Antivirus for MAC ?

Alberto R Air wrote:
Hello everybody!

I'm new and this is my second post, wrote in order to learn more about MAC, and in this case about my new MacBook Air 13.
Well, actually I'm wondering if MAC needs Antivirus software too..

No.

Also on Apple's site it's recommended that you install antivirus software.

Where?

And so, my questions is: does Mac really need antivirus software, and which is the best..?

No. Which is best? You'd have to weigh the costs and benefits of each. The two criteria to measure would be how many viruses does it find and how much interference to the system will it cause. Since the answer to the first is none of them will find any Mac OS X viruses, that leaves the second to weight. Since they all impact the system in some way, you're best to choose one that doesn't take over and run in the background. ClamXAv does that. Also heard Sophos' free version can be set just to scan on demand.
So, comparing the relative costs and benefits, using nothing is the best choice.

You also might want to peruse [Thomas' Mac Virus Guide|http://www.reedcorner.net/thomas/guides/macvirus>

The article is written and released by the manufacturers of antivirus software. That article was written soley to scare people into using their software, therefore it has little if any credibility.

As there are no, zero, none, 0, nadda, zippo viruses for Mac's antivirus software currently is not only unnecessary it's a waste of time, effort, system resources and money to install on a Mac.

If you sill believe you need antivirus software I'd recommend ClamXav (Google it), it is free, consistently updated and reasonably unobtrusive. Because there are no viruses for OS X about it's only use is to flag Trojans and Virus's that PC's are susceptible to. This could be useful if you are in the habit of sending files to PC users and the files you are sending come from unknown sites.

BTW Alberto although I know you are new to these forums your question comes up almost daily from new Apple users. You will find many of the things you had to worry about on Windows machines are a thing of the past.

Roger

But, also in the Apple's App Store there are Antivirus software.

It's currently there for the same reason other third party vendors sell AV software for the Mac; to be proactive about cleaning any Windows viruses off your system that normally get there via an email attachment. This helps prevent you from forwarding them.

While there may someday (most likely will) be a virus that can actually work in OS X, for the time being, there are none. A few Trojans to be aware of, but no viruses.

In addition to Kurt's comments, I think they are also there for those people that are forced to run AV software on their Mac by a lazy or ignorent IT staff.


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Allan


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Peruse http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2417665

Hi,

Snow Leopard has you covered









Carolyn 🙂

There are no viruses that affect Macs. The OS detects the only known Trojans (software you would have to install yourself that carries malware). You don't need any anti-virus programs unless you think you already installed malware on your computer, or think you might in the future.

And so Mac is really autoprotected from virus.

I wouldn't call it that. There just are no viruses which can affect OS X at this time.

Still, don't waste your money on AV software. When someday a virus does show up on the Mac, no software will be able to protect you from it until they've updated the definitions files to recognize it. That could take days, or weeks. So until then, your AV software is still useless.

Just keep an eye and ear on the news and here. When a Mac virus does make an appearance, you can bet it will be big news.

I Never bought an AntiVirus software for mac, I Have an AntiVirus Software Built into the Mac & there should be 1 built in your mac just go to System Preferences then Security then click Firewall I Heard that the AntiVirus Software I Think thats the way it is?