Do you all use an Antivirus app?

[macs4nw]

For years I like most considered OS X and the Unix platform to be bulletproof. These days you're either super careful or you get something along the lines of Avast As stated above, modern macs really won't slow down and it's better to be protected than not. All this said, I have yet to encounter any virus in the wild that can attack an OS X system but malware is rife Protection is just common sense

Hey Macman45, you back?? Good to hear from you once again!

 

[Floris]

If so, which? I was thinking about buying antivirus sentinel.

No, the 5 different ones I tried were a bigger virus than anything potentially attacking the system. They are intrusive, spammy, expensive, worthless, and slow things down way too much.

Never again. I decided to better the way I am on a computer instead to prevent the majority of user-error infections.

 

[Queen6]

For those of you who don't need or want an "active" solution, try Bitdefender Antivirus Scanner from the App store; it`s free, nonintrusive, and runs only when you want it to. The scanner does not offer much in the line of protection being very much an on demand tool, equally for the majority of OS X users, most just want to validate that the drive is free of malicious code be it related to OS X or Windows. Where Bitdefender`s Scanner excels is detection & simplicity having no daemons or start up agents etc.

You get Bitdefender`s top notch detection in a basic package that you control, however this is not for those who are looking for a set & forget solution, as all scans are manual, and updates only occur when you open the application. That being said an Apple Script, Automator can easily trigger the application at a given interval. The scanner learns and only scans new & modified files, so in general running a scan for malicious code is swift & painless, once the first pass is competed. Custom scans and Drag & Drop area all present.

Depending on usage/workflow an "active" Malware application is not always the best solution, and there is also the argument that such "active" solutions can be a double-edged sword potentially increasing the "attack surface" against sophisticated threats. System security is very much a multifaceted beast, malware prevention/detection is for both OS X & Windows just one aspect, which is always worth thinking on

Q-6