Re: OS X firewall and anti virus

In article <1184380033.800106.34160@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
jagman <goingjag@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Please no stone throwing if you can avoid it!, and very sorry for this
long post.

I'm a PC user since IBM DOS due to work. I've been using MAC's off
and on, but mostly off. My in-laws have always been on MAC's (MIL -
university, FIL newspaper). I've always loved the MAC and don't
understand why Jobs didn't sue Gates at Windows 3 instead of waiting
until Gates started getting a little better at imitating the MAC user
interface (maybe because he was too busy laughing at how bad Windws 3
was).

Actually, the lawsuit started with the release of Windows 2, and was
expanded when 3 shipped.


Anyway, my Father-in-law passed away and left me with the care and
feeding of my MIL's IMAC. He had Norton on there long ago, but didn't
keep it up to date.

Good choice. Better choice is to remove it completely.

She either downloaded something weird or more
likely simply screwed up a bunch of settings in OS X because she was
used to OS 9 on her old machine (she was running it emulation mode for
months after he died).

So given my PC background and lack or OS X knowledge at the time, I
assumed a virus and was duely instructed to go get a new version of
Norton which I did a year ago.

Ooooh. Bummer.

I have read in hear of the lack of need for a anti virus program.
However as has been noted in the group, she needs to protect her
grandchildren from themselves on their MS machines. So I need to get
something on there, and am loath to do any further battle with
Symantic.

I'm sorry, but that doesn't follow at all. There are two reasons for
running anti-malware software on a Mac OS X machine today:
1. You're prone to forwarding unsolicited mail you get with unknown
attachments to Windows users, but retain enough sense to at least filter
out the harmful things.
2. You're subject to some authority that tells you your machine must
have active anti-malware software.

Other than that, there's no reason for it. Right now, today, those
programs don't do enough to make up for the performance penalty and
instability they impose.

Complicating my situation somewhat is the fact that she has just
updated to high speed access from dial up so I have concerns regarding
the need for a firewall (I run Zone Alarm on all my PC machines and it
get's a pretty good workout from hackers and spyware).

Any recommendations for a firewall as well?

There's one included with the OS. Since you say she's on the latest
version, you turn that on in the System Preferences app. The "Sharing"
panel. The "Firewall" tab.

G
.

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