First Mac ever - Antivirus?

Hi All,

Typing this on a new 13 inch Macbook Air literally hours from purchase. First Mac ever for me!

So far so good, coming off a ThinkPad T43 (which still works fine) and decided to take the plunge with a Mac for a number of reasons. ....miss my Trackpoint, but again, it's been hours...

So, my question. Install Norton Antivirus (or other) or roam free?

Have McAfee on my ThinkPad and it's kept me out of trouble for sure, but I know Macs are different.

 

I would get Clam XAV. Unlike Norton it doesn't use up your system. But you can scan for viruses if you think your in danger. Also its free.

 

Some folks speak highly of Sophos for Mac Home Edition

 

no need :/ there's only 2 or 3 out there

 

If you are the type of person who might fall victim to an offer to install software on your computer, with out full knowledge of the validity or source of said software, then an anti-malware, or "Ant-Virus" may offer some measure of protection, but not much.

If your employer or associates, using Windows computers, require that you maintain an anti-virus program, to help protect their insufficiently protected systems from "potential" Windows threats, an Antivirus with Windows threat functionality may offer some protection, but not much.

This particular discussion board has a rather higher than normal number of proponents of a prophylactic use of third party Mac security software, commonly referred to as an "Anti-Virus". Outside of this venue, the number of Mac users who find documented need for such software is a tiny minority.

In fact, thre is a much larger number who feel that most "free" Mac AV type software is merely a tool for developers to market other products that such users may be more amenable to consider. That the practical function of these products are not so much to the user's benefit, but the purveyors of other software for fear induced buyers. Only a few buyers make the gateway "free" software a viable marketing tool.

I have not run any type of AV software on any of my Macs, not have I ever felt the need. The built in functionality of OS X is rather sufficient, and like any third party AV, is subject to constant revision by Apple to maintain a rather secure environment. The "better safe than sorry" crowd's argument fails to contemplate a definition of definition of malware, for which these AV programs do most certainly fit. "Software is considered to be malware based on the perceived intent of the creator rather than any particular features."

For me, they perform no function other than that of a whole lot of code that consumes space, memory, and computational overhead that is otherwise handled by the operating systems own security measures, notwithstanding any functionality that might prevent an operator from performing a function that should be common knowledge to avoid.


Di I mention that this is a subject without resolution, as it is quite evident that there is exists those who are firmly entrenched on either side of this issue.

I would ask this question of proponents..... Please name one instance where I(SP Forsythe), would have or perceive any documented value by third-party Antivirus Software, is there any??? When it arises, I will be among the first to switch sides.

I don't mean to start an argument, but I fear that my post certainly will, for the reasons given.

 

Sophos sits quietly in the back unlike clamxav. Make sure you have turned on the firewall. I guess it is part of the "apple experience" to make Macs seem faster with it turned of unlike windows.

 

Been doing my own research in the background. And, yeah, seems to be a general consensus that AV software isn't needed. Didn't realize that was the case when buy the MBA.

I even went so far as to buy a copy of McAfee for Mac, went to install it only to find out it only works with FireFox, so canceled the install. Plan on calling and asking for a refund. It was expensive too... $65 or so even with a 20% discount!

I think I'll use time machine on a regular basis and "roam free" for awhile; see what happens.

 

I installed Sophos awhile back. Never noticed it there... I do not know if you need it for you Mac. Does not seem to hurt to have it.

 

having a program that can scan and delete windows viruses from other people's external hard drives and flash drives all the time with you can be very nice to have.

you can go like "hey I can't be infected yet I can delete them for you"

 

Unless you're really big into piracy and pr0n, but even with that, they're mostly designed for Windows users, you should be fine.

I've never had a virus on my Mac since 2007 since I switched.

 

Depends if Apple keeps up with malware protection.

Like when MacDefender and its variants hit, it hit a lot of people just by using Google even. Sophos had protection right away, while it took like 3 weeks for Apple to do anything about it.

 

All the major players on the Windows antivirus side (Norton, ESET, Kaspersky, etc.) have Mac versions now. Of course, no one really knows how effective any of them are relative to each other

My take is the same as most others' on this forum--it's an unnecessary burden on your system resources considering the low risk of infection, no matter how lightweight the AV professes to be.

