MacBook

billydkid

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billydkid
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Aug 27, 2002
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just got my first mac book. is there anything in particular I should know? Do I have to worry as much about viruses and spyware. What should I use to protect. thanks, BDK
 
I've used Macs for most of my adult life, and I haven't really used anti-virus software. I got a couple of virii in the 1990s but since then, nothing.
I wouldn't worry about it. I'd use the internet with some caution of course, resist cookies, avoid pop ups, use encryption for credit card numbers etc..
 
I have a MacBook running Mac OS X Leopard, version 10.5.1.

I don't run any 3rd party security software, but I keep an eye on process running. AFAIK, the current number of viruses in the wild capable of infecting Mac OS X is a big fat ZERO, and the rest of spyware and malware is easy to avoid.

For security, make two accounts. An admin, and a normal one for everyday work. You don't really have to log into the admin account very often... Mac OS X asks for the admin account username and password as it needs it. Just be smart of when you actually type in this password, such as when you click a link that you don't expect to be a download of an application turns out to be one and wants your admin account...

And only download programs from trusted sites.

Also, I use password savings sparingly, and turned off the "auto fill online forms" tool in browsers, to avoid personal data (credit card # and such) being saved.
 
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I got my first MacBook about a year ago and within a month I hated it (because Apple decided to add another gig of RAM and faster processor for the same price a few weeks after mine arrived...don'tcha hate that!)
 
Lisa Simpson said:
I don't have any virus/spyware software for my Mac.
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Didn't know you are a Mac user, too. :hug1:

I'd like to second what elgarak said. The most important thing regarding security is to set up a user account and not surf the interwebs with the admin account.
 
You should also have some sort of a firewall to protect the MacBook from malicious incoming connections. Hardware firewalls, as are often found in wi-fi routers, are usually best, but on a notebook that moves from place to place you'll want to keep the OS X firewall on too.

If you use the MacBook on a home wi-fi network you definitely should use WPA encryption and not WEP.

I have a MacBook, a MacBook Pro, an iMac, a Power Mac, and a Mac Pro and none of these have anti-virus software installed, but they are all behind a well hardened firewall.
 
HarryKeogh said:
I got my first MacBook about a year ago and within a month I hated it (because Apple decided to add another gig of RAM and faster processor for the same price a few weeks after mine arrived...don'tcha hate that!)
Click to expand...
Same happened to me... I got the Gen2 MacBook in October, and they came out with the Gen3 when they released Leopard. As far as I can see, the only change is a slightly faster processor for my config and price, so it was just a little sting... but it still stung!
 
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billydkid said:
just got my first mac book. is there anything in particular I should know? Do I have to worry as much about viruses and spyware. What should I use to protect. thanks, BDK
Click to expand...

For the most part you are secure and don't need anti-virus software. If you insist on installing Microsoft Office, you may need something to deal with macro-viruses.

I would suggest opening the Security Panel in System Preferences and turning on the built in firewall. You should also install security updates whenever Apple releases one.
 
I don't know if it's as big a problem now, but the only security problem I ever had on any of my Macs was an MS Word macro virus.


ETA: Yeah. What Kestrel said. (Gotta start slowing down and reading all messages...)
 
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There are a few viruses out there for Macs, but fortunately they're rare enough that you'll most likely never have to worry about them.

ClamXav is a free virus checking program for Macs based on the open source ClamAV antivirus program. You can find it at www DOT clamxav DOT com.
 
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