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Is Anti Virus needed on Mac OS X?

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SinisteR-33139

SinisteR-33139

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 2, 2011
29
0
London UK
I've got the opportunity to own a 1 year subscription to Kaspersky 2011 anti virus for mac for free through my online banking account. I know on a windows machine you need the whole lot like internet security and adwawre/spyware programs but on mac os is it needed?

Also does it or will it affect the performance of the mac if I install it? Thanks for advanced.
 
No viruses exist in the wild that can run on Mac OS X, and there never have been any, since it was released 10 years ago. The handful of trojans that exist can be easily avoided with some basic education, common sense and care in what software you install:
 
GGJstudios said:
No viruses exist in the wild that can run on Mac OS X, and there never have been any, since it was released 10 years ago. The handful of trojans that exist can be easily avoided with some basic education, common sense and care in what software you install:
Click to expand...

Oh really, ok then I'm not gonna bother then with it. I thought as much but worth the ask I guess.

Also in my system preferences I have turned on the firewall, is that needed or shall I just have it off? I'm still really thinking PC lol I've only had this a week!!
 
SinisteR-33139 said:
Oh really, ok then I'm not gonna bother then with it. I thought as much but worth the ask I guess.

Also in my system preferences I have turned on the firewall, is that needed or shall I just have it off? I'm still really thinking PC lol I've only had this a week!!
Click to expand...
It's good to leave the firewall on. If you read the link I posted.... all of it.... you'll have all you need to protect against malware on your Mac.
 
Make sure your firewall is on and you have the stealth mode switched on. It not really need for the Mac but you can use ClamXav and Sophos if you are worried. This also helps to stop PC viruses etc being passed on to your PC using friends. The latest Mac Defender ", not to be confused with MacDefender which is a genuine product, can only be installed if your really silly but you can help yourself by clicking OFF the install safe software in Safari's settings. The day will come when we will have to have anti-virus etc products installed, but give Sophos a try for now. http://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-antivirus-for-mac-home-edition.aspx http://www.clamxav.com/


Cheers, Macjim.
 
While there are no Mac viruses out there, the fact is there are other forms of malware. User discretion is a must, always.

Personally, I use it because I don't feel like passing a Window's virus on to an unsuspecting Window's user. To me it's exactly the same thing as being careful not to pass influenza to someone. Also, there are laws on the books that address computer damage; prosecution resulting from infection because of inaction is just around the corner. The world is becoming more computerized, not less. Another fact is that even Windows computers that are supposedly up to date can get a new virus before there is an AV definition for it. If somebody gave one of my computers a virus on my home network it would be difficult to hold back from beating the snot out of the perpetrator.
:D

Some corporate networks have adopted the same policy, not allowing unprotected computers on their networks.
 
Currently the main theat to OSX is malware, most of which you need on install yourself by mistake. commen sense protects most from this, and fire walls

This will likely change given apple's continual increase in percentage of active users.

Currently though, unless youre running windows on your Mack (ik should run antivirus software, there is currently little role for it.

You can, by the way still pass on virus you receive in your mail inbox, even if the virus can't replicate/function on your Mac
 
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