New to Macs..how to tell if you have a virus or not?

I'm used to PCs which are virus ridden and sometimes you don't even know you have a virus on a PC. I was wondring if Macs have the same problem and if there is a way to tell if you have a virus or not. Anyone know?

Jack Q,
Like almost every operating system, OS X is vulnerable to viruses:
It's just not as vulnerable or attacked nearly as often as, ahem, Brand X.
What could you do if you suspect attack?
You could report your symptoms in this forum after the fact.
You could download a good antivirus scanner and check your machine for viruses.
Or...
You could take the preventive measures of:
1. creating a separate administrator account and making the account you use a normal user account,
2. locking down your OS X firewall,
3. using a properly configured NAT router between your computer and the Internet,
4. oh, and downloading and installing a good antivirus scanner (like this one),
since Apple recommends using antivirus software, and turning on Folder Sentry.
-Wayne

Similar Messages

  • How to tell if you have a virus on imac

    I sent an email with a word document attachment created by myself and was told by the recipient that it contained a virus. how are we able to see if we have a virus or Trojan we have an imac.  can we carry out some system check?

    I suspect your recipient's computer is in error.
    Helpful Links Regarding Malware Protection
    An excellent link to read is Tom Reed's Mac Malware Guide.
    Also, visit The XLab FAQs and read Detecting and avoiding malware and spyware.
    See these Apple articles:
              Mac OS X Snow Leopard and malware detection
              OS X Lion- Protect your Mac from malware
              OS X Mountain Lion- Protect your Mac from malware
              About file quarantine in OS X
    If you require anti-virus protection I recommend using VirusBarrier Express 1.1.6 or Dr.Web Light both from the App Store. They're both free, and since they're from the App Store, they won't destabilize the system. (Thank you to Thomas Reed for these recommendations.)

  • Amber Update: How to tell if you have it

    I just got a replacement 928 and it went through some updates and now shows the phone is up to date. I have some of the amber features like clock on the lock screen but do not have double tap to wake. In extra+info it shows nokia enhancements but does have any reference to amber. Can someone tell me how to tell if I have amber?  Thanks in advance for your help.

    Ok, so, here is what I found.  Apparently, the issue is was in the replacement and the backup.
    So, when I restored my replaced phone data, I noticed there were some downloads in the app store that had errors and weren't updating.  Thinking this was just because I didn't have the Amber update yet, I left them, thinking they'd update when my OS updated.  After a few weeks, I finally gave up, and removed the downloads.  Low and behold, the moment I removed them, I had a ton of new updates, some of which were Amber features.  Once I let the new apps update, I checked, and I now have Lumia Amber.  Apparently, I had the OS, but the individual app features couldn't update, because of the download errors.  Once I removed that, it was fine. 
    So, in summary, if you have replaced your phone, but it doesn't seem to be updating to Amber, go into your App store, and check your downloads page for any errors, if there are any, it should tell you on the front page of the App store.  If there are errors. Press and hold to remove each individual error.  Once done, you should have new updates available.  Once those updates are done, you should now have Lumia Amber. 
    Good Luck :-)

  • How do I install DW on my new computer when my account tells me  "You have no downloads" ?

    I have deactivated DW on my old computer. 
    When logging into Adobe on my new computer and selecting to download DW, I get a screen that reads, "You have no downloads." 
    How do I install DW on my new computer?

    Are you a creative cloud subscriber?
    Grab the Creative Cloud Desktop App first, then download it from within the program...
    Download a free trial or buy Adobe products | Adobe downloads
    If you have an older, perpetual license version of DW6 you can download it from here: Download and Installation Help | Download and Installation Help toward the bottom, then use your activation/serial from your previous installation.

  • How To Tell If You Have Optional Installs ALREADY Installed?

    Just got a new 21.5-inch iMac with Snow Leopard already installed. Is there any way of determining if any of the Snow Leopard Optional Installs are installed on your system?
    For example, how can I tell if I have Rosetta already installed or some of the Language Translations?
    Is there any way to remove any Optional Installs without completing wiping and re-installing Snow Leopard?

    Just the default install does not contain any optional.
    Rosetta is not installed by default, however if you open an application that requires rosetta your Mac will prompt you to install it (and do it for you).
    You can remove all printers except the one(s) you use in /Library/Printers.
    You can also remove additional languages with Monolingual
    -mj
    Message was edited by: macjack

  • How to tell if you have correct USB 2.0 driver?

