PhotoBucket freezes up Mac...huh?/ anti-virus

[Chills1994]

Hi all,

Yeah, I was just uploading photos to my photobucket account. After the first upload, when the video advertisement played, then everything froze up. I am using Safari still.

So I tried to shut everything down, but because Safari wouldn't quit. I ended up just keeping my finger pressed down on the power button.

Then I restarted the computer. Went to photobucket again, uploaded another pic, then it froze up again. Again, I shut it down.

Have you guys on Macs just lately experienced the same problem with photobucket?

Are you guys running anything for anti-spyware, anti-malware, virus protection?

Thanks!

[wgnoyes]

I use Safari 90% of the time, but also have Firefox for those websites that give me problems. Download that and try it again. (This is a guess only; I don't use photobucket.)

I also don't run any AV. None is really needed on a unix-based system, which is what OS X is built on. Simple advice: don't browse to questionable sites, download questionable things, or click on links contained within spam.

[Chills1994]

I didn't.

(shrugs shoulders)

I thought I have been luck the past couple of months that my pics have been able to upload before the video advertisement plays. But not yesterday. And once it played I was stuck.

So I cam in here to look for the Mac equivalent of ctrl+alt+del .

I figured while I was here I might as well ask if anyone else is having problems with photobucket.

Thanks for the reply!

[wgnoyes]

command-option-esc (hold those 3 down) will bring up a list from which you select to force-quit the application of your choice.

[raz-0]

I use Safari 90% of the time, but also have Firefox for those websites that give me problems. Download that and try it again. (This is a guess only; I don't use photobucket.)

I also don't run any AV. None is really needed on a unix-based system, which is what OS X is built on. Simple advice: don't browse to questionable sites, download questionable things, or click on links contained within spam.

Wow that's bad advice. If you can get shell, you can get root. If you open something up in a browser, you have effectively given it shell. Claiming you can avoid malicious content through moral superiority (don't look at those naughty sites now) is wishful thinking. The trustability of a given website boils down to how well their advertising network screens ad submissions and how well they lock down the comments section of anything. If you have a check that cashes, the ad networks aren't all that picky about hidden malicious content until people start complaining. OS X IS vulnerable, and there are active exploits out in the wild.

For the OP, it's probably benign, lost of people are having issues with flash based video causing freezes.

Edited December 15, 2011 by raz-0

[wgnoyes]

"Wow".

Okay, since it's such "bad advice", what do you run for AV/malware/spyware?

And please list the OS X vulnerabilities and exploits in order of most serious to least serious, along with related solutions.

And how do you get root from shell/terminal without supplying a root-level userid and password through su or sudo?

I've only had Apple since May, so I admit there's stuff I may not know. But I'm a little put off by the superior tone.

Awaiting reply in non-root mode.

Oh, and somewhere else today: http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=141833&view=findpost&p=1593780

Edited December 16, 2011 by wgnoyes

[Jon Merricks]

Keep it nice fellas. No need to get into a contest to see who has the biggest RAM.

[wgnoyes]

I agree, of course.

[Jon Merricks]

thanks Bill

[raz-0]

<br />"Wow".<br />

<br />

Okay, since it's such "bad advice", what do <u><b>you</b></u> run for AV/malware/spyware? <br />

<br />

And please list the OS X vulnerabilities and exploits in order of most serious to least serious, along with related solutions. <br />

<br />

And how do you get root from shell/terminal without supplying a root-level userid and password through su or sudo?<br />

<br />

I've only had Apple since May, so I admit there's stuff I may not know. But I'm a little put off by the superior tone.<br />

<br />

Awaiting reply in non-root mode.<br />

<br />

Oh, and somewhere else today: <a href='http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=141833&view=findpost&p=1593780' class='bbc_url' title=''>http://www.brianenos...dpost&p=1593780</a><br />

<br /><br /><br />

For all platforms, I lock down scripting on my browsers, run ad blocking software, and disallow flash without the URL being on my whitelist.

There is no good av for Mac. On windows I currently use Microsoft security essentials. It's decent, maintained, low overhead, and free. I combine it with malware scanners and rootkit scanners.

I'm not going to list os x vulnerabilities. Like every OS it's a moving target you can build a career around if you want to get into the details and stay on top of every change. Lion fixes a lot of the exploits, but that's just for now. There will be more.

How you get root can vary, but usually through an exploitable hole in an existing piece of code that you already run that has elevated privileges to begin with. Every part of your browser gets attacked a lot, as well as popular plug ins, drivers, and core os components. Every single unix implementation has root exploit flaws. That's my point osx is not special.

Apple is currently the number one pc manufacturer. Windows isn't full if security problems because ms is incompetent, it's full of problems because like all OSes it is incredibly complex. It has a lot of exploits because it is popular. Osx has problems too, it just doesn't have as many exploits because it hadn't been popular. Now that it is x86 architecture underneath, there are many scripts and bot code bases in the wild that have compile options for osx in the base distribution.

