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Hello Randy B. Singer et al,
I installed "Avast Mac Security" ... The app is free and I find it reassuring.
This is one of those instances where "free" is not a good deal, and where you have put yourself in *more* danger as a result of trying to escape the possibility of danger.
Avast installs adware...
http://www.thesafemac.com/avast-installs-adware/
and does some other malware-type things:
http://www.thesafemac.com/avasts-man-in-the-middle/
The bottom line is that Avast can't be trusted because it comes from a company that can't be trusted. I highly recommend uninstalling it:
Uninstalling Avast Mac Security:
https://www.avast.com/en-za/faq/AVKB67
Well that brings two thoughts to mind (ignoring for now the fact that Onyx, which you've cited as anti-virus software, isn't in any way an anti-virus product).Occasionally, 'avast' will instantly and block an infected website...No other 'anti virus software for Mac (e.g. Avira, OnyX, or ClamAv which is no longer free) came close to Avast's apparent constant activity in safeguarding the Mac in use.
The first is whether Avast is reporting that it is saving you from anything that you needed saving from. Most anti-virus programs give self-serving reports that make it look like they are doing something worthwhile. The thing is, unless they tell you precisely what they "saved you" from, and you Google it and it turns out to be something legitimate that Mac users (not Windows users) have to be concerned about (all highly unlikely), then you've simply been conned into believing the hype from that software.
My second thought is...why do you need a third party program to do this? All of the major Web browsers (Safari, Firefox and Chrome, including all the other browsers that are based on the codebase for one of these three) already include, and have enabled by default, Google's Safe Browsing technology.
Google's "Safe Browsing" technology:
http://www.macworld.com/article/137094/2008/11/safari_safe_browsing.html
https://safebrowsing.google.com/safebrowsing/report_phish/?hl=en
http://www.macworld.com/article/317...rogue-ad-injections-and-settings-changes.html
So, you don't need anti-virus software to protect you from malicious Web sites.
And what is it that you expect to show up in an e-mail that's going to harm your Macintosh? There are no Macintosh viruses that propagate that way. Any Windows virus that shows up attached to an e-mail won't run on your Mac and is entirely harmless.
You might want to go back through this thread (and several like it here on Mac-Forums) and review what knowledgeable folks are trying to tell you. In most cases you don't want anti-virus software on your Macintosh, it tends to be far more trouble than it's worth.*** And, if for some reason you decide that you want to have anti-virus software anyways (I do for my business) despite the lack of need, going with a free product is likely a really bad idea. If you want anti-virus software, you should go with a commercial product that is known to work really well (based on legitimate reviews) and which won't cause nasty problems of its own. (I use Intego's Virus Barrier. It's a wonderful product that has won a lot of shootout tests and reviewers' accolades, but in the past dozen years it has never saved me from anything that I actually needed saving from.)
***NOTE: I have two popular Web sites to help Macintosh users who are suffering from nasty problems.
One for slowdowns:
http://www.macattorney.com/sd.html
and one for persistent rotating beachballs:
http://www.macattorney.com/rbb.html
Do you know what the most common cause of both is? Having anti-virus software installed!