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Virus question

nytngale

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I have, what may be a relatively stupid question. Being relatively new to Apple products, save my iPod, I was wondering if there is something I should be doing to protect my iPad from potential virus threat. I received my iPad a little over a week ago and it has become my primary device for net surfing, videos, email, music and reading -love having everything in one device. My laptop is only used for work stuff now. The iPad doesn't appear to have any virus protection installed. Is this device at risk? Should I be doing something to protect it? I would go through some serious withdrawal if I had to give it up. TIA
 

Bremen

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In a word, no.

I have been online since 1984, used windows since 1994, never used virus protection, and never had a virus. I sure am not worried about it on the iPad.

If you even come across some snake oil salesman with iPad virus protection, I would run the other way.
 
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nytngale

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Thanks for the info - you have eased my mind. I have had one virus experience on my Windows machine despite virus protection which was most unpleasant. All the more reason to use my iPad as my primary device!
 

iVan

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There has been an iPod virus scare some time ago. I don't remember the gist of it though. I think it had more to do with hacking...
 

Seadog

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Virus protection on a PC is a must. On a Mac, the best protection is not doing stupid things. On the iPad, the odds are even less due to the limited OS and how much Apple restricts access to virus targeted programs like Flash and Acrobat.
 

Brad Groux

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That's why apple is awesome.

The lack of virus infections on Apples has less to do with Apple and more to do with their market share. Why would a virus maker write a virus that would only infect 10% of the hosts when they could write one that would infect 90% instead? Windows users are targeted because they are a huge demographic, many of which are easy targets because they are technologically inept. PC users that know what the hell they are doing are just as likely as Mac users at getting infected... meaning the chances are slim to none.
 

DavidNM

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That's why apple is awesome.

The lack of virus infections on Apples has less to do with Apple and more to do with their market share. Why would a virus maker write a virus that would only infect 10% of the hosts when they could write one that would infect 90% instead? Windows users are targeted because they are a huge demographic, many of which are easy targets because they are technologically inept. PC users that know what the hell they are doing are just as likely as Mac users at getting infected... meaning the chances are slim to none.

But if a virus maker knew that 90% of PC's had virus protection but 99.99% of Macs did not - why would they NOT write a virus program to infect a Mac? Your argument does not hold water!
 

CPMS

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There have been reports of virus's hitting iPhones that have been jail broken. I haven't really researched this as I have no intent on ever jail breaking my iPhone or iPad but it may be worth looking into if you are going to jailbreak your iPad and surf the net.
 

Seadog

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Apple would put more effort into virus protection, but it is not a problem enough for them to devote the resources that MicroSoft does to the problem. MS and vendors have a tendency to think in terms of corporation protection, which tends to be more orientated to tech support needs. Apple tries to plug holes with updates that are seamless. One of the reasons for the app store is that they can run the program through virus testing. Plus the vendors are registered with Apple. Hard to be an anonymous villain when they know where you live.
 

Arnz98

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I dont think you can download anything on the internet to your ipad, so the chances are slim to get a virus, apple just doesnt allow it. There is nowhere for your download to go, i.e. No folders to store it, nowhere to execute any programs either. All executables , or rather apps, must go through the app store or itunes, which are strictly reviewed by Apple.

I think if safety is paramount to you, the closed nature of apple is about as safe as you can get.
 

DavidNM

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You can move files to your iPad through iTunes. You can open up word and excel docs from the cloud through Office2HD. Also goodreader. You can create e-books and load them on your machine.

Apple products have historically been out of the virus loop. When we used to discuss which round of new equipment to buy we always got to that Virus v. Cost argument between Mac and PC. Unfortunately the tight-a$$ execs always won - save money=big bonus=let some poor peon take care of the virus problems
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Phantom

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Virus What Virus. There Is No Crazy Virus..... Seriously Mac's Uses Unix Type Background. The Only Possible Way You Could Get One Is Using a JailBreaked Program. And This Is Highly Unlikely This Would Happen. Now Windows On The Other Hand Well.........
 

Seadog

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Any software can be infected if someone wants to bad enough. Some hackers like the challenge, other are just malicious, many have ulterior motives. There is not the challenge in most home computers, Macs are not interconnected enough to attract most malicious creeps. The rest are out for the most bang for the shot.
 

Brad Groux

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But if a virus maker knew that 90% of PC's had virus protection but 99.99% of Macs did not - why would they NOT write a virus program to infect a Mac? Your argument does not hold water!

You're smoking some serious drugs if you think 90% of PC users are protected from viruses. Hell, there are tens of millions of people still using IE6, nearly a decade after it's launch! In the analytics for my blog I had three visitors running Windows 98 and IE5 just yesterday for Pete's sake. Microsoft has gone so far as to urge people to stop using a spoiled browser, it's that bad. As someone who has been in IT for the past 12 years and who has fixed far too many a friend or family member's PC because they didn't patch normally or use an AV solution I can tell you that the number of PC users that are proactive is probably about 20%. I have worked for some of the largest enterprise infrastructures in the world... I know this, because I live this.

Virus What Virus. There Is No Crazy Virus..... Seriously Mac's Uses Unix Type Background. The Only Possible Way You Could Get One Is Using a JailBreaked Program. And This Is Highly Unlikely This Would Happen. Now Windows On The Other Hand Well.........
Spoken like a true fan boy. Hackers are able to exploit Apple products all the time, what do you think jailbreaking is in the first place? They find a hole in the iPhone OS code and exploit it to get root access. That same exploit could be used by people other than modders if they really wanted to. There isn't a software system in the world that can't be exploited if enough hackers really cared enough to do it. Hackintoshes (PC computers running OSX) are another example of hackers exploiting holes in Apple's code.

Any software can be infected if someone wants to bad enough. Some hackers like the challenge, other are just malicious, many have ulterior motives. There is not the challenge in most home computers, Macs are not interconnected enough to attract most malicious creeps. The rest are out for the most bang for the shot.
Exactly on all accounts.
 

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