Best Anti Virus software for Mac

[RadDave]

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However, I think that folks are mistaken in their recommendation of MalwareBytes. I'm extremely leary of MalwareBytes since they came out with the nagware/commercial version. Download EasyFind and do a search for "MalwareBytes" on your Mac if you have MalwareBytes installed. You will find as many as 24 files (the number, oddly, varies for each user) for MalwareBytes installed all over your system. What do you think that they are all doing? (Hint, MalwareBytes is making money off of you even if you only have the free version.)

I now recommend this instead of MalwareBytes for dealing with adware:

DetectX (free/$10 requested)
https://sqwarq.com/detectx/

Also, while Malwarebytes is a very effective product for dealing with adware (having subsumed the excellent anti-adware product Adware Medic), contrary to what it says on their Web site, it looks for very little actual malware at all and is inadequate for that task.

Don't believe me? Run MalwareBytes. How long does it take to do a scan? About 10 to 15 seconds?.........

Hi Randy - thanks for ALL of the information from your extensive experience! Your comments about Malwarebytes piqued my interest - the 'short' running scan always bothered me as to the completeness of this app which may not be of much value. As to the number of files placed on the drive - I get < 10 using EasyFind and exactly 10 using AppCleaner (first pic below).

As to DetectX, there are two versions offered from your link, i.e. DetectX & DetectX Swift (2nd pic) - the latter seems to be the DL needed for newer macOS versions - comments please from those using this software?

Finally, no one has responded to my posts concerning VirusBarrier - for those using the app, are you observing the same temp, CPU, and fan speed changes that I described - assume these are not dangerous but are rather striking - I would have expected that a malware app could be written that does not hog so much of the computer's resources? Thanks - Dave :
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[Randy B. Singer]

As to DetectX, there are two versions offered from your link, i.e. DetectX & DetectX Swift (2nd pic) - the latter seems to be the DL needed for newer macOS versions - comments please from those using this software?

Use the version DetectX that is for your version of the Mac OS.

Finally, no one has responded to my posts concerning VirusBarrier - for those using the app, are you observing the same temp, CPU, and fan speed changes that I described - assume these are not dangerous but are rather striking - I would have expected that a malware app could be written that does not hog so much of the computer's resources? Thanks - Dave :

You only need to do a full disk scan ONCE. From then on you only need to scan new downloads, e-mails or additions.

ANY product that causes continuous and intense disk access is going to cause elevated temperatures. In fact, when I do clone backups using SuperDuper the product monitors temperatures and expects things to get hot, and will pause, as necessary, to let things cool down.

 

[lclev]

Finally, no one has responded to my posts concerning VirusBarrier - for those using the app, are you observing the same temp, CPU, and fan speed changes that I described - assume these are not dangerous but are rather striking - I would have expected that a malware app could be written that does not hog so much of the computer's resources? Thanks - Dave :

I have used VirusBarrier on both my 2010 Mac Pro and 2017 MB Pro. I have not experienced anything like what you are seeing. It took a couple of minutes to run on my MB Pro which has about 140GB on the SSD. The fans did not ramp up, the CPU was at 288% but for a very short time. Temps did not rise much at all before it was done. As for my Mac Pro - I will check it out tomorrow as I really did not notice any issues. I am not sure why your system had that drastic reaction.

Lisa

 

[RadDave]

Use the version DetectX that is for your version of the Mac OS.

You only need to do a full disk scan ONCE. From then on you only need to scan new downloads, e-mails or additions.

ANY product that causes continuous and intense disk access is going to cause elevated temperatures. In fact, when I do clone backups using SuperDuper the product monitors temperatures and expects things to get hot, and will pause, as necessary, to let things cool down.

Thanks Randy - will do - the access on the drive was fast so not surprised at the elevated temps - will not be concerned. Dave :

 

[RadDave]

I have used VirusBarrier on both my 2010 Mac Pro and 2017 MB Pro. I have not experienced anything like what you are seeing. It took a couple of minutes to run on my MB Pro which has about 140GB on the SSD. The fans did not ramp up, the CPU was at 288% but for a very short time. Temps did not rise much at all before it was done. As for my Mac Pro - I will check it out tomorrow as I really did not notice any issues. I am not sure why your system had that drastic reaction.........

Hi Lisa - well, hard to explain our discrepant experiences - maybe when I do a second scan, the findings might be different? I've exchanged several emails w/ Chris of Intego Support and also sent him the same screencaptures in my post - quoted below is is last response to me - seems like the findings I reported are not surprising - in the near future, I'll repeat the scans just to see if there are differences? Dave

Chris (Intego Support)
Feb 11, 17:38 CST

Hello David,

Thank you for your screenshots.

Everything in your screenshots appeared to be normal. We did not see anything to be concerned about.

You can open the VirusBarrier Scanner About menu on the menu bar to trigger a check for malware definition updates.

Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Kind Regards,

Chris
Intego Support Team

 

[chscag]

I think I'll just get DetectX for now

Good choice. I decided to remove Malwarebytes after reading what Randy wrote and instead installed DetectX. I opted for their Swift version which is $10.00.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Good choice. I decided to remove Malwarebytes after reading what Randy wrote and instead installed DetectX. I opted for their Swift version which is $10.00.

Just to clear up the confusion, here is what they say about pricing on their Web site:

"What does it cost?

"For home use? Nothing if you prefer! DetectX and DetectX Swift are shareware, which means you can go on using them without sharing a cent!

