Low End Mac Reader Specials

TypeStyler For Mac OS X is Now Shipping! Download The Free Fully Functional 60 Day Tryout at www.typestyler.com

Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Poker Mac will show you how to download and install a native Mac poker application such as Full Tilt Poker Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, apple laptops, apple macs, and LCD Monitors side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for new mobile phones, sat nav systems, or MP3 players. The Ciao online shopping community makes searching products easy for you.

Apple Archive

Macs, Windows Viruses, and Shutting Down the School Computer Network

- 2003.09.19

In an effort to both increase the computers available to students and provide solutions for in-class activities, my school purchased a cart of laptop computers last year. A wireless network was also added, giving anyone using these laptops - or our own personal laptops - the ability to access the network. I'd been using my PowerBook on the Internet frequently via the school's network, as did several others.

Unfortunately, the computer network at school was infected in the middle of this month with the Nachi/Welchia worm, a Blaster variant that infects Windows 2000/XP and overloads the network with traffic. This meant the entire school network was down for a whole day.

Keep in mind that the computer is used not only to let students type and access the Internet, but also to take attendance and demonstrate material in class. It's also used to keep track of schedules and who is leaving early and at what time. As you can probably imagine, a day without the computer network was a disaster.

It wasn't fixed in a day either. Each computer in the school had to be virus-checked before it could be allowed back on the etwork. Since they were worried that personal laptops might be infected, or could get infected (the virus isn't 100% gone yet), as of right now they've closed that part of the network. This, of course, makes it a challenge to print documents from my machine.

Now for the big question that seems like it's been going around: Are Macs immune to viruses?

I'll put it this way: The last copy of Anti-Virus software I had on my Mac was Symantec Anti-Virus for Macintosh (SAM) 4.0 - after the name had been changed to Norton AntiVirus for Mac. I never actually bothered to get an updated version. I have never had a virus, and I assumed that I probably wouldn't get one - but that doesn't mean that Macs are absolutely immune, although the few viruses around for Macs are not as serious as those for PCs.

While I know of no Mac viruses that actually destroy the motherboard, there have been PC viruses that infect the BIOS, rendering the computer useless. The only thing Macs can do with current viruses is pass them from one PC to another through email attachments - without the Mac actually getting infected. And Mac users have to manually forward those email attachments, since Macs don't have the gaping security holes that allow Windows computers to automatically distribute viruses.

This is the main reason why one might have an antivirus program installed on a Mac - to scan email attachments.

Since OS X is bringing the Mac and Unix close together, there is a growing likelihood that viruses will start appearing for OS X. Right now the main antivirus solution for OS X seems to be Virus Barrier, which I have heard some good things about, although I haven't used it myself.

What would have happened if my school had only had Macs on the network? Probably nothing. Everything would be functioning fine - but in the "real world" not everyone uses a Mac (and if 90% used a Mac, we might have a mass virus problem for Macs, too).

At this point I guess the best thing they can do is clean out each system and hope that not all files are lost. I'm glad that my PowerBook is immune to this particular worm, and I won't have to erase anything.

Let's just hope Mac viruses will continue to be few and far between.

Recent Apple Archive articles

iPods, notebooks, and other modern electronics more readily replaced than repaired, 12.07. Whether it's an intermittent failure or a broken display cable, more often than not it's cheaper to replace a broken electronics device than repair it.
Options for replacing your older iPod, 11.19. Whether you've run out of space on your old iPod or want features it doesn't have, here are your options in new and used iPods.
Could the $200 'green' PC with gOS Linux become a threat to Apple?, 11.14. The low cost, low power Everex desktop comes with a customized version of Ubuntu Linux, has a Mac-like Dock, and sells for $400 less than the Mac mini.
Leopard different, a bit buggy, but worth the upgrade, 11.02. Leopard on a Power Mac G4 and a MacBook Pro: It runs well on both computers, but each has some odd bugs, and some of the changes are a step backwards.
More in the Apple Archive index.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: 17" MacBook Pro Core Duo, Apr. 2006 - The top-end MacBook Pro includes a 1680 x 1050, 2.16 GHz Core Duo CPU, and supports Apple 30" Cinema Display.
Group of the Day: G4 List is for those using Power Mac G4s or G4 upgrades.
November 24 in LEM history: 98: Microsoft's heavy hand - 00: Looking at the iMac - 04: The best Mac for the holidays - Picking the right replacement for a dead mouse - Better battery for 15" AlBook
Support Low End Mac

Recent Deals

Best G4 iMac Deals, 11.24. Used 15" 700 MHz CD-RW, $150; 800 MHz Combo, $229; 1 GHz, $289; 17" 1.25 GHz, $200; 20" 1.25 GHz, $509.
Best MacBook Air Deals, 11.24. Used from $899; refurb from $1,099; new 1.6 GHz/120 HD, $1,150 after rebate; 1.8/64 SSD, $1,150 a/r; 1.86/128 SSD, $1,350 a/r; 2.13/128 SSD, $1,694 a/r.
Best PowerBook G3 Deals, 11.24. Used 233 MHz WallStreet, $75; 266 MHz, $160; 400 MHz Lombard, $199; 400 MHz Pismo, $289; 500 MHz, $350.
Best 12" PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.23. Used 867 MHz SuperDrive, $348; 1 GHz Combo, $379; SD, $519; 1.33 GHz, $529; 1.5 GHz Combo, $549; SuperDrive, $609.
Best Mac Pro Deals, 11.23. Used 2.66 GHz 4-core, $1,300; 3.0 4-core. $1,919; refurb 2.66 4-core Nehalem, $2,149; 2.93, $2,549; 2.93 8-core, $4,999; new 2.26 8-core, $2,290.
Best Time Capsule and AirPort Deals, 11.23. Used 802.11g AirPort Extreme, $49; 500 GB Time Capsule, $150; new, $190; 1 TB dual-band, $280; 2 TB, $469; 802.11n AirPort Extreme, $170.
Best eMac Deals, 11.18. Used 1 GHz Combo, $100; SuperDrive, $269; 1.25 GHz Combo, $119; SD, $319; 1.42 GHz Combo, $289; SD, $498.
Best Mac OS X 10.6 and Mac Box Set Deals, 11.18. "Snow Leopard", single user, $25; 5 users, $45; Mac Box Set, single user, $139; 5 users, $180; Server, $414. Shipping included.
Best Xserve Deals, 11.18. Used 1 GHz dual G4, $649; 2.3 dual G5, $795; 3.0 4-core Xeon, $1,899; refurb 2.26 4-core, $2,499; new, $2,888; refurb 8-core, $2,999; new, $3,449; more.
More deals in our archive.

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2009 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.