The Best Anti Virus Out There?

TheDr78 · 01-10-2006, 07:40 PM

Hi Guys....I'm new to the forum and macs in general and just wondered which virus protection and firewall is the most popular/best one for os x 10.4.3?
I'm used to windows but am starting to warm towards tiger....now that i have my head around a few differences.........cheers guys

MBHockey · 01-10-2006, 09:38 PM

The best anti-virus is keeping a Windows PC at least 100 feet from your Mac

Seriously though, there hasn't been one reported virus for MacOS X in the 6 years it has existed. Therefore, i do not even bother with one.

However, you may want to utilize anti virus software to prevent your Mac from passing on files infected with Windows viruses (ie. an email originating from a Windows PC with an infected attachment) so that you don't inadvertently pass it on to your other PC using friends.

For this, i would suggest ClamXAV. It's free, and does a good job of detecting Windows-centric viruses. I will also tell you not to install anything Norton related on a Mac running OS X. Norton's utilities do more harm than good nowadays, and while their reputation with OS 9 was good, they do more harm than good on MacOS X.

As for a firewall, I use personally use the one built-in to the OS and the only service I have enabled (via System Preferences --> Sharing) is Personal File Sharing. However, there are more robust firewalls out there that i'm sure somewhere here can recommend to you. I find with the built-in firewall, a limited number of services enabled, and my router with its built-in firewall i'm pretty safe.

Welcome to the Mac community!

AHunter3 · 01-10-2006, 09:49 PM

For Mac viruses?

Disinfectant

It will protect you against all those evil System 6 and System 7 viruses that might, conceivably, under optimal circumstances, infect your Classic environment and even — who knows? — actually execute in some fashion, despite being 12-15 years old by now and designed to run on a different hardware and software platform.

There are no MacOS X viruses. If you don't install and run the Classic environment (something you're not likely to do, not being a legacy Mac user with lots of ancient MacOS 9/8/7/6 applications on hand), that means there are no Mac viruses as far as you're concerned.

Now, if you want to protect PC users against the possibility of you having a PC virus amongst your email attachments or embedded in the macros of your Word documents, you can buy a commercial antivirus software package that will protect them agaInst that. Of course the only way they'd get such a virus from you would be if you forwarded an email message to them with a virus attachment, or otherwise transferred infected files from your system to theirs. The viruses themselves can't do it on their own, insofar as they haven't (and can't) take over your system or anything.

hayne · 01-10-2006, 10:33 PM

Yes - it's hard for Windows users to believe this given what they are used to, so I'll repeat what others have said above:
There are no known OS X viruses (except MS Word & Excel "macro" viruses that are protected against by the default preference settings of MS Word & Excel.)
Thus you don't need a virus checker on OS X.
And in fact, anti-virus programs have in general had a bad record on OS X - sometimes actually causing severe trouble.

But note that this doesn't mean that your computer is invulnerable just because it is running OS X. A program doesn't have to be a virus to be malicious. You still should only run programs from reputable sources. And you should be especially leery of supplying your password to software installers from less than upright sources.

Screengem0531 · 01-10-2006, 10:44 PM

Don't use any anti virus. Is pointless. Usually anti virus software causes problems (especially Norton).

Now you may say..."but I don't want to pass a virus to someone on windows"...but you know what? If someone has windows, they should have some amazing anti virus software for their computer...otherwise their computer will be infested with viruses and be unusable in a short amount of time.

If someone buys a windows box...let them be responsible for the viruses. Don't spend your money to protect their windows machine. Thats just what I think. Someone else might not agree but thats okay.

agentphish · 01-11-2006, 04:47 AM

no av.

use littlesnitch for your firewall. Best, most easy to use firewall i've ever used. I wish somoene could make something as good as it for winblows.

Raven · 01-11-2006, 11:11 AM

LittleSnitch is not per say a firewall... What it actually does is prompt you to allow or deny access for apps and services that attempt to connect to the net. Its more of a neat firewall add-on, and its indeed great.

TrumpetPower! · 01-11-2006, 12:26 PM

There's an important thing missing from all the ``don't bother with AV'' replies. And that's why viruses are nonexistent on the Mac.

Quite simply, viruses exploit that particular variety of bug that results in compromised security. Unlike those in Redmond, the programmers in Cupertino actually know their sh...er, ``stuff,'' and don't tend to make bone-headed mistrakes and decisions in the first place. (The recent brouhaha over WMF stems from an earlier Microsoft decision to include a ``feature'' that auto-executes code found in image files. Go figure.)

