AntiVirus for my Mac?

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Starplay

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#100312 8-Apr-2012 18:54

My baby (aka. my Macbook Pro - seriously, I would sometimes hold its life over that of others) has no antivirus protection.

When I got it earlier in the year, I didn't worry about any antivirus protection, especially with the whole "macs don't get viruses" thing. I haven't had any problems... But thats not too say it doesn't have any viruses.

I was just wondering if I should bother to put any virus protection etc on it... What do you guys do? On my windows PC I used to just run MSE and it was fine...

Thanks

alasta

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#606788 8-Apr-2012 18:56

I have never had anti-virus on mine and it's never been a problem. If you're careful if anything prompts you for your admin password then you should be fine in my experience.

nakedmolerat

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#606800 8-Apr-2012 19:22

if you want to put one, i highly recommend MacKeeper. It uses avira antivirus engine.

On top of that, it comes bundled with anti-theft, data-encryptor, files recovery, backup, shredder, cleanup (includes the ability to delete duplicate files), smart uninstaller, optimization and lastly you can get Live Support 24/7.

jonherries

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#606830 8-Apr-2012 21:12

You can get the donation ware clamxav virus engine.

Jon

Dunnersfella

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#606832 8-Apr-2012 21:16

I ran anti-virus on my Mac for a year, and every single scan came up empty...
Having said that, one year of no results doesn't stop the risk.
BUT, being careful about what I download would have helped.

josephhinvest

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#606852 8-Apr-2012 21:36

Mac user for 10+ years, never had any AV. Not to say that one day a real virus might come along and I'd be stuffed! It's possible i suppose.
But almost every Mac "virus" is in fact a trojan, and most of these need user permission to install.
Don't click any dialog Yes buttons if you don't know why it's there, and don't put in you admin password if you're suspicious!

Cheers,
Joseph

DoomlordVekk

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#606874 8-Apr-2012 23:01

On a similar but not quite aligned subject, are people familar with eEye Blink?
It's an alternative to a traditional standalone AV system/firewall.

I find it really useful on the Windows platform and was kind of curious if such a system had ever been written for the Mac?

Thanks in advance.

"Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong." Donald Porter – British Airways

The views expressed here are my own and are not reflective of other organisms or organisations.

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AndrewTD

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#606881 8-Apr-2012 23:28

There is a free anti-virus program for Macs (home use only) from Sophos.
Sophos do report that there is malware out there that targets Macs - albeit a relatively small amount. Interestingly, it is sometimes designed to "hide" on Macs, not doing anything to the Mac, but then later find and infect nearby Windows PCs.

www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-antivirus-for-mac-home-edition.aspx

(Disclosure: I work for a company that sells Sophos products to businesses etc.)

kind regards Andrew TD

Starplay

267 posts

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#606923 9-Apr-2012 01:26

AndrewTD: There is a free anti-virus program for Macs (home use only) from Sophos.
Sophos do report that there is malware out there that targets Macs - albeit a relatively small amount. Interestingly, it is sometimes designed to "hide" on Macs, not doing anything to the Mac, but then later find and infect nearby Windows PCs.

www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-antivirus-for-mac-home-edition.aspx

(Disclosure: I work for a company that sells Sophos products to businesses etc.)

Ive heard of this before. My University recommends it, they even include the steps to install it as part of our internet access setup guide. They also have the download link on their server.