Half a million Mac computers 'infected with malware' (1 Viewer)

scotjimland

LIFE MEMBER
Jul 25, 2007
2,076
8,977
Suffolk Coastal District, UK
Funster No
15
MH
Timberland
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17623422

More than half a million Apple computers have been infected with the Flashback Trojan, according to a Russian anti-virus firm.

Its report claims that about 600,000 Macs have installed the malware - potentially allowing them to be hijacked and used as a "botnet".

The firm, Dr Web, says that more than half that number are based in the US.

Apple has released a security update, but users who have not installed the patch remain exposed.

How to remove the Flashback Malware
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-57410096-263/how-to-remove-the-flashback-malware-from-os-x/
 
OP
OP
scotjimland

scotjimland

LIFE MEMBER
Jul 25, 2007
2,076
8,977
Suffolk Coastal District, UK
Funster No
15
MH
Timberland
There goes a Mac Myth then he he. :ROFLMAO:

yes, I'm afraid it was only a matter of time .. as they become more popular they in turn become more attractive to the hackers. :Sad:

Over the years there have only been a few attacks on Macs, consequently many users are complacent ...

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

dryad

LIFE MEMBER
Apr 25, 2010
1,423
335,046
hermit in beautiful coastal east kent
Funster No
11,232
MH
citroen relay pvc
Exp
quite a few years now, and loving every minute..
that'll upset my sister then, she believes her incredibly expensive mac to be invincible and far superior to my simple pc..
however, she's always having problems with hers and it's always in the 'shop' being sorted whilst mine keeps going..(should i have said that and tempted fate or should i touch wood, spit, whistle and cross my fingers?) :RollEyes:
 

Jim

Ringleader
Jul 19, 2007
36,187
128,610
Sutton on Sea, UK
Funster No
1
MH
Adria Panel Van.
Exp
Since 1988
That Russian firm is probably Kaspersy, who just happen to be trying to flog their new Mac anti virus software. Seems it's not selling:ROFLMAO:
 
OP
OP
scotjimland

scotjimland

LIFE MEMBER
Jul 25, 2007
2,076
8,977
Suffolk Coastal District, UK
Funster No
15
MH
Timberland
that'll upset my sister then, she believes her incredibly expensive mac to be invincible and far superior to my simple pc..
however, she's always having problems with hers and it's always in the 'shop' being sorted whilst mine keeps going..(should i have said that and tempted fate or should i touch wood, spit, whistle and cross my fingers?) :RollEyes:

far from being invincible.. it just wasn't worth the effort to attack a few Macs while there were zillions of Windows machines in use..

I was an avid Mac user for about 10 years, that is until my last 17" Powerbook gave up the ghost .. just couldn't justify spending almost £2k to replace when I can have an equally good PC for a 1/3 of that .. Windows7 is so good now, I won't go back to Apple.

In saying that my Dell is back at the mother ship being fixed .. overheating issues .. :cry:

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Feb 22, 2008
12,258
44,933
Norfolk
Funster No
1,575
MH
Nearly Tugging
Exp
Since 2004
Why pay three times as much for a pc that is no better , rather get a new one three times as often :Smile:
 

slobadoberbob

Free Member
Jun 1, 2009
6,151
1,960
Kent, garden of England
Funster No
6,953
MH
Winnebago 23' something
Exp
25 years & counting
down load the security updates

I tend to check each day for updates..

I still think MacBook Pro is far better than Dell's I have currently 3 Dells and one Toshiba.. 2 dells run on XP and one dell on 7 and the toshiba on 7... the Toshiba is a buy for my housing work.. cost £500 for a 17" laptop.. flimsy and horrible keys plus for me the hated word 7.. I love XP and the OS on Macs .. (also I have the IPAD)...

Everything gets attacked sooner or later.. OK plenty of cheap rubbish about in the forms of laptops.. but it is when you use a Mac you notice the difference... rather have one good machine than 3 poorly made plastic items.. At least Apple uses aluminium .. with I see Dell is now copying. There are some good Dell's about but they are not a lot cheaper than a decent Apple.

Bob

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 
Feb 27, 2011
14,669
74,862
UK
Funster No
15,452
MH
Self Build
Exp
Since 2005
Just about to buy a new dell. My current one an M90 is 5 or 6 years old and still a good workhorse. I do a lot of video now so want a quad core.

Getting a Dell X15 with a 1080p screen 4GB of memory Quad Core I7 Sandy bridge, USB 3, +++ £699. £50 to upgrade to 6GB.

Show me an Apple with that spec at that price and I may move over.

I do install Linux on anything I get though so not bothered about software just the hardware. The XPS range of laptops are very nice. Admittedly not the design perfect that is the Mac but who cares so long as it works....
 
