- Joined
- Jun 27, 2011
- Messages
- 258
- Reaction score
- 2
- Points
- 18
- Location
- Seattle
- Your Mac's Specs
- Late 2013 MBP 15" I7 2.3 Ghz 16 GB Ram 500 GB SSD Retina
Thought I would put in my two cents worth. I am on my second MBP now. When I first switched to a MBP from windows I too tried anti-virus software. My experience was that it slowed down my machine and I never ever found anything. Six months or so after switching I finally removed the antivirus software. I have never had a problem with any virus' or malware or other anomalies. But I do only put App Store products on my system with the exception of a few things such as FxFactory, Turbo Tax and the like
I'm careful with email and never frequent the sketchy web sites. I must say that you can get things that can slow down your Mac. For instance I recently bought a new WD 2 TB hard drive. The drive had some WD software on it designed to speed up the hard drive transfers. All it did was slow down my system. Starting and stopping the computer took way more time than the normal 10 seconds or so. I watch what I install closely and so was able to figure out the culprit pretty quickly. Deleted the software and the system works perfectly again. Granted not a virus or anything else like that but just an example of how easy it is to mess up your system if your not careful.
One other item of note from my experience. Backup. Most users do not back up enough or at all. My backup routine is Super Duper for a bootable backup, Time Machine for individual files. I also use Drop Box and as a final check I backup with Crash Plan. It may appear that it is overkill but I truly have a nice collection of home movies and years of photos that are truly irreplaceable.
Most if not all of the system knowledge and expertise that I have gathered has been from this website. The advice is pretty solid in my view.
My two cents worth.
Pat
I'm careful with email and never frequent the sketchy web sites. I must say that you can get things that can slow down your Mac. For instance I recently bought a new WD 2 TB hard drive. The drive had some WD software on it designed to speed up the hard drive transfers. All it did was slow down my system. Starting and stopping the computer took way more time than the normal 10 seconds or so. I watch what I install closely and so was able to figure out the culprit pretty quickly. Deleted the software and the system works perfectly again. Granted not a virus or anything else like that but just an example of how easy it is to mess up your system if your not careful.
One other item of note from my experience. Backup. Most users do not back up enough or at all. My backup routine is Super Duper for a bootable backup, Time Machine for individual files. I also use Drop Box and as a final check I backup with Crash Plan. It may appear that it is overkill but I truly have a nice collection of home movies and years of photos that are truly irreplaceable.
Most if not all of the system knowledge and expertise that I have gathered has been from this website. The advice is pretty solid in my view.
My two cents worth.
Pat