Filed under: Software, Odds and ends, Internet Tools
Anti-Spyware for the Mac
At long last! John C. Dvorak can rest easy. So aside from stinky old Virex, the Clam AV thing, and a smattering of tools, what have Mac users really got when it comes to anti-spyware? Seeing a great, big, vacuum in a market, MacScan has created the first anti-spyware app for the Mac platform. At least, it's the only one I've ever heard of...I have to say MacScan's claims sound too much like Windows hyperbole. I have a PC connected to the web pretty much all day with no problems. Same with several Macs. Either way, the picture isn't as dire as MacScan seems to think it is, saying things like, "...in today's open web society... can you afford to be without MacScan?"
Well at least the app is free. You see, the app is a 2.0 Beta 2 at this time, and all you have to do is go here to download, install it, and soon you'll feel all safe and smug, like Mr. Dvorak himself. In fact, those of you crazy people running "classic" Macs will apparently have a version soon. Who knew?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Scott Spector said 2:58PM on 11-03-2005
The site opens fine, but the download seems to be blocked: "Download Disabled - Beta Testing Completed - Watch for Updates"--anybody know?? I have always been curious about whether *some* spyware makes it onto my mac platform. On my OSX desktop I expect not, but on my laptop, still running on classic, I think it's loaded; at any rate I have had increasing memory issues that I have attributed to spyware. But this application won't help me with that, either, since it isn't running on OSX.
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icerabbit said 10:05AM on 9-22-2005
Tried a few times to reach their site: "Safari could not open the page http://www.macscan.com/ because the server stopped responding."
Maybe they are fixing a spyware issue? :P
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Richard. said 10:20AM on 9-22-2005
This App sounds like a somewhat copy of Little Snitch. http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/
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Richard. said 10:23AM on 9-22-2005
Their site is http://macscan.securemac.com/ Check it again, icerabbit.
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Dan Peterson said 10:32AM on 9-22-2005
Has anyone actually found spyware on their Mac?
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Lacy said 10:43AM on 9-22-2005
Not me........tried it.....scanned just over 600,000 files....no spyware!
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judith said 10:59AM on 9-22-2005
from the MacScan site: "MacScan gives you the piece of mind and security needed to conduct your day-to-day personal business."
are they really intent on giving us a 'piece' of mind? or perhaps just some 'peace' of mind?
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James Brickley said 11:32AM on 9-22-2005
What freaking Spyware??? There is no spyware on OS X! Just be thankful you've never had to do battle with CoolWebSearch! That one piece of spyware is truly *EVIL* and darn near impossible to get rid of. If you have a friend on Windows and you are the geek trying to remove it; if it takes you more then 3 hours to remove it just do yourself a favor and reformat/install Windows! It's not worth the effort! Don't forget to patch the hell out of WinBlows after you do reload and put FireFox and Thunderbird on the PC and tell the user to never ever run Internet Explorer or Outlook Express again!
CoolWebSearch mutates while you are trying to remove it! It randomly names files and moves itself around the registry entries. It hooks into many parts of Windows and it's like trying to fight cancer! There is a battle between the CoolWebSearch authors and the anti-spyware folks. If I ever catch the scumbag CoolWebSearch author or the man behind it's evil in a dark alley woe be to him!
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Callum said 12:41PM on 9-22-2005
There are keyloggers for OS X - I installed one once (yes on my own machine) after one nasty saving-a-blank-document over an essay situation. I don't remember the keyloggers' name - Google could help on that one. Anyhoo, I forgot how to un-install it (it was a Terminal.app hack to install). So I imagine a 500mb+ log file that's been building since last december... somewhere in my Mac.
I'm giving this app a whirl to see if it can find anything. Although my initial reaction was "BAH! Spyware on a Mac!". Which is the correct reaction to have, methinks.
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henrrrik said 2:12PM on 9-22-2005
From the site: "Coming soon is a complete list of spyware for the Macintosh that MacScan detects."
Good luck with that one... I think the closest the mac has come to spyware so far is MacScan...
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ershler said 4:18PM on 9-22-2005
I'm sorry, but I'd have to say that installing a "free" program that purports to fix a problem that does not exist is sheer lunacy. This sounds like the perfect setup to install a Trojan Horse.
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Wheels said 5:38PM on 9-22-2005
Is MacScan a subsidiary of Microsoft? It's pretty well known, and true, that Macs don't get infected with spyware.... I'm suspicious.
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YankInOz said 5:40PM on 9-22-2005
they better move their mirror site - it's in Houston
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Wheels said 5:58PM on 9-22-2005
This is MacScans' registered parent site:
http://www.staticusers.net/
They also own Freaks Macintosh archives, which has Mac hacker warez with descriptions such as this: "Nucleo is a Very fast MailBomber with e-mail attachment support for a high level of mailbombing. This application runs on Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X. The program is developed by Delete of DigitalCalamity."
Yup, these are the exact people who I'd want protecting Monty against spyware..
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Jim said 7:51PM on 9-22-2005
I may be the crazy guy who blasts OS X in favor of Classic on my website (see "crazy people" link towards the top of the page), but I am running Tiger on my two older Macs that my kids use daily. Although my three newer computers are Wintels. The death of Classic pushed me over to the dark side.
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Victor Agreda, Jr. said 8:41PM on 9-22-2005
I [heart] Jim Jacobson. (^_^)
Sorry to hear about the Wintels. As Vader would say, "Nooooooooo!"
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icerabbit said 10:23PM on 9-22-2005
Thanks Richard, for pointing that out. The link in the engadget article is wrong :)
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icerabbit said 10:24PM on 9-22-2005
Duh, I meant TUAW. (was reading engadget earlier)
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J Campbell said 11:03AM on 9-24-2005
For James Brickley with the CWS problem-life's not that bad. Go download a free eval copy of Webroot's Spy Sweeper www.webroot.com and that'll get rid of CWS and everything else, with only the need to reboot, maybe up to 3 times, but no more.
As for AS for the MAC, Webroot had a product about 12 months ago but it wasn't too stable and, due to lack od both demand and need they never continued development. Their Win product is the number 1 worldwide and if they thought there was money to be made from protecting Macs, they've done it.
So Macscan just isn'tworthwhile.
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WIlliam Ambrose said 9:57AM on 9-23-2005
If thats the screen shot of their program. I do not know if I can trust them if the image of chicken little was not licensed from Disney.
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