Do I need anti-virus for grown-up stuff?

[noSpeed]

Hi,

I'm a new mac user, and I plan to be sharing files between my mac and my PC. I'll also be downloading adult content. What anti-virus would you guys recommend?

My school gives me norton for free, but a search reveals that most recommend against it. I see that most people recommend iAntivirus or ClamXav.

What do you guys think?

 

[GGJstudios]

You don't need AV for Mac OS X. However, I strongly recommend searching the forum with MRoogle to find answers to most of your questions.

 

[noSpeed]

I did search the forum, and that's how I found out about the Norton alternatives. I'm looking for input from mac owners who have used the software mentioned.

 

[GGJstudios]

I did search the forum, and that's how I found out about the Norton alternatives. I'm looking for input from mac owners who have used the software mentioned.

As I recommended, using MRoogle will find what you're looking for:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...ite:forums.macrumors.com&as_qdr=y&btnG=Search

 

[scaredpoet]

Or you can actually respond to his question with actual, helpful information, especially since your link didn't. It just brought up this same thread, along with threads about best AV software. Not helpful in the least.


Anyway to give a real answer: To date, I have not found a need to install AV software on my Mac, and I switched full-time back in 2007.

While I will plead the 5th on adult content , for the most part the malware that might be associated with those types of sites is going to be geared towards running on Windows machines. It's still very much a matter of market share and economics: the people making this stuff want it to run on the most computers possible, and Windows still has dominant market share.

We can also argue to death whether OS X is more secure than Windows, and quite a few will argue that this is also the case. Even so, you still need to be cautious: if you're looking at a questionable web site and you start to see dialog boxes asking you for your Mac user password to install software, you'd better know why it's happening before you even think about typing that password in.

 

[dXTC]

I can't offer any reviews on the two AV Mac software you mentioned. However, I would still advise extreme caution when visiting those sites, especially the more dodgy or specialty (read: fetish) sites. I would definitely use the Mac to visit them and/or download... ahem... media, as drive-by malware from those sites that could trash a Windows machine won't execute on a Mac.

Of course, that still won't stop the stupid "OMG you have a Virus! Our SuperAntiMalSpywareSheriffPro is scanning your system RIGHT NOW!!!1!onezorz" popups.

In addition, I second scaredpoet's post about passwords.

 

[GGJstudios]

Or you can actually respond to his question with actual, helpful information, especially since your link didn't. It just brought up this same thread, along with threads about best AV software. Not helpful in the least.

The link I provided included many threads where exactly this topic has been beaten to death, including comments that almost match yours, word for word. It's only helpful if one knows how to click links and read, and if one is not too lazy to do so.

​

 

[scaredpoet]

It's only helpful if one knows how to click links and read, and if one is not too lazy to do so.

Funny that; clicking links and reading is a requirement to use the forum to begin with. And the OP did visit this forum, to have an actual human respond to their question using up to date information. They didn't visit Google.

But I digress. I still disagree wholeheartedly that the links you present actually provided anything in a useful form. They showed what SOME people use for antivirus and sometimes list whether those people think those tools are good or not. I didn't see a link anywhere the directly responded to the OP's question.

But no matter, he has his answer, and your post count is up anyway despite not having contributed, so it's all good, right?