Will Norton Anti-Virus hurt my Mac?

I just got a Macbook, and my college campus provides us with Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition (for free!) the first time we access the internet on campus.

I downloaded it because hey! free AV! And I've been a PC user for forever and I thought it was necessary. Now, I've been through the forum and I've seen the debates about whether or not AV is necessary for Mac OS X. That's not my question.

My question is this: I've been hearing rumors that Norton AV will ruin a Mac user's hard drive. In fact, one of my friends told me that it screwed up his last Mac irreparably. I'd like to know if anyone else has heard these rumors, especially about the more recent versions of Norton AV, and if they can corroborate them or not. I'd like to have an AV program, even if it isn't necessary, but not if it's going to hurt my computer.

Thanks!

 

i have never heard of that but i would say just dont install it. turn on the built in firewall and you should be fine.

 

Norton AV will slow down your Mac. I don't know about it damaging the hard drive though.

Seriously, right now getting AV on the Mac will probably have more downsides than not having it at all.

 

Just don't install it. It slows down your computer a lot.

 

yes!
just like it hurts your pc!
esp the name calling and stone throwing.
a

ps norton was IMHO as close to a virus itself that your better off without it. On the mac, and any computer your best defence is yourself. Dont be a fool and you wont get sick!

 

aw- thanks for your opinions, guys! i think that i'll be uninstalling it now-

 

You guys are confusing the consumer version of Norton with the corporate version which is completely different. The corporate version is actually quite good. However, I still would not bother on a Mac because any security software has tendency to muck things up.

 

I concur with all the posts ... no point in having norton installed in ur Mac ... it's a resource hog and there frankly isn't reason enough to use it on a Mac ... not yet atleast!

 

That's why Apple making huge gains in market share may not be such a good thing...as OS X gains more market share it will have a higher risk of being attacked. I hope the safety of OS X stays for a while. Ugh.

 

if you have to come here to ask if norton av will mess up hte mac, then I say don't use it lol. y ou dont need it