my email provider tells me my account may have been compromised and recommends I download Sophos Antivirus software for Mac. Should I?
iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2011), OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)
Aagin: Which risks are Sophos protecting you from? Windows virus? Mac virus? Just one example would be good.
No.
First of all, I would ask, who is actually trying to tell you this (it sounds like adware or some other scam, like somebody other than your actual "e-mail provider" trying to get you to install something that will compromise your security).
Secondly, third-party anti"virus" software is of very dubious utility on Macs, and won't protect you from malware, but will make your Mac perform very poorly. See http://www.thesafemac.com/mmg-antivirus/
If your e-mail "may have been compromised" I would suggest that you examine your security on the account (like your password practices) and get a different e-mail provider.
Macs have very good security already built into the OS.
Sorry a joke of a response to the post!
Sophos is a well regarded Mac product used by many large organisations.
Running a Mac without any form of Antivirus is a risk I would not want to take.
If Pamela is a home user the free edition from Sophos is a way better choice than ignoring the risks of not having some protection.
No I don't work for Sophos.
Yo!Semite wrote:
If Pamela is a home user the free edition from Sophos is a way better choice than ignoring the risks of not having some protection.
What risks? A detailed list would be helpful.
In twenty years of using a Mac without any anti-virus installed, I haven't managed to stumble upon any "risks."
Just registered I have supported Macs for over 20 years never registered to respond.
Your answer to my response is no surprise.
If you need me to point out the risks then you probably should not post!
All due respect.
Current threats protected against 8759961 vs 0
You decide!
Current threats protected against 8759961 vs 0
Mac and Windows
Mac to protect the Mac wake up please ignorance is no defence and Windows threats to avoid passing threats on.
This is one reason I normally avoid posting not worth the uneducated responses.
Yo!Semite wrote:
If you need me to point out the risks then you probably should not post!
You claim that there are risks. It is up to you to defend the statement, not me.
You can find my list of risks that sophos will protect you from in the space below this line.
Yo!Semite wrote:
Registered to reply thanks for acknowledging no score within a few minutes of creating the account you sir are bright 🙂
No need to get excited. Just note all the risks that Sophos will protect you from as opposed to just being an intelligent computer user.
As I am quite confident that my Mac and any other Mac can not be affected by the million or so Windows viri, I will carry on ignoring your advice. You can carry on with your inability to provide just one example of a Mac virus that Sophos has protected you from.
Nobody decides: this is a question/solution forum, not an advertising agency.
I know that organisations promote the use of antivirus software, but that is because these things are needed in Windows environment and that is how far the thinking goes.
Norton is a real disaster, McAfee also, Avast is selling ads in its program even, and so on.
There is scan software (manual scan) on the Appstore: ClamXav: this is not doing anything but a manual scan: OK, and sometimes it finds something, good, but what it finds can do no harm on a mac, important when you send files to Windows users.
Then there is Sophos: for those that use it ONLY manual scans and set the software to be able only to do that: no problem, important when you send files to Windows users.
As soon as you want to unleash more capacities in Sophos i.e. "on access" scanning it is conflicting with the built in safety apps and measures in OSX: you should not do that.
Lex
Yo!Semite wrote:
It is up to the poster to decide what advice they take.
Some people are brighter than others and can make their mind up.
But you haven't offered any evidence of the necessity of using Sophos (or any other AV software). Just be cause you say it should be used because of nebulous "risks" that you claim to exist but won't back that up with any solid evidence, doesn't provide much to the OP to make that decision.
For some posters here, Sophos has caused kernel panics, rendering the Mac unusable until Sophos was uninstalled.
Anti-virus can only detect what it knows about. If some new malware comes out that can affect OS X, you won't be protected by any Anti-Virus including OS X's own XProtect. Being "bright," as you say, is the way to avoid that malware, not a software package that embeds itself into the OS, causes kernel panics, and periodically annoys you with messages about it falsely identifying something as malware.
Yo!Semite wrote:
Enjoy!
I see the same ignorance exists on here as ever.
Good luck
As this is a user to user tech support help forum, why don't you provide some facts that can help us, as you seem to think we are ignorant.
I've provided lots of facts for Pamela to ponder. You haven't provided a single one. The only thing you've provided as support for your position is derision.
Please, try to help Pamela with some facts as to the efficacy of using Sophos or any other Anti-virus software. There isn't a single Anti-Virus package that has discovered even a single OS X virus. All other known malware is already blocked by the OS. Adding Sophos on top of that only slows the system and causes crashes.
There is plenty of information available if you look without a biased view.
I am not going to explain what is already there, visit sites read the technical papers and then enlighten your mind.
I am not advertising feature sets and duplicating technical details that exist if you 'look'
or click this link ... http://congratsIhackedyoubecauseyoursafeinyourbubble.com (ye I know you would never click a link in an email)
I completely agree with Barney-15E. I've been using Macs in a busy newspaper office for the past 8 years with no AV protection and no problems whatsoever.
My advice to the original poster would be "don't worry about it"
Do yourself a favour Yo!Semite... step away from your computer, go outside and enjoy life. There's no need to worry about what everyone else is doing (or not as the case may be). We'll never solve everything in this world but the sooner we learn to get on with each other in a friendlier way we'll at least be halfway there.
Sophos Antivirus Software. Should I download it?
