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which is the best anti-virus to get
- Thread starter jaisai01
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Unless you are gonna boot into Windows I wouldn't even touch an anti-virus software. If you were trying to say you were going to dual boot then I suppose I would go with Norton Anti-Virus
I had problems with Norton when I had it installed ( two years ago, in my period of utter ignorance). As Bubbasteve said, you don't really need antivirus software on the Mac. 
jaisai01 said:thats good to know that the mac isnt that vulnerable to viruses.
I don't know if I'd go THAT far.. surely there are undiscovered exploits (or unpatched ones on your box) that could (might) be a vector for malware in the future. However, there are currently pretty much zip in the way of Malware in the wild that can affect you. It's been that way for the life of OS X, and maybe won't change too drastically in the future.
I have AV software "just in case", but don't really expect it to do much at the moment. You might want to look into ClamXav (free) in the meantime.. "just in case".
jaisai01 said:i just got my mbp, and i am wondering which is the best anti-virus that i should get so i dont f*** up my comp
thanks arul
I suspect that minutes after a viable OS X virus surfaces, this forum will light up with posts. My anti-virus solution is to keep checking in to the MR forum.
People always talk about exploits like they're going to be exploited.
Many of these obscure exploits would be very hard to work into some form of malware. Also, any "viruses" or "malware" that people talk about for OS X are very obscure cases or theoritical things, in which it's a) already patched, b) patched within a few days or c) like the Loop.A virus, only "0-30" people are affected (meaning 0-2 are affected), and then the file is taken off the internet (in this case, the file was taken off MacRumors and the thread was locked). In actuality, the Loop.A "virus" didn't do much, all it did was add random code to the iLife apps that didn't do anything.
Any time a company talks about keyloggers or anything of the like, it's usually bull. For instance, I downloaded a free beta of a spyware checker and it came up with nothing. I checked some of the things it listed as "malware," and most of them were taken way out of proportion. For instance, three of the "keyloggers" were actually monitoring software that is used in businesses for their workers, where the app is open, in the dock. You knew it was there, had to open it yourself when you went in in the morning, and you could close it too
IMO you don't need any anti-malware software at all. You're good just the way you are, with the firewall on. :]
Many of these obscure exploits would be very hard to work into some form of malware. Also, any "viruses" or "malware" that people talk about for OS X are very obscure cases or theoritical things, in which it's a) already patched, b) patched within a few days or c) like the Loop.A virus, only "0-30" people are affected (meaning 0-2 are affected), and then the file is taken off the internet (in this case, the file was taken off MacRumors and the thread was locked). In actuality, the Loop.A "virus" didn't do much, all it did was add random code to the iLife apps that didn't do anything.
Any time a company talks about keyloggers or anything of the like, it's usually bull. For instance, I downloaded a free beta of a spyware checker and it came up with nothing. I checked some of the things it listed as "malware," and most of them were taken way out of proportion. For instance, three of the "keyloggers" were actually monitoring software that is used in businesses for their workers, where the app is open, in the dock. You knew it was there, had to open it yourself when you went in in the morning, and you could close it too
IMO you don't need any anti-malware software at all. You're good just the way you are, with the firewall on. :]
Because the majority of my clients have pc's and of course College uses pc's as well I have Norton's AV on my Mac Simply because I don't want to inadvertently pass a virus onto anyone.
I have used NAV for years and never had a problem with it. I think it was Norton's Utilities that screwed around, but I've never used it. NAV is fine.
Simply because I don't want to inadvertently pass a virus onto anyone.I have used NAV for years and never had a problem with it. I think it was Norton's Utilities that screwed around, but I've never used it. NAV is fine.
Bern, whilst I didn't have any troubles with Norton AntiVirus being buggy, I did find it slowed my system down somewhat. Of course, I did a clean install to get rid of it, so maybe some of the speed up can be attributed to that. Still, I found Norton using up far too much hard drive work, which wasn't good on an iBook.
yellow said:
Well I dunno, it took 24 hours to scan 200GB of data on my computer (an iMac G5 2GHz), far too slow for me... though it is free of course.
But the alternatives are Sophos:
equally slow... i downloaded a trial and got bored after it managed less than 10% in 1 hour, so slow (ala Clam Xav)
VirusBarrier (what I use)
ok, but in turbo mode it crashes when it finds a file it doesn't like, very annoying and renders it useless... (if they sorted this it'd be the best AV program on any platform!) other than that it's fast (about 1 hour in slow mode, 30 minutes in turbo mode) to read my data), though the renewals cost £17 per year, £26 for two years.
This leaves Virex, which I haven't tried and Norton which I have used under Panther and found it buggy and bad, far inferior to the Windows version...
In ClamXav's defense, 200GB is a lot of data.
That's about 2.3MB/second.. not great, but there's a LOT of viruses listed in a vireddef.
I use Virex. 7.2. Not a huge fan, but there it is.
That's about 2.3MB/second.. not great, but there's a LOT of viruses listed in a vireddef.
