Palm Anti-virus

[AE86Racer2K3]

My cousin, who works for Palm, recommends that I get an anti-virus software for my Clie. Is it really nessacary and if it is, is there a recommended one I download/buy?

[Joel]

I have never used an antivirus software for my PDAs. I'm curious why your cousin at Palm recommends one.

[AE86Racer2K3]

Originally posted by Joel
I have never used an antivirus software for my PDAs. I'm curious why your cousin at Palm recommends one.

He said that there are a few palm programs that come from the net that if installed can wipe your PDA clean and then destroy itself leaving no trace. He also recommends getting something called PC-Cillin for Palm by Trend Micro, whihc Ive never seen because I use PC-Cillin 2000 on my VAIO and Ive been to the Trend Micro site for patches and stuff

[lesliefranke]

There are really no virus that have infected Palm OS devices. I believe there have been a couple of trojan horses. The people who got these received them mostly from downloading cracked software from warez sites.

While there may be a need in the future I do not think one now exists. Anti-virus software for the Palm is really just cashing in on people's paranoia of virus. I would not bother with it.

[n4cr2k]

Symantec has had an antivirus product for handhelds for some time now. Here is the latest version.

http://www.symantecstore.com/dr/sat2/ec_MAIN.Entry17c?CID=48782&SID=27674&SP=10007&PN=5&PID=584410&DSP=&CUR=840&PGRP=0&CACHE_ID=48782

[ZekeSulastin]

There have been a grand total of THREE (count them (http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/auto/index/indexP.html), three, and they're old) viruses for the Palm OS, and two were actually trojans, one of which wasn't supposed to be released ... either way, if you dont deal with p1r4t3d w4r3z, you won't see any of the three.

If you buy a PalmOS antivirus, you'll be wasting your money and your PDA's resources. Your cousin needs to step out of his paranoia ...

[yorrick]

Until the PDA rivals the PC in connectivity (via email or network connections), the likelihood of viruses and stuff like that infecting your PDA and other PDAs is low.

Most likely a trojan horse that is loaded into the PDA.
My suggestion is to download from reputable sites (PalmGear or Handango for starters) and avoid warez sites since people can rename files etc.

Lastly, do backups regularly. It's sensible! :)

[hherbzilla]

Originally posted by ZekeSulastin
If you buy a PalmOS antivirus, you'll be wasting your money and your PDA's resources. Your cousin needs to step out of his paranoia ... Exactly. Get your software from trusted sources and not warez sites, and you'll be fine.

[jbarr]

<Stepping up on his soapbox>

I firmly believe that there NEVER would have been ANY virus threat on the PalmOS platform if it were not for the Anti-Virus companies promoting such a product. This was a market that simply NEVER existed and was created shearly out of fear and hype. Promoting such applications is doing nothing more than throwing down the gauntlet to would-be virus writers, challenging them to create viruses.

Are there malicious PalmOS apps out there? Absolutely, but in the entire history of the PalmOS, there have only been two or three documented programs that could be vaguely described as being remotely like viruses. And that is out of literally tens of thousands of apps! Sure, there are bad combinations of apps, and sure there are nasty warez apps that can screw you, but if you "stay clean" then you really have nothing to worry about. Your best bet is to stick with known apps and move along.

I don't typically go around wearing a foil hat, but simply put, I believe that this is an example of anti-virus companies creating an unnecessary market.

<Jumps off of soapbox and prepares to dodge flaming bullets...>

[n4cr2k]

I agree with what most people are saying, that currently palm OS antivirus is pretty useless. However, consider this. Back in the old days of computers, viruses weren't that plentiful. You may not of even ran antivirus software on your 286 windows 3.11 machine. You most likely got viruses from floppies. Now viruses are more prevelant than ever eventhough floppies are phased out for the most part. The reason. The Internet. Now with more and more palms coming out with built in Wi-Fi and bluetooth, allowing you to connect to the internet and have networking capabilities, might cause a rise in viruses in the handheld devices.

Just my two cents.

[yorrick]

In the bad old days of low MegaHertz PCs - the only way for virii to vector (be transmitted) was via floppy boot sector, FAT infection, attaching themselves to files or trajans.

The floppies may have faded into obsolescence but virii have multiplied since they have been sent through email, macros and so on - in other words, there was a more common means of data interchange that malicious damage could be exploited and dispersed.

The problem with PDAs is that it is an endpoint of exchange of data (ie. it rarely sends data back to the host - such as appointments etc) and does not share files or have any common form of PDA to PDA distribution (unless you count Wifi or IR beaming!), so even if you infect a PDA, it is not spread around.

Will there be more viruses on PDAs?
Perhaps - and yes if PDAs can ever rival file sharing and distribution as PCs.

Are anti-virus programs a paranioa of anti-virus makers?
In my opinion - yes. You would be reading a lot more about viruses/virii incidents on ClieSource, PDA 24/7, Brighthand, PalmInforcenter and other big PDA sites.

In the end, it is relying on trusted sources/sites for your software. Silly if you don't! :)

[AE86Racer2K3]

Thank you for all your input into this decision...

I guess i wont dish out the time and money into buying the Anti-Virus software if there is no need for it right now.

I also agree that it sounded odd to get Anti-Virus for something that didnt need it, but I wasnt quite sure

Thanks again

[fssia]

Originally posted by ZekeSulastin
There have been a grand total of THREE (count them (http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/auto/index/indexP.html), three, and they're old) viruses for the Palm OS, and two were actually trojans, one of which wasn't supposed to be released ... either way, if you dont deal with p1r4t3d w4r3z, you won't see any of the three.


Zeke, if u dun mind me asking, what is a "p1r4t3d w4r3z"? :confused:

Many thanks to you all for the valuable opinions and thank you AE86Racer2K3 for posting this question. I am one of the paranoid type. I think I didn't download the Norton Palm Antivirus cuz I couldn't find a link to download it. Now I am glad I didn't and that I forgot all abt it. :p

[hherbzilla]

Originally posted by fssia
what is a "p1r4t3d w4r3z"?
pirated warez (pirated software)

[fssia]

Oic. Silly me. :p