Re: OS 10.4 on older computers

At 4:07 PM -0700 5/25/06, Ilan Eyman wrote:
>Finally, what is the current standard for antivirus and firewall
>programs for Mac? Right now we are running the Norton Personal
>Firewall and Antivirus 10 on the 10.3 machines, but have had some
>conflicts trying to run it on 10.4.

   The latest versions of both Norton AntiVirus for Macintosh (from
10.0 through 10.1) and Norton Personal Firewall for Macintosh (3.0.3)
are compatible with Mac OS X 10.4 on PowerPC-based Macs.

   The latest version of Norton AntiVirus for Macintosh (10.1) is also
compatible with Mac OS X 10.4 on Intel-based Macs. Symantec has -
somewhat stubbornly, in our view, as vociferously communicated to
that vendor - so far not committed to making a standalone installer
for 10.1, so you'll need to run Symantec's installer for version
10.0, then either run a version 10.1 updater or use LiveUpdate to
update the product to 10.1. On the interim Connecting@Berkeley 2006
r2 CD <http://cab.berkeley.edu>, just released, both the 10.0
installer and a 10.1 updater are automatically run in sequence.

   If you're experiencing any issues using these products on these
supported platforms, please let us know, either by posting them to
the MAGNet list or by sending them to Connecting@Berkeley consulting
at connecting@berkeley.edu.

   Norton Personal Firewall for Macintosh (all versions) is *not*
compatible with Intel-based Macs. Symantec's Macintosh product
manager has told us that the product will require a complete re-write
for Intel compatibility, and the company is still evaluating whether
it will choose to do so. He also told us they'll know more after
they have a chance to look at Mac OS X 10.5 ("Leopard") at Apple's
developers' conference in August 2006. If Symantec does decide to
rewrite Norton Personal Firewall, he suggested that the new product
may offer the option to apply firewall settings on a per-application
basis - similar to many Windows firewall products - rather than
(only) on a per-port basis.

   For now, the built-in firewall in Mac OS X (i.e. ipfw, with Apple's
"Sharing" system preferences pane as a basic configuration tool) is
what we're recommending for users of Intel-based Macs. The built-in
configuration interface in Mac OS X has some limitations, but is
likely adequate for many users.

   I don't have any specific recommendations for those who require
more extensive control over firewall configuration on Intel-based
Macs than is offered by the integral firewall configuration
interface. The option of configuring ipfw directly, or of using
another Unix-based firewall, is always available to true power users.
Among GUI products, Intego's NetBarrier is definitely one option to
explore <http://www.intego.com/netbarrier/>.

Aron Roberts
Workstation Software Support Group

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Received on Fri May 26 12:29:03 2006