PC ..... and viruses

[Rachel Scand]

OK
Those of you who know me will realise that I am a bit of a technophobe and I am only Mac orientated.

Recently, I was forced to use a PC and whilst endeavouring to download a 'thing' so I might type a letter, the PC got some bug/virus.

I have bought an iPad to tide me over until my iMac is repaired.

BiG question ... I have some personal photographs and small videos on the PC and might like to look at them.

Will it be safe for me to look at them ?
Is the only problem with this bug/virus to do with going on the Internet ?

If I don't use Firefox (browser) is it safe ?

[Anne in Carlisle]

How do you know the PC has something? Has the anti virus program isolated it? If not, run the anti virus scan and see what it picks up.

If you do have a bug, and the AV cannot deal with it, then it doesn't make any difference whether you are on the internet or not ..... its new home is your PC. What it does might vary from nuicance to major interference depending on exactly what you have caught.
Anne

[Rachel Scand]

Oh ... So it would not be safe to look at my photos ?
Something awful could happen? I could get hacked ?

[Stacky]

Use your anti virus program to look for you. If you haven't got one on this computer AVG is a free one you can download and is very user friendly.

[Guy]

First before considering your PC question it is alarming that you do not realise that your Mac is at risk from virus attack. I would suggest you search Google for "antivirus programmes for Macs".

Viruses come in all forms and may have a number of out comes. Some are harmless but annoying and may only display a short message on your screen. Others are more dangerous and may delete or change files.
Some may send mail shots to people on your mail lists etc etc.

Anyone with a computer of any type should install antivirus software; in addition that software must be kept up to date as new viruses are being developed all the time.
It is also important that when browsing the internet you use common sense and are wary of emails from strangers and don't open any documents or files including photos from people you do not know.
It is also advisable to run a malware detection program alongside your virus scanner.

It is a sad fact of life that the people who create or adapt viruses depend on less technically minded people to unintentionally distribute their viruses amongst their network of friends.

Cheers
Guy

[Rachel Scand]

I do have an anti virus protection thingie on the Mac

Can not get my Photoshop back ... *spits lots*

[col48]

If you haven't given up, it may be worth getting a specialist in.... Sometimes it may be possible to recover the data from another computer by treating the disk as an external disk - perhaps especially if that machine is running a different OS (eg Mac or Linux for a Windows machine). A specialist may have tools which ordinary users would not have, and should be able to deal with the virus problem as well.

Perhaps the lesson is to keep backups? That reminds me....

[Rachel Scand]

Update

Having tried everything, countless times, my friend decided that the best option would be to buy another iMac (used and with an older OS) and he'll bung Photoshop on there.
The problem would seem to be with Yosemite and Adobe have been of no help whatsoever.

Found a 24 inch iMac on ebay and it arrived at friend's house yesterday

[Stacky]

Best of luck.

[Rachel Scand]

Best of luck.

Lol Peter ... he got it from Germany and guess what :p

Its stuff is in GERMAN !!!

[Stacky]

Oh dear. Vorsprung durch Technik !

[Rachel Scand]

Oh dear. Vorsprung durch Technik !

Very likely

Himmel !!!