Newbie to mac worried about security!

You don't need one, but if you really feel better if you have one, get avast. I heard a lot of good things about it. I've never heard of clamxav, so I can't tell you if it's good or not.

Techgoddess said:

Yes i tried avast, but it really messed up my mac, it wouldn't boot properly! so i uninstalled it and it was fine. it is a bad virus protection for mac. In my opinion!

Click to expand...

I've been using avast on mac and windows, and it's all good. Weird how it messed up your mac. Anyways, if clamxav is working good for you, then use it. Like I said, there are barely any virus' for macs, so you should be good.

I've never had virus protection on my Mac, ever. You really don't need it.

Techgoddess said:

yeah i suppose but i heard stories that viruses do happen! you probably just go lucky

Click to expand...

No, the people who've gotten a Mac virus were just really unlucky.

I'll put my 2 cents in.

I don't think its really necessary for anti virus. But if you must I guess there is always norton? Some people are recommending avast I've never used on Mac nor PC so I couldn't tell you how well it works. Honestly you just have to be careful keep an open eye use common sense and you won't get viruses.

Use the search function

Use the search function before you post, it will save you a lot of time and effort. Check out this thread, especially post #4, which has the answers you are looking for. I found that post using the search button and the key word "virus". Simple enough wasn't it.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1478042/

Techgoddess said:

yeah i suppose but i heard stories that viruses do happen! you probably just go lucky

Click to expand...

Virus scanner, even in the Windows world is a waste of time, IMO. They make your machine run slower, many times they interfere with other apps, and when you get infected, guess how much time you spend de-infecting it?

In the computer world, fortunately, we can UNDO, easily! as long as you have a complete copy of your stuff somewhere else. So you don't care what virus you got, you just say GO BACK to when everything was peachy! Easy!

Some people do it with Time Machine I hear, Apple built-in backup mechanism, but sounds like it would take too long to restore, I have no patience, so I use Carbon Copy and keep a known-to-be-good copy of my stuff in an external drive. In case of trouble, I restore from it and am back in business in 15 minutes. No stress, don't care about what virus and whatnot. This also works for bad updates, half-baked apps etc. It happens, not all latest updates are the greatest. No like? Pull out that external drive, restore, BAM!

This is not as same as data backup, you should have a set of data backup somewhere, always, separate from this procedure.

The only thing you should not concern with a Mac, is security.. (especially if you come from Windows, the OS can not live without any threads )

Techgoddess said:

yeah i suppose but i heard stories that viruses do happen! you probably just go lucky

Click to expand...

Considering I've been using Macs since the System 7 software days I can say that I represent the norm rather than the exception.

no harm having one if you have ram to spare. haven't tried clamxav but i heard it's good. you give sophos a try if you'd like to. i'm using that and it runs in the background just fine.

try the link. can read some reviews too.
http://www.sophos.com/en-us/product...?ClickID=bku6knm6endszksqzn1udueedesvsdkelgqs

Techgoddess said:

I am worried about my mac getting viruses, i know they are less likely too,

Click to expand...

They're not less likely; they're nonexistent. Macs are not immune to malware, but no true viruses exist in the wild that can run on Mac OS X, and there never have been any since it was released over 10 years ago. The only malware in the wild that can affect Mac OS X is a handful of trojans, which can be easily avoided by practicing safe computing (see below). Also, Mac OS X 10.6 and later versions have anti-malware protection built in, further reducing the need for 3rd party antivirus apps.

1. Make sure your built-in Mac firewall is enabled in System Preferences > Security > Firewall
   
   
2. Uncheck "Open "safe" files after downloading" in Safari > Preferences > General
   
   
3. Disable Java in your browser (Safari, Chrome, Firefox). This will protect you from malware that exploits Java in your browser, including the recent Flashback trojan. Leave Java disabled until you visit a trusted site that requires it, then re-enable only for the duration of your visit to that site. (This is not to be confused with JavaScript, which you should leave enabled.)
   
   
4. Change your DNS servers to OpenDNS servers by reading this.
   
   
5. Be careful to only install software from trusted, reputable sites. Never install pirated software. If you're not sure about an app, ask in this forum before installing.
   
   
6. If you're running Mountain Lion, check your Gatekeeper settings in System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General > Allow applications downloaded from. For more information on these settings: OS X: About Gatekeeper
   
   
7. Never let someone else have access to install anything on your Mac.
   
   
8. Don't open files that you receive from unknown or untrusted sources.
   
   
9. For added security, make sure all network, email, financial and other important passwords are long and complex, including upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters.
   
   
10. Always keep your Mac and application software updated. Use Software Update for your Mac software. For other software, it's safer to get updates from the developer's site or from the menu item "Check for updates", rather than installing from any notification window that pops up while you're surfing the web.

That's all you need to do to keep your Mac completely free of any Mac OS X malware that has ever been released into the wild. While you may elect to use it, 3rd party antivirus software is not required to keep your Mac malware-free.

geetee24 said:

you give sophos a try if you'd like to.

Click to expand...

I recommend that you avoid using Sophos, as it could actually increase your Mac's vulnerability, as described here and here.

If you still want to run antivirus for some reason, ClamXav (which is free) is one of the best choices, since it isn't a resource hog, detects both Mac and Windows malware and doesn't run with elevated privileges. You can run scans when you choose, rather than leaving it running all the time, slowing your system.

Techgoddess said:

yeah i suppose but i heard stories that viruses do happen! you probably just go lucky

Click to expand...

filmbuff said:

No, the people who've gotten a Mac virus were just really unlucky.

Click to expand...

GGJstudios sums it up best. But to repeat, since OS X - there have been no viruses in the wild. The stories you heard, if true, were either malware or concerned Macs prior to OS X.

However, I will add. I have, on occasion, been reading threads here about people who have 'virus like' weird things happening on their Macs. One of the things that I've noticed is that perhaps their Macs were not well secured with a sign-in password, and/or they were allowing other people to use their systems. The other thing is that they all seemed to be, um, to put it delicately - 'young'. That last point only means that their friends are also probably young... and if their friends are anything like me and my friends at that age... then they are messing with your computer as a prank.

My point is this.... I believe that the vast majority of the weird "viruses" that people swear they've gotten on OS X are in fact their friends messing with them. And the remainder are weird little apps, that are being downloaded willy-nilly with little regard for how good they are. I doubt these apps are 'malware' - I think they are badly written and messing up the system.

So.... don't let your friends use your computer with Admin privileges. Don't ever give them your Admin password. In fact, use your computer with a non-Admin password so if you walk away from the computer your friends can't prank you.

Techgoddess said:

I am worried about my mac getting viruses, i know they are less likely too, but i am worried about my security. I was wondering what is a really good virus program for mac. I have Clamxav and it runs really well on my system, but the question is it as reliable as the commercial products for the pc and mac!? I also tried sophos, but it seemed to slow my mac down quite a bit! How reliable is clamxav?

Click to expand...

Plus all you need to worry about today are Trojan emails. Staying informed and diligent and any modern computer user can avoid most all of these threats.

Personally I use OpenDNS and set it to block known Trojan hosting sites (don';t worry because they have DNS servers around the world). You can see video on how it works.