University is Forcing Anti-Virus: Which one is lesser of the poisons?

So the university is forcing an an anti-virus installation if we want to establish a connection to their wifi. I'm a longtime mac user and think that anti-virus softwares do nothing but take up resources and steal data. But I have to choose one from the list below. SentinelOne seems to be their main choice and then Sophos. I've tried Sophos before but find it way too resource demanding as it's constantly updating its malware database.


Ultimately, does anybody know which one uses the least computer resources?


  • Avast
    • Business Antivirus
    • Mac Security
    • One
  • Avira
    • Free Antivirus
    • Mac Security
  • AVG 
    • AntiVirus
  • Bitdefender
    • Endpoint Security for Mac
    • Antivirus for Mac
    • Virus Scanner Plus
  • CrowdStrike
    • Falcon
  • Dr.Web
    • Dr.Web for MacOS
  • ESET
    • Endpoint Antivirus
    • Cyber Security
    • Cyber Security Pro
    • Endpoint Security
    • NOD32 Antivirus
  • Malwarebytes
    • Endpoint Protection
  • McAfee
    • All Access - Internet Security
    • AntiVirus Plus
    • Endpoint Protection for Mac
    • Endpoint Security for Mac
    • Internet Security
    • LiveSafe
    • Multi Access - Internet Security
    • Security
    • Total Protection
  • Norton
    • 360
    • AntiVirus
    • Internet Security
    • Security
  • SentinelOne
    • Sentinel Agent
  • Sophos
    • Home
    • Endpoint
    • Anti-Virus
  • Symantec
    • AntiVirus
    • Endpoint Protection
    • Endpoint Protection Cloud
  • Trend Micro 
    • Antivirus
    • Internet Security
    • Security
    • VirusBuster
    • Apex One (Mac) Security Agent


MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 14.3

Posted on Feb 5, 2024 12:12 AM

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Posted on Feb 5, 2024 7:58 PM

I agree that MalwareBytes is probably the best option if they allow it.


However, if they insist on Sentinel One, then go with that one. My organization is currently using it and I have not seen it cause any major problems although it will falsely alert sometimes. I haven't really seen Sentinel One cause any Kernel Panics on my organization's Mac. My organization has so much other stuff installed on these Macs that I cannot say how much of a performance impact Sentinel One has on the Mac.


I can tell you that my organization has used Norton/Symantec & Sophos which were very problematic. I can tell you that most of the others on your list are just as bad. This forum is full of posts where those AV products caused Kernel Panic system crashes and/or severe performance impacts where the Mac was nearly unusable. Avast was caught selling users' personal information (IIRC they did it twice). AVG is owned by Avast (or Avast's parent company...I forget exactly).


My organization requires the use of Sentinel One to comply with their cyber insurance coverage.


Hope this helps.

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University is Forcing Anti-Virus: Which one is lesser of the poisons?

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