New MacBook Pro User and Antivirus Experience

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Not a profound post, but I am a brand new owner of a MacBook Pro, and, coming from a PC-only user background, I succumbed to thinking I needed to install an antivirus--Kaspersky for Mac, in this case. That was about 2 weeks ago, and, after incredibly sluggish performance and many semi-freezes of the computer, today I uninstalled KAV--and it's amazing how "snappy" the Mac is again! I haven't seen any mentions of Kaspersky AV for Mac on this forum, so I just wanted to add my experience. It definitely gives me the "willies," not having an AV installed, but I decided to trust the advice of the more experienced Mac users on this forum! Thanks!
 

pigoo3

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Thanks for posting your experience!:)

Yeah...we usually find that anti-virus software is unnecessary on a Mac...especially if folks practice "safe" computing (not downloading and installing stuff from illegal sites, phishing scams/sites, etc.)

10 Tips For Safe Computing | Fox News

And yes...some anti-virus programs are "resource hogs"...so better not to use them if they're unnecessary in the first place.:)

- Nick
 

RavingMac

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Not a profound post, but I am a brand new owner of a MacBook Pro, and, coming from a PC-only user background, I succumbed to thinking I needed to install an antivirus--Kaspersky for Mac, in this case. That was about 2 weeks ago, and, after incredibly sluggish performance and many semi-freezes of the computer, today I uninstalled KAV--and it's amazing how "snappy" the Mac is again! I haven't seen any mentions of Kaspersky AV for Mac on this forum, so I just wanted to add my experience. It definitely gives me the "willies," not having an AV installed, but I decided to trust the advice of the more experienced Mac users on this forum! Thanks!

If you just can't stand not having AV then go for ClamXAV. It's free and relatively benign.
 
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Antivirus "Withdrawal"

Thanks, Razormac and Pigoo3, for your replies! I will definitely not install another antivirus--not unless the day comes that you and the other experienced Mac users indicate it's becoming necessary! I appreciate your help.
 
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chas_m

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Anti-VIRUS software is unnecessary as there are no Mac viruses (unless you want to avoid accidentally passing on a Windows virus to Windows users through let's say an infected e-mail, but I've noticed Mac users aren't the type to forward stuff mindlessly).

That's not to say no malware (which is different from a virus) exists. There's not much out there but it does exist. Common sense will help you avoid most of it, and OS X is automatically scanning (and being silently updated) to protect you from known malware, so in short I can't see the need even for ClamX AV unless you just want to use it for personal reasons.
 
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Hi Forest2012,


Just a hint and this has been mentioned many times over, if you are using the Safari browser make sure the last box in preferences > General is un checked this way any downloaded file or software will not auto run. Thus you will always know what wants to be installed on your Mac and give it permission or not as the case may be.;D

 
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Thanks, oldscribe! I did see this mentioned before, and I followed the advice, since I do use Safari.
 

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