Jul 29, 2007
6,526
39,280
Ipswich
Funster No
32
MH
RV and PVC
Exp
30 years
Windows7 is so good now, I won't go back to Apple.

Jim I am gobsmacked! I thought it was more likely that the moon was made of blue cheese than you would ever say that. I need to go and sit down now after that bombshell. ::bigsmile:

Ian
 
OP
OP
scotjimland

scotjimland

LIFE MEMBER
Jul 25, 2007
2,076
8,977
Suffolk Coastal District, UK
Funster No
15
MH
Timberland
Jim I am gobsmacked! I thought it was more likely that the moon was made of blue cheese than you would ever say that. I need to go and sit down now after that bombshell. ::bigsmile:

Ian

:roflmto:

Ian, I say as I find, I'm not one to mince words.. or be sucked in by Apple hype.

yes I loved my Macs, but don't have Apple shares, so am not beholden or owe any allegiance ..

Until W7 was released I wouldn't have bought another PC.. times change, 7 is now as good as OS X.

Years ago Macs were built in California .. now in China so it's not labour costs or indeed components that justify the cost, but you pay dearly for the Apple logo that shines through the lid.. and for many that's what counts when sitting surfing in a Cafe' ... it's all about image.

:hardhat:

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

JJ

Mágica
May 1, 2008
19,228
47,725
Quinta Majay, Pinheiro Bordalo, Portugal
Funster No
2,459
MH
Burstner Privilege T
Exp
over 50 years
In my experience Apple users are like born again Christians... wildly happy with their choice which they justify with religious chants ("you don't get viruses" is one of them, "they just work" is another). They also seem to have a manic wish to convert others to their way of thinking and mock those who don't agree with them.

I wonder if they feel the same today as the Jehovah Witnesses did when the world didn't end?

Before I got myself a computer (I was a quite a late personal adopter) I was in the Virgin store in London and wandered into the software/games section... in front of me there were shelves and shelves... racks and racks of all sorts of software for a pc stretching into the distance... and over in the far corner was a small, almost cupboard like area with a couple of lonely souls (with shining eyes) gazing lovingly at the two short shelves with Apple stuff on them...

I had no difficulty in choosing... I don't care which is "best"... (Betamax was better then VHS) I wanted the system that had the most stuff available for it...

PCs ROOL OK?

JJ :Cool:

PS... I do NOT apply the same logic to football teams though...:winky:
 

Pikey Pete

Free Member
May 25, 2008
1,481
1,143
o
Funster No
2,818
MH
o
Exp
0
As a Mac user of many years, I don't agree that Windows 7 is as good as OS X, in fact I think it is archaic by comparison.
I often get asked by non computer literate friends to sort out their Windows machines when they have messed up, so I have experience of all the current windows systems.

A virus that infects OS X was, I suppose, inevitable as the Mac became more and more popular, but I don't have it and Apple were quite quick to upgrade security.

I have had my Macbook for almost 8 years and it still out performs many of my friends latest Windows laptops, in many areas.

Would I ever change to Windows? I don't think so.

Pete:Cool:
 

Madmark62

Free Member
Sep 28, 2011
602
546
Wakefield West Yorkshire
Funster No
18,318
MH
Winnebago Lesharo
Exp
I`m a newbie
As a Mac user of many years, I don't agree that Windows 7 is as good as OS X, in fact I think it is archaic by comparison.
I often get asked by non computer literate friends to sort out their Windows machines when they have messed up, so I have experience of all the current windows systems.

A virus that infects OS X was, I suppose, inevitable as the Mac became more and more popular, but I don't have it and Apple were quite quick to upgrade security.

I have had my Macbook for almost 8 years and it still out performs many of my friends latest Windows laptops, in many areas.

Would I ever change to Windows? I don't think so.

Pete:Cool:

Of course you would never agree that Windows 7 is as good as OS X, you have a Mac and are therefore blinded to the truth!!:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

Pikey Pete

Free Member
May 25, 2008
1,481
1,143
o
Funster No
2,818
MH
o
Exp
0
Of course you would never agree that Windows 7 is as good as OS X, you have a Mac and are therefore blinded to the truth!!:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:


Have you ever considered the fact that it's you that is deluded and the Mac actually is better than a PC.

I've used both Windows 7 and Mac OS X Lion and 7 just isn't up to the job, it's a wannabe.

Pete:Cool:

PS I have seen Windows Mobile on a Nokia and to be honest I may eventually switch from iPhone to Nokia. Windows can sometimes get things right.
 
OP
OP
scotjimland

scotjimland

LIFE MEMBER
Jul 25, 2007
2,076
8,977
Suffolk Coastal District, UK
Funster No
15
MH
Timberland
Have you ever considered the fact that it's you that is deluded and the Mac actually is better than a PC.

