Anti-Virus software question

Steedie

Steedie

Steedie

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Hi all

Dad is throwing millions upon millions of questions at me since getting his iMac, one of which is about Anti virus software. He refuses to accept the fact Macs are completely safe (he will eventually learn, I'm slowly getting through to him)

Now I'm thinking of putting one on there just for a while, just so he can see how pointless it is

Question is, which is the best anti virus software out there for Mac? He's always used Nod32 on Windows but obviously that doesn't exist Mac side, very few do, but that still doesn't convince him :rolleyes:

I was looking at Avast, it's stupidly cheap so doesn't matter if it's only temporary but was just wondering if it was actually any good?

I know very few people use AV on their macs here, same as me, but was just wondering if anyone did have any experience with any, which ones they would recommend

Thanks all
 
Other than scanning for Windows viruses, they have no purpose.

Little Snitch would be a better application as it tracks all out-going requests, which is probably the best form of protection (assuming you aren't accepting malicious files).
 
Steedie said:
He refuses to accept the fact Macs are completely safe...
Click to expand...

Give your Dad a pat on the back... since they aren't! They're just better than Windows.

Anti-Malware (ie. Viruses, Trojens etc.) is currently a non-issue since there's very few ITW (In The Wild) for the Mac. We're probably talking at most 5. The most recent is the iWork Trojan.

The reason for this is because when you're using OS X, by default you have an Admin account. But, with this Admin account, you aren't technically an Admin. When you require full Administrator privileges you have to enter your password. Of course this all assumes that A. You are careful about what you're installing and B. That a piece of malware doesn't just want to go after your Home directory... which IMO is just as bad as the whole computer.

A better way to reason with your Dad is to explain that OS X isn't immune from malware, just that for whatever reason (it's more secure/more obscure/and so on) it's barely targeted.

On a Mac i'd be more worried about passing Malware onto Windows users and phishing scams.

I should also point out that the firewall is a piece of ****. Apple themselves determine "essential" services (which is the lowest firewall setting) meaning if you're on public WiFi you can't tell it to block all incoming ports. Of course it depends on where and how you're using your Mac as to whether the Firewall becomes **** since for home use behind a router it's fine.
 
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Fillado said:
I should also point out that the firewall is a piece of ****. Apple themselves determine "essential" services (which is the lowest firewall setting) meaning if you're on public WiFi you can't tell it to block all incoming ports.
Click to expand...
Is that the lowest setting? I thought "Allow access for specific services and applications" was a whitelist.
 
Yeah, "Allow access for specific services and applications" is essential services + what's in that list. Like I said it'll depend on how much security you need, but for example Bonjour is always allowed. If i'm using public WiFi I want EVERYTHING blocked.

Surprisingly this is an area Vista excels at - the inbuilt Firewall will ask you where you are and whether to define the security as Public (block everything) or Private (Allow what you've defined).
 
I'd go for that freeware, and kudos to your dad for actually taking internet safety seriously. Most people don't give a flying banana so you should encourage him!
 
Do a search for a program called iAntiVirus.

Its free and its one of the few bits of AV software that is dedicated to protecting against and scanning for Mac specific virus threats.
 
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