Virus Protection anyone?

I am pretty new to the mac world. I made the switch about a few months ago. I hear ppl say all the time that macs can't get viruses or spyware, but i find that very hard to believe. I for one, spent way too much money on my mbp to take the chance. So i was wondering if any of you have any recommendations on some pretty good virus protection software. Something comparable to the ol trusty AVG that i had running on my PC.

- thanks much MDCjr

I thought a virus is what you call that thing when you get sick and have to eat chicken soup to get better. What does that have to do with my Mac?

MDCjr said:

I am pretty new to the mac world. I made the switch about a few months ago. I hear ppl say all the time that macs can't get viruses or spyware, but i find that very hard to believe. I for one, spent way too much money on my mbp to take the chance. So i was wondering if any of you have any recommendations on some pretty good virus protection software. Something comparable to the ol trusty AVG that i had running on my PC.

- thanks much MDCjr

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You don't have the biggest virus catcher of them all, Windows on your Mac so you don't need virus protection.

If you run Windows on a partition on this computer, you will need some AV protection only on that partition.

OSX is pretty 99.9% virus free.

and any anti virus you get is only going to scan for windows viruses, due to the fact that there are no known viruses for Mac OS X

Believe it or not.

If you look at the virus definition files at Symantec or Clam you will find nothing that afflicts the Mac. There are only definitions to intercept MS Office macro viruses that come from infected PCs. Those macro viruses don't even run on a Mac.

^ Yep.

I hear ppl say all the time that macs can't get viruses or spyware, but i find that very hard to believe.

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Believe it. Windows is fundamentally insecure and always will be until they start from scratch.

OS X only came into being in 2001, and the core is based on secure UNIX underpinnings. It was pretty secure from day one.

Windows Vista is still loosely based on Windows 95. The registry is a haven for viruses and it's still there, letting them do their thing.

Well thanks, i appreciate the fast feedback. So i guess i'm safe ?! What about hacks and such? Do u guys still think it would be in my best interest to have some sort of firewall protection (other then the built in one), or am i still safe in this area as well?

If you run Windows on a partition on this computer, you will need some AV protection only on that partition.

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With that said, im not sure if i am using an ACTUAL partition to run windows. Atm i am running the latest version of Parallels. Should i put avg on that?

MDCjr said:

Well thanks, i appreciate the fast feedback. So i guess i'm safe ?! What about hacks and such? Do u guys still think it would be in my best interest to have some sort of firewall protection (other then the built in one), or am i still safe in this area as well?
With that said, im not sure if i am using an ACTUAL partition to run windows. Atm i am running the latest version of Parallels. Should i put avg on that?

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If you are behind a router that is handling NAT and DHCP you are safe. No one is going to get in unless you have turned on file sharing, internet sharing, etc. The built in firewall can't hurt, it demands little of the computer's horsepower.
Definitely install AVG on what ever Windows install you have.

Yes, you should have antivirus on your Windows in Parallels. For the protection of your Windows/Parallels installation, not for the Mac side.

Also, be aware of this scenario... You are emailed an attachment containing an virus. Your Mac is immune, so you never know. However, if you forward this attachment to anyone else who opens it using a PC...Hopefully, they have antivirus protection.

You still can manually transmit something nasty to someone else via email, sometimes without knowing it. But it would be your action that caused the transmission--not the virus transmitting itself after infecting the Mac.

The only reason you would need AV software is to protect other PCs from viruses you might pass on in your unknowing immunity, now it all depends if you are willing to hog your RAM and processor for the vulnerable PCs.

And you should have pride in knowing that you can plug a USB drive full of the most deadliest viruses into your Mac and still be just fine!

With that said, im not sure if i am using an ACTUAL partition to run windows. Atm i am running the latest version of Parallels. Should i put avg on that?

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^^^^^^^^^^^^
Yes unfortunately even though it may not be on a separate partition it is still just another vulnerable copy of windows.

It is Windows alone that makes a computer vulnerable to get infected. If you were able to take your Windows PC and remove Windows and install OS X, your computer would not get a virus. Windows is the problem, not the hardware.

And you should have pride in knowing that you can plug a USB drive full of the most deadliest viruses into your Mac and still be just fine!

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So being a the new user that i am (probably more paranoid than anything). Is their anything i should know or at least keep in mind in order to keep myself safe. example: Key loggings or the likes. My thing is that im pretty new, and if something were to go wrong software-wise i wouldnt know what to do. Since there is no mac store where i live currently, i wouldnt want to take my comp to bestbuy even as a last resort.

Its not easy to shake the old concerns, thats understandable. Under Mac OS X, if you are your computer's owner and have the first profile and account opened on it, you are also the computer's system's administrator with inherent access, (remember that Mac OS X is simply a multi user operating system based on UNIX). As such, you have complete control regarding what you allow your computer to download and install, (as opposed to Windows which allows developers, (good and bad), to download and install plug-in and routines, sometimes without your knowledge). That is your greatest defense. Use good judgement, and you should be fine.

There are over 36 known viruses and trojans for Mac OS, so that is more than NONE. Goto http://vil.nai.com and search for 'OSX' for them.

Also, the mac is also vunerable to hacks and being taken over by hackers for malicious use, which is why Apple have released more updates for 10.5 than for Vista just for security updates.

Yes, Mac owners should have a Firewall enabled and some sort of Antivirus product installed.

Products to try:

http://www.clamav.com/
http://www.mcafee.com/us/enterprise/products/anti_virus/file_servers_desktops/virex.html
http://www.intego.com/virusbarrier/

pjhutch said:

There are over 36 known viruses and trojans for Mac OS, so that is more than NONE. Goto http://vil.nai.com and search for 'OSX' for them.

Also, the mac is also vunerable to hacks and being taken over by hackers for malicious use, which is why Apple have released more updates for 10.5 than for Vista just for security updates.

Yes, Mac owners should have a Firewall enabled and some sort of Antivirus product installed.

Products to try:

http://www.clamav.com/
http://www.mcafee.com/us/enterprise/products/anti_virus/file_servers_desktops/virex.html
http://www.intego.com/virusbarrier/

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And what he failed to mention was that none of them are in the wild, all my friends who have had macs some for over 10 years and none of them have gotten a virus... ever.

All I could see on that site were proof of concept stuff and some potential issues from 2004 or before?

Actually, I've heard of a Mac OS virus, but users are trying to find it in order to download it???? What is all that about?

Todd Woodward of Symantec's "Security Response" said in 2006:

Let’s start with the hot-button issue of Mac OS X viruses. Simply put, at the time of writing this article, there are no file-infecting viruses that can infect Mac OS X. I see some of you raising a hand or two, wanting to ask me some “but, what about…” types of questions. Indeed, in February of this year, when OSX.Leap.A was discovered the news headlines declared that it was the “First ever virus for Mac OS X!” Long before the digital ink dried on those simplistic and sensational headlines our Security Response team had determined that OSX.Leap.A was a worm, and not a file-infecting virus.

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Nothing has changed.

pjhutch said:

There are over 36 known viruses and trojans for Mac OS, so that is more than NONE. Goto http://vil.nai.com and search for 'OSX' for them.

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And you will find nothing but "proof of concept" items. Not a single one of those are viruses, and calling them trojans is a stretch as well.