Also used both systems for many years .. Windows XP at work, Mac at home.. First proper home PC was a Compaq which ran Windows '95 .. bought my first Mac in 1998 and never bought another PC until 2007 with Vista .. and that was abysmal.. vowed then not to get another.. but as said earlier, times change and Windows 7 is good..

Mac versus PC debate has been going on for donkey's years.. fact is, they both now use the same processors and share a lot of the same or similar hardware.. the only real difference is the operating system .. and I can't see how it can be justified paying three times the price for an operating system..

All that said, it's horses for courses and no one need justify how or what they spend the hard earned on... would be boring if we all agreed ..:Smile:
 

slobadoberbob

Free Member
Jun 1, 2009
6,151
1,960
Kent, garden of England
Funster No
6,953
MH
Winnebago 23' something
Exp
25 years & counting
Remember I have all three systems

Of course you would never agree that Windows 7 is as good as OS X, you have a Mac and are therefore blinded to the truth!!:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

As I said I have a 7 year old Inspiration 9300 laptop (Dell) on XP... hard drive to small and the sound battery are silly price to replace.. still in use.

I have a 10" note pad I purchased in Walmarts in the USA ... again Dell .. Nickelodeonn version very bright green and white... XP and lives on the RV full time. bad track pads on them.. mouse useless...

I also have a Dell Flap pad.. with windows 7 on it.... belongs to housing association.. I also have just taken delivery for my team a Toshiba 17" laptop 500 gb.. all the bits and bobs with windows 7... hate the bloody thing.. plastic and nasty.

I have the 15" quad core Apple = MacBook Pro ... fantastic.

I have a IPAD 1st version.. great does what it says on the tin.

I have the IPHON 4 again better than the blackberry I had.

I go with what works.....

Bob

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

Madmark62

Free Member
Sep 28, 2011
602
546
Wakefield West Yorkshire
Funster No
18,318
MH
Winnebago Lesharo
Exp
I`m a newbie
As I said I have a 7 year old Inspiration 9300 laptop (Dell) on XP... hard drive to small and the sound battery are silly price to replace.. still in use.

I have a 10" note pad I purchased in Walmarts in the USA ... again Dell .. Nickelodeonn version very bright green and white... XP and lives on the RV full time. bad track pads on them.. mouse useless...

I also have a Dell Flap pad.. with windows 7 on it.... belongs to housing association.. I also have just taken delivery for my team a Toshiba 17" laptop 500 gb.. all the bits and bobs with windows 7... hate the bloody thing.. plastic and nasty.

I have the 15" quad core Apple = MacBook Pro ... fantastic.

I have a IPAD 1st version.. great does what it says on the tin.

I have the IPHON 4 again better than the blackberry I had.

I go with what works.....

Bob
Bob so do I , I want things that work. Windows 7 is the best OS I have used, in my opinion anyway,Vista was by far the worst.
I used to have a mac, but it broke down(yes it did) and I could not justify the money to buy another. I bought a laptop with Vista on and hated it, I was given a copy of windows 7 by my son and put that on the laptop and could not believe the difference it made. I now have a PC with 7 OS and cannot fault it. I struggle to see why I shoule pay for a Mac, when the PC I have is more than capable of doing everythin I need it for!
Maybe if I used it for other things like design etc. then I may go to Apple, but for normal usage I find the price of Apple products too great!

Others may have more disposable income than me and they are welcome to spend it on anything they like, but to say that any windows machine is inferior is just a matter of opinion .
Mark
 
Oct 1, 2007
7,063
13,963
Kirby cross further from londin
Funster No
504
MH
Between Motor homes
Exp
since 08
All I know is my non techy wife no longer asks for help

When she uses her mac book .

I use an I pad mac and dell and flit between them

Just not so often do I use the dell lately

And when I do it has to load all the patches which take for ever

On a poor broadband speed

Playing a you tube video takes three times the time

And constant buffering makes no difference mac or Microsoft
 
Feb 27, 2011
14,669
74,862
UK
Funster No
15,452
MH
Self Build
Exp
Since 2005
Apple has a pretty easy job. They have to produce an OS that works on an extremely limited set of hardware which they have total control of. They choose the hardware and write the OS to that tiny subset of hardware.

Microsoft has a gruesome job of producing an OS that works on ALL hardware. Microsoft has more in common with Linux in this respect.

In my opinion for what it's worth. Apple are great designers but extremely poor on the OS and electronics front. The fact that they have a limited hardware footprint to support means they can afford to get everything right and on this they fail more often than they should. Their errors are serious and in my opinion inexcusable.

