Q: what is the best antivirus for my mac?

ale1964@gmail wrote:

 

Ive used ClamX for years, but the interface is not too great

I'm sure Mark would welcome your ideas at Suggested New Features for ClamXav.

it's hard to tell if it's downloading the updates or not.

You can always tell by looking at the ClamXav main window. The lower pane tells you when it's updating (normally every time you launch it) and the Status bar at the very bottom tells you the date/time of the latest signatures.

If you "Open Update Log" it will summarize the results of every update attempted.

If you use ClamXav Preferences->Schedule to update be sure and check the box for "Open the update log automatically after updating" to see the results immediately.

ale1964@gmail wrote:

 

if you have an iphone or ipad, my understanding is that those devices have zero security. none. It be very leary of logging into my bank account using an iphone or ipad.

Then your understanding is totally wrong. The security built in to every iDevice has held up for years now without any known major issues. Compare that with an Android device [example: Mobile Malcoders Pay to (Google) Play] and you'll understand how important the controlled environment that a non-jailbroken iDevice is.

If you are referring to the fact that there are no third party security apps available, you need to understand why. First, because there is no known threat, there is no market for them. But an even bigger reason is that the rules Apple has set up for developers won't allow them free access to where malware might hang out, which is probably the greatest security of all. Each app must be self-contained and operate within it's own sandbox. That doesn't leave much room for either malware or security apps to do what they need to do.

I will admit that there is room for improvment to the connectivity that comes built-in. Apple finally uses secure connectivity to the iTunes store, which hopefully will reduce the number of accounts that have been hacked over the past several years. There are also some third party VPN solutions that help protect those connections to your bank you mentioned, and the critical Corporate world that seems to be quite vulnerable these days.

I think we ALL get that buying a mac means you are LESS LIKELY to need anti-virus software.

BUT PLEASE just give the less technical people a stupid link to software instead of every possible confusing review and complex freeware application available!!!

Some people (like me) are just simple people.  We want the peace of mind that comes from buying extra protection we know we may not need from a recognizable company.  I KNOW I MAY NOT NEED THIS....but some of us just aren't as technically gifted as the rest of you.

This way if I ever get a virus/malware......I know who I can call up and yell at about the issue! 

Norton Antivirus 2012 for Mac

(P.S. please save the "that software *****....."don't waste you money" comments for someone else.  I've read the reviews, I know this software is far from perfect)

If you feel the need for AV software, why just not use the free Sophos for Mac? It has very good detection rates - far better than Norton Antivirus - and doesn't muck up the workings of the OS.

Clinton

BUT PLEASE just give the less technical people a stupid link to software instead of every possible confusing review

That is a dangerous attitude. Anti-virus software cannot protect you. New malware has a long history of slipping past anti-virus software. It's happened numerous times, and will continue to happen. If you don't educate yourself as to how to stay safe, you will get infected sooner or later... and you'll have only yourself to yell at about the issue. Especially when the anti-virus software you're relying on isn't particularly good. See:

http://www.thesafemac.com/mac-anti-virus-testing-01-2013/

To learn how to protect yourself, see my Mac Malware Guide.

SilverFishing46 wrote:

 

I think we ALL get that buying a mac means you are LESS LIKELY to need anti-virus software.

Buying a Mac means you ALREADY HAVE anti-virus software.

It doesn't get any simpler than that.

SilverFishing46 wrote:

 

I think we ALL get that buying a mac means you are LESS LIKELY to need anti-virus software.

John Galt already addressed that.

BUT PLEASE just give the less technical people a stupid link to software instead of every possible confusing review and complex freeware application available!!!

The less technical people know how to use Google and search, the links are all out there.

Some people (like me) are just simple people.  We want the peace of mind that comes from buying extra protection we know we may not need from a recognizable company.  I KNOW I MAY NOT NEED THIS....but some of us just aren't as technically gifted as the rest of you.

Then do so, if you require software that will (a) not protect you and (b) cause your Mac to run at less than optimum performance levels you are entitled to do so. You are allowed to mess up your Mac as much as you want in order to pacify yourself.

Norton Antivirus 2012 for Mac

Norton is total crap, if you choose to use it while under the fantasy that you will be able to call them and get help you are going to be surprised, however this forum will still be here, dispensing sensible advice long after Norton has rendered your Mac useless.

