Help! Mac Users Unite

[tghamilton]

I just ran the demo version of MacScan and it came back with 57 tracking cookies on my machine!!! Help - what now? Do I really have to purchase their product to get rid of them???

Tricia

[icartjetta]

I just ran the demo version of MacScan and it came back with 57 tracking cookies on my machine!!! Help - what now? Do I really have to purchase their product to get rid of them???

Tricia

I would also like to know any tips or tricks about the mac, I'm a newbie and still learning.

I do know one thing you have to use firefox to do the surveys, safari does not work.

Can't wait to hear from the experts.:sunshine2: :sunshine2:

[m 'n c]

I posted a link to a mac type site in the common software thread that has different versions of cookie/spybot/etc software. I don't have a mac so I don't know how to help you but its a start.

The program you are using -> is that the one that was recommended last week? Maybe try googling to see if there is a user guide or a free version? If you can run it i'm sure you can clear the cookies with it for free but i'm not sure.

[Jipster]

I don't know if you ever listen to Kim Komando on the radio (she's somewhat of a computer guru). Now, I don't know about this particular product that you mentioned, but she says that alot of times, these "free scan" products will say they've found stuff on your computer, but what they're really doing is trying to scare you into buying their product and you really don't have whatever crap they say you have on your computer. Check out komando.com and she might have some info about this on her website.

[tghamilton]

I got MacScan from the free software suggestion thread. Otherwise I would have never thought of it. I am not always the brightest star in the sky. :sunshine2:

Going to check out the PP web site suggestion now - thank you!

[tghamilton]

It appears you have to subscribe to her club to get any good information. :(

[Jipster]

It appears you have to subscribe to her club to get any good information. :(

Well, bummer! I just listen to her on the radio on the weekends and haven't really poked around on her website much. Sorry!

[m 'n c]

I got MacScan from the free software suggestion thread. Otherwise I would have never thought of it. I am not always the brightest star in the sky. :sunshine2:

Going to check out the PP web site suggestion now - thank you!

I'm sorry. I'm just not familar with mac's at all. I know there has to be freeware out there I just don't know what or where to find it. :(

[tghamilton]

No problem. I appreciate the response. SR'ers are so helpful! :sunshine:

[mollyeilis]

From toodling around the Mac site, one thing I got from them is that Macs are impervious to over 100K of the viruses that hit PCs. You might have them on your computer, but they won't do anything, unless you're in a network with PCs. Then it says to run antivirus programs as a courtesy to the poor PCs on your network. :)

Now, whether that means we have other virii to worry about, I don't know. I wonder if there are any Mac-freak message boards out there that talk about this...or I wonder if the Apple Geniuses could give info...hmm, might check that out next time I'm near the Apple store.

[m 'n c]

From toodling around the Mac site, one thing I got from them is that Macs are impervious to over 100K of the viruses that hit PCs. You might have them on your computer, but they won't do anything, unless you're in a network with PCs. Then it says to run antivirus programs as a courtesy to the poor PCs on your network. :)

Now, whether that means we have other virii to worry about, I don't know. I wonder if there are any Mac-freak message boards out there that talk about this...or I wonder if the Apple Geniuses could give info...hmm, might check that out next time I'm near the Apple store.

I found some message boards in my search. Try searching Spyware + Mac and maybe they will turn up again.

[goofy08]

As a long time mac person and general computer geek, I'll tell you what I know. Macs don't generally get viruses. One reason for this is that it is currently not worth the bad people's time to create viruses for macs because you can't do large scale damage that way. Only a small portion of computers in use are macs, so it's a question of getting maximum destruction for minimal effort and you can't get that with macs. Also, macs use a different type of "coding" base than the windows OS that is much more difficult to penetrate and more secure on the user end -- things on the mac basically cannot launch without your permission and most viruses are built to launch by taking advantage of the fact that windows allows things to happen without the user knowing it.

You can, as another person said, have a PC virus sitting on your computer but it can't launch unless you are hooked up to PC's. Most likely you wold get this by downloading an attachment from an email someone sent. The average home user is very safe. Not to say you can never get a virus, just that it's not that likely. The only ones I've ever seen for mac were silly ones that did stuff to your computer and your computer only -- like move files around, change the background picture, etc. They weren't the ones that take over your machine, email themselves to everybody in your address book, crash the machine at random intervals, etc. And those were back in the days of OS 9 or earlier -- not OS X which is much more secure.

