Antivirus for Mac OS9.2 ?

[Loiseau]

Sorry this is not very France-specific (well, it is to help me with a book on France!)...

Having been writing the book on a PC for what seems like for ever, I am now approaching the layout stage and am ready to power up the aged Mac on which I have the necessary Quark programme.  
I shall probably need to connect to the internet to exchange files with the designer, so thought I should install an antivirus programme.   BUT there seems to be nothing available for any Mac less than OS 10 (have been to AppleStore on Regent Street, and cruised around the internet).

Or does one of you Mac enthusiasts out there know better ?

Angela

 

PS
The spec of my machine is: G4 tower; OS 9.2;  385Mb;  Processor 500.

[Deimos]

Dick is the one who knows "all there is to know" about Mac's and he normally notices any post mentioning Mac's pretty quickly. If not, try PM'ing him.

Ian

[Renaud]

Angela

Provided that you do not open any emails from somebody that you don't know you should be fine. I have used Macs for 15 years without anti-virus software and am still alive. Besides you have the original files of your book backed-up on your PC.

I think that there was a Norton's Anti-virus product around in the 90s (and one from MacAffee?) but doubt that you can still buy it (maybe on eBay? or Computer Warehouse in Brentford) - indeed I doubt if Apple still support OS9.

I can probably let you have an OS10 CD to install and you would still be able to run Quark in Classic.

[Loiseau]

Wow, that's very reassuring; thanks everybody!  Indeed, I was not thinking of doing my general surfing, emailing, etc with the Mac, just possible exchanges of emails/files with one trusted contact.  So it sounds as if all should be well, even without taking up Renaud's kind offer of an upgrade...

It has a (separate) device for saving to CD, but I have never been able to work out how to use it. I did get it all plugged up last time, and the CD drive's icon appeared on the desktop.  Do I need special software to do that?  (I bought it second-hand in 2001, and it came with 0 software on it.)  I saw something called Toast in the AppleStore, but again it was for OS 10 only.  
I am able to save to a built-in zip drive, but those disks are sooooooooo expensive (though at least they're reusable).  Might do that for back-ups though.

Thanks to all

Angela

[Dick Smith]

I thought Zip drives were quite cheap but obsolete?

I think (it's been a long time since I used System 9) that you will need Toast, that direct-from-the-OS CD burning came about with OS X. I can't check it out in Classic, but it seems as though it may be possible:

However, this is from Apple's support site:

Mac OS 9: How to Burn a CD and Choose a Format

Creating CDs

If your Mac has a recordable disc drive, you can create your own CDs in several different formats.

You use blank CD-R or CD-RW (read/write) discs to create your own CDs.

Once a CD-R disc has been recorded, or "burned," you cannot modify the

disc or any of the files on it. The discs you create are

"single-session" CDs. You can burn CD-R discs only once; any extra

space on the disc cannot be reused or recovered.

If you want to use a CD-RW disc that already has files on it, you must

erase it first. Many CD drives in earlier computers cannot reliably

read CD-RW discs. For better compatibility, use CD-R discs instead.

How to Burn a CD

1. Insert a blank disc into the CD recording drive. A dialog box appears.
2. Type a name for the disc in the Name field.
3. Choose a disc format from the Format pop-up menu. For information
about the formats, see the "Choosing a Disc Format" section, below.
4. Click Prepare. A disc icon appears on the desktop.
5. Drag the files and folders you want to save on the disc to its icon. See Note 1.
6. When the files and folders are finished copying to the disc icon,
arrange them exactly as you want to see them when the disc is burned. Once you burn a disc, you cannot change the placement of files or folders or their names. See Notes 2 and 3.
7. Click the disc icon, then choose Burn CD from the Special menu. See Note 4. A dialog box appears.
8. Click Burn. The disc is initialized and the files and folders are
saved on the disc. This process takes several minutes. See Notes 5, and
6.

Can you try that and let me know if it works or not?

[Loiseau]

Hmmm, well thanks for all that, FK.   I just got everything plugged up, and had a try.  But wouldn't you know, I couldn't find in my house a single unused CD-R disk, and had to try with a brand new CD-RW so my abject failure may be down to that.

