Virus scan and Mac Security

[jlau]

Read through a few websites on a good virus scan for Mac and it looks like Bitdefender is a good choice. Before installing it, got a few questions.
1) Is the software only able to scan for viruses? How about malware, adware and spyware etc? If these are not scanned, what would be a good software for those?
2) If there is any virus and malware etc. on the computer before the software is installed, is the software able to take care of it? Does this apply to such apps (virus scans) for the iPhone?
3) If a person is able to get into the wifi network that the computer is currently using, is there a way to detect whether the person is spying or putting viruses onto the computer?
4) A good virus scan is said to be able to scan for more than 99% of the viruses, would it be possible to use two virus scans at the same time?

Thanks.

 

[keysofanxiety]

MalwareBytes would be good to scan for malware: https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac-download/

However in my experience, there haven't been any native OS X viruses since its inception, just malware (which requires the user to install an application, rather than being a self-propagating/installing application). If your Mac AV application picks up any infections, it'll almost always be a Windows virus or a malicious email attachment such as an exe/scr, or a Word/Excel file with a VBScript payload, which again only affects Windows.

It can't hurt to have AV of course, though the best protection is always the squishy thing using the computer. Be vigilant with what you're browsing/installing, and don't install Java/Flash unless absolutely necessary!

 

[jlau]

Thanks for the reply. For both the virus and malware scan, does it scan for infections that might be on the computer before such program was installed? Are there any programs for adwares and things that may affect the computer?

 

[Gregg2]

Yes; Malwarebytes, as recommended above.

@keys
Isn't it still the case that many virus apps will slow down the Mac significantly?