Virus second opinion!

[MOP]

As most everyone knows there is a fast spreading worm going around, most everyone has AV on there machines. The last few days my email junk and virus notification has gone well over 100 a day making me think I may have a problem (I run my Biz off this machine so my traffic level is higher than many), even though my AV updated three times in 24 hours I was still spooked. I ended up calling and speaking with some of my Nerdie tech buddies they recommended getting a second opinion. I just got done and was virus free, but I thought some of you would also like to give it a try. Modem users like me about 20 minutes, broad band as usual WHIZ. Just click on scan now and follow the instructions.

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

[Marlin275]

Notice: Switching to Macs Can Help Users Avoid Hassle of Viruses

Q: These virus attacks rather spook me and I am tired of installing all the patches for Windows XP. So, I am considering changing from a Hewlett-Packard Pavilion to an Apple computer on the theory that the Mac system is not as vulnerable to attack as my Windows system. Would this make sense?

A: Apple's Macintosh computers can be attacked by viruses and worms and can be the targets of hackers, just like Windows machines. But Mac users rarely have to worry about this because the vast majority of hackers and virus writers choose to focus their criminal efforts on the predominant platform, which is Windows. There are occasional security patches issued for Apple's OS X operating system, but they are much less numerous and frequent than the patches for Windows.

So, if you are tired of all the patches and of worrying about viruses, switching to a Mac could bring you great relief. You will be able to read and hear all the stories about Windows viruses without worrying that they will affect your computer. Even if you receive an e-mail containing a Windows virus, it can't harm you. You should still be prudent, however, and use an antivirus program.

One caveat: Switching to a Mac won't protect you from spam e-mail or pop-up ads on the Web. You should still use an e-mail program, like Apple's Mail, or Microsoft Entourage, that includes junk-mail filtering, or a third-party antispam program written for the Mac. As for pop-ups, there are special pop-up blockers for the Mac, or you can use Apple's new Safari browser, which has a built-in pop-up blocker.

If you have a question, send it to me at mossberg@wsj.com, and I may select it to be answered here in Mossberg's Mailbox

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB106141097910618900,00.html?mod=technology%5Fc olumns%5Ffeatured%5Flsc

Macs are The BMW of Computers

[MOP]

The temptation has crossed my mind more than once, MAC's do on rare occasions get virus's. I think 99.98% are written to MS due to the ovate hatred many people and especially techs have for the MS crap as I call it. I've been screwing with this boxes since 1972 DOS 2.0 black screen all type, back then the whole system fit on one floppy my first drive was 10megs huge at the time. Now by the time you really get setup you have used over a gig, sys, utilities ETC. then you load your programs which also are super over bloated. I know a few GURU's they say when MS finds a problem the program is big and interlaced they can't go back and re-write so everything gets patched. Spit & Glue approach! Yup MAC is getting more and more tempting!

[mikev]

if you had a mac you still would be getting all those emails. if you setup you av software to auto update and windows to auto update you should not have any problems. I work in IT and all our locations that were setup to do this have had no problems accept for alot of bs email. the ones thet were not had a lot of problems. If you have a pc you can always change it over to linux if you want to get rid of windows it would be alot cheaper than buying a mac.

[MOP]

Mikev I am a nut about doing all the right stuff I get the MS tech bulletins. I faithfully update my AV before going on line and check for update every morning. I spent from 7AM this morning tearing through the registry and sys files looking for any traces of the Sobig worm also ran CAI and McAfees cleaner program. Absolutely nothing showed up but I still get constant messages from E-Mail AD's that I never heard of saying I am forwarding the worm. This is the case with quite a few of my Buds that I have been on the horn with this AM. Also all the AV sites say it terminated on July 13th which does not seem to be the case. Any input?

[mikev]

do all the emails you are getting have and re: in the subject line?

[MOP]

What I am getting is notification of sending a virus. I have sent mail to most all of my techie Buds with no problem no return. The returns that say I am sending the worm all come from a 104.??? IP adress. I checked it then a bud checked it, its coming from a virtual domain making a trace impossible. Today I recieved 40+ besides the normal spam. Several board members and Bud have shot mail back and forth mail over the last few days with no problem, its like someone is spoofing me about sending a virus. Its strange in the fact I never ever open attachments, even photos which I save right out of the view box rather then open