can the mac powerbook g3 be affected by a virus?

Question

My mac is running very slow and often times I have to wait a few secs before words I type down even show up on the screen.
We can not open up some files for some unknown reason and I used to be able to open up yahoo games now I can't even do that.
Also we have had firefox close the windows all by itself and say that none of the files have been affected but does not give a reason why it closed itself down.
Is there a way to have this fixed?

Answer 1

you won't hardly any viruses for macs. no one hates steve jobs like they do bill gates

Answer 2

The short answer is yes. It can be affected by a virus. All operating systems can.

Is a virus the problem? Probably not.

I'm guessing that you have Mac OS X installed on that computer. OS X automatically does system cleanups and maintenance in Mac OS X. However, over time a lot of things can bog the system down. Try repairing the disk permissions using Disk Utility. Disk Utility is located in the Applications folder in a folder called Utilities. It's pretty straight forward once you open it. Another thing you can do is download a neat application called Onyx. You can find it here: http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs2/english/download.html

It's really cool. Once you run Onyx your system will be slow. Over time it will become faster (maybe like 10-15 minutes of using it). Also, if you're running the latest version of Mac OS X on it, this could be the cause of a slowdown also. Since your computer is old Mac OS X does not perform well on it. If these suggestions don't work, I would say reinstall the OS. THIS IS A LAST RESORT. Usually repairing disk permissions makes the machine run faster. Hope this helped and please feel free to contact me should you still have problems. Good luck!

Answer 3

Take stock of what's happening. So far you have only said "typing is slow, can't open some files, can't open Yahoo Games, Firefox closes the windows". Some important things you haven't said, and should say, are:
* What version of the operating system? 8.1? 9.2? 10.2? 10.4?
* What application has slow typing?
* What type of files fail to open? What message appears when they fail to open?
* What message is seen in Yahoo Games?
* Do you have a SCSI cable attached? Shutdown and disconnect that cable (at the point where it connects to the PowerBook).

If you have OS 9 or older, open Disk FirstAid. Choose the hard drive. Click to repair. It will ask if you want to continue. Continue. Does it find problems? There you go, problems need to be fixed.

If you have OS X, boot to the OS X install CD but don't install anything. Click on the "Installer" menu (could be "Utilities" menu) and choose to open Disk Utility. Don't repair permissions. Choose to repair the hard drive. Does it find problems? There you go, problems need to be fixed.

If no problems were found, try disconnecting the Internet and any other network cable and open TextEdit (or if system 8 or 9, open SimpleText). Now test the typing. If it is still slow, could be bad RAM or bad hard drive.

Answer 4

i have self belief it really is an excellent purchase! yet what are you getting? Is it a Lombard or Pismo? that's probably a Wallstreet. i won't be able to be too effective as Im no longer the single finding out to purchase it yet a Wallstreet is nice. yet no matter if that's, do no longer ignore that it has NO USB PORTS, or Firewire! It has SCSI in case you may connect your digicam by SCSI lol. besides, the OS can only be put in as a lot as Jaguar, 10.2, and immediately there is 10.5! it ought to probably contain Mac OS 9 put in, meaning there'll be no broswers that ought to play Youtube video clips or exhibit more recent pages proper. there is not any on the spot information superhighway or card to position in for this. And it ought to probably be resembling a Pentium 2. yet no matter if that's a Lombard or PIsmo, that's an fairly large purchase! it ought to have probably OS X put in, the Lombard can bypass as a lot as Panther and the Pismo can bypass as a lot as Tiger! they're going to be fantastically quick offered there is sufficient RAM put in. The Psimo is the only one with FireWire ports too. and they could have an Airport card put in, yet in many circumstances you'll ahve to purchase one and positioned it in youself. They value round $80 for the cardboard on eBay and are problem-free to position in. they're slower than Airport extreme, so except you do record copying, it isnt too undesirable. And the cardboard is only 802.11b, so some routers might want to be configured to help it. in the adventure that your position on the spot router at homestead is Linksys, you need to substitute a placing to get on the spot information superhighway broadcasted to the PowerBook. there is present day browsers, yet youtube video clips will play slower with jittering video even on quick information superhighway. The Lombard and Pismo are resembling a Pwntium 3. yet nonetheless large buys! i'm no longer bashing Macs or something, in reality i respect Macs, yet Im only asserting you're disspointed with the performance of an older G3. in addition they weigh better. A hyperlink to the eBay web page should be large! only upload information and positioned the hyperlink to the conventional public sale. i wish this facilitates!

Answer 5

can the mac powerbook g3 be affected by a virus? yes, although the chances are very low. did you check your internet connection? this slowness you experience may be caused by it. =)

Answer 6

Maybe you just need to run maintenance on it. Is your Hard drive getting full? OS X needs at least 15% free hard drive space to run smoothly. Upgrade your RAM.
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=2004011205473937
http://forums.osxfaq.com/viewtopic.php?t=7269
http://thexlab.com/faqs/faqs.html