CrossOver Support - Community Forums

Hello

Just managed to get a simple exe file working using crossover. Now wondering, with all the virus issues associated with windows, how safe is running these sort of programmes on my mac? Am I opening my mac to potential problems, or is this just not possible?

thx all

Mac itself is a very stable os.. Not much virus
The crossover bottle environment isolates the programs to the bottle...and well..doesnt have muchinteraction with your main os
Even if your bottle gets infected..It is Only the bottle that gets infected unless the virus is able to inject its self into Macs proccess
from the bottle ..,which is highly unlikely...your mac is safe..
Just surf the net using mac ..you will bypass most of the virus like that anyway..

This is actually a very common question about CrossOver, so forgive me for the long post but I think I should start by quoting our CEO:

People often wonder if CrossOver is subject to as many problems with viruses and trojans as Windows is.

The short answer is that, in theory, a virus could affect a Mac system running a Windows program, but that it would require a pretty extremely unlikely scenario and it has not, to our knowledge, ever happened.

The longer answer is that programs that are vulnerable to virii, such as Outlook and Internet Explorer will retain those vulnerabilities when run on the Mac via CrossOver.

That is, if a virus exploits a weakness in Internet Explorer which allows it to upload code into memory and cause that code to start execution, then that same weakness will exist.

So, in theory, the problem persists.

However, a wide range of factors exist so that we feel that it is far safer to use CrossOver than it is to run Windows.

First, that exploited code running in memory relies upon a very exact operating system configuration; it will try to use certain Windows specific commands and layouts to do its dirty work; it is very unlikely to run on the Mac because it is a foreign system. We've run tests on a range of known viruses and not a single virus has been able to successfully execute its code.

Second, you're only vulnerable if you run vulnerable applications. Internet Explorer is the worst case. Candidly, we recommend only using IE for sites where Firefox does not work. Outlook is another case, but in CrossOver, Outlook is prevented from running files with typical virus file formats. Most other applications do not suffer from virus risk; most viruses come in through either a direct attack on your system (this is not relevant because you're protected by Mac as a whole), or via IE or Outlook.

Third, even if a virus were able to be run, it will be constrained by the Mac system as to the damage it can do. Since CrossOver is meant to be run by a regular user, you're first protected by the Mac's proper user security system; the virus cannot harm anything further than your user account. Second, a Windows virus will generally only know of Windows file systems; if it destroys your entire virtual C: drive, well that's very easily recreated and you've lost no data.

The only closing remark on this subject is that I will reiterate that not one of our many customers has ever reported a problem with a virus or other nasty beast on CrossOver.

/end quote/

We have heard of it happening (a virus coming in through CrossOver) but honestly, once in, the virus doesn't know what to do and the Mac doesn't know what to do with the virus. It would be like two people who speak entirely different languages attempting to communicate and not really knowing where to start.

Further, we have now had a few users report that they have contracted a virus through CrossOver (which at first caused great worry). Upon looking into the issue, we found that they had actually contracted a Mac virus. If you don't think this is possible, you can read more about Mac virii and how to protect yourself here (http://antivirus.about.com/od/macintoshresource/Macintosh_Viruses_and_Mac_Virus_Resources.htm) or you can search the net to see what you can come up with for a resource.

The best thing to do is to educate yourself and to be careful when it comes to virii. If you think you have a virus that came in through CrossOver, please, please, PLEASE let us know (info@codeweavers.com or sales@codeweavers.com) so that we can assist you.