Antivirus for MAC ?

4. Given all this, if you really want one, you should install a free antivirus software as OnyX.

Just a correction here... OnyX is not AV software. Perhaps you're thinking of [ClamXav|http://www.clamxav.com>.

Also, to DrSagacity... I'm not sure why you dug this nearly month-old post up to reply to, but note that much of the discussion that followed could have been avoided by reading my [Mac Virus guide|http://www.reedcorner.net/guides/macvirus>. (And avoiding trash-news sites that publish opinion articles disguised as actual news.)

Quote "There is technically nothing about OSX that makes it less vulnerable."

Read the link Carolyn posted. Technically, there are a great many things built into OSX that make it invulnerable. Read up on them before you post ill-informed comments that may mislead new Mac users.

I really wish people would stop using the term "virus."

1) It's better to think in terms of malware as a whole, and not just viruses. OS X is susceptible to trojans and other types of exploits. Unfortunately, Apple publishes updates in larger batches, but much less frequently than Microsoft. I would love for Apple to go with something akin to Patch Tuesday. Small, frequent updates as soon as an exploit is known...as it is some of them sit around for months.

2) Don't use Norton. ClamXav or Sophos are free solutions.

3) Marketshare has a great deal of impact on the amount of viruses running around. If you expect 0.05% of your target group to be impacted by your malware, you generally want it to be the 95% (Windows) of computer users, and not 10% (OSX).

Now, with that said, OS X is inherently more secure than other operating systems. If you're not utilizing some form of p2p filesharing, then you probably don't need AV. I would, however, not recommend using Safari. Go with Mozilla or Chrome. Most of the exploits out there that will affect your surfing, are targeting Safari.

To the person who mentioned being spammed by her father's MBP: There was an exploit known last year, where any website could steal the entire contents of your address book if you simply visited it. You wouldn't even need to click on any links. This vulnerability was freely shared with Apple, who sat on it for about a month or so before it was shown off at Pwn2Own.

So, since I've written that long post, let's sum it up for those that're ADD like myself: Don't use Safari, OS X is inherently secure (you are the weakest link) and doesn't require the use of AV(currently, this change, though), and use ClamXav if you're paranoid, or are required to have some form of AV.

In all honesty guys, can someone please give me a detailed explanation on why people are refraining themselves from using Norton AV?

I'd really appreciate it, thanks.

Charles Dyer wrote:
Drive-by malware does not as yet exist for Macs, but it does exist for Windows. And no amount of 'responsible surfing' will defend against that.

[pwn2own day one: Safari, IE8 fall, Chrome unchallenged|http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2011/03/pwn2own-day-one-safar i-ie8-fall-chrome-unchallenged.ars] and it isn't the first time Safari has been bested in a pwn2own competition. Being able to execute arbitrary commands and write access to the file system certainly fills my criteria of drive-by :-/

I will agree with you that McAfee and Norton are bad, they're **** awful on windows too though so the fact that they can't be trusted on a mac isn't a huge surprise. I wouldn't trust any system with either of those company's software.

I don't run anti-virus but unflinching belief that OS X is impervious is blinkered thinking.

Because Norton AV is known to cause more problem then it solves.



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Allan


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