Some people say that having AV in OSX is a good idea if you don't want to pass on Windows viruses to others, even if it doesn't affect you directly. However, why should the burden of preventing Windows viruses fall upon you? The recipient (the Windows user, even if it's yourself), should either practice safe computing habits, or if not, then at least have AV on the Windows side (which presumably would detect Windows viruses far more efficiently than you could on the OSX side). It doesn't make sense to shift the cost to the intermediary OSX user here, when such protection would most likely be redundant and less efficient.

 

I doubt anyone knows you well enough to know what personally is gong to happen to you.... but...

New Mac OS X malware disables Apple's malware protection | ZDNet

This would suck to get hit with and the Apple Anti-Malware gets disabled...

 

That seems to affect Snow Leopard. No mention of Lion. Never realized Mac OSX had a built in virus scanner.

 

I have been using a PC for a numbers of years with no continuous Anti-Virus. I install a free one a few times a year run a scan and usually find a lot of "False negatives". I always said Anti-virus software is a big industry now and I feel a lot of the spyware companies are just making false alerts to keep consumers buying their products.

It goes back to be smart with what you do online whether its a PC, Mac whateverrrrrrrrr

 

Again, that is a "sharp knife held by the blade" type of threat. In order to be affected, you have to purposefully install software from an untrusted source. It is ironic that the Trojan is disguised as a Flash player installer. The author is definitely going after not just computers, but owners who don't know some fundamentals of computing. You would have to not only have obtained said Trojan from a source other than that of Adobe, you also must be naive enough to actually both run the software and also input your system password.

I guess I just can't wrap my head around something like that. To re-iterate, it is like grabbing a knife and not knowing which end is designed to be held, and which is the cutting edge. Anyone who would do either is simply unqualified to operate the device. The question of a Mac Anti-Virus is the least of that person's issues. Nonetheless, I'm sure Apple will be just as fast to update the system to fend it off as fast as all the AV companies.

Maybe I an being way too snobbish. I should be more considerate of the least common denominator. Ergo, if you don't know the basics of how to operate your computer with a semblance of care, then an Anti-Virus may just keep you from self inflicted injury.

The basics:
1. Don't install software from an untrusted source (this includes AV software that is "panicware" in disguise).
2. Maintain a backup schedule (Time Machine AND a clone).

#2 is in place partially in case you fail at, or ignore #1.
Apple also has built-in safeguards in case you avoid practice #1 AND #2.

Installing third party software is an unnecessary quadruple redundancy. Not a fact, just an opinion on a subjective topic

 

actually... going to some bad website (which people do) can use javascript to initiate a download in Safari, and if "Open Safe Files" is on, it will download and pop up acting like its the built in self update checker asking you to install, saying a new version is available... and MANY people would fall for that.

 

Norton is crap no matter the platform. Stay away from it.

The malware problems on OS X are largely centered around a few trojans that you actively have to be cheated into installing yourself. My personal opinion is that an anti-virus program is a waste of resources if you practice safe hex.

You can do it for entirely selfish reasons. One less zombie machine is a good thing for all people who use the internet.

I don't understand why Apple consider .dmgs to be safe files. That option should be unchecked in my opinion.

 

i don't think any file should be considered safe by default ever and that whole option in Safari should be removed.

 

I remember there was a big discussion about this not too long ago. It actually became quite heated and people seemed to be on one of two sides: you either need it or you don't. All sorts of people came forward saying they have been using Macs and Windows PCs for X amount of years and have never installed anti-virus software while others countered with their own examples.

Quite honestly, programs such as Sophos take up very few resources. Right now it is using a total of 3MB of RAM on my system and 4 threads (whatever that means, I still haven't bothered to look that up). 3MB os nothing especially whenever web browsers can consume 150-300MB rather easily. To me, that is such a low footprint that I don't mind having an anti-virus program open and running in the background especially since I also have a Windows virtual machine (got rid of my bootcamp partition) and I don't want that to get infected either (that is actually the one I am more worried about).

 

Does sophos also cover virtual machines? I have parallels with xp and fedora (for experimenting) installed and my school asked me to put in a new AV as part of connecting to the network. Now, it is another thing that I can't connect in parallel there, since the school quarantines any NAT'd connections.

 

I believe it does. I haven't actually run a test or anything but Sophos can monitor and scan the Parallels package files where Windows is stored. I think it can also see the virtual C: drive when Parallels is up and running with Windows booted. I don't see why it wouldn't work especially since everything is still stored on the system. Then again, I could be wrong. I haven't installed a Windows AV program under Parallels yet simply because I don't want to have two of those running along with OS X and Windows.