Virus protection on MacBook.
I have a MacBook Air M1. Do I need virus protection? This is my first Mac and I’ve always heard it’s not necessary. If it is necessary, what virus protection is recommended? Thank you!
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.3
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First, there is no reason to ever install or run any 3rd party "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus, VPN or security apps on your Mac. This user tip describes what you need to know and do in order to protect your Mac: Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community.
There are no known viruses, i.e. self propagating, for Macs. There are, however, adware and malware which require the user to install, although unwittingly most of the time, thru sneaky links, etc.
Anti Virus developers try to group all types as viruses into their ad campaigns of fear. They do a poor job of the detecting and isolating the adware and malware. Since there are no viruses these apps use up a lot of system resources searching for what is non-existent and adversely affect system and app performance.
There is one app, ¨, which was developed by a long time contributor to these forums and a highly respected member of the computer security community, that is desshoigned solely to seek out adware and known malware and remove it. The free version is more than adequate for most users.
Also, unless you're using a true VPN tunnel, such as between you and your employer's or bank's servers, they are useless from a privacy standpoint: Public VPN's are anything but private.
51 replies
Yes I know. I have one courtesy of a
That's not the way this site works but good luck.
Things akin to common-lay-person-understanding of virus - of course. We can obsess over the definition- but as Apple themselves say:
Malware is malicious software, which includes viruses, worms, trojan horses and other programs that can harm your Mac or your privacy. Malware can be installed when you download items from email, messages and websites.
(Original emphasis in italics, my emphasis in bold).
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mh27449/mac
Also the definitional challenge can be complicated by the fact that some modern malware could be a range of things, and can often be hard to define until it has a payload. But that is missing the point.
Apple is very safe. The SW updates last 2 days are very important. So do that now. And keep auto update on.
*update - I’ve had a pretty bad run with malware (my fault). SW updates and basic hardening did a lot to fix. AV less helpful in my experience. Apple is *very* good at getting updates out quick-sticks so make sure you get them ASAP as they come out
You don't need it, or any other AV software. There are no Mac viruses. None. Haven't been since the release of OS X, 10.0.
The term malware is very often misused as meaning it by itself is some sort of specific type of infection. It isn't. Malware is a catch-all term, short for malicious software. Which is anything you wouldn't want on your computer.
All of these are "malware":
Virus
Trojan
Worm
Adware (somewhat)
Virus: Any software that installs and spreads from one file or drive to another with no user interaction necessary. These do not exist on the Mac.
Trojan: Any software that requires the user to do something to get it on your system. It can't get there by itself. There's plenty of these. Often tucked into illegal downloads of what would normally be cost, commercial software. Adware is also a Trojan since it is also installed by the user.
Worm: Smarter than a virus. Actively seeks out other computers across a network and attempts to infect them. The only known Mac OS X worm was Leap-A. Also known as Oompa-Loompa. Fixed and protected against almost a decade ago.
In general: AV software, as BobTheFisherman noted, provide no benefit. Truly. They don't. There are no Mac viruses to find, and any Trojan will go right past them since they can't know what it is you're going to install or run install after you've done it. And even then, they rarely let the user know it's been installed.
Yes. I this is the main point and key limitation. They might be able to catch them in their early tracks, for example at the point of go to open an email attachment but perhaps less so after that.
I had something similar to Shlayer a while back. Almost all the major AVs claimed they could get rid of it. And out of conventional options I gave them a go. Not one was able to get that deep into the system to detect it, let alone eradicate it. I mean they may have been able to do something in the first day of infection - but for me - nup
** ps. The traditional AV market appears to be in a state of flux anyway with moves toward end point type protection, even at the consumer end. I think that reflects the inherent weakness of client situated AV
Virus protection on MacBook.