Iowa State University IT

Installing McAfee Virex for Macintosh

published by the ISU Solution Center

Handout MVT 291 March 2006

Compared to Windows users, Macintosh owners have relatively few viruses to worry about. Estimates of the number of Macintosh-specific viruses range somewhere between 40 and a maximum of 100, and nearly all of those only attack Mac OS versions earlier than Mac OS X. Originally it was more difficult to write viruses for Macintoshes than PCs. Now we suspect that Macs are simply a less interesting target to virus writers than the more common Windows machines.

If you use Microsoft Office for the Macintosh, you also expose your Mac to the same macro viruses that can infect Microsoft Office documents on Windows machines. That gives you a number of potential virsues somewhere in the thousands. However, many of the payloads and mechanisms for spreading viruses that work on the Windows version of Office don't work on the Mac. The virus may not damage your Macintosh, but you can still pass it along to a Windows user that will be susceptible to it.

Iowa State University has purchased a site license for the McAfee Virex anti-virus software for Macintosh. The current Virex for Mac OS X is version 7.7 and the system requirements are as follows:

Installing Virex 7.7 for Mac OS X

  1. Download Virex from the IT Services site-licensed software server at: https://www.sitelicensed.iastate.edu/software/macos/virex/
    You'll be asked to enter your Iowa State Net-ID and password. Click on the link in the Download column for the version of Virex you need.
  2. Open the disk image you downloaded by double-clicking on its icon. You'll be asked to agree to the Virex site license.
  3. Double-click on the icon named Virex.pkg and follow the directions.

Once you've installed Virex, you can delete the disk image file you downloaded.

Using the ISU Update Repository

Virex, as installed, downloads its virus definition updates from the McAfee repository at ftp.nai.com. IT Services maintains a local mirror of these files, and downloading from Iowa State may be faster. To use the campus update repository, do the following:

  1. Start the Virex application.
  2. From the Virex menu, choose "Preferences".
  3. Turn on "Customize eUpdate server settings".
  4. Click "Customize...".
  5. Fill in the form as follows:
    Type: ftp
    Server URL: ftp.iastate.edu
    Username: anonymous
    Password: yourNetID@iastate.edu
    Account: (leave blank)
    Directory: /pub/antivirus/datfiles/mac/virex7/
  6. Click OK.
  7. Close the Preferences window.

Tips and Warnings

Macintosh owners that use PC emulation software like VirtualPC, RealPC, or SoftWindows should be aware that the emulated Windows machine is also susceptible to viruses for that platform as well. They will need to install McAfee VirusScan Enterprise on the "Windows side" to protect that environment. See the handout WVT 290 "Installing McAfee VirusScan for Windows" for more information, available online at: http://www.it.iastate.edu/pub/virus.html

Departmental computer coordinators who maintain Virex 7.7 for a large number of Mac OS X machines may be interested in ePolicy Orchestrator, a tool allowing to you push updates to a large number of client computers from a central server. A department can either run its own ePO server or use the IT Services ePO server; there is currently no charge for this service. For more information, contact Jeff Balvanz (

jbalvanz (at) iastate (dot) edu
) or Al Day ().

Installing McAfee Virex for Macintosh was written by Jeff Balvanz.

For more assistance, contact the Solution Center, 195 Durham Center, 515-294-4000 or by email to

solution (at) iastate (dot) edu
.

This document is available online at http://www.it.iastate.edu/pub/virus.html.

Installing Virex 6.1 for Mac OS 7.5.5, 8.x, and 9.x

For Mac OS 9 and earlier, use Virex 6.1. IT Services does not support Mac OS versions earlier than 10.2, but the package is available under the McAfee site license and we make it available for those still using older Macintoshes. The system requirements for Virex 6.1 are as follows:

To install:

  1. Download Virex 6.1 from the IT Services site-licensed software server at:
    https://www.sitelicensed.iastate.edu/software/macos/virex/
  2. Open "Virex-0610.img".
  3. In the Virex Installer window, open "Installer" and follow the directions.

Virex 6.1 does not automatically update. To update the virus definitions, open the Virex application and click the "eUpdate" button.

Installing McAfee Virex for Macintosh MVT 291

MNG 249 Configuring Remote Access for Mac OS 8.1 through 8.4.5 at ISU

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Copyright © 2006 by Information Technology Services, Iowa State University

Permission to reproduce all or part of this document for non-commercial purposes is granted, provided the author and Iowa State University are given credit. To copy otherwise requires specific permission.
To contact the Editor, send email to

itseditor (at) iastate (dot) edu
.