Virus software

[hdean]

Hi, I am new to the Macbook, is antivirus or spyware software is required to install? or is it virus free?

 

[Jethryn Freyman]

Short answer:

Virus free. You don't need any virus protection software. Just common sense.

Long answer:

There are a few trojans, but they're rare. You need to download them yourself, launch their installer, and supply your password to install them. Don't install software you don't trust, or that you downloaded from a shady site (i.e. porn sites asking to install a new video codec.)

There aren't many good OS X antivirus products anyway. Most only pick up Windows threats, or don't work, or harm your system and crash it, or are overpriced.

If you want to stop yourself from passing on Windows only threats, you could try ClamXAV, which is free.

iAntiVirus is also free, and has a database of only OS X threats.

Unfortunately, iAV may only detect the trojan installer packages, so if you have already accidentally installed them, it won't pick it up. This is because the threat definitions only specify the installer packages, not the actual installed components. I emailed the developer, they have now fixed the definitions for the keylogger I specified, but I'm not sure about the other threats they ahve in their database.

 

[MatLane]

Clamx is great

I have that on here just incase

 

[technotask]

i use iAntivirus.... just a precaution......

 

[Tallest Skil]

I'm confused. Is this just less intuitive than I am imagining?

 

[GGJstudios]

There ARE no viruses in the wild that affect Mac OS X.
No antivirus software can detect a Mac virus, because no Mac viruses exist.
There are trojans that exist, but these can be easily avoided if:

• you are careful what applications you install
• you are careful where you get applications
• you never enter your administrative password without THINKING!

You also may not be aware that this question, like many others, has already been discussed quite a bit (beat to death, actually!) Using MRoogle to search the forums before you post will frequently reveal threads related to your question that the standard forum search misses, and will help you avoid posting repetitive threads. Here are some of the dozens of threads on this topic, filled with opinions and recommendations:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=virus+site:forums.macrumors.com&as_qdr=y&btnG=Search​

One thread that you may find particularly helpful is this one: https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=7066120