"That said, we can only continue development if enough people do share, so there is an optional $10 Home registration key for each product available through the app interface..."

 

[RadDave]

Good choice. I decided to remove Malwarebytes after reading what Randy wrote and instead installed DetectX. I opted for their Swift version which is $10.00.

From their website, the pic below indicates that DetectX is compatible only up to macOS 10.10; therefore for us w/ newer macOS versions (such as Mojave on my 3 Macs), DetectX Swift is the only choice - is that the understanding of others? Dave
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[chscag]

I like to support developers of shareware which is why I opted to pay the $10.00. Also, the Swift version in addition to scanning for malware, shows some other items: History of changes and machine profile that includes: File System, temperature - thermal state, spotlight status - indexing, filevault status - on or off, Gatekeeper status, SIP - on or off.

Well worth the $10.

 

[chscag]

From their website, the pic below indicates that DetectX is compatible only up to macOS 10.10; therefore for us w/ newer macOS versions (such as Mojave on my 3 Macs), DetectX Swift is the only choice - is that the understanding of others?

That is my understanding also although at first I didn't notice it. But it didn't matter since I wanted the Swift version.

 

[MacInWin]

I, too, installed DetectX Swift, and in the middle of the first scan was taken to the "pay me" screen where the option was to pay the $10 or cancel the scan. So, from my perspective, it ain't free and it ain't donation-ware. It's $10, flat.

 

[pm-r]

I, too, installed DetectX Swift, and in the middle of the first scan was taken to the "pay me" screen where the option was to pay the $10 or cancel the scan. So, from my perspective, it ain't free and it ain't donation-ware. It's $10, flat.

I'd say quite deceiving especially what they say at their site:

What does it cost?

For home use? Nothing if you prefer! DetectX and DetectX Swift are shareware, which means you can go on using them without sharing a cent!

That said, we can only continue development if enough people do share, so there is an optional $10 Home registration key for each product available through the app interface (note that these are not transferable from DetectX to DetectX Swift or vice versa).

For teams, organisations and those wanting to use DetectX Swift’s command line tools beyond the initial 20-day trial period, you guys need to buy a Pro or Management license.

https://sqwarq.com/detectx/

I prefer the software I use to be honest right from the begining thanks.





- Patrick
======

 

[RadDave]

I, too, installed DetectX Swift, and in the middle of the first scan was taken to the "pay me" screen where the option was to pay the $10 or cancel the scan. So, from my perspective, it ain't free and it ain't donation-ware. It's $10, flat.

Well, I just did the DetectX Swift download - the scan ran for about 20 seconds and stated nothing was detected (as shown in the pic) - a donation screen was present but did not stop the scanning - of course, my concern was 'what' was really scanned in that brief period of time? Malwarebytes behaves similarly, i.e. a brief scan vs. VirusBarrier which took a LONG time to scan - what are others experiencing w/ DetectX Swift regarding what to select and their scanning times? Thanks - Dave
.

 

[harryb2448]

Ditto Dave.

 

[MacInWin]

Did you click on the "Home" button? When I did that, I was taken to the pay screen, no options. And behind it, the scan quit.

 

[pm-r]

I just did the DetectX Swift download - the scan ran for about 20 seconds

How could it possibly scan the drive for any nasties in that short period of time?

I haven't tried it but my Malwarebytes scan takes just over eight minutes on my Mavericks 300GB partition.

I'd say that would be about normal for an HDD. What times are others seeing?





- Patrick
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[RadDave]

Did you click on the "Home" button? When I did that, I was taken to the pay screen, no options. And behind it, the scan quit.

Hi Jake - for me, I just let the scan finish which as already stated was just too brief for the scan I expected - just reopened the app and hit the HOME button and the pay page came up - did not proceed. After you paid (my assumption), how long did the scan take to finish? Just wondering if a 'complete' scan is done only after a donation? Dave

 

[MacInWin]

It didn't "finish" at all. I paid, then ran it again. It now shows a little green bar that says "Registered." I got an email after paying that had a registration code, copied it and pasted it into the registration window and then it would run. On my 1T SSD it takes a couple of minutes to finish a search.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Well, I just did the DetectX Swift download - the scan ran for about 20 seconds and stated nothing was detected (as shown in the pic) - a donation screen was present but did not stop the scanning - of course, my concern was 'what' was really scanned in that brief period of time?

I talked about that back in the post where I recommended DetectX. Both DetectX and MalwareBytes use similar scanners. That is, they don't look inside any files whatsoever. What they do is look for files with certain names in certain places on your hard drive. That doesn't take long at all. Only a few seconds. For adware, this is all that you need. For malware...well, malware likes to hide INSIDE files, not stick out like a sore thumb where you can find it and delete it.

So, as I said, DetectX is a wonderful product if your concern is adware. It's mostly worthless (no matter what it says on their Web site) for dealing with serious malware. That's what VirusBarrier is for.

By the way, I just downloaded the very latest version of DetectX Swift. It has a nag screen with a countdown when you launch it that lasts for a few seconds to try and encourage you to register (pay), but it did a complete scan with no interruption.

 

[RadDave]

Thanks again Randy for the comments above! I returned to the website and read most of the 'Help Articles' and also viewed the video below (one of the links there) - now I understand the 'short scan time' for this app - went ahead and registered also and will put on my other 2 computers (and delete Malwarebytes) - Dave