New Computer Virus Aimed at Macs is Discovered

Has Your Computer Ever Suffered From a Virus?

November 21, 2008

Hold onto your immunity hats, Mac users — there's a new virus in town aimed at Macs (though you'd have to be pretty silly to get this one).

To this day, none of my Macs have ever been infected, but when I was a Dell user, (as my Texan family says), boy howdy. I basically gave up on my overrun operating system and just got a new computer.

Tell me — has your computer ever become infected with a computer virus?

Source

30 Comments

Kaizykat 4 years 25 weeks

Yea, I've gotten a couple of viruses. Nothing that my dad and I couldn't fix, though. I am usually very smart about downloading things, so I only get a virus or two every couple of years. When in doubt, virus scan!

Kaizykat 4 years 25 weeks

VialRocker 4 years 25 weeks

I've always used both PC and Mac. NEVER have I gotten a virus on the Mac, and the only thing that ever infected my PC was the Sasser worm and the Trojan, both of which came from my college campus network. Both PC and Mac were on that network and only the PC got them. Go fig.

vitisva 4 years 25 weeks

I now do my work from a laptop I had to get after my desktop got hacked

laurelm 4 years 25 weeks

Ive been on a mac for years now, but on a PC, yep had viruses!

iced 4 years 25 weeks

before i started using a mac, my hp notebook was completely contaminated with trojans n stuff from the uni network..and well mcafee helped ALOT..anyway ive switched to mac this year..feels great :P

leeluvfashion 4 years 25 weeks

Yes. The worst virus attack happened to my DELL desktop in 6/04. I used all the safety software however nothing stopped that virus from wiping out the entire system. GeekSquad (Rip-OFF!) came and tried to fix the CPU however nothing worked. Finally the cpu ended-up in the dumpster. I've been using a '03 Compaq laptop since late '04, I have also rid AOL from the system (stick w/ IE or Safari) and use AVG (free) anti-virus which has worked better than Norton. Yes, I've had viruses hit this laptop however it was caught early and no major damage (few lost iTunes files but I backed-up the library.) I am VERY careful however sometimes viruses can still sneak through.

leeluvfashion 4 years 25 weeks

kitkatherine 4 years 25 weeks

None on my Mac, none on my Vista running PC.I've been super careful with stuff - and that's because I have seen bad things happen to both OSes (my boyfriend's sister getting a worm from facebook (XP machine) and one of his classmates getting a Trojan from a youtube download (Mac OS X machine).Really, you have to be careful no matter what - and I am glad you posted this because Mac users need to be aware even if they don't want to be. Because it's happening more these days as Mac user base grows bigger, y'know?

kitkatherine 4 years 25 weeks

None on my Mac, none on my Vista running PC. I've been super careful with stuff - and that's because I have seen bad things happen to both OSes (my boyfriend's sister getting a worm from facebook (XP machine) and one of his classmates getting a Trojan from a youtube download (Mac OS X machine). Really, you have to be careful no matter what - and I am glad you posted this because Mac users need to be aware even if they don't want to be. Because it's happening more these days as Mac user base grows bigger, y'know?

refinedharmony 4 years 26 weeks

Oh yes. I haven't had a virus in years, but my "main" laptop just got one the other day and I can't get rid of it! Tons of websites keep opening, I get pop ups all the time. I hate it and don't know what to do!!

RockAndRepublic 4 years 26 weeks

I use AVG too, it's really good and free.

Schaianne 4 years 26 weeks

I have not had a virus in YEARS - I'm always super careful of what sites I visit and what attachments I open/download. I have had a PC since I first got a computer - currently a Dell with PCillin (or something - shows how much I pay attention now) installed on it. Before that, I ditched the Nortons (AKA - INVASIVE RESOURCE HOG FROM HELL)and went with the free version of AVG for years - never had a problem with it, either.

ChicBookFiend 4 years 26 weeks

Yes, when I had my Dell desktop, my PC became infected with a virus. It's no surprise, since I did a lot of file-sharing and other irresponsible stuff. I also didn't have virus or spyware protection. Being new to Windows XP at the time (had been using an old computer with Windows 98 at the time), I knew nothing about spyware, trojans and whatnot and just how bad they were. That is until my PC got a virus that wiped out my entire hard drive.Years later, I ditched the Dell and my PC laptop and got an iMac and a MacBook. Both computers work faster than my previous PCs since I don't have to bundle it with so much protection crap. I also don't get those pesky reminders from Vista to scan my PC for spyware because I hadn't done it in three days. I hope Mac remains the underdog of the computer industry. I don't want those virus-making losers to move on to OS X.

ChicBookFiend 4 years 26 weeks

Yes, when I had my Dell desktop, my PC became infected with a virus. It's no surprise, since I did a lot of file-sharing and other irresponsible stuff. I also didn't have virus or spyware protection. Being new to Windows XP at the time (had been using an old computer with Windows 98 at the time), I knew nothing about spyware, trojans and whatnot and just how bad they were. That is until my PC got a virus that wiped out my entire hard drive. Years later, I ditched the Dell and my PC laptop and got an iMac and a MacBook. Both computers work faster than my previous PCs since I don't have to bundle it with so much protection crap. I also don't get those pesky reminders from Vista to scan my PC for spyware because I hadn't done it in three days. I hope Mac remains the underdog of the computer industry. I don't want those virus-making losers to move on to OS X.

nikki_ 4 years 26 weeks

I use ClamXav... does the trick for me..!

sundaygreen 4 years 26 weeks

I've had a few little things on my laptop but I could easily get rid of them because I know what I'm doing , but my work computer got completely eaten by a virus once and it had to be reconfigured. Worst feeling!

RockAndRepublic 4 years 26 weeks

Few trojans, all vanquished because i know what im doing. And they were all because of IE.

macgirl 4 years 26 weeks

On a side note, for my Mac people- ditch the Norton and go with Sophos Antivirus. It's not nearly as invasive and doesn't take over your entire machine. At some point viruses will be a threat for the Macs, it might not be this year or the next, but if things keep growing like they are now it will be an issue in the future.

nikki_ 4 years 26 weeks

None of the computers at home have ever had a virus since my whole family switched to Macs. I think I remember our family PC getting a virus when I was three, before we had switched, but that was ages ago. I still do virus checks though, although I don't do them as often as I did back when Leopard was new and all the Tiger viruses were coming out, because I'm completely on Leopard now.

nikki_ 4 years 26 weeks

macgirl 4 years 26 weeks

Oh, just looked at GScott86's profile, didn't realize they were only interested in contributing in a negative non useful manner. ;-) Carry on!

macgirl 4 years 26 weeks

GScott86, you have no idea what you are talking about. Mac is not a brand name, it is its own being. You cannot run Mac OS on anything other than an Apple Macintosh. It is not running Linux either. Get some knowledge before you start spewing lies. While it is susceptible to some VERY MINOR viruses it does not have the issues of Windows. At some point as their market share grows, it will have some of the same issues, but as of now it does not.

GScott86 4 years 26 weeks

OWNED. All computers get viruses (Macs are computers, don't fool yourself. Mac is just a brand name, it's essentially just another computer running Linux)...which reminds me...I should install norton...maybe later, haha...too lazy..prolly have massive trojans (no not condoms, lol).