Question about safety in using WINE

uberduck13 · Post by **uberduck13** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 9:52 pm

Hey guys,
I just found out about wine today, and i am extremely paranoid about getting viruses and malware and things of that nature.
If i use this program strictly just to play video games is there any chance i could get infected by anything?

I just wondered how vulnerable this would make my computer.

Thank you

uberduck13 · Post by **uberduck13** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 9:55 pm

i have a macbook pro running snow leopard if that matters at all

doh123 · Post by **doh123** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 10:30 pm

how are you using Wine?

I guess some viruses might work if you intentionally try to run them in Wine?

Renan Birck · Post by **Renan Birck** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 10:56 pm

Em 21-06-2010 00:30, doh123 escreveu:

I guess some viruses might work if you intentionally try to run them in Wine?

Some viruses might work. I suggest to only run software that you know
and that comes from trusted sources under Wine.

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James McKenzie · Post by **James McKenzie** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 11:05 pm

doh123 wrote:

how are you using Wine?

I guess some viruses might work if you intentionally try to run them in Wine?

uberduck13:

Yes it is possible to run Malware under Wine. The good thing is that it
did not just infect your entire drive. Most Windows viruses don't know
what to make of an HPFS drive. However, any exe type virus will infect
.exe files inside of your current Wine directory. Solution is simple,
delete the Wine folder ($HOME/.wine) and re-install the applications.
Other types of viruses have mixed ability to run.

BTW, your Mac is not as safe as you think it is.

James Mckenzie
SSCP

uberduck13 · Post by **uberduck13** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 11:06 pm

but like i wont get things by just having wine on my computer?

Gert van den Berg · Post by **Gert van den Berg** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 11:25 pm

On Mon, Jun 21, 2010 at 06:06, uberduck13 <[email protected]> wrote:

but like i wont get things by just having wine on my computer?

Windows exploits won't start infecting your computer just because Wine
is installed... Using vulnerable Windows applications (such as some
flash versions) makes you vulnerable to security issues in them
though...

James McKenzie · Post by **James McKenzie** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 11:33 pm

uberduck13 wrote:

but like i wont get things by just having wine on my computer?

No. If you follow the rules of Safe Computing, you should not get
infected. One of the best things you can do is not visit Warez sites
and to never open an attachment in an e-mail message, unless you verify
where it came from.

Having Wine on your computer does not mean you are going to get
malware. All computers are subject to it in varying levels.

James McKenzie
SSCP

DaVince · Post by **DaVince** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 12:26 pm

uberduck13 wrote:but like i wont get things by just having wine on my computer?

The chances that you'll get a virus aren't any lower or higher, but the chances that the virus is able to actually cause some major damage are a lot lower. Still, you *might* lose your home directory with some really serious viruses that actually work, but damage will never go beyond that because Wine doesn't have any permissions beyond accessing your home dir.

Gert van den Berg · Post by **Gert van den Berg** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 12:47 pm

On Mon, Jun 21, 2010 at 19:26, DaVince <[email protected]> wrote:

uberduck13 wrote:
but like i wont get things by just having wine on my computer?
Still, you *might* lose your home directory with some really serious viruses that actually work, but damage will never go beyond that because Wine doesn't have any permissions beyond accessing your home dir.

It has the same permission as your user, which might be slightly more
under OS X than Linux...