This is question keeps coming up. Do you need antivirus for your MacBook Pro or is the built in security good enough? Thought?
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Third Party Antivirus for Mac
- Thread starter SgtBurandt
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There was a recent thread about this you might find helpful:
If your favorite pastimes are visiting porn sites, downloading cracked apps from torrent sites or clicking random links in your emails then an anti-virus app would be a wise investment.
If ever you want to get a Macolytes blood to boil, ask about AV products! 🤪 Don't you know Apple products are perfect?
Macs have built-in protection (much as Windows has with their OS now), but the fact is that bad players traditionally went after Windows machines because there were more of them - Macs being more 'fringe' products used by fewer people. That is not the case now. And while both built-in AV products are pretty good at keeping themselves updated (though Apple prefers to pretend 'There's nothing to see here'), many 3rd Party AV apps - whose job it is to just do that - may update their libraries of known issues daily.
Some Mac users complain about system resources being used by these products (like other apps don't), but those I have tried in the past - and even on base machines - have not caused me significant issues. I currently use the paid Bitdefender on my 2017 Air (and it has an extension that embeds itself directly into a browser), though I have used both the free Avast and Avira products with no issue. Its maybe worth checking out the lab tests / reviews at https://www.av-comparatives.org/consumer/test-results/macos/ if you are interested.
A far as concerns about websites tracking / swiping info as you use them, then you may want to explore the browser (and extensions) you use. Again, Apple's own Safari is known for some security, and there are some additional extensions (most free) that you can add to increase that and make you less visible online. But my default browser is Firefox, which out of the gate is more security focused with more granular control, in my opinion. Plus a few extensions.
And if you want to get even more 'belt and suspenders', there are services / settings that you can do that route info coming to you through their own filtering services, blocking some gunge from even reaching you and making you less visible, if that is your choice. Here in Canada, I use the free CIRA Canadian Shield (CIRA being the non-profit that looks after .ca domain registrations) overall on my Mac, though it also has a browser-specific extension on Firefox (don't know about the others).
Macs have built-in protection (much as Windows has with their OS now), but the fact is that bad players traditionally went after Windows machines because there were more of them - Macs being more 'fringe' products used by fewer people. That is not the case now. And while both built-in AV products are pretty good at keeping themselves updated (though Apple prefers to pretend 'There's nothing to see here'), many 3rd Party AV apps - whose job it is to just do that - may update their libraries of known issues daily.
Some Mac users complain about system resources being used by these products (like other apps don't), but those I have tried in the past - and even on base machines - have not caused me significant issues. I currently use the paid Bitdefender on my 2017 Air (and it has an extension that embeds itself directly into a browser), though I have used both the free Avast and Avira products with no issue. Its maybe worth checking out the lab tests / reviews at https://www.av-comparatives.org/consumer/test-results/macos/ if you are interested.
A far as concerns about websites tracking / swiping info as you use them, then you may want to explore the browser (and extensions) you use. Again, Apple's own Safari is known for some security, and there are some additional extensions (most free) that you can add to increase that and make you less visible online. But my default browser is Firefox, which out of the gate is more security focused with more granular control, in my opinion. Plus a few extensions.
And if you want to get even more 'belt and suspenders', there are services / settings that you can do that route info coming to you through their own filtering services, blocking some gunge from even reaching you and making you less visible, if that is your choice. Here in Canada, I use the free CIRA Canadian Shield (CIRA being the non-profit that looks after .ca domain registrations) overall on my Mac, though it also has a browser-specific extension on Firefox (don't know about the others).
The safety of your personal data depends on the security of the commercial, medical, and financial institutions you've already given it to. There's not much you can do about identity theft until after the fact, so you have to be proactive with passwords, credit and bank account alerts. I believe that Safari's antivirus protection, Malwarebytes, a credit watch, and your own on-line survival instinct is adequate coverage.
My Mac security strategy is centered around risk management, not predictions of bad actors' behavior. I prefer spending some time up front–and money if justified–to minimize the possibility of having to deal with the fallout of an attacker putting viruses or malware on my computer. I view anti-virus and anti-malware software as a form of insurance. Yes, it sucks that I need it but I feel that having it lets me sleep better than not having it.
Also, we are all human and we make mistakes, especially when we are in a rush, distracted, or tired. Relying on constant vigilance as sole protection requires perfection. I don't think any of us can reach that standard very often, especially with something that is constantly changing and morphing.
You should have two user accounts on you Mac; an admin account and a standard user account. Unless you need to install software, or change file or system settings, you should be using a regular user account on a day to day basis. Doing this provides an extra level of protection should you get careless and click on something or get tricked into trying to install something untoward. It also helps hide and protect your more personal files that can probably be found with the admin account.
In my opinion, the built-in MacOS protection with 3 level support does an excellent job and third party software is really not needed.
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