virus protection

What is the best anti virus S/W

Wow this has been asked literally thousands of times and the answer never changes:-


http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/security-awareness/311115-aint-virus-protection.html

If you feel you really need such software:

ClamXav and use its watched folders setup for email and downloads etc.

Get it from their site and not from the App Store which doesn't include the ClamXav Sentry addition.
ClamXav

Or maybe the free sophos software:
Mac Antivirus | Free Antivirus for Mac Tool Download | Sophos

The only Anti virus that we suggest if you ABSOLUTELY need one is ClamXav..

Avoid Sophos like the black plague!

Slow slow slow.

Thread moved to better area.

- Nick

Seriously, please do a search before asking questions. Especially about things like virus and malware.
Now back to my deep hole and cookies.

cradom said:

Now back to my deep hole and cookies.

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Wow. At least you got cookies!

- Nick

Unfortunately they have to be sugar free

cradom said:

Unfortunately they have to be sugar free

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That stinks!

- Nick

Had a 20-something co-worker who was laughing about the claim that Macs don't get viruses yesterday. I calmly said, "No, that's true, because there aren't any." He wasn't buying it. Sheesh!

toMACsh said:

Had a 20-something co-worker who was laughing about the claim that Macs don't get viruses yesterday. I calmly said, "No, that's true, because there aren't any." He wasn't buying it. Sheesh!

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I assuming this person was a Windows user. Yes...this person is probably so used to the problems Windows users have with viruses...that it's probably a too good to be true situation (to them). And...this person is probably so wrapped up in the belief that...Windows = Good...and Mac's = Bad...that they don't even do the research to investigate the Mac's & viruses situation.

It's like someone saying...I'll trade you my $50 dollar bill for your $10 dollar bill (real money). This person is probably thinking...How can it be possible that Mac's don't have a virus problem...and my beloved Windows has all sorts of virus problems (or potential problems)??

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

I assuming this person was a Windows user.

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He's kind of the company computer guru for anything the tech consultant is not needed for. The company has Windows 8. I assume that he uses it on his personal computer at home. He said he used Macs in school, but never liked them. So, you can lead a brainwashed Windows user to a better OS, but...

Well bet him a night on the town he cannot find any OS X viruses.

harryb2448 said:

Well bet him a night on the town he cannot find any OS X viruses.

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Depending on how you define "virus", you might lose that bet.

There are no viruses (defined as self-propagating malware) in the wild for the Macintosh.

However, if you use the term "virus" to refer to all malware (as most Windows users do), then your co-worker is absolutely correct. While the amount of malware for the Mac isn't in the same ballpark as for Windows (roughly about 30 mostly innocuous or extinct examples for the Mac, compared to well over a million for Windows), it definitely exists. Here is a meticulously and constantly updated list:
The Safe Mac : Mac Malware Guide

Here is a thoughtful article about folks who go around saying that there "are no viruses for the Macintosh":
The Safe Mac » “There are no Mac viruses”

As for the "best" anti-virus software for the Macintosh, there are multiple ways to rate such software. If you rate it by how effective it is at detecting known malware for the Macintosh, you can do this objectively because Thomas Reed yearly does a huge comparison test of all of the programs available. Here are the results of the latest test:
The Safe Mac » Mac anti-virus testing 2014
You can download the results and study them more closely, as a PDF file:
http://www.thesafemac.com/downloads/malware_scan_results_2014.pdf

However, another factor to consider is that all of the fully interactive anti-virus software programs have, at one time or another, been implicated with causing nasty software conflicts, slowdowns, rotating beachballs that are persistent, etc. Since OS X includes its own (non-publicized) anti-virus software:

XProtect/File Quarantine
File Quarantine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

OS X: About the "Are you sure you want to open it?" alert (File Quarantine / Known Malware Detection)

Third party commercial anti-virus software may be more trouble than its worth.

Most Macintosh users do completely without any sort of anti-virus software, yet you almost never hear of an actual first-person believable account of a Mac user becoming infected with malware. (I include the term "believable" because many users, especially new switchers from Windows, automatically blame any problem on "a virus", even though that is almost never the actual cause of their problem.)

The choice to use or not use anti-virus software is up to you. You may want to read through:
The Safe Mac » Mac Malware Guide
Which is a Web site written and hosted by someone not in the anti-virus software industry, so the information there tends to be reliable.

