Originally Posted by itsky

I'm sorry that you are having issues with your PC. Get NIS 2010 and forget your worries. If you feel that you are more secure using a Mac, think again. As Macs sell more, there will be more hacks/exploits developed for the Mac which will expose it to the same security risks as you would see now on a PC. Remember a hacker will develop hacks to gain the most $$$ on as many systems as quickly as possible. I guess it also depends on what you want to do with your computer. If you are going to do itunes, surf the web, and check email, then a Mac will probably fine for you. If you are into gaming and other applications, the PC has vastly more available for it.

One recommendation I would make is to use FireFox and use several add-ons such as No Script and AdBlock Plus. This provides a much safer surfing experience.

apple free zone for... well... since forever.

Originally Posted by lesr

Every one has the right to have their own opinion. I have been training computer related subjects since 1988 am an Apple product professional. While no OS 100% secure at the present Macs are more secure. I do agree that at the present if you are into gaming you would be better off with an Xbox etc rather than a Mac or a Windows based unit { Windows does have more games and they come out sooner}
I disagree with the Idea you present that Mac's are only capable to do the simplest of tasks such as eMail etc. Any Mac will do the same work as any Window's based uint.
The difference is that in general it will do it about 20% more effectively based on the amount of time taken. And again at this time there are no issues with Spyware etc on a Mac - As to the future - I do not know of any one that can know what will come.

Originally Posted by Kurts

Good evening, John!

You do, of course, understand that the Total Vista Security "program" is the actual malware that's giving you the issues, right?

If so & if you feel confident enough to remove the infection manually then print out the instructions on the link below & give it a shot.

How to remove Total Vista Security, Vista Security Tool 2010 | My Anti Spyware

Whatever you do do NOT call up their "support" number & pay them anything like my nimrod brother-in-law did and oh, they asked him for his S.S. #, too.......& you'll love this part......he gave it to them.

But hey, he no longer has issues with his rogue anti-virus program!

I'm just waiting for his credit card bills to start reflecting certain purchases made in places like the Ukraine or Bulgaria from some guy with his name.

Good luck, John!!!

Originally Posted by tom2112

Don't drink the koolaid!! Don't get a Mac.

Kurts' advice is dead on.

As for Macs being more secure, don't believe it. They are every bit as vulnerable as any other operating system. What they're not saying is that a Mac is less likely to get infected because they have such a small market share. That small number of users isn't worth the hackers time to hack them.

By the Mac users' logic you should download OpenVMS for your computer and run that. Since VMS is so old and its market share so small, anyone that could hack it is already dead! You'd be perfectly safe! LMAO.

Originally Posted by rcompart

At least you're thinking about how to get rid of the virus vs getting rid of the problem.

Office Space - FTW!!!

Originally Posted by JHM2K

LMAO I'd rather spend money on the car....

As it is, my PC (touchscreen HP) is only a few months old. It's lightning fast, and does more than I'll ever use.

Originally Posted by JHM2K

Kurts, you're a life-saver. I knew it was a dummy warning system, but not how to remove it. I'll walk through the tutorial this afternoon.

Not sure how, but I completely didn't see your post until today. My bad!

Originally Posted by lesr

Originally Posted by tom2112

Well, Lesr, I didn't want to reply to this without some hard facts. I hate it when people make up numbers and stats just to sound intelligent.

I apologize if I came across as being pompous. I had simply wanted to point out a different way of looking at a situation for the standard " Mac's have no market share"

Anyway, there's one very simple reason why the lion's share of viruses are Windows specific. Again, I will bring up market share. According to NetMarketshare (a respected organization that collects and sells data on cross-platform statistics) 90.7% of all desktops in the world are running either WindowsXP, Vista or Windows7. Keep in mind that doesn't include any of the server OSs or legacy systems still running Windows2000 or even Windows95. Macs only account for 4.39% of the world's desktops (that's Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6. If you were a hacker which would you program for? Affect 90% or 4%? Yeah. (OS market share)

I do not disagree with the numbers given. I have just a different way of looking at this. These numbers show Mac OS's that have been out since 2007 10.5 and 10.6 - Vs - XP, Vista & 7 that have been out since 2001 [A bit of a difference.] As well my main point was that a number of Windows based computers are used for tasks that I personally do not think of as being all round computer use such as used as a cash register. I had seen a number several months ago that indicated this amounted to some 47 - 48 % of the total number in service as these units tend to stay in service for a long time. I did not take the time to look this up at the time and sorry to say can not find it now. My way of looking at this would say that only looking at day to day computer users - the me and you - the percentage of Mac users go up from the numbers shown.

Also, this whole issue of Macs not getting viruses is a myth. Here's an example of one documented on Sophos' website (OSX/Leap-A Macintosh worm (CME-4, MacOS/Leap, MacOS/Leap!tgz, OSX.Leap.A, OSX/Leap) - Sophos security analysis) For those that are unfamiliar with Sophos they are a premier antivirus software company (more reliable than Symantec).

Yes there are "proof of concept viruses" - I agree with you - they are a very small % and tend to not affect the me and you computers.

That particular virus is the root of many other viruses and is similar to the windows viruses you mentioned assembled by script kiddies.

When it comes down to it, a lot of Mac users don't even use anti-virus software. So unless they got a really nasty virus that deleted their hard drive, they wouldn't even know it. Many viruses are simply trojans that run silent processes on your hardware - unknown to you. But I suppose, unless it disrupts the Mac user's use of their system, then it's OK. Yeah, right.

While I certainly do not know every thing I have never come across a Mac Virus nor trojan in all of the units I have serviced nor have I hear of one from any of my fellow tecks that service Mac's

On a slightly different tack: if Macs don't get viruses, how come the Apple website recommends running antivirus software on every Mac? (Mac OS X 10.6 Help: Protecting your computer from harmful applications)

It would be a very poor computer company that did not recommend this. We all know that viruses will come to the Mac [ All compters ] if not today then some time

For those that are gonna bring up Linux and Unix as being "more secure" and "don't get viruses": think again. Here's a few from 2005 (LXer: FeriCyde Chat: The Linux Virus Threat List for 2005, and I'm sure there are more now. That's one thing you can rely on in the world of computer security - the number of potential vulnerabilities is always growing.

I don't want to sound like a jerk here, but I'm a IT professional with over 20 years of experience. I have a degree in Information Technology and Networking, which included courses on computer security and operating systems. When you get right down to it, the differences between operating systems (Windows / Mac OS / Linux / etc) are growing smaller everyday. This largely stems from a unified set of user needs that crosses every platform. There is also a lot of cross-platform hardware sharing. You can find Unix-based code within just about every operating system on the market today. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that they are the same. They're not. But the underlying logic is similar enough across the platforms that hackers can use the same logic to hack any system. The only things that change are the unique system vulnerabilities and the tools created to exploit them. Those change almost daily.

So, in short, I'm really tired of hearing people tout Macs and Linux platforms as the end-all-be-all solution to the world's computing woes. They're not. They're just another platform, with more or less the same potential vulnerabilities.The biggest vulnerability ANY system has is the user using the system. Do you know how many times I've seen people answer spam phishing emails and include their username, password, address, phone number, and occasionally social security number? It's insane!