Mac Virus?
I’ve heard that there is one virus for a mac and that it is from a porn sight or something like that. Is that true? Hopefully so.. b/c then I will have nothing to worry about and I can hopefully scare my little brother away from using my computer for porn… lol
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4 Answers
well, there are plenty of Viruses for mac’s. However they are no where as “lethel” as something that would eat Windows alive.
I know my Air got one when I want to “The Mac Forums.” Safari gave me a prompt about wanting to use my keychain, I said no, then got stuck in an endless loop of clicking “Decline.” After I forced quite Safari, my HDD started to crash, however after a reboot, I had enough time to backup everything then shut down. If I were using a Win machine, I would have been totally screwed.
No, there are no active and destructive Mac virii.
@jtvoar16: what you describe may have been a malicious Javascript. What was the URL?
The media likes to spread rumors every once in a while (this was especially prevalent around the time of the Intel switch), but there have never been any Mac virii that did not require a ridiculous amount of authorization from the user. You’d have to be extremely gullible to get a virus on a Mac.
If you just want to keep your brother away, simply slap a password on your computer. Heck, I do it even without having an actual intruder to ward off.
The virus you mention was being propagated over porn sites (mainly), whereby a malicious site that has an embedded video that is a windows movie file (wmv), and usually macs will read the wmv with QuickTime Player via a plug-on called Flip-4-Mac; the malicious site will deliver a pop-up window while trying to load the video, saying that you need to update your Flip-4-Mac plug-in, and will immediately prompt you for the admin password to “install” the “update”. In reality, it is installing a Trojan Horse.
There is info on it if you go to Intego’s website (one of several anti-virus software devs). While there are relatively few viruses out there for Mac, as a savvy user, you should always be wary of any software or plug-in updaters that do not come from the software developer’s main site. Apple’s software is never updated via a web browser, always via the Software Update” utility. Also software and plug-ins should always be updated via a .dmg file that you download, then double-click to install. Never enter your computer’s admin password in your web browser.
Hope this helps.
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