spyware remover for mac?

dazpook · #1 January 27th, 2005, 02:19 PM

Hi I am not a mac user normally but I am using a friends machine and he appears to have a dialer trying to reconnect to the net.
Were can I find a free spyware removal tool for Mac?

thanks in advance

Big Jim · #2 January 27th, 2005, 03:13 PM

Is this Mac running Mac OS X ?

dazpook · #3 January 27th, 2005, 03:38 PM

Yeah, sorry, I should have mentioned that. OSX 10.2.8

oops

Big Jim · #4 January 27th, 2005, 06:48 PM

OK, you can stop worrying, it is not spyware. Mac OS X since release to present is totaly immune to virus/trojan/worm/spyware/adware/malware all these things are windows and PC things and Mac OS X users live absolutely free of any of that c**p.

Thinking of getting a Mac now?

Jim.

bobw · #5 January 27th, 2005, 11:19 PM

It's either trying to dial out for Software Update, or a program is trying to dial out for an update.

Open the System Preferences and the Software Update PreferencePane and uncheck "Check Automatically"

dazpook · #6 January 28th, 2005, 02:00 AM

ok thanks for that : )

bschwartz · #7 February 11th, 2005, 05:41 AM

Is a spyware remover available / necessary ... for Mac OS 8.6 ??

**Buzz** · #8 February 11th, 2005, 07:13 AM

No. There's no such thing as spyware for the classic Mac OS... and I have yet to hear or see anything for OSX either.

Just one of the many benefits to Macintosh machines.

**Spider** · #9 February 12th, 2005, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Jim

OK, you can stop worrying, it is not spyware. Mac OS X since release to present is totaly immune to virus/trojan/worm/spyware/adware/malware

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buzz

I have yet to hear or see anything for OSX either.
Just one of the many benefits to Macintosh machines.

Interesting information.

http://macscan.securemac.com

Big Jim · #10 February 12th, 2005, 09:16 PM

Thank you Spider, now what have we here, could it be we are getting one or more trojan worms and lurkware/spyware in our Macs.... but wait, click on the list of spyware, what? none there? Maybe this is just someone making more out of Mac users ungrounded fears of being as vulnerable as Micro$ofts buggy, hole ridden, shoddily coded Windows. ;-)

**Spider** · #11 February 12th, 2005, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Jim

Thank you Spider

your very welcome.

Quote:

being as vulnerable as Micro$ofts buggy, hole ridden, shoddily coded Windows. ;-)

One thing you MAC guys have to accept is Windows gets dumped on not because it's an Archie-mobile (see Archie comics)
but because it's what the World uses as an O/S.

Bank robbers don't rob chicken farms because chicken farms smell bad and eggs don't buy stuff. they rob banks because that's
where most people keep their money...if you rob things and money is what you want then a bank is where your efforts go to.
Same as Windows. If stealing personal information is what your after the Windows is where you want to concentrate your efforts.

As a Trojan writer I am not going to decompile my brains out and code till I've collected a few more birthday cards if I can't
get a database of millions upon millions of names, so I code for PC not MAC. If I coded for MAC my database could fit in Notepad
and nobody wants to buy my list because it's so small you'd need an electron microscope to view it.

Hey, I like MACs, for viewing DVDs...I don't trash Apple's O/S just because it's something I don't use but if I want functionability
and seamless integration with the rest of the World then I ain't running a MAC O/S I'm getting aboard Windows. If all I was
concerned about on a comp was playing DVDs and rippin' 'em and surfing the Web then doesn't matter if I run MAC or PC
because both are totally capable, but if I need integration with the business community then if I don't want to create a bunch
of extra steps for myself I must use a PC.

Fact is any version of Windows can be made stable and run for ever without probs...you just have to know how to get it to
do that. If I keep getting flat tires on my car and I go around saying "Ford sux, they always get flat tires" and all the time
I drive down my alley where the neighborhood kids smash beer bottles then I'm not looking to reliable as a source for
opinions on Ford tire wearability.

Doesn't really matter whether you rant or I rant about our choices, man as a rule cannot be taught to change his stripes. It's
the same as GM cars and Fords...you can't get either side to see the other's point of view...even though GMs fall apart
in their owners hands they still keep buying them

Big Jim · #12 February 12th, 2005, 10:57 PM

Excellent post Sider, and to be honest my previous ripost was very tongue in cheek. I do agree whith your comments and well understand them, I have seen many of your posts and I've come to admire your integrity and knowledge and I was in no way getting at you personaly. I have been using PC's since MSdos 2.7, have used every flavour of Windows, built my own systems and it was a personal choice 5 years ago to dump PC's excepting one headless machine running as an internal file server, and now use Mac's exclusively with no compatibility problems whatsoever when dealing with the PC users. I have a G4 Dual 1.25Ghz/2GB HD/4x120GB/OS X 10.38, an eMac/800Mhz/512MB/120GB HD/OS x 10.38 and an iBook/800Mhz/640MB/100GB HD/OS X 10.38 all wirelessly connected and the iBook can remotely operate the other two.

Keep up the good work my friend.
And have a good weekend.

**Spider** · #13 February 13th, 2005, 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Jim

I was in no way getting at you personaly

I never took it that way. Many of my posts (if not all) have search engines and future readers in mind.

Quote:

and now use Mac's exclusively with no compatibility problems whatsoever when dealing with the PC users

I started on Commodores and moved to Amiga, I held on for probably 3 extra years when it was obvious I should
have changed formats a lot sooner. I just couldn't let go of the Motorola technology that Amiga and MAC use. As
a graphics orientated user we both know the superiority of MACs in that but the change had to be made for
me simply because all my contacts in the field we PC users and I constantly was searching for ported programs
and just got tired of waiting for the ported programs when all my contacts were striving ahead in new-tech
self-experience and found myself too many times in conversations that were above my head because I hadn't
even booted programs colleges were logging hundreds of hours on.

Quote:

I have a G4 Dual 1.25Ghz/2GB HD/4x120GB/OS X 10.38, an eMac/800Mhz/512MB/120GB HD/OS x 10.38
and an iBook/800Mhz/640MB/100GB HD/OS X 10.38 all wirelessly connected and the iBook can remotely operate
the other two

Very nice tools.
I'm on PCI Express technology (still hanging on to win2k as main O/S) for the main machine and still run Dells
for notebooks. The Dell portable I have now is a 9100 with Pentium 3.2 800MHz fsb, 2Gb DDR 400MHz, internal 802.11g,
100Gb ultra ata, 8x DVD+RW, WSXGA+ display DVI IR Svideo, ATI Radeon 256Mb, 1394, USB 2, winxp pro sp2.

Quote:

Keep up the good work my friend. And have a good weekend.

...and to you to.

new to mac · #14 February 24th, 2005, 11:24 AM

Are you sure that mac's can't be infected by spyware because while i was on the net a window popped up saying that my computer might be infected. I clicked for a free scan and it said my mac had 46 infections but the remover I downloaded didn't open because it was for PCs. What was that window if my computer can't be infected?

**kage** · #15 February 24th, 2005, 12:44 PM

That window was something placed on a website to 'scare' windows users into clicking it, upon which most likely they would receive some kind of spyware. My point is further proven by the fact it told you you had 46 infections, which is quite impossible on a Mac at this time.