Dear all,

Sorry to bother you all with my inadequate mac knowledge but I really do need to pick someones brain. I noticed my Norton anti-virus subscription has expired on my Mac OSX. Apparently I must buy a new subscription key. However as I am a destitute student, I have only a few pennies to feed myself let alone purchase software. Where am I to find a subscription key code? I would be grateful for any pointers in the right direction.

Yours Sincerely,

Trampy student of a
creative persuasion

Dani AI

Generated

Brief expert summary: the thread actually describes two separate problems — an expired Norton subscription and a G5 iMac that’s running hot and crashing. The Norton detection in Word files points toward document-borne macro or attachment infections (often introduced on shared/university machines) rather than a mysterious Mac-only rootkit. Suspicious documents should be isolated (move to a quarantined folder or external drive), not opened with macros enabled, and scanned from a separate, up-to-date scanner or a Windows VM before being opened.

Practical troubleshooting for fan noise and crashes: use Activity Monitor to spot top CPU and memory consumers (Spotlight indexing processes, P2P clients, Java or browser plugins often show up). Boot into Safe Mode and test a new user account to see whether the problem is system-wide or user-specific. Inspect Console crash reports/kernel panic logs for repeat offenders (kexts or apps). Run Disk Utility First Aid (or Repair Permissions on older OS X) and check the drive’s S.M.A.R.T. status. Run the model-appropriate Apple Hardware Test/Diagnostics to rule out failing components. Note: ’s SMC advice applies to Intel Macs; PowerPC G5 machines use different firmware/power-management routines, so follow model-specific firmware/PMU guidance for that hardware.

Antivirus and scanning options: campus licensing can be the cheapest route (as and suggested). For occasional checks, on-demand scanners and lightweight tools (for example, Malwarebytes for Mac) complement good system hygiene. When exchanging files with Windows hosts, scan those documents from a Windows environment to catch Windows-targeted macro malware.

Quick action checklist:

  1. Back up important data.
  2. Quarantine suspicious files.
  3. Check Activity Monitor and stop runaway apps.
  4. Boot Safe Mode / create a new user for testing.
  5. Run Disk Utility First Aid and hardware diagnostics.
  6. If unsure, involve university IT for scans and campus-licensed AV.

Good points from about Spotlight and from about disk checks have been folded into the above troubleshooting flow.

Recommended Answers

All 14 Replies

Sorry, subscription keys cost money, and if you find one, it's either already used by someone else, or it's illegal. The money you pay is for Norton continually releasing updates to protect you against the latest viruses.

My advice: Norton Antivirus will continue to function, even without a subscrption. It won't stay updated, true, but with the amount of Mac viruses out there these days, it's hardly worth the subscription. And as long as you aren't doing anything stupid (such as downloading random files from unknown sites), you shouldn't get yourself in trouble.

Hope this helps

You don't need AV on Mac OSX.

To install software you have to enter a password. So long as you think before putting your password in the little box your computer will be safe.

Sorry, subscription keys cost money, and if you find one, it's either already used by someone else, or it's illegal. The money you pay is for Norton continually releasing updates to protect you against the latest viruses.

My advice: Norton Antivirus will continue to function, even without a subscrption. It won't stay updated, true, but with the amount of Mac viruses out there these days, it's hardly worth the subscription. And as long as you aren't doing anything stupid (such as downloading random files from unknown sites), you shouldn't get yourself in trouble.

Hope this helps

Righteo. I know viruses are very rare on mac OSX but lately I have been experiencing problems. Sometimes the fan will be running really fast & loud like there's no tomorrow when I'm not doing anything particularly amazing, just browsing the net. It never used to do that.

Normally the mac switches the fan on when I'm using my software programme (In Design, Illustrator, Photoshop) I thought perhaps I had some kind of bug messing interfering. I've noticed that it has crashed a few times too, something it's never done before. I wondered whether it may have something to do with downloading music files from Limewire but I don't think it should as I'm notified if I'm downloading a corrupt file.

what sort of mac is it?

there are known problems with iMac and Macbook fans
also there suopposed to come on during cpu intensive apps like photoshop to keep it cool

Make sure you keep your Mac updated with the latest SMC and firmware updates. As jbennet pointed out, many of the Mac models have fan problems.