Plugged external drive in; got icon on desktop that says "Scratch".

1.  Inserted brand-new blank disc into CD rec drive; got dialogue box OK.
2.  Typed name for disk.
3.  Chose obvious format.
4.  Clicked "Prepare"

Then, CD tray popped out of disk drive!  Got screen message: "Disk initialization failed because the startup or other disks are full!" [their exclamation mark]
At the same time I got a robotic spoken message saying "It's not my fault..." ! [my exclamation mark]

I also tried, using the CD drive incorporated in the tower. Got the same distance, and then it said: "Disk initialization failed because disk is locked"

I am v v naive about the CDs, as I have only recently (with 1 yr old laptop) possessed the ability to record onto them at all. So I started out by buying just any packet of CDs, without realising the subtle differences between CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R and DVD-RW!   My laptop only seems to like to record on CD-RW though!

Re the zip disks; yes, I know they are obsolete, but this Mac tower has three slots: CD, standard floppy, and zip.  And I had a load of zip disks left over from when I had a stand-alone zip drive connected to my desktop PC many years ago.  For my last book, back in 2004, I used to send my edited files to the designer on the zips, which worked fine; he sent me his layouts on CD of course.  But now, having broadband, I guess I can just email them to him.

Angela

[Dick Smith]

Probably because it was CD-RW, which wasn't much around in the days of external CD writers. Perhaps a CD-R would be better. Don't try a DVD-R or DVD+R.

Is anyone using System 9, or can remember how to get the system profile up? That will tell you whether or not the tower CD drive is a writer as well as a reader.

I would give it another try with a CD-R disc, and if that doesn't work, email it.

[Mystery tramp]

[quote user="Fluffy Kitten"]Is anyone using System 9, or can remember how to get the system profile up? That will tell you whether or not the tower CD drive is a writer as well as a reader.

[/quote]

Apple Menu then Apple System Profiler (the application is in the Apple Menu Items folder in the System Folder).  Then click on the Devices and Volumes tab - you should see a discription of the drive there.

[Russethouse]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6227875.stm

I still don't think the OP need worry but in future these two guys may have an effect.

[Loiseau]

Oh dear, I don't think I have enough free bytes in my brain to take in the implications of that, RH !

Angela

[Loiseau]

Mystery T,

I have now been through "Devices and Volumes", and I can guess that I am not going to get anywhere in my quest to record onto CD! 
I imagine the interesting bits are:
Internal ATA1   ID=0   DD-ROM drive
SCSI bus 0        ID=5   Removable media
                          ID=6   CD ROM drive       

Fluffy K
I have bought a pack of CR-R, and had another go at following the instructions you so kindly posted.            
No joy there either.
I inserted blank CD-R disc into the separate drive.
An icon popped up on the desktop saying "packet media".  When I clicked on it, it just opened a blank folder called Packet Media.
Nothing else happened (i.e. no opportunity to type a name for the disk etc).
Then I tried to drag an existing file to the icon, and a small window popped up saying: "You cannot copy [filename] on the disc packet media because the disk is locked".

I think I'll give up, and use the trusty old zip disks, or perhaps USB sticks.

Thanks very much everyone.

Angela

[Dick Smith]

I have contacted Apple, we'll see if we get a result.

[Will]

Loiseau,

An alternative answer is to get Computer Shopper magazine, Jan 2007 issue, from somebody in UK, if it's still available. The cover disc contains the full version of Quark 5.01 for PC. Quark's latest is v7, but 5 is still very good - it's what I use professionally and is a big step up from 3.2 that I had before - I would guess that your old Mac might well have a considerably older version than 5 of Quark if it's still on the old OS. The only catch is that you have to register the program online, and this has to be done by 25 Jan.

The offer is an incredible bargain, Quark currently sells for over £800.

[Loiseau]

Wow!  That sounds too good to be true, Will!  Actually "my" version of Quark is 4.0, and as it's compatible with my designer's I think I'll just leave things as they are (I'm always worried that if I rock the boat, things are inexplicably not going to work!)

But thanks for the tip.  [:)]

Angela