# The SBHonline Community Daily > Digerati Discussions! >  >  Anti Virus

## Peter NJ

My Norton Anti Virus Protection runs out in 5 days..To re-new is 59.99..What does everyone use here??

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## MIke R

nothing..I have a Mac....

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## KevinS

Peter,

I have a free McAfee subscription that came with the PC, but I also use Webroot.  Norton aggravated me too much, but if it's working for you then you might want to stick with it.

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## JEK

> nothing..I have a Mac....



Such a smart young man . . .

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## MIke R

Im not young

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## Peter NJ

smart?

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## MIke R

like everyone else...on some things yes..on other things no

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## JEK

Trust me . . . .

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## Petri

A Mac as well but quite a few Windows folks have been quite happy with Microsoft's free Security Essentials.  I would personally hate to pay an annual virus tax.

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## andynap

I was using Panda but AOL came back with free McAfee otherwise I would have renewed Panda.

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## MIke R

Intel is buying McAfee....be interesting to see how that product morphs...so now you have the chip company who has the ability to provide its own security

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## Peter NJ

thanks for advice..think I will try Microsoft Essentials when Norton runs out.

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## Voosh

I'm surprised at the price Symantec quoted you. (Call and negotiate, if you can get a US-based "consultant.") We use it for security and have for years. No complaints. We also use Spybot and Windows Defender on some gizmos and some that are really good but too pricey for what you get. So far. So good. I can't say the same for some other products that we've tried. Some were recommended by some really smart folks. Kaspersky is definitely on my "NO" list. A real pain to deal with on my wife's personal laptop that our son gave her a few years ago. Apple? - don't kid yourself. IMHO.

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## JEK

From your lips . . . 


Java-based Trojan horse targets computers running Apple's Mac OS X

By Katie Marsal
Published: 02:05 PM EST

A newly discovered Trojan horse spreading through social networking sites targets Apple's Mac OS X operating system, including the latest version, 10.6 Snow Leopard, by baiting users into clicking a link.

The Trojan, dubbed trojan.osx.boonana.a, appears as a link in messages that read "Is this you in this video?" Clicking the infected link, according to SecureMac, runs a Java applet that attempts to downloads files to the computer, including an installer that launches automatically.

But another antivirus firm, Intego, also issued a notice Wednesday suggesting that the Trojan, a Mac version of the "Koobface" worm, carries a "low risk." The security firm said that the current Mac OS X implementation is flawed, though it admitted the threat exists and is likely to become a more legitimate concern in the future.

The installer reportedly modifies the system and allows remote access to all files on the system, and checks in with control servers to report information from the infected system.. The Trojan also automatically runs in the background at startup, and attempts to hide its activities across multiple files.

The virus then spreads by posting messages to social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

"This is a sobering reminder that hackers are turning their efforts toward Mac OS X as Apple's marketshare grows, and users should be vigilant in protecting their computers and taking precautions when surfing the web," said Nicholas Ptacek, a security researcher at SecureMac.

The Java-based Trojan is said to be cross-platform and includes files that affect both Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. The security firm noted there have been recent Trojan horses that targeted Windows, but this new threat is cross-platform. SecureMac has released a free tool to remove trojan.osx.boonana.a, while Intego's VirusBarrier X6 and X5 detect and remove the malware.

Last week, Apple said it may remove the Apple-produced Java runtime from future versions of Mac OS X, perhaps starting with next year's 10.7 Lion. The Java runtime shipping in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard will be supported through the support cycles of those products.

An e-mail claimed to be sent by Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs suggested that Java updates issued by Apple are always behind the official builds created by Sun and Oracle. Some have speculated that Oracle could release its own builds of Java for the Mac instead at some point int he near future.

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## Voosh

Re: *"*"This is a sobering reminder that hackers are turning their efforts toward Mac OS X as Apple's marketshare grows, and users should be vigilant in protecting their computers and taking precautions when surfing the web," said Nicholas Ptacek, a security researcher at SecureMac.*"* 

C'mon y'all, keep security software and other computer components up to date and don't click on an email you don't recognize. Simple start to your day. IMHO. And yes, I do stop and help people on the side of the road.

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## fins85258

I use Nortons and I just renewed mine a few days ago. I think its great and Norton Utilities too.

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## KevinS

> ... We also use Spybot and Windows Defender on some gizmos ...



Spybot is a good tool.  It didn't play well with IE 7 under XP, so I rarely use it anymore.  Another good one for the the toolkit is  Malwarebytes .

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## Peter NJ

well...I chickened out with trying a free anti virus..bought Nortons again for $59.99..why mess with success..

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## NYCFred

Spybot. Ad-Aware....and something called CW shredder.

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