems with any of that. There are no
viruses yet, no spyware or adware. Possibly 2 trojans, one posing as MS
Office Net Install (not a problem if you don't pirate software on P2P
networks), the other were still figuring out. Called Opener, as best as
I can tell it has only affected 2 people and may have been planted
locally. Perhaps someone has some current info on that though since I
haven't had much time lately to keep up on it. Bottom line is chance of
problems would be rare.
Here comes the but. But, I wouldn't recommend becoming complacent. The
usual suggestions are keep up on updates (will be done automatically
when you first start your computer and weekly after that if you don't
change the defaults). Use a router with built in firewall, turn on OS
X's firewall (System Preferences/Sharing/Firewall). Use Little Snitch
$25 <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/17642" target="_blank">http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/17642</a>
Don't run yourself as an Administrator in day to day use, make your
self a standard user account (System Preferences/Accounts). Get
notified by a script when something tries to add itself to your startup
items (Opener protection). You do this by selecting
/Library/StartupItems. Control-Click on it and select "Enable Folder
Actions" then Control-Click again and select "Attach a Folder Action."
Navigate to /Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts and select add - new
item alert.scpt.
That should do you. I didn't include Anti-virus software which IMHO is
unnecessary at this time. I'd also keep up to date on the current state
of Mac security. Either check back here or read on of the many Mac
related web sites.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
FAQ
Profile
Private Messages
Log in
