Anti-virus software -- suggestions

T

TerryMcK

Registered
I'd like recommendations on the best anti-virus software for OS X.

Do the frequent Security Updates offer any protection?

Terry
 
Security Updates usually have nothing to do with virii -- they usually fix security holes in the OS or something like that.

Try Virex, which is free with a .mac subscription. I find it to be unobtrusive and effective, although I think you should know that there are no known virii for OS X.
 
Few, if any, viruses affect OS X, although the Mac can pass some virii to other PCs
Norton AntiVirus, Macafee, a couple of others provide a more secure environment if your business requires virus protection. A home user may find virus protection less worthwhile.
If you have a full-time internet connection (cable/DSL/network) then enabling the built-in firewall gives you an extra layer of protection, if there is not already firewall protection through your network or ISP.

Just my 2¢
 
I second Virex too.
As home environment is now 100 % mac i don't like any anti virus slowing down the startup . .after all, there are NO known viruses for OS X .. yet. classic viruses some, unix viruses some, but as i've got no classic and (mostly) know what i do with unix .. :)
 
ElDiabloConCaca said:
Security Updates usually have nothing to do with virii -- they usually fix security holes in the OS or something like that.

Try Virex, which is free with a .mac subscription. I find it to be unobtrusive and effective, although I think you should know that there are no known virii for OS X.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Call me paranoid, but given Mac's increasing visibility (a good thing), I'm expecting some PC fanatic to decide it's time we got our share of the misery.

Terry
 
Sooner or later there will be virus's for OS X.
I'd like a virus program that I could have scan email as it arrives. Virex doesn't seem to be able to do this. It either scans on boot, and I never shut down, or when you choose to scan.
 
IT guys laugh at me when I ask them about Mac viruses. They tell me there hasn't been one since 1990! :)

If you are running OS X you should be quite alright running your built in firewall. Just don't open attachments from anyone you don't know. I have all my email forwarded to hotmail which has its own MacAfee virus protection.
 
For the most part, that is true, but there have been about 3 since 1990. However, I have yet to encounter a Mac virus personally in 13 years that did anything beyond copy itself. A couple really old ones would try to trash your system, but even a recent machine would likely just crash during the attempt at infection of those virii.
 
I know ONE person who has ever seen a mac virus .. and that was for classic. How about you others?
 
I know of only one A/V product that performs on-access scanning under OS X and that is Sophos.

They cater for the corporate market, so expect corporate prices.

No doubt the others will also have this functionality soon.

Having said that, I concur with other comments here about the likelihood of an OS X or 9 virus - quite remote. That said, I like the idea of knowing when a windows user (or other) has sent on a virus to me, even if it won't affect the machine I am using.

As OS X becomes more prolific, I anticipate we shall become a worthy target for the virus writers.

As of today, I'm not sure that Sophos works under Panther. More details at http://www.sophos.com/

Colin
(Sophos customer, but not affilliated to them in any way)
 
We had problems years ago with a virus attacking MS Office (on Mac too) using Macros.

And at the time of Mac Plus we had a problem with a game that was spreading a problem... I don't know if it was just a bug or a real virus, but computer get down after using the game and any floppy used on the computer got unreadable.
 
Anyone remember the OS 7 DelDB virus? It would infect any mounted drive or server share and mess with the Desktop file. Not extremely damaging, but a nuisance nonetheless.
 
The only thing I ever had was some Word macro virii that were fairly easy to get rid of and didn't seem to do anything anyway. My flatmate's laptop has about 2000 infections however. He installed Norton but it deleted a Windows installer file during it's pre-install scan and now he can't install any software (including Norton). Getting reformatted this week I think.
 
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