“Apple made a rare update to the malware definitions in OS X earlier this week, a look at the software’s XProtect.plist file shows,” MacNN reports. “An entry has been added for ‘OSX.QHost.WB.A,’ a Trojan known to disguise itself as an installer for Flash Player.”
“Apple has rarely updated its malware definitions since June, when variants of an attack known as MacDefender grabbed headlines and forced the company into action,” MacNN reports. “OS X was eventually updated to use a discrete definition update system, which lets Apple push new definitions in the background.”
Read more in the full article here.
I liked this. So we don’t have to do anything or worry about when the update will be available. It’s all automatic right?
Correct. As long as you haven’t opted out in the Security preference pane, it updates automatically in the background, checking once every 24 hours.
“a Trojan known to disguise itself as an installer for Flash Player.”
Why bother disguising as a Flash player, when many of us consider anything Flash already a malware.
Agreed
Also agreed!
But just wait for the “apple is full of vulnerabilities” attacks now.
Exactly.
1 possible Mac malware warning = 100,000 Windows malware releases
Because most people are ignorant and will install something they recognize by name, like “Flash”.
Is the autosave function in Lion a virus? If so how can I get rid of it and go back to the normal way, the way that 99.99% of humans use?
Well, most humans also use Windows, so…
Since it’s not self-replicating, it’s obviously not a “virus”. Would you mind posting something on-topic?
You’re not the first person I’ve seen opposed to Versions, but I don’t understand the opposition. Can you explain it to me?
He can’t find his cheese.
Because it can get in your way.. and possibly cause you to lose work. For example, I was playing with the signature function in Preview today. I printed a web page to pdf, opened it in Preview, and tried to insert my test signature.
I got an error message saying the file was being used by another program and is locked. It gave me the option to work off a duplicate.. but that’s just annoying.
“Because it can get in your way.. and possibly cause you to lose work.”
The first part I can understand to an extent, as it is different, and may take some people a while to get used to it (it took me about two days before I realized how much I prefer this approach). Can you explain the second part? How can it cause you to lose work?
He’s saying the confusion of having to work with duplicates could possibly cause you to lose work because it’s inefficient to work with a duplicate when you could be working on the original. The autosave function forces you to work outside a normal metaphor for saving a file by clicking on save. Well, what if I don’t want to save until I’m good and ready. I don’t want to work with a duplicate because the original file is good enough.
It definitely was a change in my workflow. I guess once you get used to it you may like it as much as I do now. Or… Apple may provide everyone with a way to turn it off (which even though I like it, I think should be an option for those who don’t, at least for 10.7 since it IS a major change).
I often use a basic boilerplate spreadsheet and run trial edits on it. I don’t want those trials saved over the top of the original. Auto-save does just that, and it’s annoying.
Ya, versions took a bit to get used to but I like it now. You just have to get used to the menu next to the document title at the top middle of the window. Make changes to your template document and then select duplicate in that menu and you get the option to revert the template back to new and save the new copy as something else.
I’m opposed to the way saving documents isn’t consistent with my workflow. I save documents when I want to, not when the OS decides when I should. If I lose my work because I forgot to save the document I’m working on, I’ll take the consequences of that.
I don’t have to be nannied as to when is the appropriate time to save a working file. I also like to organize files into folders as and when I choose, and not have that decision taken out of my hands. I like certain aspects of converging iOS with OS X but not at the expense of dumbing everything down. Autosave should be at the user’s option which should be disabled if the user chooses not to have it.
Careful, you’ll have to keep explaining that to HTML5 Gordon over and over and over and over and…………… He’s not only a fanboy he’s anal fanbooy. Idiot!
Not a fanboy in the least. Sorry to disappoint you. I just wanted to better understand what issues people were having since it *is* new. It’s called a discussion.
Now go let some of your rage out on something other than the comments section of an Apple blog. Maybe go get some exercise or something.
Touched a nerve? Eh? Yes anal. Surprised you didn’t give a complete description of the term!
Personally, I would like Safari to open to my freaking Home page. It’s called a home page for a REASON.
Isn’t that a pref setting?
If you would like it to happen, why don’t you – ya know – make it happen? Not exactly rocket science.
This is the way it *should* work – the company who makes the operating system takes responsibility for its security. (And I mean *real* responsibility, not the half-baked me-too antivirus program Microsoft has for Windows.)
Google, of course, will continue to leave all responsibility for their Android OS (security, legal, etc.) in the hands of others. Sort of like giving birth to a child and leaving it on someone else’s doorstep.
Really? I quite like Security Essentials. It’s lightweight (for anti-virus) and I’ve never had any issues with it. I used to install AVG on everything, but now I recommend MSE.
+1, eaxactly the same.
“Google, of course, will continue to leave all responsibility for their Android OS (security, legal, etc.) in the hands of others. Sort of like giving birth to a child and leaving it on someone else’s doorstep.”
You know what makes little baby Android, don’t you?
So we will have to update it or not.Any updated version available on apple store or not
There is nothing for you to do. If your Mac is connected to the internet, the update will be downloaded and installed automatically, without you ever noticing anything. If it is not connected, it will be downloaded next time you connect it.
The only way you can know that the update took place is if you actually looked for the file XProtect.plist and checked its contents.
Given the place I work decided to reconfigure Software Update to use their own servers rather than Apple’s (in the interest of testing updates before letting users update themselves), I wonder if this can be done with the XProtect system as well. I hope not as that would be a *huge* security hole.