I can tell you that I've used one of the top-rated anti-virus (AV) programs, Intego's Virus Barrier, continuously ever since OS X was released, roughly 13 years ago. I use AV software, not because I think that I need it (I don't think that I need it), but because my work requires it. In all that time, my AV software has never flagged anything that I actually needed to be protected from.

I would suggest ESET but for some reason it causes my Mac to freeze up and I have to restart my machine. Sophos would probably be your next best option.

urbanman2004 said:

Sophos would probably be your next best option.

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Sophos is one of the anti-virus programs most often associated with slowdowns and persistent beachballs. (Though not for everyone. So there is no need for folks to post "but it works fine for me.")

The best choice, in terms of both efficiency in detecting different types of existing malware, and in rarely causing flaky behavior, is Intego's Virus Barrier. (However, I've heard of at least one instance where a user's Mac exhibited the rotating beachball problem when using VirusBarrier.) Unfortunately, the free version of that program was pulled from the Mac App Store because of Apple's policies regarding apps that interact with other programs. Intego doesn't make the free version available from its Web site. But the full commercial version is still available directly from Intego:

Security and Protection for Mac | Intego

The Safe Mac's Thomas Reed switched to recommending Dr. Web Light when
the free version of VirusBarrier was pulled from the Mac App Store.

The Safe Mac » VirusBarrier removed from App Store

However, I see that Dr. Web Light is no longer available from the Mac App Store either. Fortunately, Dr. Web Light is still available for free from the Web:

Dr.Web CureIt! — download free anti-virus! Cure viruses, Best free anti-virus scanner!

At the recent WWDC, Apple announced that it will be easing Mac App Store restrictions on applications that interact with other applications. Hopefully that means that free anti-virus programs will return to the Mac App Store.

urbanman2004 said:

I would suggest ESET but for some reason it causes my Mac to freeze up and I have to restart my machine.

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I guess this is a good reason not to recommend ESET.

- Nick

Luckily, "virus" has a clear definition, so we don't have to rely on people's personal interpretations of what it means. And by the standard definition of a computer virus, there are no viruses for OS X (nor are there ever likely to be).

That said, the Mac can still be made vulnerable through the use of social engineering malware, trick ware and other types of malware (malware ≠ virus). Apple has done A LOT to contain this problem, but cannot defeat human gullibility (or in some cases good ol' stupidity).

I think Randy's last paragraph in his earlier post summed up the situation nicely:

I can tell you that I've used one of the top-rated anti-virus (AV) programs, Intego's Virus Barrier, continuously ever since OS X was released, roughly 13 years ago. I use AV software, not because I think that I need it (I don't think that I need it), but because my work requires it. In all that time, my AV software has never flagged anything that I actually needed to be protected from.

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chas_m said:

Luckily, "virus" has a clear definition, so we don't have to rely on people's personal interpretations of what it means.

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I don't think that it is at all clear. At least, it isn't clear that it is the definition that you want to ascribe to the term. To the majority of computer users, "virus" equals "malware." The only people who know the difference are computer nerds.

chas_m said:

And by the standard definition of a computer virus, there are no viruses for OS X

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I think that it is misleading to go around saying that there are "no viruses for OS X" without qualifying yourself, when you know that most people take that to mean that there is no malware for OS X. The latter not being the case at all.

chas_m said:

(nor are there ever likely to be).

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It's not likely, but it's also not impossible. There have already been several viruses created for OS X. "OSX.Exploit.Launchd" was a proof-of-concept virus for OS X that appeared in 2006, as was "Inqtana" and "Macarena".
The Safe Mac : Mac Malware Guide

Some of the more advanced versions of Flashback might also be defined as viruses, as they are completely self-installing and self-propagating. (Of course, there are Java patches to protect you from Flashback now.)

The above is not intended to indicate that there is a significant malware threat for OS X (there isn't at all), or that Mac users need anti-virus software, or that they should be afraid of malware. Relative freedom from malware is still a big strength of the Macintosh platform.

But folks who go around saying that there are "no viruses for OS X" and that there "never will be" in order to get users to believe that there is no malware for the Macintosh are incorrect and they need to educate themselves.