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I know it’s been roughly a week since I added a non-software-update post to the site, and I want to apologize to everyone for the delay. I’m working on several posts right now, and hopefully they’ll start turning out on Tuesday.
For those of you who have already sent in questions, I want to say thank you. Every question has been a good one, and while not all will get responses on the site, I’ve been trying to reply to as many of you as possible.
Back at the beginning of January, I asked people to send in questions, and let me ask again: Please send me any questions you have on using your Mac, whether you think the question is simple or complex. My ability to update the site is in large part dependent on you asking questions, so do not hesitate!
A couple of people asked (at the beginning of the month) about .Mac/MobileMe and Automator. Those responses are still coming, as they will be Getting Started articles on those topics. If you have other questions, be sure to submit them from the Get Help page. Click here to ask a question.
Virus & Trojan Warning
One last topic I want to cover is the recent release of two infectious trojans for Mac OS X. At this point, the trojans affect pirated (stolen) copies of iWork ‘09 and Adobe Photoshop CS4. They do not affect retail products, nor do they affect downloads directly from apple.com and adobe.com. You can read about the iWork threat here and the Photoshop threat here.
If you have downloaded a copy of iWork ‘09 or Photoshop CS4 from an illegal site over the past week, you may be at risk. I previously advocated installing anti-virus software, and I would like to reiterate this. However, I have come to learn over the past week that my previous recommendation of ClamXAV is not a good one at this time.
While the ClamAV engine is excellent (and free — which is why I recommended it), the software developers rely on users or other anti-virus software vendors to submit files to allow ClamAV to identify viruses. ClamXAV is capable of identifying Mac OS X viruses, but it appears that anti-virus developers who learn how to identify Mac viruses are not willing (or able) to share these identification files with the ClamAV developers, so ClamXAV will not detect the new trojans at this time.
At least one commercial anti-virus application will detect these trojans, if you are concerned about them. Intego’s VirusBarrier X5 already has updated its software to detect them. SecureMac has released a free, stand-alone application that will remove the iWork trojan (but not the Photoshop trojan or any other spyware/virus). You can download it here.
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