MAC Antivirus

[fwlogue]

I have wanted a mac for several years. When my laptop gave up the other day I finally decided after looking to get a MacBook. I know that there are fewer viruses for the Mac than a PC for those of you with a Mac do you run antivirus and if you do what do you run.

[machavez00]

these are the ones sold on the Apple store online
http://store.apple.com/us/search?find=antivirus

[ibglowin]

Have used Norton AV on all my Macs for 10+ years. The only virus in that entire time was in a PC word document 10 years ago. Not a single virus since. I would never run without it. That said it seems to be like the Maytag repair man. Nothing much to fix or repair.

[DCSholtis]

Never haver run any antivirus stuff on any of my Macs.

[Chris Blount]

I have an iMac and Macbook and don't run antivirus software on either one. Don't see the need. It's unlikely you will get a virus on a Mac. Don't waste your money.

[fwlogue]

Thanks for everyones tips I was kind of already leaning towards not running anything on my new Macbook.

[Stuart Sweet]

I run 10 Macs at work without antivirus. The PCs run a server-based version of Symantec ntivirus. That and the firewall keep the boogeymen at bay.

BTW it's been proven that Macs are potentially more at risk for viruses, it's just that no one writes them.

[Greg Alsobrook]

no antivirus on either of my macbooks... :)

[Chris Blount]

There is one thing that I guess should be mentioned. Macs are not invinsible. The standard prevention protocols should always be followed. The biggest one being to only download and install software from reputable sources. This will keep not only viruses out, but Trojans which can be just as harmful.

[LarryFlowers]

There is one thing that I guess should be mentioned. Macs are not invinsible. The standard prevention protocols should always be followed. The biggest one being to only download and install software from reputable sources. This will keep not only viruses out, but Trojans which can be just as harmful.

MAC users should keep something in mind...

Mac is experiencing an uptick in sales. If this continues, they will become targeted by the same people that attack PC's. The MAC isn't invulnerable or more secure, it just isn't a "profitable" target. This could change... rapidly.

[fwlogue]

I agree on the common sense I have always ran antivirus on my PC's and have never been infected by any virus. On the other hand though my son's PC has been infected several times because he installs anything and everything.

[machavez00]

There is one thing that I guess should be mentioned. Macs are not invinsible. The standard prevention protocols should always be followed. The biggest one being to only download and install software from reputable sources. This will keep not only viruses out, but Trojans which can be just as harmful.

The best advice is to stay away from the adult sites, which in itself is ironic, because that's how most Trojans find their way on to PCs

[bobnielsen]

The reviews of Norton AV on the Apple site aren't very encouraging. I don't run any AV software on my Mac. I did for a while on a Linux box because it was the mail server for my wife's Windows machine (and it only worked against Windows viruses).

[machavez00]

Most people run them so they don't pass them on to PC's via email forwarding

[DCSholtis]

IF you are worried about something there is something called ClamXav its sort of a guard/sentry as it scans every file coming in and you can even set it to do daily folder scans. Look it up on versiontracker.com For monitoring incoming connections try Little Snitch its shareware.

[Tom Robertson]

There is one thing that I guess should be mentioned. Macs are not invinsible. The standard prevention protocols should always be followed. The biggest one being to only download and install software from reputable sources. This will keep not only viruses out, but Trojans which can be just as harmful.

I was going to mention that the very first personal computing virus I ran into hit our MACs many years ago. :)

Yes, PCs lead the world in Viri, but MAC can get them too.

Cheers,
Tom

[Greg Alsobrook]

On the apple site... under 'networking & security'... if you sort by most popular... there are a few like MacScan, avast!, and VirusBarrier X5... anyone have any experience with those?

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/networking_security/index_top.html