Anti-virus that can be used for PC and Mac

I've had my MacBook for about two years and, while still learning on an as needed basis, have liked it. When my husband needed a new laptop, however, he insisted on getting a pc and so we're looking for an anti-virus program that we can use for both computers. I've read all the advice that you really don't need one for a mac, but he insists, so I'm asking for advice.
I have a couple of other questions too:
1) Should I just download one of the free programs (I've read about Clam on the list) and let him get a program for his (inferior) pc?
2) If we get a program, he's looking at Kaspersky, can anyone recommend a better program that would work on both?
3) I teach writing and get lots of word files from students, which I have to comment on and return. To make the transition easy, I bought Word for Mac (before I moved to Germany). Is there a mac word processing program that I could use where there would be an easy transfer from the Word program to the Mac program?

I live in a small town in Germany and it's hard to find support, so I really appreciate any input.

I suppose, since he insists you can use the free version of Sophos

Mac Antivirus, Malware Detection and Removal | Sophos Free Tools

You don't need an anti-virus for the Mac.

I personally think that if you will be sharing files from many people (students, friends, etc) that you should have antivirus not really to protect yourself but to protect who you share with. I recommend Sophos, which is what I use on my Mac. It doesn't seem to slow the computer down at all. I recommend it.

You don't need it for the Mac and sometimes they cause problems and MSE works great for the PC and if their PC has a good AV such as MSE then technically you should not be able to pass them anything.

I think the others have taken care of your Anti-virus questions (and it's a contentious one on Mac's, so I'll avoid it.. ). As far as your word processing needs go, the ideal situation is for you to purchase Word for Mac so that documents sent to you from students using Windows will load up without any problems.

If you choose not to go down the Word route, then for $20 you can try iLife Pages which should import the Word documents mostly OK, but might have some issues with things that don't fully transfer over. And for free, you can try LibreOffice which also imports Word documents and also might have some issues if everything in Word doesn't transfer over.

The issue of going to Pages & LibreOffice might be when you save them back as Word documents to send back to the students, they might load up in Word with strange artifacts or something..

Raz0rEdge said:

The issue of going to Pages & LibreOffice might be when you save them back as Word documents to send back to the students, they might load up in Word with strange artifacts or something..

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I agree, any issues tend to be both ways (Word<>Pages) with missing font styles for example the Cambria and Calibri fonts in particular when using templates. It's no big thing though because the text is still there.

I've used Pages for 2 years now and exported to Word when need be with out any great hardship. Yes things can look a little differently either end sometimes so if it's consistency you want then try Word for Mac but I wouldn't exclude Pages because it's a breeze to use and well priced with some great templates and features.

Yes but if you need 100% compatibility - you should buy MS Office for Mac. I did since I am in college (taking online courses) and they require MS Word documents and any formatting issues could cause a failing grade.. So I prefer to stick with what works. MS Office. Perhaps after college I may buy Pages and Numbers but until then I'll use Office.

xdunlapx said:

Yes but if you need 100% compatibility - you should buy MS Office for Mac. I did since I am in college (taking online courses) and they require MS Word documents and any formatting issues could cause a failing grade.. So I prefer to stick with what works. MS Office. Perhaps after college I may buy Pages and Numbers but until then I'll use Office.

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Very good advice..I've found in some of the courses I've taken, I could submit a PDF as opposed to the DOC since the professor was just going to read it and grade it without providing any actual feedback anyway..but if that doesn't work, sticking with what has become the defacto standard is the best thing..

Thanks so much! I appreciate your taking the time to answer my questions. This info gave me the information I needed, and it's nice to know that I have a place to ask stupid questions.

xdunlapx said:

Yes but if you need 100% compatibility - you should buy MS Office for Mac. I did since I am in college (taking online courses) and they require MS Word documents and any formatting issues could cause a failing grade.. So I prefer to stick with what works. MS Office. Perhaps after college I may buy Pages and Numbers but until then I'll use Office.

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But that's what I said above..." so if it's consistency you want then try Word for Mac"...
Pages has been fine for my small business BTW and if your college has a problem with an occasional missing font then that's a shame. I'm in the middle of a European Diploma myself (online), have just completed and passed another shorter course online which was top-heavy on portfolio documents and evidence) and have had zero problems with exporting from Pages to Word.