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Many many switchers coming from the Windows world are always concerned about whether or not they need a firewall or antivirus software for their Mac. The short answer: maybe, it's a personal choice.
Having a firewall is always a necessity to protect your computer and network from hackers who could steal data or harm your machines. Luckily Mac OSX has it's own built-in firewall that can be activated in the Sharing pref pane in System Preferences.
Now when it comes to antivirus software it gets trickier and there isn't as much agreement. Here are the normal pros and cons...
Pros:
If you decide to add an antivirus program to your computer here are some that are available for OSX:
Norton AntiVirus for Mac
McAfee Virex for Mac
ClamXav (free)
Having a firewall is always a necessity to protect your computer and network from hackers who could steal data or harm your machines. Luckily Mac OSX has it's own built-in firewall that can be activated in the Sharing pref pane in System Preferences.
Now when it comes to antivirus software it gets trickier and there isn't as much agreement. Here are the normal pros and cons...
Pros:
- If you use the machine in a mixed network antivirus software will help stop you from further infecting the network. While your Mac can't be infected by a Windows virus, it can pass it on.
- Even though there is not a virus for Mac OSX that doesn't mean there will never be one. Having antivirus software installed makes you proactive in your protection.
- Most users see no performance decrease or issues when running antivirus software.
- There has never been a virus or spyware released for Mac OSX to date.
- It eats up resources on some machines
- In certain situations it could cause stability issues or kernel panics
If you decide to add an antivirus program to your computer here are some that are available for OSX:
Norton AntiVirus for Mac
McAfee Virex for Mac
ClamXav (free)