school issues
Can connecting a Mac to my school's internet cause problems? I was told by our tech person that connecting my old iMac at school will cause viruses. I was wise enough not to argue the point, because the simple fact that they were concerned was all I needed to realize that I was going to lose any argument I am hoping to re-open the issue at school.where can I find the facts? Larry -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: school issues
On Feb 27, 2010, at 9:42 AM, Lawrence David Eden wrote: Can connecting a Mac to my school's internet cause problems? I was told by our tech person that connecting my old iMac at school will cause viruses. I was wise enough not to argue the point, because the simple fact that they were concerned was all I needed to realize that I was going to lose any argument I am hoping to re-open the issue at school.where can I find the facts? Larry -- I don't know where this is explained officially. The school just might have a rule no outside computers, and the virus thing is just a scare tactic. Removing the fear factor: Viruses are operating system authorization dependent. Offer this and just walk away: Your iMac uses OS X only. what operating system do the schools computers use ... Windows? or OS X? If Windows ... Computer viruses don't jump across OSs, as someone pointed out in another recent thread response. Macs generally don't have viruses. Windows computers generally do. From experience helping my partner on his HP: The money you save on buying a windows computer, is usually reinvested in Spyware, Malware, Anti-virus Protection Software Systems, Internet Memberships at Virus Update Centers, Doctor's Bills caused by stress of the threat of losing all your work, by losing all your work due to virus activity and anti-virus activity, time spent re-installing the Windows operating system that is beyond repair, etc. ... and you cannot be held responsible for any of this expense, because you choose Mac OS X. Go to I don't know where this is explained officially If OS X ... Macs don't generally have viruses. Go to I don't know where this is explained officially -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: school issues
At 9:42 AM -0500 2/27/2010, Lawrence David Eden wrote: Can connecting a Mac to my school's internet cause problems? No. Well, perhaps -- in keeping in the theme of my reply below, it's quite possible that your network connection may seem slow. This will reveal yet-another shortcoming of your tech person. I was told by our tech person that connecting my old iMac at school will cause viruses. Your tech person is at best ignorant and at worst an outright liar. He/she/it should be ashamed. Every tech person - even the ones totally drowning in the MS/Windows world - already *KNOWS* that there are NO viruses for Mac OS X and only a few lame trojan horses. That fact that your tech person said such a thing tells me that he/she/it is afraid of the one virus that cannot be fought: the KNOWLEDGE virus. He's afraid others will see how nice Mac OS X is, and that it needs so little tech support, he'll be PINK SLIPPED. I was wise enough not to argue the point, because the simple fact that they were concerned was all I needed to realize that I was going to lose any argument Yea. Never argue with idiots. It's mostly a lost cause. I am hoping to re-open the issue at school.where can I find the facts? There have been a lot of articles published regarding this. Google is your friend. Also search this group's archives. There have been quite a few threads about malware on the Mac, with all sorts of good references etc. If you want to stoop to his level, which might be the political thing to do, I guess, install ClamXav. http://www.clamxav.com/ ClamXav is a free anti-virus product (ClamXav front end plus the ClamAV open-source package), that's so good that Apple includes it in OS X Server. It's not really good for much (detecting what doesn't exist is a bit silly), but it will detect Windoze malware - you know, those things your infected friends and co-workers are passing around because they can't be bothered to wash their hands and stay away from cooties, er a Windoze. HTH, - Dan. -- - Psychoceramic Emeritus; South Jersey, USA, Earth. -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: school issues
On Sat, Feb 27, 2010 at 2:42 PM, Lawrence David Eden lde...@comcast.netwrote: Can connecting a Mac to my school's internet cause problems? I was told by our tech person that connecting my old iMac at school will cause viruses. ___ Is he afraid you will ask him for help if a problem arises? Chances are he does not want a challenge to his knowledge that his boss may become aware of. It may cast him in a bad light. -- Adrian D'Alessio aka; Fluxstringer fluxstrin...@gmail.com http://www.facebook.com/FluxStringer http://www.linkedin.com/in/fluxstreamcommunications http://flux-influx.blogspot.com/ http://fluxdreams.designbinder.com/ http://twitter.com/FluxStringer http://mog.com/FluxMuse -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: school issues
