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<blockquote data-quote="Randy B. Singer" data-source="post: 1710180" data-attributes="member: 190607"><p>Yes, being smart is a good idea. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Except for the fact that:</p><p> </p><p>1) There is already anti-virus software built into OS X:</p><p></p><p>XProtect/File Quarantine </p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xprotect" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xprotect</a></p><p><a href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201940" target="_blank">https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201940</a></p><p></p><p>2) Fully interactive anti-virus software tends to cause nasty software conflicts and slowdowns. In fact, just about all of the reports that I hear from folks who think that they have been infected by malware turn out to be caused by their own third-party anti-virus software. Many users go so far as to say that anti-virus software for the Mac causes far more problems than malware does.</p><p></p><p>3) At this moment, if you have fully updated software, there are no malware threats to the Macintosh that you have to be concerned about. (There have been such threats, but Apple, thankfully, updates OS X to block such threats.)</p><p></p><p>3) Anti-virus software won't protect you from not-yet created malware. AV software companies need a sample of existing malware in order to create a definition to add to their software to push out an update to allow your AV software to protect you from that threat. In other words, until there is a threat in the wild that is prevalent, and sufficiently malicious, and for some reason Apple chooses to ignore it and they don't patch OS X against it, anti-virus software isn't going to do much for you.</p><p></p><p>This has come up many times here on Mac-Fourms before. I guess that we need a FAQ (frequently asked questions) section so that the same things don't need to be explained over and over.</p><p></p><p>At this time, there is no reason for anyone to be paranoid about Malware for the Macintosh. That may change, but ill-informed folks have been saying that it will change "real soon now" for over a dozen years, since OS X was released. And they have been dead wrong. See:</p><p></p><p>Broken Windows</p><p><a href="http://daringfireball.net/2004/06/broken_windows" target="_blank">http://daringfireball.net/2004/06/broken_windows</a></p><p></p><p>So Witty (followup to Broken Windows)</p><p><a href="http://daringfireball.net/2004/06/so_witty" target="_blank">http://daringfireball.net/2004/06/so_witty</a></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Randy B. Singer, post: 1710180, member: 190607"] Yes, being smart is a good idea. :) Except for the fact that: 1) There is already anti-virus software built into OS X: XProtect/File Quarantine [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xprotect[/url] [url]https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201940[/url] 2) Fully interactive anti-virus software tends to cause nasty software conflicts and slowdowns. In fact, just about all of the reports that I hear from folks who think that they have been infected by malware turn out to be caused by their own third-party anti-virus software. Many users go so far as to say that anti-virus software for the Mac causes far more problems than malware does. 3) At this moment, if you have fully updated software, there are no malware threats to the Macintosh that you have to be concerned about. (There have been such threats, but Apple, thankfully, updates OS X to block such threats.) 3) Anti-virus software won't protect you from not-yet created malware. AV software companies need a sample of existing malware in order to create a definition to add to their software to push out an update to allow your AV software to protect you from that threat. In other words, until there is a threat in the wild that is prevalent, and sufficiently malicious, and for some reason Apple chooses to ignore it and they don't patch OS X against it, anti-virus software isn't going to do much for you. This has come up many times here on Mac-Fourms before. I guess that we need a FAQ (frequently asked questions) section so that the same things don't need to be explained over and over. At this time, there is no reason for anyone to be paranoid about Malware for the Macintosh. That may change, but ill-informed folks have been saying that it will change "real soon now" for over a dozen years, since OS X was released. And they have been dead wrong. See: Broken Windows [url]http://daringfireball.net/2004/06/broken_windows[/url] So Witty (followup to Broken Windows) [url]http://daringfireball.net/2004/06/so_witty[/url] [/QUOTE]
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