Also, don't use Limewire to download music. ;) It's illegal, and a lot of viruses (on Windows, at least) can be had from downloading stuff. So don't take your chances.

How long have you gone without a reinstall? Macs, like any other computer, need a reformat/reinstallation every once-in-a-while. If you'll forgive the biased-ness of this, you may want to check out this:
http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/thread54207.html

Righteo. I know viruses are very rare on mac OSX but lately I have been experiencing problems. Sometimes the fan will be running really fast & loud like there's no tomorrow when I'm not doing anything particularly amazing, just browsing the net. It never used to do that.

Normally the mac switches the fan on when I'm using my software programme (In Design, Illustrator, Photoshop) I thought perhaps I had some kind of bug messing interfering. I've noticed that it has crashed a few times too, something it's never done before. I wondered whether it may have something to do with downloading music files from Limewire but I don't think it should as I'm notified if I'm downloading a corrupt file.

If you're on Tiger it could be spotlight indexing in the background (I get that with beagle on linux from time to time).

If its Limewire thats slowing stuff down (could well be, the win version was infested with spyware nasties) I recommend tomato torrent. Low resouce usage and nice and simple. From what I remember Limewire was kind of crappy on Windows (but been a good few years since I used it)

what sort of mac is it?

there are known problems with iMac and Macbook fans
also there suopposed to come on during cpu intensive apps like photoshop to keep it cool

A G5 iMac OSX Panther

Make sure you keep your Mac updated with the latest SMC and firmware updates. As jbennet pointed out, many of the Mac models have fan problems.

Also, don't use Limewire to download music. ;) It's illegal, and a lot of viruses (on Windows, at least) can be had from downloading stuff. So don't take your chances.

How long have you gone without a reinstall? Macs, like any other computer, need a reformat/reinstallation every once-in-a-while. If you'll forgive the biased-ness of this, you may want to check out this:
http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/thread54207.html

What's SMC? Yes I do keep it updated with the various software updates.

As for Limewire, hmm I'm not sure whether I can stop downloading completely! I need my muzic! Actually my Mac seems to be ok now, I ran Norton, it found some kind of strain virus on two of my word documents, it's found them before. It comes from the computers in my uni funnily enough.

Thank you all for your wise words of internet jargon.

What's SMC? Yes I do keep it updated with the various software updates.

I'm not completely sure - it's got something to do with the EFI and booting and stuff. I doubt you lack an update, since the SMC updates are downloaded via Software Update, but here's the latest one I think:

I was in a similar situation a few months back (also a student). It's worth seeing if your university offers any kind of technical support to students, or even better if you can get small grants from student services. That's how I payed for my new subscription key.
Just plan a good way of justifying it to them!

yeah, college gets me a lcience for mcaffee enterprise client ed. for like a tenner as they dont want us putting viruses on the network with VPN

When Norton expires, it stops *ALL* protection. Not just "no new virus definitions".
It continues to run forever... but only to display the constant annoying "you should update" pop ups.

It's a rip off.

commented: 5 year old thread. Start a new one if you have something to say... -2


It's a rip off.

How is that a rip off? If somebody stops paying me, I stop working.
Wouldn't you? :)

commented: I know you didn't resurrect this thread, but posting on it just encourages people to bring back threads from ancient history (2007). -2

Well you could always use ClamXAv if you are really worried.

http://www.clamxav.com/

It is free and will detect a large number of virus'. I find it is really only an issue if I am downloading .exe's for my virtualized version of windows / boot camp. Even then there is no effect on OSX.

Before it was mentioned that fans were coming on and system was running slow. I would say that is more likely your system overheating and causing poor performance. Run disk utility and repair your system permissions. That fixes most problems. You could also be experiencing a SMART disk failure on your hard-drive or at least be heading that way, or even have a bad or miss matched ram dimm. It is very unlikely you have a virus unless you gave a program your root password and basically installed it yourself.

commented: 5 year old thread. -2
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