On Feb 27, 2010, at 9:42 AM, Lawrence David Eden wrote: Can connecting a Mac to my school's internet cause problems? I was told by our tech person that connecting my old iMac at school will cause viruses. I was wise enough not to argue the point, because the simple fact that they were concerned was all I needed to realize that I was going to lose any argument I am hoping to re-open the issue at school.where can I find the facts? Hopefully that is the phrasing they used. A computer can not cause a virus. An uninformed user can download and install one, but a computer that is not infected can not spontaneously cause one. Push for more educated users. From the ClamXav.com page: Back in the days before OS X, the number of viruses which attacked Macintosh users totalled somewhere between about 60 and 80. Today, the number of viruses actively attacking OS X users is...NONE! However, this doesn't mean we should get complacent about checking incoming email attachments or web downloads, for two reasons. Firstly, there's no guarantee that we Mac users will continue to enjoy the status quo, but more importantly, the majority of the computing world use machines running MS Windows, for which an enormous quantity of viruses exist, so we must be vigilant in checking the files we pass on to our friends and colleagues etc. For example, if you're a wise person and you've turned MS Office's macro support off then you're not going to notice that virus which is hiding inside this month's edition of Extreme Ironing.doc which your friend sent you. If you then forward that document to a less wise person who has not turned off the macro support, then you have most likely just sent him a shiny new Pandora's Box with a sign saying Open this end! And that is from the most widely used Mac antivirus program. Which is free because no one will pay for something that is not needed. Also, a quick quote from Craig's LIst help page on spam and such: We've set up our email servers to prevent virus/worm email relaying. As always, be wary of unknown attachments, and if you are a Windows user, keep your anti-virus software up-to-date. You notice they specifically mention Windows. Even Craig's list knows we are safe. My take is the same as Dan's. Ignorance and job security issues. I will see companies with 40-50 computers on a site with 2-3 full time techs. Ask Bruce what his ratio is for Mac support and you will see what we are talking about. Try googling for Mac Viruses. When I did (with no ad blocking software) there were no sponsored links (ads) on the right. ie; No one thinks it is worth anything to pay google to direct them to their site when someone searches for them. You don't even get a link to Mac antivirus software, ClamXav, until the second page. Google for Windows virus and see how many companies are out there to make money off of that problem. Here is Apple's page on the issue: http://www.apple.com/macosx/security/ HTH, Len -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: school issues
On Feb 27, 2010, at 9:15 AM, Wallace Adrian D'Alessio wrote: Chances are he does not want a challenge to his knowledge that his boss may become aware of. It may cast him in a bad light. I doubt it. Never forget: only drug users and hippies use a Mac (I know it's a humorous line by Dave Barry, but, unfortunately, it seems all too often to be the real attitude among many IT groups.) so it's likely he and his boss will get a chuckle out of punching the Mac hippie. Bullies get off on that, and sadly, the IT support world is rife with bullies. Or they are, in fact, abysmally ignorant. Or both. I mean there is the enormously widespread and ingrained *total lie* that Macs, even though they're immune can somehow 'pass on viruses' to users with Windows. I've seen this nonsense published places like MacWorld (which immediately knocks down their credibility in my eyes) You can't do this unless you willfully and deliberately send a virus to a Windows user, who should be up to date on their defenses anyway, because if they're not, anything you send them will not make it through the mass of digital boils that already cover the system... Hell School IT people have had kids arrested for using Linux because they were using a hacker tool (ie: a terminal window). Maybe they're just burned out and No is the only response. (The IT folks in my local school district fought for *months* against a virus infection of the districts Windows systems, last year. Among the cures was finally dumping Windows 98 and Windows NT4 from their systems. A friend who runs systems in a research lab has ONE Windows NT system, it's is walled off in it's own little vlan with no contact to the outside world because we can't apply the last service packs, because the $200K instrument it's attached to won't work with anything newer, or at least it won't without about a $20K upgrade by the manufacturer.) -- Bruce Johnson Wherever you go, there you are B. Banzai, PhD -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
Re: school issues
On 2/27/10 10:51 AM, Dan of dantear...@gmail.com sent At 9:42 AM -0500 2/27/2010, Lawrence David Eden wrote: Can connecting a Mac to my school's internet cause problems? No. Well, perhaps -- in keeping in the theme of my reply below, it's quite possible that your network connection may seem slow. This will reveal yet-another shortcoming of your tech person. I was told by our tech person that connecting my old iMac at school will cause viruses. Your tech person is at best ignorant .. Every tech person - even the ones totally drowning That fact that your tech person said such a thing tells me that he/she/it is afraid of the one virus that cannot be fought: the KNOWLEDGE virus.. HTH, - Dan. My eyes doth perceive that Sir Dan would like to bestow a different, more illuminating title on yonder serf tech person. Dub away, Sir Dan. Best regards, -Dana P.S. Lawrence, I was treated to the same un-researched drivel for the first 15 yrs. Of my university position before pent-up peer and faculty pressure (and rise in Mac-owning student population, not to mention Moms and Dads insisting on being able to communicate with their children) finally compelled them (I.T.) to cave in and relinquish some 45+% of connection addresses to Macs - it was worth the arguing in the end, though many a day it was a lonely uphill battle. -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