Microsoft are seriously poor engineers and even worse designers. The fact that anything works is a miracle... They do however in their scattergun approach get the majority of things to work. Due to the sheer numbers though their failures are well advertised. They do need to do a lot better on security if you ask me but they have succeeded as well as they can on stability with a closed source OS... Microsoft also give a lot of weight to backward compatibility. Apple have dumped their historical baggage twice already moving from 68K to PPC to Intel. MS have never had this luxury/suicidal tendency.

From a Business point of view I have to give points to MS historically and Apple currently.

From a software engineering point of view I have to award all the points to Linux.... However they lose points for their lack of friendliness to joe bloggs.

Until a person understands the core functions of an OS then arguing over which is better is the same as an argument between a muslim and a christian over who's God is the best.:Doh:

These debates used to be interesting 20+ years ago between spectrum and C64 owners. Then Amiga owners and ST owners. Then PC VS Mac.
Now days who is better tends to be extremely boring for those of us who have been doing this for 30 years...

If I want to lob a bit of video together I would by choice use a Mac.
If I want to have a reliable el cheapo system to do day to day word processing and a bit of multimedia consumption etc I would have a windows 7 system..
If I want a rock solid server that will run for years without a reboot I will choose linux.

When it comes to manufacturers. Dell for industrial stuff. Asus for consumer stuff.

Sorry I have rattle a bit, had a few beers :ROFLMAO:::bigsmile:

Subscribers  do not see these advertisements

 

slobadoberbob

Free Member
Jun 1, 2009
6,151
1,960
Kent, garden of England
Funster No
6,953
MH
Winnebago 23' something
Exp
25 years & counting
The new toshiba

All I know is my non techy wife no longer asks for help

When she uses her mac book .

I use an I pad mac and dell and flit between them

Just not so often do I use the dell lately

And when I do it has to load all the patches which take for ever

On a poor broadband speed

Playing a you tube video takes three times the time

And constant buffering makes no difference mac or Microsoft

I spent the usual half a day setting up the Toshiba ... Windows 7 .. Then took it in to the office for it to be used by the group... Then spent ages trying to get it to talk to a Kodak printer ... Not even by wifi, but USB cable... Needed drivers down loaded... Then when tried to shut down it had 68 up loads... Took nearly. 2 hours...

Ok took time to set up the MacBook Pro... But it just gets on and does the job... Never have to wait for it to close down like a windows laptop, and if there is an update I can continue to work. It is horses for courses... Yes they are expensive even I will agree to that.. But using XP, 7 and OS , I still prefer theApple products. Everyone has there own views.... But because of a security breach we do not just throw the baby out with the bath water... It is fixed...

It is not the first time and I suspect it will not be the last... But at this time I think I will be using my Lion /OS rather than windows 7 ... I still prefer the feel of XP if I use a Dell.

Bob
 
OP
OP
scotjimland

scotjimland

LIFE MEMBER
Jul 25, 2007
2,076
8,977
Suffolk Coastal District, UK
Funster No
15
MH
Timberland
I spent the usual half a day setting up the Toshiba ... Windows 7 .. Then took it in to the office for it to be used by the group... Then spent ages trying to get it to talk to a Kodak printer ... Not even by wifi, but USB cable... Needed drivers down loaded... Then when tried to shut down it had 68 up loads... Took nearly. 2 hours...

Ok took time to set up the MacBook Pro... But it just gets on and does the job... Never have to wait for it to close down like a windows laptop, and if there is an update I can continue to work. It is horses for courses... Yes they are expensive even I will agree to that.. But using XP, 7 and OS , I still prefer theApple products. Everyone has there own views.... But because of a security breach we do not just throw the baby out with the bath water... It is fixed...

It is not the first time and I suspect it will not be the last... But at this time I think I will be using my Lion /OS rather than windows 7 ... I still prefer the feel of XP if I use a Dell.

Bob


Can't disagree Bob..

I got the hump with Apple when they brought out the Intel model.... left me high and dry with an expensive 17" PPC Powerbook that cost £2k a couple of years earlier.. :Angry: also had two other iBooks.. same situation.

new software wasn't backward compatible, no more updates, and third party software also stopped supporting .. even Google didn't support, no Chrome or Picasa 3 available .. so I was left with an old Safari browser and dated unsupported OS X

but I guess it was in Apple's interests, a lot of Mac fans ran out and bought a shiny new Intel lappy.. but left a lot of long term users who couldn't afford to upgrade... out in the cold..
 

Join us or log in to post a reply.

To join in you must be a member of MotorhomeFun

Join MotorhomeFun

Join us, it quick and easy!

Log in

Already a member? Log in here.

Latest journal entries

Funsters who are viewing this thread

Back
Top