So, OS X doesn't have any of the countless design flaws that Windows suffers from, and the code itself is much better crafted. Apple also gives a damn about fixing bugs in a timely manner; Microsoft is taking well over four months, on average, to fix those bugs they even bother to fix.

That's not to say that Apple and OS X is perfect--not by a long shot. Really, they're just about where the middle of the road should be. It's only in comparison to the blithering incompetence that is Microsoft that they look like the gold standard.

Cheers,

b&

chicorasia · 01-11-2006, 02:38 PM

best antivirus? MAC OSX, by far!

I really, really, disencourage installing anything released by norton...

AHunter3 · 01-11-2006, 04:38 PM

Totally off-topic:

How does the OP have a post count of zero?

hayne · 01-11-2006, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AHunter3


	Totally off-topic: How does the OP have a post count of zero?

Posts from newly registered users don't show up on the forums until they have been (manually) approved by a moderator. This applies for their first two posts.
The problem is that there are some bugs in the forum software that result in the post count not getting updated properly during this process. Hence the incorrect post count that you see above.

cwtnospam · 01-11-2006, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chicorasia


	best antivirus? MAC OSX, by far! I really, really, disencourage installing anything released by norton...

I'll second that! Norton = malware.
There really is no need, but if you insist on using anti-virus software, ClamXav is free and won't cause the problems Norton can. Note though, that it can only find viruses listed in it's definition files, and that means it will only be finding PC viruses. If a Mac virus were to come out (6 years and still nothing) then it wouldn't catch it until after it was reported and the definition files were updated. This is why AV software gives users a false sense of security.

TheDr78 · 01-12-2006, 07:43 PM

This place is great....I didnt think that I would have so many replies!!!

Thanks peeps....from that I will not bother with a firewall or virus protection.....why dont people make vurus' for macs (not that I want them).

I have a mac mini which i now think is great!! it has a super drive bluetooth and air port...in such a small thing...unbelievable. I did not get on very well with safari though...i went on to several pages and they did not load properly such as "next" icons not apearing or staying greyed out. I swapped to firefox and the problem went away...has anyone got any other tips like that...i have vlc which came highly recommended on this forum..what other litle gems are there?

As a previous pc user i keep looking for a control panel to add and remove programs, i love this just trash it from the applications folder thing its great!!

Thanks

The DR

Pc's seem to be so passe'...not sure how to do a french e yet!!

aantn · 01-12-2006, 08:10 PM

I switched about a year ago, and didn't believe either that there were no virus's at first, but it is true. In theory someone could write a virus that could effect us, so just to be safe I use clamxav. After all, why not? If you scan your whole computer for viruses about once month, and set up clamxav sentry (which comes with clamxav) to watch your desktop (or wherever you have files download to) and whenever you download something you let it scan it, you're 100% safe.

MBHockey · 01-12-2006, 08:19 PM

ClamxAV doesn't scan for any Mac viruses though (even System 6 & 7 ones)...it only scans for Windows viruses, which cannot infect your computer.

aantn · 01-12-2006, 08:20 PM

About apps that you might want to download, for starters get Disktop. When you put a cd in your computer you'll see it sort of slide on the screen. Pointless, but cool.
Also in case you weren't aware, you can hold down shift to slow down some of tiger's animations. i.e try holding down shift when using expose and when minimizing windows.

carouzal · 01-12-2006, 09:14 PM

Camino instead of Firefox...

The rendering engine in Camino is the same/based on Mozilla/Firefox but has a Mac look and feel. I still love and use Safari 99% of the time but when I need something different Camino is where I turn.

You might also want to let us know what you do with your computer so we can let you know about cool apps that might be of use to you.

hayne · 01-12-2006, 09:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheDr78


	not sure how to do a french e yet!!

You could use the "Special Characters..." menu item that is in Safari's Edit menu.
Or use the keyboard method: hold down the Option key and press the E key - that will show you a ´ - and then press E again - that will give you: é
By the way, the other "French E's" are: è and ê
For more than you wanted to know: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacritic

And for other apps that you might want to know about, see this other thread:
http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?t=46300

cwtnospam · 01-12-2006, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheDr78


	Thanks peeps....from that I will not bother with a firewall or virus protection.....why dont people make vurus' for macs (not that I want them). Pc's seem to be so passe'...not sure how to do a french e yet!!

They don't make them because it isn't easy like on a PC. PC apologists will tell you that it's because of market share, but the Symbian OS for cell phones had its first virus when there were just a few hundred thousand users. It isn't impossible to write a Mac virus, but it's much more difficult to do than in Windows, where if you can get your code to run, you can take over the machine.

