Bitdefender on OS X

[DCIFRTHS]

I'm looking or opinions on what people think of Bitdefender (primarily) as an antivirus/antimalware program for the Mac. I'm open to discussion anthers though. Thoughts?

I'd prefer to keep this discussion focused on the programs themselves rather than if I actually need one or not.

I've always used Symantec/Norton products, but lately their Mac software is full of bugs, and installs its own firewall (which I do not want). I won't use Kaspersky because of where it is based in Russia (I have always felt this way), and the history of the founder of the company. I am also concerned about Bitdefender being a Romanian company. I am not a racist, I am just concerned about software thats primary function is to spy, but is masquerading as something else. Yes. I am a bit paranoid, but I prefer to look at it as being cautious

One of my biggest concerns is that the antivirus/antimalware programs are key loggers or malware themselves. Thoughts?

I also use Little Snitch.

 

[QzzB]

Not sure if this is for home or corporate use, but Sophos has a Mac client called Sophos Home. I have seen that running on a few Macs and looks pretty feature rich, and its also free

https://home.sophos.com

 

[Ulenspiegel]

I prefer on-demand antivirus apps for obvious reasons.
Thus, I use only Malwarebytes anti-malware for Mac. More than enough.

 

[BeefCake 15]

I prefer on-demand antivirus apps for obvious reasons.
Thus, I use only Malwarebytes anti-malware for Mac. More than enough.

+1 on Malwarebytes, never let me down!
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I'm looking or opinions on what people think of Bitdefender (primarily) as an antivirus/antimalware program for the Mac. I'm open to discussion anthers though. Thoughts?

I'd prefer to keep this discussion focused on the programs themselves rather than if I actually need one or not.

I've always used Symantec/Norton products, but lately their Mac software is full of bugs, and installs its own firewall (which I do not want). I won't use Kaspersky because of where it is based in Russia (I have always felt this way), and the history of the founder of the company. I am also concerned about Bitdefender being a Romanian company. I am not a racist, I am just concerned about software thats primary function is to spy, but is masquerading as something else. Yes. I am a bit paranoid, but I prefer to look at it as being cautious

One of my biggest concerns is that the antivirus/antimalware programs are key loggers or malware themselves. Thoughts?

I also use Little Snitch.

Have you thought of using a virtual machine that you can use to access the questionable websites that may give you those viruses?

 

[ATC]

I prefer on-demand antivirus apps for obvious reasons.
Thus, I use only Malwarebytes anti-malware for Mac. More than enough.

I also use Malwarebytes and it's great but I do have two concerns; 1. I don't think it's an anti-virus per se, it's just anti-malware and ad-ware - someone correct me if I'm wrong. And 2. For better or for worse, it's only an on-demand scanner, it doesn't offer real-time scan/protection so you have to be disciplined and remember to run a scan periodically.

 

[IHelpId10t5]

I also use Malwarebytes and it's great but I do have two concerns; 1. I don't think it's an anti-virus per se, it's just anti-malware and ad-ware - someone correct me if I'm wrong. And 2. For better or for worse, it's only an on-demand scanner, it doesn't offer real-time scan/protection so you have to be disciplined and remember to run a scan periodically.

Third-party Real-time scanners installed in macOS actually introduce potential vulnerabilities and frequent stability and performance problems that are not part of the OS to start with. In other words, you would be purposely increasing the attack surface and reducing the reliability of your Mac to protect from an almost non-existent risk. If you want to have an on-demand scanner then Malwarebytes is fine -- yet also unnecessary. macOS has built-in anti-malware already called XProtect. One thing you will rarely read in the frequent FUD articles that are written by anti-malware software companies is that Apple's XProtect is typically updated faster than nearly any of the third-party products to protect your mac from new threats that users expose themselves to. It's a FACT that there are no "viruses" on the macOS, and nearly every past and current threat to macOS is classified as a trojan which needs user interaction to install.

Instead of installing a problematic and useless product on your Mac, just: keep it updated, keep SIP enabled, keep Gatekeeper set to Appstore only, don't use your account as an admin, uninstall Java, disable Flash in your browser, and don't be fooled into installing a trojan, authenticating as admin, and/or clicking "ok" in unexpected dialogs. Doing these things make your macOS rock-solid whereas installing a real-time anti-malware application will make you less safe while causing slow performance and frequent crashes and other problems.

 

[Ulenspiegel]

I also use Malwarebytes and it's great but I do have two concerns; 1. I don't think it's an anti-virus per se, it's just anti-malware and ad-ware - someone correct me if I'm wrong. And 2. For better or for worse, it's only an on-demand scanner, it doesn't offer real-time scan/protection so you have to be disciplined and remember to run a scan periodically.

Malwarebytes for Mac scans for known viruses as well.

("'Malware' is an umbrella term used to refer to a variety of forms of hostile or intrusive software, including computer viruses, worms, trojan horses, ransomware, spyware, adware, scareware, and other malicious programs." - Source).

There is no need for real-time protection and as IHelpId10t5 emphasized third-party real time scanners cause frequent stability and performance problems.

 

[ATC]

Thanks for the explanations. I feel better now with just Malwarebytes. About Xprotect; is this also on El Capitan or just Sierra? Sierra isn't supported on my iMac.

 

[mrex]

no need to pay, when the software doesnt really add any benefits over free software. AVG is free and do the same as bitdefender. Best antivirus softwares have negligible effect to the system.

i use AVG at the moment. Bitdefender is awkward to use because you need an internet account for it, and you have to subscribe it.

Either osx or windows, check the av-test page and their latest test results about antivirus softwares...

 

[Ulenspiegel]

Thanks for the explanations. I feel better now with just Malwarebytes. About Xprotect; is this also on El Capitan or just Sierra? Sierra isn't supported on my iMac.

ATC, I think it answers your question.

 

[AppleSmack]

Bitdefender looks good, it consistently scores highly at av-comparatives' tests, and better than many of the free ones. If you can afford it, I'd say go for it. Turn off web filtering though, I've read that they compromise https traffic to be able to scan web traffic. EDIT: a source http://www.securityweek.com/antivirus-software-has-negative-impact-https-security-researcher

As for (not) being racist, with such low level access to your system, you could argue that all antivirus from Russia, Romania, US, China, Britain are all capable of spying on you.

Are antivirus key loggers or malware themselves? I couldn't answer that! Don't let your conspiracy theories get out of hand.

 

[thomasareed]

One thing you will rarely read in the frequent FUD articles that are written by anti-malware software companies is that Apple's XProtect is typically updated faster than nearly any of the third-party products to protect your mac from new threats that users expose themselves to.

That's actually not always the case. There have been a number of times where I - the person primarily responsible for updating the Malwarebytes for Mac rules - have beaten Apple to the punch with new malware detection. Sometimes by several days. And vice versa, of course. Apple's product security guys are no slouches.

However, note that Apple does not take any kind of action on more ordinary threats, like adware and PUPs (potentially unwanted programs - think MacKeeper, for example). Since these are the primary threat Mac users are facing today - not malware - there is still a need for something third-party to handle such things.