Does a non computer savvy person need antivirus...

I'm going to work on a relatives mac tomorrow, and since she isn't very computer savvy she wants me to clean it up and update the browser. She knows what not to click on (free gift card ads and such) but she does like to play games online. I am not a mac person and I do know that "macs don't get viruses" and "you don't need antivirus for a mac" but I am still suspicious, so I have 2 questions.

Since she uses safari, there wouldn't be any advantage to switching, would there? I was going to download firefox/chrome/other browser until I realized she uses safari.

I need recommendations for a free, very easy to use, always running AV program (Microsoft Security Essentials is exactly what I want, just for mac).
Something she doesn't need to mess with, but doesn't hog resources. (Am I just dreaming?)

meganreeves said:

I'm going to work on a relatives mac tomorrow, and since she isn't very computer savvy she wants me to clean it up and update the browser. She knows what not to click on (free gift card ads and such) but she does like to play games online. I am not a mac person and I do know that "macs don't get viruses" and "you don't need antivirus for a mac" but I am still suspicious, so I have 2 questions.

Since she uses safari, there wouldn't be any advantage to switching, would there? I was going to download firefox/chrome/other browser until I realized she uses safari.

I need recommendations for a free, very easy to use, always running AV program (Microsoft Security Essentials is exactly what I want, just for mac).
Something she doesn't need to mess with, but doesn't hog resources. (Am I just dreaming?)

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No...NO..You do not need a AV program for Macs. Just turn on the firewall. Just download any updates for there browser. I had some issues with Safari and switched to Camino. Tell her to stay away from B A D places on the net. Unless your trading files with other windows PC users..thats what the AV is for.

Yes, you're dreaming, they all hog resources and cause more trouble than they're worth on a Mac.

All the virus scanners (including the ones that run on Macs) currently scan for windows viruses since there are no viruses in the wild that will run in OS X. There are no worms, malware, etc. There is a Trojan that is available through 2 sources - illegal software or 'supposed' codecs for some porn sites. If she's doing neither of those there is no worry. She has to put in her master password to install that one.

We see twice the number of posts of issues with A/V software than we see of those switchers who "think" they have a virus. Ends up being a failing drive, 80MB free space left on their 250GB drive, they haven't done any house cleaning since they bought the machine, etc.

Just click on the apple in the top left corner, then Software Updates and let it update what it finds.

If she only has one browser on the machine, grab FF or Opera for her to use as a backup.

Get her setup backing up her machine. Either with Time Machine, SuperDuper! or CarbonCopyCloner.

In 6 years have never used any Malware software, download from reputable sites and leave this box unchecked, as it is a minor level of safety and not hard to start manually;


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Same in Mail if this is left unchecked then the 1 pixel downloads are not actioned thereby alerting spammers to a valid address;



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Stay away for The Hun website and you won't have any virus problems... or so I heard.

Antivirus software on a Mac just slows it down and doesn't need it.