I use Virex. 7.2. Not a huge fan, but there it is.
yellow said:
Just because you don't NEED it, doesn't mean you shouldn't have it. It couldn't hurt. Yellow is right.
Besides looking into AV software, one of the smartest things you can do is set up a separate admin account and remove your own account's ability to administer the Mac. You can always use the admin login and password when you need to, or even log into that account during those rare times you can't just use an admin password to do something, but most exploits, which often require admin privs to truly mess up your system, won't be able to affect your non-admin, day-to-day account.
And, of course, backup regularly.
The fact that there aren't really any in-the-wild exploits now says nothing about tomorrow, and the less worried you are now, the more vulnerable you'll be when something big hits. No need to be paranoid, but there's no harm in playing it a bit safe. At the very least, back up your key files regularly.
And, of course, backup regularly.
The fact that there aren't really any in-the-wild exploits now says nothing about tomorrow, and the less worried you are now, the more vulnerable you'll be when something big hits. No need to be paranoid, but there's no harm in playing it a bit safe. At the very least, back up your key files regularly.
virus software?!?!
for the mac, never use any. i downloaded the virex app when i got .mac but it was more touble than it was worth to me.
for the pc, dont plug it in
jk,
ive had a hp pc since around august of 2000 or 2001, cant remember. and i have never had a virus on it. i dont go to strange sites, i dont click on the emails that tell me i got a free outback giftcard, dont download the installer popups on some sites, etc . . . .
it makes me wonder how some people can get their computer so messed up, just watch what you do and you should be fine, i think.
my 2 cents
for the mac, never use any. i downloaded the virex app when i got .mac but it was more touble than it was worth to me.
for the pc, dont plug it in
jk,
ive had a hp pc since around august of 2000 or 2001, cant remember. and i have never had a virus on it. i dont go to strange sites, i dont click on the emails that tell me i got a free outback giftcard, dont download the installer popups on some sites, etc . . . .
it makes me wonder how some people can get their computer so messed up, just watch what you do and you should be fine, i think.
my 2 cents
mad jew said:Bern, whilst I didn't have any troubles with Norton AntiVirus being buggy, I did find it slowed my system down somewhat. Of course, I did a clean install to get rid of it, so maybe some of the speed up can be attributed to that. Still, I found Norton using up far too much hard drive work, which wasn't good on an iBook.
Really? How odd, I've never noticed any slow down on my Macs.
Bubbasteve said:
If anyone is booting into Windows do NOT use Norton - it's bloated, slow and annoying, and why have to pay for something when you can get better for free?
The best combo is AVG Free and Zone Alarm Firewall both free and they use less system resources.
jaisai01 said:i just got my mbp, and i am wondering which is the best anti-virus that i should get so i dont f*** up my comp
thanks arul
I used PC-cillin for several years. It doesn't gum up the registry like Norton/McAfee. Now I don't worry about it.
http://www.digitalriver.com/v2.0-img/operations/trendmic/site/multi.htm
Bern said:
Not progressive slow down. Just that having Norton installed seemed to slow down disk access. It was pretty noticeable on my 4200RPM notebook drive.
Does AV software really help computer users though?
If you're infected with a new virus, it won't be in the AV vendor's defs/DATs.
If you're looking out for Windows users, don't send them executables.
If it's an old virus that has got you, there will be a removal tool from someone. Better to wipe the whole drive and reinstall anyway.
AV software seems more like paying for nothing, IMO.
If you're infected with a new virus, it won't be in the AV vendor's defs/DATs.
If you're looking out for Windows users, don't send them executables.
If it's an old virus that has got you, there will be a removal tool from someone. Better to wipe the whole drive and reinstall anyway.
AV software seems more like paying for nothing, IMO.
Fair point, 200GB is a lot of datayellow said:In ClamXav's defense, 200GB is a lot of data.
That's about 2.3MB/second.. not great, but there's a LOT of viruses listed in a vireddef.
I use Virex. 7.2. Not a huge fan, but there it is.
... I've never tried Virex, as no-one has recommended it really and it's only just started to work with Tiger... my main problem with ClamXav is that with it scanning so slowly I'd never do a virus scan at all, also Intego Virus Barrier is a *lot* quicker and doesn't seem to make the fans any faster while running.
tonywalker23 said:
The majority of windows users whose machines are compromised never know it. It's not like a virus or malware pops up (typically) and says YOU'RE INFECTED! DO SOMETHING! There are tens of millions of zombified computers out there and their owners have no idea. And it really doesn't necessarily have anything to do with where & how you surf.
Personally, I will never purchase an Intego product.
Norton is pretty renowned as being bloatware. I'm currently not using any virus protection at all on my Mac, though I note my Anti-Virus vendor of choice, Sophos, offers a Mac version. Probably not UB yet though.mad jew said:Bern, whilst I didn't have any troubles with Norton AntiVirus being buggy, I did find it slowed my system down somewhat. Of course, I did a clean install to get rid of it, so maybe some of the speed up can be attributed to that. Still, I found Norton using up far too much hard drive work, which wasn't good on an iBook.