I am looking to purchase some sort of antivirus package for my Powerbook - I am not too sure of what I need, and if I do actually need anything - I use the PB on a few wireless networks - some are WEP encrypted, and I have to enter a hex key to log on, but others have no WEP encryption, so I fear they might be dangerous.

Any help greatly appreciated - thank you, Tom

[Wickers]

No need for an antivirus... well for your case at least.

[Brad]

What \/\/ickes said.

The only harm that would come from using unencrypted networks is that people will be able to snoop on your transmissions. There nothing you can do about this aside from encouraging folks to enable encryption. Besides, WEP isn't going to protect you from that either, as it can easily be cracked by a six year old with zero "hacking" knowledge. WEP cracking is thoroughly documented and there are open source programs freely available to anyone that will crack WEP.

You aren't going to magically get a virus or other malware on your Mac because you're on a wireless network (or wired). First of all, Mac OS X ships with no server ports open. There simply is nothing there for an attacker to connect to. Secondly, there are zero known self-propagating viruses/trojans/etc. available for Mac OS X.

Not only are they completely unnecesary, some of the antivirus can cause problems, as Norton AntiVirus has a history of causing kernel panics. The rest of the Norton suite of software is just as bad. McAfee's Virex is okay but, again, it's not really needed for anything.

Why do these virus scanners exist is there are zero viruses for Mac OS X? First of all, the old "classic" Mac OS had about 50 viruses over the course of its life (compare to the tens of thousand for Windows) and there are still a few folks that use Classic. New users will never use Classic because, frankly, it only exists for users running software more than five years old that for some reason hasn't been properly updated to run natively in Mac OS X. Secondly, these virus scanners will make you a "good neighbor" and clean any files that are infected with Windows viruses. These infected files are completely inert on your Mac. Just as Windows exe files do nothing on your Mac, so do other virus-infected Windows files. So, if you're on an office LAN, for example, and someone sends you an infected file, the virus scanning software will clean it up so you won't inadvertently spread the virus when you send the file back out to someone.

So, long story short: you don't need antivirus software.

[senecaripple]

i have norton systemworks 2.0 on my g3 ibook 700mgz. 10.2.8, should i do an uninstall and remove the program? i only used it to run the antivirus program. i used to update it every week. but if you say its unnecessary. i'll remove it promptly.

[FFL]

Not just unnecessary, but potentially harmful. Use the Uninstaller that Norton includes to remove all traces.

[SonOfSylvanus]

Norton gets dissed hard around these parts!

[scratt]

I use Norton and find that it is very good at keeping my hard drive clear of ANYTHING!.

So if you want your hard drive to be permanently EMPTY use Norton. It's fab. No virusus, no files, no apps. Nothing!

Off to take my meds now.. :smokey:

[scratt]

Originally Posted by \/\/ickes No need for an antivirus... well for your case at least.

You see I disagree with this...
If you are sending files to PC users (the poor infected beasts) and you have ever recieved a file from a PC, or that has ever been on a PC then you really should have an AntiVirus package as part of your social responcibilities...

This attitude of just because I don't believe I can catch anything why should I bother trying to stop the spreading of infection is a very worrying human characteristic. It seems to prevail not only in the computer world, but also in our real social contacts in the "real world"... And look where that has got us!!

[Moogs]

Would concur with the first couple responders that you probably don't need an anti-virus program. If you do get one, I'd get Virex. They fixed up the only major problem with it recently and it's the same one Apple ships with .Mac (so you know where their opinion on the matter is).

Norton products IMHO, are just total crap. So many people who buy their stuff end up with all kinds of application conflicts, odd behaviors and decreased system performance. The only reason they haven't gone out of business on the Mac side is their name. If you want a decent System Analysis and recovery app, I would get TechTool Pro 4.x.

It's the most comprehensive one out there and it won't screw up your system the way Norton's stuff can.