what's the best virus and clean up software for Mac Pro

Thomas A Reed wrote:

"Malware" is an all inclusive term, encompassing all malicious software, including viruses, worms, trojans, rootkits, spyware, etc.

That is false information. Malware is an application downloaded from the Internet that performs a legitimate task but with the intent of stealing personal information through legitimate means.

Also wrong. Not all malware is blocked by XProtect.

That is false information. All the most harmful ones are already blocked.

Not the version of ClamXav that is available in the App Store.

That is false information. I just used it to scan my entire computer, all 6 internal and external drives, two bootcamp aprtitions and two network computers.

Where did you find that definition of Malware? Here's one I normally use http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malware.

Please use a credible source. Wikipedia is invalid due to being publically edited and not written by professionals.

Well yes, it does scan the entire hard drive, but it cannot scan any files that the user does not have read access to. That includes most other user's files and many that belong to the system.

If you have the admin password, you have access.

That is false information. Malware is an application downloaded from the Internet that performs a legitimate task but with the intent of stealing personal information through legitimate means.

I challenge you to provide documentation of that definition.

Also wrong. Not all malware is blocked by XProtect.

That is false information. All the most harmful ones are already blocked.

XProtect is only capable of protecting against trojans, and very few of the recent Mac malware is in the form of trojans. Of current, active malware, the ones that XProtect does not (or cannot) protect against are Tibet, Sabpab, Maljava, GetShell, Crisis, NetWeird, Jacksbot, Dockster, Pintsized, CallMe and Minesteal. The only other malware that I would currently consider a danger is SMSSend, which is protected against... except that I discovered a variant that XProtect did not catch. See my article about that:

Variant of SMSSend slips past XProtect

XProtect also supposedly protects against Yontoo... except that it hasn't blocked any variant that I've tested.

Not the version of ClamXav that is available in the App Store.

That is false information. I just used it to scan my entire computer

I will defer to MadMacs0 on this one. He is the real ClamXav expert here. Note that, as he has already pointed out, neither app is capable of scanning a file that the user does not have access to, such as files owned by other users.

Where did you find that definition of Malware? Here's one I normally usehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malware.

Please use a credible source.

http://www.techterms.com/definition/malware

http://www.cisco.com/web/about/security/intelligence/virus-worm-diffs.html

http://www.antivirusworld.com/articles/malware.php

Need I go on?

Well yes, it does scan the entire hard drive, but it cannot scan any files that the user does not have read access to. That includes most other user's files and many that belong to the system.

If you have the admin password, you have access.

If you have to provide the admin password to get access (ie, obtain root-level privileges), then no App Store anti-virus software can possibly get access.

Electricidad wrote:

Well yes, it does scan the entire hard drive, but it cannot scan any files that the user does not have read access to. That includes most other user's files and many that belong to the system.

If you have the admin password, you have access.

Actually, I've done extensive research on this and that is not the case.

ClamXav will only scan files that you as a user, group or "everyone" has read access to. So, if you are an admin, then you are a member of the admin group and if group access on the file allows you to read the file you can scan it. If the file is owned by the system and the "wheel" group (which admins are not normally part of) then you will not be able to scan it unless "everyone" can. Similarly for other user files.

Take a look at you scan log and see how many "errors" were found. Those are almost certainly files that cannot be read by you. Here's an example of a scan of my /var/ directory:

----------- SCAN SUMMARY -----------

Known viruses: 2092258

Engine version: 0.97.6

Scanned directories: 248

Scanned files: 2561

Infected files: 0

Total errors: 279

Data scanned: 234.50 MB

Data read: 11733.89 MB (ratio 0.02:1)

Time: 45.966 sec (0 m 45 s)

Thomas A Reed wrote:

I challenge you to provide documentation of that definition.

Please learn what "google" is, when you do you'll be more than capable of learning computer basics on your own.

Thomas A Reed wrote:

I will defer to MadMacs0 on this one. He is the real ClamXav expert here. Note that, as he has already pointed out, neither app is capable of scanning a file that the user does not have access to, such as files owned by other users.

Incorrect. The same is true of ALL antivirus programs. If you do not have an admin password them no program will be able to access or scan restricted files. If you can install programs then you will be able to access all files on your computer.

Need I go on?

Please list credible sources.

If you have to provide the admin password to get access (ie, obtain root-level privileges), then no App Store anti-virus software can possibly get access.

If you are not prompted for an admin password at some point then that program is not scanning those areas at all. Secondly, if you do not have an admin password, you wouldn't be able to install the software.

MadMacs0 wrote:

Actually, I've done extensive research on this and that is not the case.

Yet you have not provided any proof of your claim. "Errors" can literally mean anything. Please list exactly what your 279 errors are.

Electricidad wrote:

Yet you have not provided any proof of your claim. "Errors" can literally mean anything. Please list exactly what your 279 errors are.

All were "Access Denied". There is ample documentation on the ClamXav Forum if you'd like to discuss it further over there.

That's not even worthy of a reply. You didn't even say anything... just that I'm wrong, with no documentation to support that opinion. You demand that I prove myself, but you claim that every site I refer to is not credible, and you refuse to prove your own erroneous beliefs. You're wasting everyone's time with this nonsense.