It just occurred to me today that using the iPad to view my email reduces the exposure of my PC to viruses.

I don't know whether there are any viruses that are targeted at iThings yet.

relax! there's no virus for the ipad yet.

Originally Posted by RAC

It just occurred to me today that using the iPad to view my email reduces the exposure of my PC to viruses.

I don't know whether there are any viruses that are targeted at iThings yet.

I definitely use the iPad to view questionable messages as I know they can not affect the iPad like it can a desktop.

I also use eleven Gmail accounts with a rule to flag messages with an attachment to be labled with a big red DANGEROUS so my wife an others will be cautioned not to blindly open them. My wife sees that on her incoming mail on the desktop and she immediately deletes it without opening it which I approve of.

Dangerous virus issues in Windows 7 is such a pain in the donkey to deal with, much less so on Mac Snow Leopard.

The iPad also does a fairly good job of protecting you from bogus web sites that use FLASH to compromise you desktop as we know FLASH simply does not work on the iPad.

Phishing is still an issue if you are dumb and do not recognize it. We got one a couple of days ago that looked like it came from Wachovia Bank but without using any information in the email or the web site it directed us to we immediately contacted Wachovia [Wells Fargo] account security by phone using a number from our own records not the email's and determined it to be false. Probably thousands subcummed to that one but we spotted the differences and danger by looking at it with the iPad after seeing its message header on the PC. This was a well done attack IMHO and I feel sorry for those it nailed. They may not even realize it yet.

Originally Posted by 4phun

I definitely use the iPad to view questionable messages as I know they can not affect the iPad like it can a desktop.

Thanks for the detailed information.

I got a virus on my iPad last night. I discovered that it had infected when I started receiving non-delivery messages. I don't believe my PC was on, but that is not clear. My wife had been using my PC earlier in the day, and left in the sleep mode on her own user partition. This virus was characterized by sending a brief 2-line message with a link to a Canadian drug firm selling something like Viagara to EVERY address in my address book. Has anyone else experienced this? Is there antivirus app for iPad?

Originally Posted by j0yful

relax! there's no virus for the ipad yet.

Well you can not say that about the Android! The current Android malware news is jaw stoping bad!

Mashable recommends taking you Android back if infected as you may never be able to trust it again once it has been rooted by the new malware - straight from Google's own 'safe' market place. You can not get rid of the crap!


IMHO the value of any Android has dropped now below zero as you couldn't pay me enough to buy one for personal use.

Sent from my iPad using iPF

Originally Posted by j0yful

relax! there's no virus for the ipad yet.

Glad to see the word "yet" in there. Those who assert that the iPad is virus proof cannot possibly substantiate that statement.

There's no saying what vulnerabilities diligent virus developers may find. It's a question of reward for effort. I think that Apple's Walled Garden raises the bar but you can never say never.

After having spent time this weekend cleaning my daughters computer of a nasty virus I can see why apple have gone with curation.
I have win7 and mac boxes here and the iPad in comparison is a joy to use. Minimal maintenance. Just works.

Originally Posted by SubAdmiral

I got a virus on my iPad last night. I discovered that it had infected when I started receiving non-delivery messages. I don't believe my PC was on, but that is not clear. My wife had been using my PC earlier in the day, and left in the sleep mode on her own user partition. This virus was characterized by sending a brief 2-line message with a link to a Canadian drug firm selling something like Viagara to EVERY address in my address book. Has anyone else experienced this? Is there antivirus app for iPad?

I had the same thing happen only through my iPhone or MacBook. I have never used a pc for my mail and those are the only 2 devices I've used. I'm guessing the problem isn't with an idevice, but with the mail account. My problems came from my hotmail account so I logged on from work and changed my password and notified hotmail. The "undeliverable" spam messages have since stopped.