New to Mac and unsure about what is the right antivirus software free or paid

[GTAmissions1]

Hello:

I just got my new Macbook Air today and I am a bit confused on what antivirus software I should buy since even though the risk of viruses and malware is low, I still want to protect myself still since I don't want to take any chances on a $1,200 product that I saved up for a long time.

Can anyone give me some suggestions on what antivirus software works for them free or paid?

I have the 2013 MacBook Air and I really love it. Works a lot better than my Windows PC and not having to deal with the amount of junk hidden in Windows PCs and all built by Apple. Always building to their high standards.

 

[Shrink]

Hello:

I just got my new Macbook Air today and I am a bit confused on what antivirus software I should buy since even though the risk of viruses and malware is low, I still want to protect myself still since I don't want to take any chances on a $1,200 product that I saved up for a long time.

Can anyone give me some suggestions on what antivirus software works for them free or paid?

I have the 2013 MacBook Air and I really love it. Works a lot better than my Windows PC and not having to deal with the amount of junk hidden in Windows PCs and all built by Apple. Always building to their high standards.

There is no need for AV software. There has never been a virus in the wild that effects OS X. Not that it is immune and cannot be infected, but there has never been a virus infecting OS X.

There are other types of malware that can infect OS X, but the best protection against them is safe computing.

The only software that most use, myself included, is ClamX. It is not an anti-virus, but a scanner that will identify nasties in your computer. It does not run all the time, only on command, so doesn't use any reaources. I run it once a month, and dump the (probably Windows) junk, which has no effect anyway.

I'm sure GGJstudios will be along and give you much more detailed and useful information.

 

[pastrychef]

As Shrink said, there's no need for anti-virus software because there are no viruses that attack Mac OS X.

Don't install software that you acquire from questionable sources and you should be fine.

 

[Dave Braine]

The only reason that you might consider anti virus software is if you have a Windows partition on you Mac, as it will be just as vunerable as your old PC, or you forward emails with attachments to people with Windows PCs. However, as they should be running their own anti-virus software anyway, there's probably no need to bother.