(P.S. please save the "that software *****....."don't waste you money" comments for someone else.  I've read the reviews, I know this software is far from perfect)

Then what are you expecting to hear, it's crap, and it's crap you will have to pay for in order to have it mess up your Mac. That's such a good deal, don't you think?

MadMacs0 wrote:

 

ale1964@gmail wrote:

 

if you have an iphone or ipad, my understanding is that those devices have zero security. none. It be very leary of logging into my bank account using an iphone or ipad.

Then your understanding is totally wrong. The security built in to every iDevice has held up for years now without any known major issues. Compare that with an Android device [example: Mobile Malcoders Pay to (Google) Play] and you'll understand how important the controlled environment that a non-jailbroken iDevice is.

 

If you are referring to the fact that there are no third party security apps available, you need to understand why. First, because there is no known threat, there is no market for them. But an even bigger reason is that the rules Apple has set up for developers won't allow them free access to where malware might hang out, which is probably the greatest security of all. Each app must be self-contained and operate within it's own sandbox. That doesn't leave much room for either malware or security apps to do what they need to do.

 

I will admit that there is room for improvment to the connectivity that comes built-in. Apple finally uses secure connectivity to the iTunes store, which hopefully will reduce the number of accounts that have been hacked over the past several years. There are also some third party VPN solutions that help protect those connections to your bank you mentioned, and the critical Corporate world that seems to be quite vulnerable these days.

It has been quite surprising that something as simple as SSL encrypting those requests took so long to happen.  Everyone and their mother with a network sniffer could easily pick up your info from a network connection those iOS devices were on... along with any system that were using iTunes as an app and passing the same info.  This is one of the reason why I cannot subscribe to the "Everything Apple is secure".  They tighten application security so much that it runs in sandboxed environments, but then leave the windows and door open on something as simple as HTTP traffic.  Awesome!

I am having trouble when I start my mac and was wondering if it is a virus. It looks like this.

Does anybody know if it might be a virus and how can I get rid of it?

It certainly does not look like a virus to me. It appears to be more likely a problem with your graphics card or monitor instead.

Instead of posting your different problem on the bottom of another old thread, you would problably get better answers if you started your own thread instead.

Allan

ale1964@gmail wrote:

so the question continues? in 22 years I've never been able to answer it. Do macs need virus protection?

Sure, in the 80s.  Viruses were a problem on the very early Macs, because those were the first home computers with an OS powerful enough for viruses to really thrive.  And of course nothing had security at all. Boy those were the innocent days of computing.   That's where anti-virus programs got their start.   None of those viruses are functional today because the Mac platform has changed so much.  68000->PPC, PPC->x86, OS9->OSX.

Nowadays there ARE threats, but very few of them, and mostly that involve tricking the user on the Web. There ought to be a program to protect Mac users specifically, but I've had no luck finding one worth a darn. 

All I find is WINDOWS virus checkers ported over to the Mac.  They lag out your system for days looking for WINDOWS viruses.  My employer forced one down my throat.  I just tried AVAST and they're the same thing.

I want a Mac-threat-only virus checker. If I want a Windows virus checker there's just no problem finding those.

Wolf Harper wrote:

 

I want a Mac-threat-only virus checker.

The only one I know of is MacScan from SecureMac.  Unfortunately, it's not very good.  See Thomas Reed's MacScan disappoints.

I believe that Intego's Virus Barrier (now Mac Internet Security 2013) started out as Mac only, but it's morphed into one of the others now.

Hi everyone, first post.

Great discussion. Answered a lot of my questions and I thank many of you for that.

One question remains for me though. I'm running a MBP OSX 10.6.8 and Parallels running Windows 7.

I want to put Avast on the OSX side and (more importantly) something on the windows side (I'm assuming I need two separate AV programs). If I do put Avast on OSX, what plays well with it on the Windows side? If I choose something will it conflict? Or can I just isolate each to only look at each respective partition?

Any help would be appreciated and again, pretty good thread. Thanks.

Use Microsoft Security Essentials on the Windows installation, don't use anything on the Mac installation.

Thanks. I can see nothing on the Mac side, although many posts here say you can't be too sure and that also makes sense, but I'm not a Microsoft fan and I would have thought of something besides Security Essentials. You use it yourself?