jaser73

Q: do i need a virus program for me mac book

do i need an anti virus or clean up program for my mac book pro?

Posted on Feb 3, 2012 5:16 AM

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Q: do i need a virus program for me mac book

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  • by cpguru21,

    cpguru21 cpguru21 Feb 6, 2012 1:36 PM in response to jk_baller23
    Level 1 (55 points)
    Feb 6, 2012 1:36 PM in response to jk_baller23

    Yes love the Onyx :-)

     

    Maintenance is nice as well as Deeper.  I love tweaking my Macs so they show whats loading on bootup.  good call jk_, we were too busy arguing about virus protection to recomend a good app.  I also like Disk Warrior.  Often it will take care of a disk repair, when Disk utility tells me I need to reboot.

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Feb 6, 2012 1:37 PM in response to cpguru21
    Level 7 (30,924 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 6, 2012 1:37 PM in response to cpguru21

    Anyway I am happy with not worrying about virus's for my macs.

     

    Hopefully, you're not relying on your anti-virus software alone to provide a malware-free experience.  I have two Mac trojans in my collection that are only recognized by 36% and 51% of all engines used by VirusTotal, and MacDefender was constantly kept ahead of the AV engines when it was in active distribution.  Anti-virus software can give a very false sense of security (or false fear, in the case of folks like macfrombrampton who freak out over non-Mac malware) when used inappropriately.

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Feb 6, 2012 1:38 PM in response to jk_baller23
    Level 7 (30,924 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 6, 2012 1:38 PM in response to jk_baller23

    Oi!  Enough misinformation, folks!  And now irrelevant misinformation, at that!  Macs do not need cleaning.  See The myth of the dirty Mac.

     

    (Note that my pages contain links to other pages that promote my services, and this should not be taken as an endorsement of my services by Apple.)

  • by cpguru21,

    cpguru21 cpguru21 Feb 6, 2012 1:45 PM in response to thomas_r.
    Level 1 (55 points)
    Feb 6, 2012 1:45 PM in response to thomas_r.

    Good call Thomas A Reed.  I was really sarcastic about the unsafe sites remark.  I browse safe for the most part.

     

    I do have a false sense of securtiy when it comes to Mac systems, which is why lately I started to evaluate anti-virus software for Mac.  Really happy with comodo on my windows machine, used Avast for years.  Do you have any tips for users of mac system beyond the "browe safe"?

     

    I worked for a corporate company in Mass which became a fortune 500.  In the early 2000's they would not abuy me a virus software for their entirely windows based systems.  I had to manually remove virus's from machines, or re-image.  Fun Fun!

  • by cpguru21,

    cpguru21 cpguru21 Feb 6, 2012 1:49 PM in response to thomas_r.
    Level 1 (55 points)
    Feb 6, 2012 1:49 PM in response to thomas_r.

    Ok here i will disagree.  Not about the maintenance, but the access to the tweaks from within Onyx.  And to clean caches from an easy interface, rebuild spotlight indexes (are you telling me you never had a spotlight index be corrupt?)

     

    Anyway for tweakers like me, I have enjoyed using onyx on my macs :-p

     

    However, I will deffinately read your link, as long as it does not take me to theinquirer :-D

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Feb 6, 2012 1:57 PM in response to cpguru21
    Level 7 (30,924 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 6, 2012 1:57 PM in response to cpguru21

    Do you have any tips for users of mac system beyond the "browe safe"?

     

    Yup, check the Mac Malware Guide I referred to earlier.  That gives you a bit more than just "browse safe," although really, "browse safe" does boil it down to the essence...  just without details.  AV software should be used as no more than a backup safety net, since it's simply unreliable, no matter what AV software you use.

     

    I know nothing about comodo, but I do have a copy of ClamXav, and like it just fine.

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Feb 6, 2012 2:00 PM in response to cpguru21
    Level 7 (30,924 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 6, 2012 2:00 PM in response to cpguru21

    Tweaks aren't the issue, but cache cleaning and spotlight index rebuilding are for use as troubleshooting techniques, not regular maintenance.  And no, I've never had a corrupt cache or spotlight index.  If I did, I would get a copy of OnyX to take care of it...  but it's simply a waste of time and can mess up your computer's performance to do this sort of stuff as routine maintenance.  Details are in that article.

     

    (And no, it's not the Inquirer!  )

  • by macfrombrampton,

    macfrombrampton macfrombrampton Feb 6, 2012 2:03 PM in response to jaser73
    Level 1 (25 points)
    Mac App Store
    Feb 6, 2012 2:03 PM in response to jaser73

    Here is a report from Apple itself showing how to remove Mac defender Malware.

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4650

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Feb 6, 2012 2:09 PM in response to macfrombrampton
    Level 7 (30,924 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 6, 2012 2:09 PM in response to macfrombrampton

    Here is a report from Apple itself showing how to remove Mac defender Malware.

     

    Yes, there is malware for the Mac.  We've covered that.  What we are discussing here is how to deal with that fact.

  • by Silly rabbit,

    Silly rabbit Silly rabbit Feb 6, 2012 9:41 PM in response to macfrombrampton
    Level 4 (2,980 points)
    Feb 6, 2012 9:41 PM in response to macfrombrampton

    I've been a Mac user for over a decade and have NEVER used anti-virus software. I currently have four machines, all Intels, none of which are running any anti-virus software and never will.

  • by macfrombrampton,

    macfrombrampton macfrombrampton Feb 8, 2012 8:52 PM in response to Silly rabbit
    Level 1 (25 points)
    Mac App Store
    Feb 8, 2012 8:52 PM in response to Silly rabbit

    Thats like saying I am a PC user and never used any anti-virus software. If you never used it how would you know if you have malware?

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