Is your Mac behaving strangely? Are you a .Mac member with Virex 7.5.1 installed? If so, then getting this bug-ridden software off of your system may solve your problems...
Be warned: do NOT install Virex 7.5.1!
Case 1: The Misbehaving Modem
A friend with a new 12" G4 iBook was using the built-in modem to access a university e-mail account. Was... until Virex 7.5.1 was installed. Not only did it prevent the modem from initializing, but it caused the Network Preferences "Assist Me" wizard to hang. Un-installing Virex restored Internet access. I have since discovered others have been experiencing similar issues.
Case 2: Missing the Missing Sync
After "upgrading" from Virex 7.2.1 to 7.5.1 on my own machine, Missing Sync no longer functioned reliably. If I pushed the Hotsync button on the Palm cradle nothing happened; if I clicked directly on the Missing Sync icon in the dock it bounced a couple of times but failed to open. Un-installing Virex restored hotsync capability.
Update 05.01.05: The following e-mail was sent to me by Apple.
From: DotMacSupport@apple.com
Subject: Re: Virex; Follow-up: 6717533
Date: 5 January 2005 23:13:50 GMT
To: Bruce McKenzieDear Bruce,
We apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced with this issue.
Due to customer feedback such as yours we have made Virex 7.2.1 available for download again. Virex 7.2.1 and Virex 7.5.1 can be downloaded from the .Mac website http://www.mac.com/WebObjects/Tools.woa?destination=antivirusdownload&lang=en&cty=US
We will continue to offer both versions of the software in an effort to satisfy the needs of our customers.
We advise that you fully remove Virex 7.5.1 prior to installing Virex 7.2.1. To remove Virex 7.5.1, follow these instructions:
1. Open the Virex_7.5.1.dmg file, if you have delete this file, please download a new copy from http://www.mac.com/WebObjects/Tools.woa?destination=antivirusdownload&lang=en&cty=US
2. To uninstall Virex 7.5.1, do the following:
- Double-click the Virex Uninstall Command icon.
- This will open the Apple Terminal application located in the Applications / Utilities folder.
3. Enter your Administrator password and press Return
Note: It's normal for the password characters you are entering not to appear; this is a security feature. Enter your correct Administrator password and then press return to enter your password.
4. When the script is finished running, the following text will appear:
'Virex 7 has been removed from your system. You may now close this Terminal window.'
5. Quit Terminal. Virex is now removed from your system.
Correctly completing these steps will remove Virex from your system. After removing Virex, please use the Mac OS X Disk Utility application to repair the hard disk itself and then repair permissions. After you have repaired the hard disk and volume permissions feel free to install either Virex 7.2.1 or Virex 7.5.1.
You may wish to refer to the following knowledge base articles for assistance with troubleshooting Mac OS X with Disk Utility:
Using Disk Utility and fsck for file system maintenance in Mac OS X:
http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n106214
About Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions feature (Mac OS X 10.2, 10.3):
http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n25751
Sincerely,
The .Mac Support Team
Update 02.05.05: The .Mac homepage indicates that Virex is not compatible with Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger", which is apparently confirmed here. Apple presumably expect .Mac users to be satisfied with e-mail only protection!
All email messages sent to your Mac.com email address are automatically scanned by the mail server for viruses. If the mail server detects a virus, the virus is deleted before it reaches your Mac. Although the Macintosh operating system is not affected by most viruses, the mail server detection process also targets Microsoft Windows-based viruses. Even if one of these Windows-based viruses were to reach your computer, because you're using a Mac, you will not inadvertently pass it along to a friend whose computer may be vulnerable to it.
Although there are currently no known Mac OS X viruses, you could still (via the web) download and pass on a PC virus.
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I installed 7.5 on my wife's blueberry iBook and then I had to fsck in order to boot after restart. Daily kernel panics then followed: "You must restart your computer" - uninstalled Virex and everything is working fine now!