As I said above, AV on the Mac will only protect PCs and give you a false sense of security since it won't protect against new, unknown viruses, and that would have to be the case if a Mac virus were to appear.

é = option-e, e
è = option-`, e
à = option-`, a
etc.

hombre · 01-12-2006, 10:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheDr78


	Thanks peeps....from that I will not bother with a firewall or virus protection.....

I don't think anyone suggested not using a firewall and I don't think any of us would. You should at least use the built-in firewall.

I agree that you should never install any product made by Norton.

None of the browsers is perfect. I mainly use OmniWeb, but, of the free browsers, Camino is my favorite.

Gems to look into include LaunchBar or Quicksilver, DiskWarrior, SuperDuper, OmniOutliner, and various apps from Devon Technologies.

Also, unlike DOS, the Unix command line is very cool, but, happily, not obligatory.

One more thing: Welcome to the Mac community.

01-10-2006, 10:33 PM	#4
hayne Site Admin Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Montreal Posts: 32,473	Yes - it's hard for Windows users to believe this given what they are used to, so I'll repeat what others have said above: There are no known OS X viruses (except MS Word & Excel "macro" viruses that are protected against by the default preference settings of MS Word & Excel.) Thus you don't need a virus checker on OS X. And in fact, anti-virus programs have in general had a bad record on OS X - sometimes actually causing severe trouble. But note that this doesn't mean that your computer is invulnerable just because it is running OS X. A program doesn't have to be a virus to be malicious. You still should only run programs from reputable sources. And you should be especially leery of supplying your password to software installers from less than upright sources. __________________ hayne.net/macosx.html

01-11-2006, 04:47 AM	#6
agentphish Triple-A Player Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 224	no av. use littlesnitch for your firewall. Best, most easy to use firewall i've ever used. I wish somoene could make something as good as it for winblows. __________________ 2011 2.5gz Mini  2010 15" i5 Matte  VZ4

01-11-2006, 11:11 AM	#7
Raven Hall of Famer Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Montreal Posts: 4,782	LittleSnitch is not per say a firewall... What it actually does is prompt you to allow or deny access for apps and services that attempt to connect to the net. Its more of a neat firewall add-on, and its indeed great. __________________ Waffled foreheads are a symptom of broken keyboards and inexperienced users

01-12-2006, 07:43 PM	#13
TheDr78 Prospect Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: London Posts: 11	What a response!! This place is great....I didnt think that I would have so many replies!!! Thanks peeps....from that I will not bother with a firewall or virus protection.....why dont people make vurus' for macs (not that I want them). I have a mac mini which i now think is great!! it has a super drive bluetooth and air port...in such a small thing...unbelievable. I did not get on very well with safari though...i went on to several pages and they did not load properly such as "next" icons not apearing or staying greyed out. I swapped to firefox and the problem went away...has anyone got any other tips like that...i have vlc which came highly recommended on this forum..what other litle gems are there? As a previous pc user i keep looking for a control panel to add and remove programs, i love this just trash it from the applications folder thing its great!! Thanks The DR Pc's seem to be so passe'...not sure how to do a french e yet!!

01-12-2006, 08:10 PM	#14
aantn Prospect Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 18	Antivirus I switched about a year ago, and didn't believe either that there were no virus's at first, but it is true. In theory someone could write a virus that could effect us, so just to be safe I use clamxav. After all, why not? If you scan your whole computer for viruses about once month, and set up clamxav sentry (which comes with clamxav) to watch your desktop (or wherever you have files download to) and whenever you download something you let it scan it, you're 100% safe.

01-10-2006, 07:40 PM	#1
TheDr78 Prospect Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: London Posts: 11	Hi Guys....I'm new to the forum and macs in general and just wondered which virus protection and firewall is the most popular/best one for os x 10.4.3? I'm used to windows but am starting to warm towards tiger....now that i have my head around a few differences.........cheers guys

01-10-2006, 09:38 PM	#2
MBHockey MVP Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: New York Posts: 2,211	The best anti-virus is keeping a Windows PC at least 100 feet from your Mac Seriously though, there hasn't been one reported virus for MacOS X in the 6 years it has existed. Therefore, i do not even bother with one. However, you may want to utilize anti virus software to prevent your Mac from passing on files infected with Windows viruses (ie. an email originating from a Windows PC with an infected attachment) so that you don't inadvertently pass it on to your other PC using friends. For this, i would suggest ClamXAV. It's free, and does a good job of detecting Windows-centric viruses. I will also tell you not to install anything Norton related on a Mac running OS X. Norton's utilities do more harm than good nowadays, and while their reputation with OS 9 was good, they do more harm than good on MacOS X. As for a firewall, I use personally use the one built-in to the OS and the only service I have enabled (via System Preferences --> Sharing) is Personal File Sharing. However, there are more robust firewalls out there that i'm sure somewhere here can recommend to you. I find with the built-in firewall, a limited number of services enabled, and my router with its built-in firewall i'm pretty safe. Welcome to the Mac community!