Security through obscurity isn't going to last if you are the #1 pc maker. Sure for right now, you have less hassles with the idiots who want to show the world how clever a jerk they can be. They want the biggest audience, and Mac isn't it right now. But for the pro who makes money with a botnet, they aren't leaving money on the table. Without a scanner catching them, or scrupulously monitoring your network traffic, you won't notice being compromised because they want to be low key so they can keep on using your system to make money.

[wgnoyes]

Anyone tell Tim Cook Apple is the number 1 pc maker? I don't think they know yet. (Number one?! In quality, yes. But not in market share.)

MSE is a good free solution, I found it too a few years back. At my windows-server-driven office, we run Symantec Endpoint Security, which pushes and manages AV to all the connected machines there. I don't stack multiple security packages on a given machine. (AV and malware and something else.) Every machine I've seen doing that is so bogged down with multiple programs hammering on the same things as to become unusable and unstable. Pick ONE good package that has it all in it and run that.

And OS X IS special; it's why I went to it. At my age, I want something that "just works", and apple does that. No operating system issues since my first MBP in May. Windows with its DLL hell and driver issues will NEVER be able to make any such claims. The difference is that on windows, unless you go out of your way to create a user-level account, runs everything at administrator level. It's heritage is MS-DOS; there wasn't any such thing as security or viruses then. Unix had real data security from day one. That's why it resists most everything bad.

[Nik Habicht]

Anyone tell Tim Cook Apple is the number 1 pc maker? I don't think they know yet. (Number one?! In quality, yes. But not in market share.)

Matt may be a little early, but Forbes annd other media outlets have been reporting that research firm Canalys is predicting that Apple will overtake HP as the number one (quantity) device maker in mid-2012, once the iPad 3 is available.....

[wgnoyes]

Well, he said "PC" specifically, so that's what I meant. PC's only, nope, not yet. Information devices, including tablets and phones, oh yes, very likely indeed. That's a large reason why Steve Jobs announced at the end of the Macworld 2007 keynote presentation (first iPhone) that the company name was changing from Apple Computer, Inc., to Apple, Inc. The Mac hasn't been the main profit center for Apple for a long time.

Edited December 17, 2011 by wgnoyes

[raz-0]

<br />Anyone tell Tim Cook Apple is the number 1 pc maker? I don't think they know yet. (Number one?! In quality, yes. But not in market share.)<br />

<br />

MSE is a good free solution, I found it too a few years back. At my windows-server-driven office, we run Symantec Endpoint Security, which pushes and manages AV to all the connected machines there. I don't stack multiple security packages on a given machine. (AV and malware and something else.) Every machine I've seen doing that is so bogged down with multiple programs hammering on the same things as to become unusable and unstable. Pick ONE good package that has it all in it and run that. <br />

<br />

And OS X IS special; it's why I went to it. At my age, I want something that "just works", and apple does that. No operating system issues since my first MBP in May. Windows with its DLL hell and driver issues will NEVER be able to make any such claims. The difference is that on windows, unless you go out of your way to create a user-level account, runs everything at administrator level. It's heritage is MS-DOS; there wasn't any such thing as security or viruses then. Unix had real data security from day one. That's why it resists most everything bad.<br />

<br /><br /><br />

I don't run multiple real time scanners, mse gets that job, the other scanners are on demand.

Unix systems get compromised ALL the time. And windows is not ms-dos based. All current flavors are based off the NT fork, which is derived from VMS.

And no driver hell? They don't call them the same things, but unix has the equivalent of device drivers. In fact I'll bet that that's why the op has flash video issues. Probably has an nvidia card they had some driver issues with video in certain revisions of the driver even under windows. That driver version was around when lion hit, and lots of people started having flash based video problems there too.

I find it odd that your hatred of windows is based on long time dissatisfaction, but you are prepared to call osx special and problem free after half a year of use.

[wgnoyes]

Ignored.

I'm not getting into a p@#$ing contest with you over windows v. apple. I already told Jon I wouldn't. in fact, the original starter of this topic has probably long since left, and I don't know if he got his answer or not. I hope he did. (command-option-esc brings up a list from which you can select the application you wish to force out of the system. Additionally, command-control-eject forces an immediate shutdown and restart. That's the closest thing to ctl-alt-delete I can find. And try firefox for photobucket.)

(I found I had an old photobucket account myself. I just now uploaded 6 pictures with safari, it did fine. Maybe check to make sure you've got all your latest maintenance installed. I'm running OS X Lion 10.7.2)

Therefore, I recommend to the moderator that this topic be closed, as nothing of further use or value seems to be coming from it.

Edited December 19, 2011 by wgnoyes