Best Mac Antivirus software?

I know what you're thinking;

A Mac alone is the best virus protection... and then the second thing that comes to your mind is "Have you searched" - to both, yes...Yes I know that Mac's dont need much in the way of antivirus, and yes i have searched... all threads were either old (I want you opinion on the newer, more cutting edge virus programs) or irrelevent.

But my stupid school requires that I get anti-virus software before connecting to thier network...

I've heard that Virex (McAffee) is good, and that norton is $h!#... and ClamXAV is free and looks alright...

SO, which do you believe is the best anti-virus software currently available (i'll attatch a poll later) for mac?

- Preferably free

- Preferably without using too much system resources

- Preferably one that looks good in OSX (ie has a black symbol for the taskbar, not coloured)

- one that works good...

thanx

#388819

- There are no free, good AV apps in general

- There's no AV app that uses little system resources

- There's no good looking AV app

- There's no good AV app for Mac

- AV app is NOT needed on a Mac yet

Hope this answers your question

#388837

Have you said your school that you will use a mac with mac os x to connect to their network ? if it's yes they're stupid...

#388847

ClamXav is pretty good. Its definitions are updated frequently, the app itself is fairly light on resources and yes it does have a black icon in the menu bar If you're working in a multi-platform environment like myself, then its always a great idea to have some form of protection, just incase you download some harmful file which could inadvertently infect your network PC's. Even a Virtual PC installation can succumb to virus's downloaded on to a Mac, so remember, just because the Mac can't get infected doesn't mean that it can't be a carrier.

#388884

- There are no free, good AV apps in general

- There's no AV app that uses little system resources

- There's no good looking AV app

- There's no good AV app for Mac

- AV app is NOT needed on a Mac yet

Hope this answers your question

Wrong, Norton Anti-Virus has a Mac version. And since its now on the x86 world its needed. Maybe not now, give it time.

EDIT: NVM, doesnt work on x86

#389048

What could possibly go wrong when you connect to their network?

#389262

i guess a "virus" ......

but still dont see why you need any sort of virus program for it, useless.

#389300

http://antivirus.about.com/od/macintoshres.../a/inqtanaa.htm Yep.. why would you need it?

More to come im sure.

#389700

The answer is no. You really really don't need AV software on Mac. Just don't download Windows warez and you won't crosscontaminate your network.

#431677

Although at present if you run OSX you will not be infected by malicious code (there are a few harmless proof of concepts out there, nothing to worry about) you can certainly easily be a carrier for viruses especially Microsoft app viruses called 'Macro Viruses'.

I presume you will be using this on a network that undoubtedly has Microsoft Apps present on all machines like Office... well in that case you may be risking your work and the work of others, unlikely but possible.

ClamX AV is probably your best bet, it aint pretty and you need to read the instructions but it does work and is free.

Mcaffee and Norton are out to make money and generally scaremonger in order to do this.

Virus Barrier always seemed stable and effective but costs like the other main packages but that is pretty.

Your choice there.

Oh and just because Macs have moved to the x86 'platform' doesn't mean you are now susceptible to malicious code, that at present would only apply if you were running a virtualisation software or boot camp (running windows on your mac)

#431751

to those who say that mac can't be effected, check this out:

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http...ficial%26sa%3DN

i'm not expert but...

#431896

Um.... yeah. You have to download it yourself, you have to ignore the extension (which will show if you get info the file), and you have to type an admin password to change system files. There have been worse proof of concept exploits for Mac and ALL of them have been patched almost immediately. We actually just got another security update, leading me to believe that is already outdated.

Your Mac won't get infected anytime soon without any major news coverage beforehand. Your Mac can pass contaminated files if you manually transfer them, but they won't affect the Mac itself (like someone else said, MS Word macroviruses).

If you must get a virus scanner, have it scan files you download from online and from email, but don't have it sweep your system. NortonAV 10 is great for this, because of its scan-on-mount feature for DMGs and other archives, in addition to actual new CDs and other disks (it's quite tweakable). Virex is a pain in the ass, even though I get it and definitions free from my Uni.

#431912

Um.... yeah. You have to download it yourself, you have to ignore the extension (which will show if you get info the file), and you have to type an admin password to change system files. There have been worse proof of concept exploits for Mac and ALL of them have been patched almost immediately. We actually just got another security update, leading me to believe that is already outdated.

Well said, beat me too it :cool:

#431943