    Hi,
    I seem to be having a problem with my front panel usb wich are plug in JUSB3.  When i connect a external case in these front panel i get message that a have a high speed device plug in a low speed hub.  My D-bracket is install in JUSB2.  If i plug my case in the d-bracket usb no problem the case work full speed.
    Here's what i have in device manager :
    Universal serial Bus Controllers
            USB Mass Storage Device
            USB Printing Support
            USB Root Hub
            USB Root Hub
            USB Root Hub
            USB Root Hub
            VIA rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller
            VIA rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller
            VIA rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller
            Via USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller
    AMD 1.53ghz
    KT3ULTRA
    1G DDR
    Windows Server 2003 32 bit enterprise
    Thanks

    Hi,Welcome to Apple Discussions.
    No Titanium Powerbook has native USB2 (you can add it with a PCMCIA card). If you bought your PB a year ago from new then its not Ti but Al.
    To confirm if you have USB2:
    Apple Menu > About This Mac > More Info > Hardware > USB > .... Then look to see if you have USB High Speed Bus(480MBps) or just USB Bus (12MBps) listed.
    You could also post back your processor speed and we'll tell you!
    You can still use USB1 on the iPod but it will be very very slow. If you do have a Ti - time to invest in a USB2 adaptor.
    mrtotes

  • How to tell if you have OEM 12c BP1 installed?

    I had OEM 12c installed and attempted to download/apply the Solaris OEM agent software. I ran into the "Below host metric patches are not applied to OMS." error. I discovered this was because I needed BP1.
    After 3 days of trying to uninstall OEM, finally got it uninstalled, downloaded OEM 12c w/BP1 and installed it.
    Once again, I tried to download/apply the Solaris OEM agent software...and I got the same error message. Very frustrating.
    I don't see anything in the "About" pop-up or "emctl status oms" output that actually says a BP has been installed though. Could I have just reinstalled the non-BP version? I got the installations zips directory from the Oracle website that says "Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c Release 1 (12.1.0.1) for Linux x86-64
    (With Bundle Patch 1)" so I don't think that's the issue. Is there something else I need to do to get BP 1 working??

    Few things:
    a) If you have linux oms with bp1 and want to deploy solaris agents ( with bp1) then you need to follow the steps from this doc:
    http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E24628_01/doc.121/e35229/aix_solaris.htm#CIHJJGDG
    You will be required to apply patches on OMS and plugin homes on OMS.
    b) If you want to find wether the OMS installed has bp1 or not follow the note: How to Determine if EM Cloud Control 12c with bp1 has Been Installed (Doc ID 1424439.1)

  • How to tell if you have a duplicate adobe id to download e-books to reader

    We recently updated our computer to Windows8 and lost the adobe reader and all the downloaded books purchased from Kobo.  We are unsure if & what our adobe ID was, we have one know but now we cannot download any books because it gives the following error message.
    Part one is - Application detects ebook download. Do you want to import this book? YES or NO  if you say YES then the next message is Unable to import the item. It already exists in your library.  The library does not exist.  We have contact Sony(as that is what the reader is) and have talked to Kobo and have determined it is the adobe portion.

    Few things:
    a) If you have linux oms with bp1 and want to deploy solaris agents ( with bp1) then you need to follow the steps from this doc:
    http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E24628_01/doc.121/e35229/aix_solaris.htm#CIHJJGDG
    You will be required to apply patches on OMS and plugin homes on OMS.
    b) If you want to find wether the OMS installed has bp1 or not follow the note: How to Determine if EM Cloud Control 12c with bp1 has Been Installed (Doc ID 1424439.1)

  • How can you tell if you have a virus on your phone?

    I was told there was a virus roaming around in Facebook. I got a junk message on my wall from a riend (who's account has been deactivated for months) about earning money online. She says she didn't send it. And for some reason suddenly I am unable to view my "status comment"  notifications that I received in my message bin. I click on them and I get the option to open them but nothing happens. When the notifications come and I can see some wording of the message in the notification I can open them, but if it says "status comment" I cannot. I have removed and redownloaded FB hoping it will fix it but no luck. And suddenly it's messing with my ringers as well. I get strange notifications even though I have turned them off. My phone is less than 2 months old and FB is the one and only app that I have on my phone. Verizon doesn't seem to know anything about apps and hasn't been able to help me. What if I DID get a virus? I have insurance on my phone. Facebook isn't whats important to me, simply that I want to know who I can ask for help about a general question like a Virus on my brand new phone! Can anyone help?!!?! 

