For Mac users..?

Question

I think that my iBook G4 is running a bit slower. I bought it 7 months ago. I think that it has a virus or something. I dont have any software or antivirus installed.

Do Macs get viruses? Or spyware?
What should I do?
What software should I install?
Where will I get that software?
Please help me. Thanks

Answer 1

Apple laptops cannot get a virus or have spyware. You might notice your computer running slow if you don't have a lot of RAM. Go to the Blue Apple in the top left corner and from that menu choose About this Mac... Check to see how much RAM you have. Anything under 512 MB will make your computer seem like it's running very slow.
I suggest adding more RAM (you can do this yourself easily) and making sure you have ll updates from Apple installed.

Answer 2

Be wary of anyone who says "always" or "never". It is possible to get a virus, worm or Trojan horse on a Mac but the bad software must be designed specifically for the Mac system. Most virus making bad guys don't want to take the time to do that. I would not worry about it just yet.

Defragging ia almost always a waste of time on any Mac as a fragmented hard drive doesn't usually slow down any Mac except for those in Hollywood using with Final Cut Pro program for movie editing.

Fist thing to consider is when and where does it seems slow? On the Internet? When using Word? When saving files? When using Windows XP? Or just slow starting up? If it is slow overall, try making a "test" account (be sure to choose to "allow user to administer the computer") and login to it. That will tell you if there is something wacky about your account files. Link below gives guidance.

If both your account and the "test" account are slow, boot to the Mac OS X DVD that came with the computer and click on the Installer menu to choose "Open Disk Utility". Then choose to repair the drive. Don't choose to "Repair Disk Permissions" as that is a last resort and is not a very accurate part of the program.

If, however, the "test" account is noticably faster than your original account, you should troubleshoot your original account. For my time and money, I just log into a test account and delete my original account (you should have burned a backup CD of important files first). Then, after restarting and logging into the test account again, I make a new account of exactly the same user name and "short name" as my original account. Then I can drag files from the disk image of my deleted account into the new account but do this a bit at a time to see what files make it go back to being slow. Link below for guidance.

After that, if it is still slow, take the computer to an Apple retail store "Genius Bar".

Answer 3

Macs are immune to both viruses and spyware, because these are .exe (executable) files which a Mac cannot process. Some Mac dealers even tell you not to bother purchasing anti-virus software. I've been using Macs/Apples since 1984 (yipes!) (er - they weren't on line then, sorry) and never been infected.

Offhand, the only reason I can think of that your Mac might be running slower is that you've used it so much that it needs de-fragging. But I use mine constantly and haven't noticed a change, so I'm skeptical. Try going to Mac.com (I think) where there are forums that answer questions like yours. Or check with the place where you bought it.

Jeez, I haven't been much help. Are you sure it's not just in your head, now that you've gotten used to it?

Answer 4

Can you state what seems slower about it specifically? Generally Mac viruses are hard to come by. They're not heavily targeted yet. Spyware, some, yes.

In your Applications folder, Utilities, Terminal application, type the command "top" (without the quotes) and you can see what the top resource using programs are. Ctrl-C to stop 'top' or Option-C.

Answer 5

Working with a slow computer can be time consuming as programs/ applications take a long time to start. This problem is more pronounced in computers which have been used for 6 or more months. More information at http://fixit.in/slowcomputer.html