Do we need to install antivirus to protect our Mac from viruses.
We read about hacking Mac OS X is more than before and they can hack any Mac in the future in easily ways. Is that correct and what we have to do?
iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
Malware for Macs has been around for years and hacking attempts are nothing new. What you can do to protect yourself from these attempts is nothing new either:
- Make sure you know exactly what you are installing and what you expect it to do for you, before you give permission with your user name and password.
- Be especially wary of pop-up dialog boxes that say your Mac is infected with something. They are all 100% fraudulent. If you see one close the page.
- Do not click links in emails. Know the webpage you intend to view and navigate there yourself.
- Have adequate, preferably redundant backups so that you can recover from inadvertent deletions, file corruption, or hardware failures.
- Keep your OS up to date with Software Update.
- Avoid installing Flash and Java. Both are dated technologies that have been the source of many problems for both Mac and Windows. If you choose to run Flash and Java understand the ill they can do to your system.
- Avoid the temptation to install some magical cure-all that will protect your Mac from harm. Nearly all third-party (non-Apple) utilities that claim to do that are 100% worthless, and many are harmful.
