Norton AntiVirus for OSX ??

[Rhobes]

Hi All-

A few years ago I installed Norton antivirus 9.0 & Systemworks 3.0. Shortly after that I had been informed through MacRumors posts that Norton was not needed for Macs or mine as I took it. I have since been bombarded with updates saying I need to update the software for a fee. I have neglected doing this for said reasons.

To date I have upgraded to Leopard & upon each startup would get windows I had to respond to in order to proceed to my home page, namely #1 window "Norton Utilities detects new version OS" & #2 Norton Error-could not continue etc". For this reason I "Uninstalled " both Norton packages, it's great- no more pop-up windows & on startup I can walk away and return with my homepage loaded.

Question is, maybe things have changed? should I reinstal the software and upgrade it? If so, should I reinstal or just buy the newest version available, I doubt I'd get any discount anyhow...

TIA...

 

[JLatte]

No, you don't need it. Norton is a ripoff anyways. You really don't need it, just uninstall it and trash the box.

 

[Big-TDI-Guy]

I've not had antivirus since moving to OSX, I've also not had a virus. (creeping up on year 4 soon)

Only consideration is if you're sharing a lot of files with a Windows PC - for the sake of the PC. Then again, meh.

 

[Rhobes]

Thanks everyone, just wanted to check that out. I appreciate your response!

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

I've used two Apple notebooks, an iBook G4 (one of the last ones before Intel) running Tiger and MacBook running Leopard. Neither had a single virus. I'm approaching year #4 soon and I still have no even heard of any viruses, let alone having one on my mac.

 

[ddeadserious]

Anti-virus programs are often kind of resource hogging and definitely unnecessary on a Mac.

And if Norton for Mac is anywhere near as resource intensive as it is on Windows, I'd run away fast.

 

[mknawabi]

Norton isn't worth the system resources it uses.

 

[MisterMe]

Hi All-

A few years ago I installed Norton antivirus 9.0 & Systemworks 3.0. Shortly after that I had been informed through MacRumors posts ...

Norton SystemWorks 3.0 is obsolete and is no longer in development. It serves no useful purpose. If you are using it, then you should run the uninstaller to get it off your system. Norton Antivirus 11 is current version of the antivirus utility. You should not be running an old version like NAV 9.0.

There are those who will tell you that NAV is so dangerous that having it in the same room as your Mac is dangerous. Nonsense. NAV serves a very useful purpose. It disinfects files that you receive from Windows-using colleagues. It will also disinfect files from the System 6-MacOS 9 era. However, neither NAV nor any other antivirus utility can protect you from MacOS X viruses--because there aren't any!

There are many Mac users who believe that they have no need for antivirus software because they cannot be harmed by a virus. For those who don't exchange vulnerable files with Windows users, I agree. For the rest, you can be a carrier. It is irresponsible to knowingly allow your computer to pass-on files that may damage the computers of friends, colleagues, and family members.

ClamXav is the MacOS X version of the freeware ClamAV antivirus utility for Linux. Look into it.

 

[sushi]

Norton SystemWorks 3.0 is obsolete and is no longer in development. It serves no useful purpose. If you are using it, then you should run the uninstaller to get it off your system. Norton Antivirus 11 is current version of the antivirus utility. You should not be running an old version like NAV 9.0.

There are those who will tell you that NAV is so dangerous that having it in the same room as your Mac is dangerous. Nonsense. NAV serves a very useful purpose. It disinfects files that you receive from Windows-using colleagues. It will also disinfect files from the System 6-MacOS 9 era. However, neither NAV nor any other antivirus utility can protect you from MacOS X viruses--because there aren't any!

There are many Mac users who believe that they have no need for antivirus software because they cannot be harmed by a virus. For those who don't exchange vulnerable files with Windows users, I agree. For the rest, you can be a carrier. It is irresponsible to knowingly allow your computer to pass-on files that may damage the computers of friends, colleagues, and family members.

ClamXav is the MacOS X version of the freeware ClamAV antivirus utility for Linux. Look into it.

Well said!

Personally, I have not used any AV for quite a while. But there is the risk of infecting a friend's or co-worker's computer if you are a carrier of the virus.

 

[pwn247]

At the moment, there are zero (0) active viruses for Mac OS X (other than that stupid one that adds physics to your desktop). So you won't need any antivirus for OS X.