01-10-2006, 09:49 PM	#3
AHunter3 Hall of Famer Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: New York City Posts: 3,032	For Mac viruses? Disinfectant It will protect you against all those evil System 6 and System 7 viruses that might, conceivably, under optimal circumstances, infect your Classic environment and even — who knows? — actually execute in some fashion, despite being 12-15 years old by now and designed to run on a different hardware and software platform. There are no MacOS X viruses. If you don't install and run the Classic environment (something you're not likely to do, not being a legacy Mac user with lots of ancient MacOS 9/8/7/6 applications on hand), that means there are no Mac viruses as far as you're concerned. Now, if you want to protect PC users against the possibility of you having a PC virus amongst your email attachments or embedded in the macros of your Word documents, you can buy a commercial antivirus software package that will protect them agaInst that. Of course the only way they'd get such a virus from you would be if you forwarded an email message to them with a virus attachment, or otherwise transferred infected files from your system to theirs. The viruses themselves can't do it on their own, insofar as they haven't (and can't) take over your system or anything.

01-10-2006, 10:44 PM	#5
Screengem0531 Major Leaguer Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 465	Don't use any anti virus. Is pointless. Usually anti virus software causes problems (especially Norton). Now you may say..."but I don't want to pass a virus to someone on windows"...but you know what? If someone has windows, they should have some amazing anti virus software for their computer...otherwise their computer will be infested with viruses and be unusable in a short amount of time. If someone buys a windows box...let them be responsible for the viruses. Don't spend your money to protect their windows machine. Thats just what I think. Someone else might not agree but thats okay.

01-11-2006, 12:26 PM	#8
TrumpetPower! Major Leaguer Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Tempe, AZ Posts: 276	There's an important thing missing from all the ``don't bother with AV'' replies. And that's why viruses are nonexistent on the Mac. Quite simply, viruses exploit that particular variety of bug that results in compromised security. Unlike those in Redmond, the programmers in Cupertino actually know their sh...er, ``stuff,'' and don't tend to make bone-headed mistrakes and decisions in the first place. (The recent brouhaha over WMF stems from an earlier Microsoft decision to include a ``feature'' that auto-executes code found in image files. Go figure.) So, OS X doesn't have any of the countless design flaws that Windows suffers from, and the code itself is much better crafted. Apple also gives a damn about fixing bugs in a timely manner; Microsoft is taking well over four months, on average, to fix those bugs they even bother to fix. That's not to say that Apple and OS X is perfect--not by a long shot. Really, they're just about where the middle of the road should be. It's only in comparison to the blithering incompetence that is Microsoft that they look like the gold standard. Cheers, b&

01-11-2006, 02:38 PM	#9
chicorasia Major Leaguer Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: curitiba, brazil Posts: 264	best antivirus? MAC OSX, by far! I really, really, disencourage installing anything released by norton...

01-11-2006, 04:38 PM	#10
AHunter3 Hall of Famer Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: New York City Posts: 3,032	Totally off-topic: How does the OP have a post count of zero?

01-12-2006, 08:19 PM	#15
MBHockey MVP Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: New York Posts: 2,211	ClamxAV doesn't scan for any Mac viruses though (even System 6 & 7 ones)...it only scans for Windows viruses, which cannot infect your computer.

01-12-2006, 08:20 PM	#16
aantn Prospect Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 18	Programs About apps that you might want to download, for starters get Disktop. When you put a cd in your computer you'll see it sort of slide on the screen. Pointless, but cool. Also in case you weren't aware, you can hold down shift to slow down some of tiger's animations. i.e try holding down shift when using expose and when minimizing windows.

01-12-2006, 09:14 PM	#17
carouzal Triple-A Player Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Geneva, NY Posts: 235	Camino instead of Firefox... The rendering engine in Camino is the same/based on Mozilla/Firefox but has a Mac look and feel. I still love and use Safari 99% of the time but when I need something different Camino is where I turn. You might also want to let us know what you do with your computer so we can let you know about cool apps that might be of use to you.