In the same vein, there is little to no spyware, adware, or malware for the mac, for much the same reasons as listed above. Doesn't mean that someone will never try it, just that right now it's not common at all. In fact, I've never seen spyware for the mac. All of this is why there are almost no free antivirus/anti-spyware, etc. software for macs. It isn't worth a developers time to create software for a problem that doesn't exist and particularly not give it away for free. There are some people who say that as the mac gets more popular bad stuff will become more prevalent and that may be true. But, in order for it to happen, the bad people are still going to have to spend a lot more time looking for "the way in" on a mac and apple has a higher commitment to security than microsoft, so I can't see it becoming a problem in the near future. Also, even if macs gain in popularity, they still have a long way to go before they reach a level that makes them attractive to those looking to do large scale damage.

As to MacScan (we called it MacScam at the last place I worked), I've seen the product and I think it's someone trying to capitalize on the fear of people who migrate from windows to mac. They know that if you've used windows, you're used to having this stuff to deal with, so they've created a program to sell you so that you'll feel better, when (IMO) it's not necessary.

As for the "tracking cookies" on your machine. It's one of 2 things, most likely: 1. It's something MacScan cooked up so you'd buy the product. 2: It's bringing up the cookies from your web browser and pegging them as a problem. I'd guess it's number 2 unless you cleared cookies in all your browsers before you ran the program and then I'd guess number 1. Either way, I don't think you have anything to worry about. You can just clear your cookies in your browser and the problem will probably go away. Cookies are not generally malicious, they're just put there so that the creators of the sites can see what pages you go to, what you visit, how long you spend on a site, etc. They're market research, in other words and they all "track" you -- which is why I think MacScan uses that word -- it's true, they are tracking you but probably not in a malicious way.

Now, as for browser choice, firefox is the only thing for some reason that will work with the daily surveys. Greenfield goofed something up there. But beyond that, firefox is more secure than IE or even safari (sacrilege though that may be). I would set firefox up to block all pop up windows (a source of many viruses in the windows world) and also set it up to clear all your private data when you exit the program. (I can tell you how to do that if you need help) That way with each new browsing session you're starting with a clean slate and any cookies you may have had are gone for the next time. This limits how much information those cookies are able to gather -- if you dump them each time, they're there for less of a time, therefore collecting less info. I would say to set it to not accept cookies at all, except this won't work with rewards programs as SR and all the others are dependent on allowing cookies. But if you ever decide to stop doing rewards programs, this can be an extra step in protection.

Anyway, if you're really worried about it, Symantec makes a program suite called Internet Security for the Mac. It includes antivirus, a firewall, parental controls and some other stuff. It's 69.95 and, IMO, not necessary, but if it will make you feel better having it, it's from a reputable company who are good at security -- much better than macscan if you ask me. I used it once for awhile on a work machine until the migration from PowerPC processors to Intel processors rendered my version obsolete. I decided not to upgrade because I just didn't feel it was worth the money. In the time I used it, it never found a virus or anything else I had to worry about.

Securing a mac is pretty simple: Make certain your firewall that OS X comes with is turned on to prevent someone form accessing your machine from the outside. Make sure all your file sharing options are turned off -- this is found in the same location as the firewall control -- so that someone can't access your files or remotely give you bad files. Use firefox and keep it updated. Don't download and install any software that you aren't certain is from a reputable source. Make certain you use Mac's software update to keep your OS up to date and receive any security patches mac might release. I have a program called ClamXAV on my machine that is a free virus checker program for mac -- it doesn't scan things automatically, but if I ever download anything I'm not certain of, I can manually run it to make certain the file is clean. I keep it there on a just in case basis, but have never needed it. If you have cable internet or DSL, you probably also have a firewall on that modem that they should have activated for you when it was installed, so you're probably double protected.

If you're looking for message boards about macs, the best ones are on apple's site under support. They're called "discussions" and there are tons of people there who can answer just about any mac issue you may ever have. Quite a few of them work/have worked for apple. I also like the forums at macrumors. In addition to being a fun source of rumors and happenings in the mac world, they have a lot of "help" topics as well. Dealmac also has some good topics, although not was well organized as some of the others.

Good grief. I've written a book. I think it's time to shut up now... Anyway, hope this helps and if you have further questions, you can feel free to ask. If I don't know, I have lots of friends who probably do. Bye.

[gpp2001]

Thanks goofy08 - you put into words what I know but can't get across in a plain and simple way, like you did.

I love my Mac and have a hard time using PC's.

Thanks again.

Karn

[mollyeilis]

Thank you!

That was the impression I got when reading about OS X, but I didn't know if it was just marketing hype. :) Although I've traditionally loved Apple and am happy to be back with one, it was sprung upon me as a lease-signing bonus with our apartment. So I didn't do any research, or choose the computer, I was simply given one (poor me, right?). But it definitely has put me behind the learning curve!