I have them, I'll give them 4 stars! I think its very easy to use it ends up on your menu bar for quick and easy access updates on its own. Thumbsup here
My PC has security measures up to it's eyeballs and unwantables still found their way under its skin.
I do have concerns about security on my mac but feel more secure in the fact that M$ isn't in the background, and have decided to hold off from heavy fortification.
On a Microsoft Platform, an Anti Virus program is a MUST.
I disagree. As an IT Consultant and former Microsoft Support employee I don't run an A/V. I don't open attachments, I read all my email in plain text, and my PC is behind a router and Windows ICF. My risk is extremely low so running an A/V isn't worth the performance hit. For Mac, that appears to be even more the case.
Incidentally, this is also pretty much what Leo Laporte says. In fact he doesn't even like software firewalls believing that a router is in most cases enough.
The problem I had with Mac firewalls was that none of them seemed to have one of the main features I wanted in my Windows firewall - solid *outbound* filters. Spyware/trojan or legit, if a program is trying to phone home from my system, I want to know about it. I could only find one program that covered this, and that seems to be all it does (no other typical firewall features like logging, etc). Kinda pricey, considering that it isn't a full-feature firewall, but it plugs that particular gap for me. I'm not presently running any antivirus or other firewalls for OS X (though I have AVG antivirus running inside my Parallels/WinXP session).
I disagree. As an IT Consultant and former Microsoft Support employee I don't run an A/V. I don't open attachments, I read all my email in plain text, and my PC is behind a router and Windows ICF. My risk is extremely low so running an A/V isn't worth the performance hit. For Mac, that appears to be even more the case.
Incidentally, this is also pretty much what Leo Laporte says. In fact he doesn't even like software firewalls believing that a router is in most cases enough.
Router firewalls only prevent/warn of inbound traffic. Software firewalls prevent/warn of outbound traffic as well as inbound traffic - therefore it is not necessarily true that a router firewall is enough.
If traffic/virus gets passed the firewall/av software (and some can), you will not be warned when said trojan is utilising the internet/bandwidth from your machine with just a router firewall.
It is also wise to remember that firewalls/AV's and other similar software are preventative's, and not cures.
Some people assume that if they have a good AV/firewall, that they are totally immune - not entirely true, although prevention is very important - not having either (especially on a Windows system) is akin to leaving your front door open when you go out.
Please just bear in mind - I only read the 1st Post
Guys - there ARE Mac Viruses? Whoever said they didn't is wrong. Their are no self-installing viruses, but if you download and run one (even if by accident) you can still get one.
I've just made the switch to a MAc Pro tower. Love the machine but coming from the PC world where viruses are almost a daily way of life naturally I had some concerns. This threadd has been quite good at answering most of my questions, except one.
On my PC I used NOD32 and found it quite good with not a large footprint in memory or cpu drain. I notice as I'm making the migration from my PC's over to the new mac that NOD32 is picking off emails coming in with viruses attached. Obviously on the MAC they just come in and they most of the time end up in the junk mail folder.
I'm worried that without some sort of email virus checking I could inadvertantly pass along an email that contains a virus to a friend of colleague. How do I protect against that without makking a masssive drain on my MAC with an AV program?
Thansk for the responses in advance. Lovin the new mac and I'm sure I'll find this forum quite helpful.
Those e-mails will only be passed onto your friends or colleagues if you take the e-mail, forward it and put in their e-mail addresses. The e-mail won't distribute it itself.
Those e-mails will only be passed onto your friends or colleagues if you take the e-mail, forward it and put in their e-mail addresses. The e-mail won't distribute it itself.
Obviously the email doesn't send itself. But without an AV program checking my incoming mail how can I be sure I'm not inadvertently passing something along?
My friends and I pass along the occasional humourous emails and often some are flagged as having a virus attached when on my PC using NOD32.
After reading the thread the threat to me isn't very large but I'd rather not be innocently distributing an infected file.
I disagree. As an IT Consultant and former Microsoft Support employee I don't run an A/V. I don't open attachments, I read all my email in plain text, and my PC is behind a router and Windows ICF. My risk is extremely low so running an A/V isn't worth the performance hit. For Mac, that appears to be even more the case.
Incidentally, this is also pretty much what Leo Laporte says. In fact he doesn't even like software firewalls believing that a router is in most cases enough.
Well your statement is interesting as I have run a Windows 2000 server for almost a year without a single virus . But you claim all the things you dont do and read email in plain text is not the norm for most pc users that I know.
If you want to use a PC without using half of its common task then maybe your fine. But if you plan on using your machine the way most people have become accustomed to , in my opinion an antivirus and firewall are definitely a must . Simple internet browsing , reading email can open you up to a serious virus and you will be infected before you know it.
I a pc user am so happy to have a mac where most definitely the risk is almost non existant . Its wonderful !!
