The title pretty much says it all. I'm wondering if anybody knows a good antivirus for a mac. What's the best one?

you don;t need one on macs hence they r all rather useless.

That isn't exactly helpful is it.

A friend uses Kaspersky and has done so for the last couple of years, haven't heard of any problems from her.

I think 1 license costs like 30 or so.

It is helpful:

The best AV for mac is nothing because you do not need one.

Better to be safe than sorry.

I've heard of ClamAV. Haven't heard much about it, as most people don't use AVs for OS X since they mostly only scan for Windows viruses. It's bundled with Mac OS X Server though - or at some point in time at least.

I've never used anti-virus software on my mac.

More and more viruses on macs, I wonder how you guys will feel when you need to re-install because of viruses.

More and more viruses on macs, I wonder how you guys will feel when you need to re-install because of viruses.

Can you post some links, please? Just to satisfy my curiosity.

I've heard of ClamAV. Haven't heard much about it, as most people don't use AVs for OS X since they mostly only scan for Windows viruses. It's bundled with Mac OS X Server though - or at some point in time at least.

 

ClamAV is very good, but the better one is ClamxAV because its just ClamAV with a better GUI (and of course free)

 

But on about the debate on Macs needing antiviruses, keeping everything updated and using some common sense reduces goes a long way. Long enough to not need any protection, but it does grant piece of mind for a miniscule performance cut.

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I would use BitDefender. I've been using it on my windows machine for a couple years now with no issues. They released a mac version about a year ago. The windows version is now rated #1 just ahead of kaspersky. I think it would be a solid choice if you feel the need to run an AV.

 

That being said, I never worry about getting a virus on my mac. I don't have AV on it but I still choose to do all my downloading and random searches on it rather than my windows that has AV. You do seem quite convinced to get it, so it was $40 USD.

 

Hope you decide on something good, if you do and it works great post back. Its always nice knowing what is out there that works good.

The reason Apple claims OSX is virus free is because the definition of virus can be bent. To most people, a virus is anything that messes up their system with malicious intent. Technically speaking though, a virus is something that infiltrates an operating system through loopholes in the code and replicates itself, making it hard or impossible to remove.I'd wager 95% of the 'viruses' people get really are Malware, program with malicious intent that requires the user to activate it, either by installing the program, opening a malicious attachment; or a Trojan, in which the malicious program is attached to a file the user intentionally downloaded. The reason people claim Windows is so vulnerable to viruses is because back in the good ol' days people used IE6, a terrible program that was easy to penetrate through ActiveX and other problems it had. These days you really have to try to get a virus, and as long as you check what you download you should be fine. In my years of using a computer, I've only had one 'virus', a dollmaker program downloaded by my sister that spread without me knowing it, and forced me to reformat my old computer. It still is good to have an antivirus program and scan every week or so though, but I have mine turned off and only use it to do weekly scans and check downloads.

 

I apologize if any of my definitions are worded incorrectly, It's kinda late here.

More and more viruses on macs, I wonder how you guys will feel when you need to re-install because of viruses.

Can you post some links, please? Just to satisfy my curiosity.

 

No links. Just experience and logic. The more the userbase grows, the more people will be willing to create malware for the OS. Obviously Mac is starting to grow a bit on their computer end, which means more people will want to make malware to get the information from mac users. It's already enough that a hacker can get into a mac in 1 minute (if you don't believe me on this one, check youtube).

More and more viruses on macs, I wonder how you guys will feel when you need to re-install because of viruses.

Can you post some links, please? Just to satisfy my curiosity.

 

No links. Just experience and logic. The more the userbase grows, the more people will be willing to create malware for the OS. Obviously Mac is starting to grow a bit on their computer end, which means more people will want to make malware to get the information from mac users. It's already enough that a hacker can get into a mac in 1 minute (if you don't believe me on this one, check youtube).

 

Well thats true; doesn't change the fact theres no brilliant well known mac AVs atm cause there no real market.

Also you can hack almost anything in under 1min if you know what you're doing; its kinda misleading to just mention macs on that one because its hardly a mac specific "issue"

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It's already enough that a hacker can get into a mac in 1 minute (if you don't believe me on this one, check youtube).

I see a Safari browser exploit from Pwn2Own 2008 and I see videos instructing the user to boot from separate media to change a password; I don't think setting up TeamViewer really warrants discussion.

In the latter case, physical security has been breached; I have personally done the same thing on Windows and Linux, and I don't see why you'd bother mentioning it.

Pointing at Safari is like highlighting IE's vulnerabilities. Just take whatever defense you may have of Windows at the mention of one of IE's failures and s/Windows/OS X/ and s/IE/Safari/. I expect you'll come up with something that looks like this: "Safari may come with OS X, but that doesn't mean you can't install a different browser. It doesn't mean the whole OS is bad."

 

 

Unless you can provide something a little more recent and relevant, I call BS.

 

edit: Here's a relevant Slashdot discussion on antivirus for OS X and (inevitably) GNU/Linux. It pretty much boils down to "Uh, we don't need it" and "Well, you should still scan for files which might infect Windows users"

 

I mentionned it simply to point out to the mac fanboys that the OS isn't perfect either. It is just like the Other OSes and can be hacked just as much.

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