Free antivirus for Mac

[broadslade]

There are no Mac OS X viruses Charlie Miller or anybody else. Avoid Sophos like the black death and follow Nick's post.

Why avoid Sophos....I am running it at the moment on my MacBook Pro Maverick...should I delete it?

 

[pigoo3]

Why avoid Sophos....I am running it at the moment on my MacBook Pro Maverick...should I delete it?

If you read the whole thread…this has already been discussed. Many AV apps use computer resources…and this can lead to noticeable slowdowns on some computers. The point being…that if the likelihood of having a virus is very very very low…then needing an AV app is much less necessary.

Thus meaning…the user is less likely to benefit from the AV apps positive aspects…and more likely to notice the downside of some AV apps…which is slowing the computer down.

My "happy medium" is. If someone thinks they need to run an AV app on a Mac…don't have it running 100% of the time. Just do periodic scans.

- Nick

 

[harryb2448]

In two words - resource hogs.

 

[PaulRanger1]

G'day colinhawkes103,

In answer to your question, I have reinstalled (see reasons below) ClamXav 2.6.4 from THEIR download page <http://www.clamxav.com/download.php> ONLY. It works fine and is up to date with current Mac virus definitions. It works unobtrusively and does not slow performance. DO NOT download ClamXav from Apple's App Store as several pivotal elements are NOT included (e.g. ClamXav Sentry).

Additionally, I installed open source (ALWAYS free) anti virus software Avira and OnyX. They operate differently and certainly reassure me that all is well (?) with my Mac. Being quite quick but effective in scanning, I use Avira daily as I no longer have boundless confidence in Apple's OS X after months of catastrophic data loss, HD erasures/OS X reinstallations, non Apple apps reinstallations/reregistrations, ad infinitum, ad nauseum!

Mavericks has traumatised me since installing 10.9.2 update. 10.9.3 was even worse. in 10.9.4, problems are resurfacing. Preceding banter over "Mac virus / NO Mac virus / malware" are non constructive semantics and do a great disservice to genuinely concerned members. I hope this helps.

Sincerely, Paul Ranger 1.

 

[chas_m]

As stated above, "malware" is a broad term that can include viruses. "Virus" is a specific term that doesn't apply to the Mac. Using the latter when you mean the former *causes panic and confusion* and isn't helpful. Words mean things, so particularly in a text-based medium such as this one, being precise can be INCREDIBLY important.

 

[dtravis7]

CWA107 is as usual very sensible and very well informed and I 1000% agree and endorse everything he said in his two posts above.

 

[lclev]

A virus is a self-replicating, destructive piece of software. The term "malware" is a broad classification of software, simply meaning software that does something that could be construed as malicious in nature. A virus is malware, but not all malware is a virus.

For some reason, we Mac users love to play on semantics - which is annoying, when for all practical purposes, a well-written piece of adware/scareware/scamware (or any other kind of malware, aside from a virus) can be every bit as destructive as a true virus. That said, viruses, even on Windows, are pretty rare these days as it's much easier (and often more profitable for a criminal enterprise) to scam people than it is to damage their data or system.

Thank you that does clarify it a lot for me.

Lisa

 

[toMACsh]

Okay, this type of comment has come up before and I am confused. I thought malware included viruses as well as trojans, bots, anything that is created havoc in a computer.

Malware Definition

So what am I missing?

Lisa

Well, I can understand your confusion. That was not worded very well. The intent was to convey the fact that not all malware is viral. But, taken literally as written, it actually implied that a virus is not malware, since it was written, shall we say, using an economy of words.

 

[lclev]

Well, I can understand your confusion. That was not worded very well. The intent was to convey the fact that not all malware is viral. But, taken literally as written, it actually implied that a virus is not malware, since it was written, shall we say, using an economy of words.

True, but I appreciate everyone clarifying it for me.

Lisa

 

[sn315on]

Hubby and I have been running Avast on our PC's and Mac's for years. It's free and it's not a resource hog. I've had some hits with spam email and it's caught it right away. Whether you are on a PC or Mac, you should have something protecting your computer especially if you surf the web and get email.

 

[harryb2448]

Yep its a hog. Try using the same tests with and without it.