    There is some issue going on with multiple people related to the Facebook for BlackBerry notifications.  You're not alone in that respect.
    Not sure if the issue is with Facebook or the application, but I'm leaning towards Facebook since it's pretty much sucked on my PC the last several days, too.
    http://www.blackberryforums.com/aftermarket-software/204335-facebook-oddities-sep-15-2009-a.html
    If you find a post here helpful, please consider giving the poster some Kudos

  • How to know if you hav a virus

    hey again guys. i have a question. i recently had 3 photos, and then one of them deleted. can this be a virus? or just another bug that also adds on in addition towards the photo edit bug. because i dont know where that photo went the ipod just randomly deleted it self. i also have another question. what do updates for ios usually do? because i am waiting for the 5.2 to ccome out so that will hopefully delete the bugs in ios 5.1.1. and answers will help. thanks alot guys.

    - Recovery mode is a mode that allows reinstalling the operating system. It also erases the iPOd
    - A kernel panic is an action taken by an operating system upon detecting an internal fatal error from which it cannot safely recover. The term is largely specific to Unix and Unix-like systems; for Microsoft Windows operating systems the equivalent term is "Bug check" (or, colloquially, "Blue Screen of Death").
    (from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kernel_panic)
    - The edit button was added by iOS 5 I think.

  • Hi everybody, new to Mac, can anyone tell me please, do I need to do any maintainence? ie. Disc cleanups or a de-frag?

    Hi everybody, new to Mac, can anyone tell me please, do I need to do any maintainence? ie. Disc cleanups or a de-frag?

    den.thed is spot on in his assessment. The maintenance scripts run in the background, if you want to see when they were last run or to run them manually download and install the Maintidget Widget by clicking the link.
    Also as far as malware and antivirus software, this is something you can also forget about with a Mac. OS X is incredibly secure and there are no viruses for OS X. Shocking but completely true. Using a little common sense such as never download from a site you are not familiar with or trust. If you get a popup telling you to download something then ignore it. Run Software Update at least once per month ( you will find it under the Apple Symbol in the upper left of your screen) and this will keep your system up-to-date.
    Finally considering you are new to OS X I'd recommend you bookmark and begin using:
    Mac 101
    Switch 101
    Find Out How Video tutorials
    List of Useful URLs for switchers

  • I''m new to Mac, how do I install Adobe CD? I put it in the CD drive and get a menu, everything I click on goes nowhere. In Microsoft, I installed many programs with no problem

    I''m new to Mac, how do I install Adobe CD? I put it in the CD drive and get a menu, everything I click on goes nowhere. In Microsoft, I installed many programs with no problem

    Is the Adobe CD a MAC app ?
    If it is a program for Windows you will not be able to install it.
    If you nedd that program you can either buy the equivalent for Mac or install a way to run Windows under Mac (may be a cheaper solution)

  • How many libraries can you have in i photo?

    How many libraries can you have in i photo?

    gussie88 wrote:
    Was she satisfied eventually!!! haha If you export and import photos to a new library, do faces -places etc transfer too? Thanks
    Yes, I believe they do.  The places data is associated with GPS coordinates tagged on each photo.  I think the faces data works the same way -- it is associated with each photo regardless of what album it is in.

  • I'm new to mac. Just started out. Have OS 10.8.3. I have an HP 1315 printer.  It prints and copies, wont scan.  I see old threads on this, nothing recent.  ?can i make this work, or do i need a new printer??

    I'm new to mac. Just started out. Have OS 10.8.3. I have an HP 1315 printer.  It prints and copies, wont scan.  I see old threads on this, nothing recent.  ?can i make this work, or do i need a new printer??

    Hi Newbie111
    I see that you are unable to scan with the Photosmart 1315.
    What driver are you using?
    The driver listed in the url below is a basic print driver that will allow you to print only.
    http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=ps242muc&c c=us&dlc=en&lc=en&os=1006&product=61956&sw_lang=
    You can try using the apple drivers in the url below.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/DL907
    If you have any further issues please let me know.

  • How to tell what packages have recently run

    Occasionally, after start up, I'll see something that looks like a package that quickly runs.  I have no idea where to look for information to figure out what ran.  I've ran searches trying to find out how to tell what packages have recently run but have not found anything useful.  If anyone knows or has any ideas on what I can do to figure that out, I'd love the help.

    You are welcome. Based on my experiences, the only time I look at Console is when something is not working. You could get overly engrossed trying to figure out what everything means.

Maybe you are looking for