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Norton Anti-Virus

T

Tomaz

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 24, 2004
311
0
Switzerland
With all the discussions here I started to think about virus protection for my PB again. Up to now I used nothing, even though I actually should since I use my PB also here at work. But I thought maybe now it's the time to start using some protection.
Back in the PC world I always used Norton products and was quite pleased.
Has anyone in here any experience with Norton AV 10 ? I don't care about earlier versions apparently making problems. Anyone using the newest release?

I read somewhere that if you often mount and unmount external drives, Norton always automatically starts a complete scan of the drive, and there's no menu or button to avoid that. Does anyone have any comments on that.

I appreciate your help!

Edit: I tried ClamXav, but somehow don't like the interface and it seems awfully slow...
 
~Shard~ said:
Don't install Norton on your system - it's a buggy bloated resource hog and will bring your system to a crawl.
Click to expand...

Really? Even version 10 ?

Do you know if there is any anti-virus software (with automatic background checking) that uses less resources ?
 
It's not worth it. There is a of hoopla about this "virus" (I use the term very loosely), but it's not a big deal. There is a lessen to be learned, but it's not to go out get antivirus software. Rather, be more caution when opening files and entering passwords. Don't use a Admin account for day-to-day activities. There are others things you should do too, but AV software isn't really one of them. Plus, AV software searches for known threats. If a serious virus ever does appear, Norton (and others) won't protect against it until after it hits.
 
grapes911 said:
It's not worth it. There is a of hoopla about this "virus" (I use the term very loosely), but it's not a big deal. There is a lessen to be learned, but it's not to go out get antivirus software. Rather, be more caution when opening files and entering passwords. Don't use a Admin account for day-to-day activities. There are others things you should do too, but AV software isn't really one of them. Plus, AV software searches for known threats. If a serious virus ever does appear, Norton (and others) won't protect against it until after it hits.
Click to expand...

I see your point. The thing is that I kanda need to get some virus protection. They demand it at work. They never check up to now, but as soon as this "mac virus" news reaches them, they probably will. Anyway, a lot of emails go though my computer, any I don't want to spread PC viruses to my colleagues...
 
Tomaz said:
Really? Even version 10 ?

Do you know if there is any anti-virus software (with automatic background checking) that uses less resources ?
Click to expand...

Yes, even version 10. ;)

Unfrotunately, I don't have any AV software on my Mac, nor have I ever looked into it, so I personaly do not know of any alternatives. Perhaps others here do though, hopefully some suggestions will surface for you.
 
Tomaz said:
I see your point. The thing is that I kanda need to get some virus protection. They demand it at work. They never check up to now, but as soon as this "mac virus" news reaches them, they probably will.
Click to expand...
My school requires AV software. I have this one on my Mac just in case. Don't laugh, I really am serious.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/133969/


Anyway, a lot of emails go though my computer, any I don't want to spread PC viruses to my colleagues...
Click to expand...
Norton for Mac will scan for Windows viruses. But...unless you go forwarding virus infested emails, then there is no need for it.
 
Because I exchange files between my Mac and my pc using clients I have always had NAV installed since day dot. It has never caused me any issues. It works flawlessly. I have even been browsing sites from time to time and have received a warning from NAV that it contains a virus of some kind (all though rarely).

Norton Utilities was the big screw up for Macs. It had a defragmenter, amongst other useless things and caused no end of trouble. I never used it personally for obvious reasons, but as far as the standalone NAV is concerned it is perfectly safe for your Mac. I've had Macs since the 80's and NAV on them since it was available and never had any issues.
 
So I downloaded NAV 10 yesterday and it's up and running since then. No problems at all up to now. I'll report if it stays like this or not. I also think the bad press for norton was mainly because of NU.

Thanks for your help everyone! :)
 
Tomaz said:
So I downloaded NAV 10 yesterday and it's up and running since then. No problems at all up to now. I'll report if it stays like this or not. I also think the bad press for norton was mainly because of NU.

Thanks for your help everyone! :)
Click to expand...

in this world of broadband, is there anywhere I can download/buy it at the US price? I'm in the UK and it trades at £50 or $100. Bit steap when it's as low as $39 in the US:(
 
The thing that really, personally, impressed me about how horrible norton is.

One of my teachers forwarded me a macro virus, I open the attachment, get infected.
We hook it up to one of the school machines (running norton), scan for viruses on my machine (As an external firewire drive), and it doesn't find anything.
the one kind of virus macs, and all computers running office, are susceptible to, and it can't find it. Good thing the solution was absurdly easy and just invovled trashing some preferences.

good job norton.
 
So ... *does* Norton do anything about the trojans / worms / hybrids / whatever they are that are actually in the wild? Either the Bluetooth one or the latestpics.tgz one?
 
mkrishnan said:
So ... *does* Norton do anything about the trojans / worms / hybrids / whatever they are that are actually in the wild? Either the Bluetooth one or the latestpics.tgz one?
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Nope. :p :D

Yes, once again, there is no reason to run Norton on your Mac. In fact, there are reasons why not to. And that pretty much sums it up nicely. :cool:
 
if anyone puts any norton product on their mac then i must say you must be drunk. they have the most bloated piece of crap products i have ever seen. the only thing worse than their products is their customer service. just hope you actually get someone who can first speak your language and secondly do something other than read from a tech manual on what might be causing all the problems with their software...
 
Tomaz said:
:D That could actually be a good idea...
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Yeah, seriously. I'm not kidding. It just sounds sort of fun to do. :D And I don't even need AV software for school or work or anything! ;) :) :eek:
 
I have been using NAV for a while now, never used system tools or anything and I have not had a problem with it at all. It has worked flawlessly, found macro viruses, windows viruses and they have updated the def's for both the oompa and bluetooth vulnerabilities so whoever said they didn't need to check up on that. I tried clamxav for a while but wasn't to peased with it, one day it could be a great product but for now its all NAV for me...
 
mkrishnan said:
Oh, good. God forbid it do anything of value. P.S. There are at least three examples of malevolent code on MacOS. The Bluetooth code, the latestpics.tgz script, and Norton AV. ;)
Click to expand...

So the question would be, if you installed Norton AV on your Mac, would it detect itself? :p :D
 
Clam AV

If you have to have something installed to satisfy school requirements consider Clam AV:

http://www.clamav.net/

I've never had a virus with it (or without it.) You can make it work from the command line, a regular executable application, or from within Tiger Cache Cleaner, which is sort of how I wound up getting it at all.
 
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