Norton for OS X: dangerous?

In article <vilain-7F3661.13160510082005 RemoveThis @comcast.dca.giganews.com>,
Michael Vilain <vilain RemoveThis @spamcop.net> wrote:

> In article <871x51dhfj.fsf RemoveThis @tjahns.news.arcor.de>,
> Thomas Jahns <Thomas.Jahns RemoveThis @epost.de> wrote:
>
> > sbt <dogbreath RemoveThis @chaseabone.com.invalid> writes:
> > > The Norton products are just one example of Symantec royally hosing
> > > acquired software (at least on the Mac platform). Do you remember what
> > > they did to Think C and Think Pascal? How about ThinkTank/More? All
> > > "best of breed" products until Symantec got their tentacles around the
> > > software.
> >
> > This is not a Mac-only phenomenon: same happened to Partition Magic,
> > IIRC it hasn't seen any update since Symantec aquired it (8.0 has been
> > current for quite some time now).
> >
> > Thomas Jahns
>
> Someone told me that the Symantec CEO (new or recently come on board)
> looked at the disparate products and saw that Symantec was only thought
> of as "best in class" in the anti-virus market. So, he ordered all the
> other products and services closed or sold off.
>
> I expect more orphaned products on both Mac and PC until only the
> antivirus is left.

I should note that, as given by the examples in my above-quoted
posting, Symantec destroyed the cited Mac products a l-o-n-g time ago,
well before the advent of current management (over a decade).

--
Spenser

In article <vilain-7F3661.13160510082005 RemoveThis @comcast.dca.giganews.com>,
Michael Vilain <vilain RemoveThis @spamcop.net> wrote:

> Someone told me that the Symantec CEO (new or recently come on board)
> looked at the disparate products and saw that Symantec was only thought
> of as "best in class" in the anti-virus market. So, he ordered all the
> other products and services closed or sold off.

The last I saw of the PC version of Norton AntiVirus (a few years ago,
now) it had degraded in much the same way as all of Symantec's other
products. I guess it'll take a while for its reputation to catch up to
its current reality.

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So, being the fool that I am, having bought and installed NAV 10.0 on
my OS X 10.4.2 system, should I immediately uninstall it and order a
copy of McAffee's Virex, or immediately uninstall it and leave be?

In article <1123743047.029087.17070 DeleteThis @z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>,
roboboticus <ivan.brennan DeleteThis @gmail.com> wrote:

> So, being the fool that I am, having bought and installed NAV 10.0 on
> my OS X 10.4.2 system, should I immediately uninstall it and order a
> copy of McAffee's Virex, or immediately uninstall it and leave be?
>

I'd go for option B. It's the equivalent of getting a flu shot every
month, when you're living on a planet that doesn't have any diseases.
I provides NO benefit, and can cause some very real problems.

Uninstall it, by all means.

--
Garner R. Miller
Clifton Park, NY =USA=

On 2005-08-10 23:50:47 -0700, "roboboticus" <ivan.brennan RemoveThis @gmail.com> said:

> So, being the fool that I am, having bought and installed NAV 10.0 on
> my OS X 10.4.2 system, should I immediately uninstall it and order a
> copy of McAffee's Virex, or immediately uninstall it and leave be?

Since there are no OS X viruses, why bother with anti-virus software?

This message is not archived

Houston CAPCOM <capcom RemoveThis @unix.site> writes:
> Since there are no OS X viruses, why bother with anti-virus software?
>

Unfortunately that is not quite true. There are no native OS X viruses
certainly, but Macs ARE affected by Word viruses.

Also I have seen a situation where Macs have been a reservoir for
Windows viruses. Not a problem for the Mac but it is a big problem
when the files propagate back to a Windows box.

I think the best option if viruses on the Mac are an issue for you is
to install antivirus software in such a way that it does period disk
scans but doesn't do "live" scanning.

And yes, I've seen Nortons screw up a MacOX X box so badly we had to
reinitialize the disk.

This message is not archived

In article <tcjzmro0w98.fsf.RemoveThis@dynamo.al.com.au>, Jeremy Webber
<noname.RemoveThis@nowhere.com> wrote:

> Houston CAPCOM <capcom.RemoveThis@unix.site> writes:
> > Since there are no OS X viruses, why bother with anti-virus software?
> >
>
> Unfortunately that is not quite true. There are no native OS X viruses
> certainly, but Macs ARE affected by Word viruses.

Doesn't that depend on the version of Word?
(I'm still running Word 5.1A and I thought that didn't have 'viruses'
because it doesn't run macros or Basic or stuff like that).

> Also I have seen a situation where Macs have been a reservoir for
> Windows viruses. Not a problem for the Mac but it is a big problem
> when the files propagate back to a Windows box.

Surely if the Windows box has antivirus software they can deal with
the virus when it gets to them.
I don't see any reason why I should spend some of my meagre supply of
money to protect someone else's Windows box if they can't be bothered
to buy their own antivirus software.

Kit

In article <tcjzmro0w98.fsf RemoveThis @dynamo.al.com.au>, Jeremy Webber
<noname RemoveThis @nowhere.com> wrote:

> Houston CAPCOM <capcom RemoveThis @unix.site> writes:
> > Since there are no OS X viruses, why bother with anti-virus software?
> >
>
> Unfortunately that is not quite true. There are no native OS X viruses
> certainly, but Macs ARE affected by Word viruses.
>
> Also I have seen a situation where Macs have been a reservoir for
> Windows viruses. Not a problem for the Mac but it is a big problem
> when the files propagate back to a Windows box.

This was a big complaint against NAV when OS X Server came out, and
for quite a while. There you are running mail service and file sharing,
and the AV software isn't scanning for windows viruses. Not a good
situation. (And yes, I know that the present discussion is NOT about
the server version, but how many people have their Mac networked with
at least one windows box? IME, quite a few!)

John Steinberg <seesig.TakeThisOut@bottom.net> wrote:

> This is not a statement of fact, but rather a question. Couldn't a Mac
> serve as a virus vector?

Most certainly. Macs can send viruses to Windows machines or to Macs
which in turn send them to Windows machines. The best protection is to
use an email provider that has virus filtering.

Also, Macs are very susceptible to macro viruses. These very common in
Microsoft Office programs and microsoft email messages and can bring
down a computer or flood the internet. The best protection there is to
never use a Microsoft email program and turn macros off when not used.
Even those that don't have Microsoft applications can unwittingly send
macro viruses to others.

Practice safe computing.

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Michelle Steiner <michelle DeleteThis @michelle.org> wrote:

> > Unfortunately that is not quite true. There are no native OS X
> > viruses certainly, but Macs ARE affected by Word viruses.
>
> Only if you open an infected Word document with Word.

And, even then, only if Word runs the macro. All versions of Word from
2001 on default to not run macros automatically, so if you try to open
an infected document, you'll be asked if you want to run the macro.
Just say no.

--
Mike Rosenberg
<http://www.macconsult.com> Macintosh consulting services for NE Florida
<http://bogart-tribute.net> Tribute to Humphrey Bogart
Toyota Prius fans: Check out alt.autos.toyota.prius

On Fri, 12 Aug 2005 11:05:23 +0100, Kit wrote
(in article <120820051105230048%kitzyme@yahoo.com>):

> to protect someone else's Windows box if they can't be bothered
> to buy their own antivirus software.

Or better, if they can't be bothered to switch platform

Paolo

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"The best evidence of intelligent life out there
is that none of them have contacted us.²
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