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Antivirus Software

M

mbutler

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 13, 2006
27
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Whereabouts do I find if, I have or need a Virus/Firewall,Spam checker in my newly purchased Mac Book 13 inch white laptop. I am a PC Windows convert but try as I may I cannot find anything that tells me about the above. When I first opened my new PC it screamed at me to to subscribe or buy the said software. I have only had the laptop for a couple of days and have spent most of that time trying to find info re Viruses. Very frustrated .trying to be a convert Mac Owner
 
Ah mbutler welcome to the wonders of OS X! There are no suspicious .exe files to worry about, there are no viruses on OS X. Not a single one...so you don't need any software to prevent them :D
 
mbutler said:
Whereabouts do I find if, I have or need a Virus/Firewall,Spam checker in my newly purchased Mac Book 13 inch white laptop. I am a PC Windows convert but try as I may I cannot find anything that tells me about the above. When I first opened my new PC it screamed at me to to subscribe or buy the said software. I have only had the laptop for a couple of days and have spent most of that time trying to find info re Viruses. Very frustrated .trying to be a convert Mac Owner
Click to expand...

Hey mbutler,
Welcome to Apple, as far as any kind of virus protection on your macbook,
you simply don't need it. Unless you plan on installing bootcamp or Paralles.
In that case it would be wise to install a trusted virus scan of your choosing,
but on the windoze side of things. As far as the mac side I'd recommend
ClamXav 1.0.4, cause even though you won't be affected by anything you can still pass a nasty along to your pc brethren.
 
Veritas&Equitas said:
Ah mbutler welcome to the wonders of OS X! There are no suspicious .exe files to worry about, there are no viruses on OS X. Not a single one...so you don't need any software to prevent them :D
Click to expand...
But he should still switch on his Firewall though. :D
 
mbutler said:
Whereabouts do I find if, I have or need a Virus/Firewall,Spam checker in my newly purchased Mac Book 13 inch white laptop. I am a PC Windows convert but try as I may I cannot find anything that tells me about the above. When I first opened my new PC it screamed at me to to subscribe or buy the said software. I have only had the laptop for a couple of days and have spent most of that time trying to find info re Viruses. Very frustrated .trying to be a convert Mac Owner
Click to expand...

Step 1: Take a Deep Breath.
Step 2: Never Worry Again.
Step 3: Point and Laugh at your PC friends. :)
 
As a precaution, all of my Macs have two users: one for installing apps and the other for daily use (as a limited account).
I hope virus writers will stay away from the Mac platform and keep focusing on Windows for the time being. I noticed there are many newbie members coming on board as recent switchers (or dual users of Mac and Windows). Even thougth there are more Mac users than a few years ago, the overall market share for Mac is still small compared to Windows, which should keep OS X safe from viruses.
 
I am also a newly converted Mac user, it is such a relief to be running a computer where I don't have to worry about viruses, spyware, malware etc. No need to download Apps to protect/scan/remove and worry about keeping them up to date and have to thoroughly check through everything I install to avoid anything malicious.

But yes, in reply to your questions, you do not need any virus protection of any kind for Mac's, you won't need any firewall sofware either as OSX has it built in and enabled by default:)
 
Enable the OSX firewall (system preferences-->sharing). Click the "on" option.

There. You're done. If you're truly paranoid, you can get AVM for free (open source antivirus program), but it is completely unnecessary. NEVER USE ANY NORTON PRODUCT WITH OSX, btw.
 
YS2003 said:
As a precaution, all of my Macs have two users: one for installing apps and the other for daily use (as a limited account).
I hope virus writers will stay away from the Mac platform and keep focusing on Windows for the time being. I noticed there are many newbie members coming on board as recent switchers (or dual users of Mac and Windows). Even thougth there are more Mac users than a few years ago, the overall market share for Mac is still small compared to Windows, which should keep OS X safe from viruses.
Click to expand...

Actually, the user-end market probably won't end up attracting many virus coders. Most blackhats are more interested in crashing corporate systems than individual users, with the rare exception (the ones you hear about). The majority of viruses that target users are really intended to enter the systems of their employers. So unless the majority of the business world goes Mac (unlikely for a long, long time), there's still very little to worry about.
 
Is there an OSX spyware scanner? I know I dont need it but I would like to know for when I have to send something to myself on a windows PC.

Thanks
 
l4t13 said:
how come apple sells nortons for mac? just an extra money maker?
Click to expand...

Because you can pass along viruses to Windows users. That said, Norton does more harm than good.
 
l4t13 said:
how come apple sells nortons for mac? just an extra money maker?
Click to expand...
Norton (not Apple) sells their anti-virus for Mac because, IMO, it's for Norton to make some extra money from the virus-paranoid switchers who don't know they most likely don't need it.
 
A story of true IT dumness!

My daughter started her first year at Va. Tech, home of the Terascale Supercomputer running 1.100 Apple XServes.
http://www.tcf.vt.edu/

While a good 50% of the students are using Apple Computers, the IT department
told all the students that they had to install Norton's on any computer if they wanted to connect to the school's network.

Now one might think that Apple Users would be exempt from this rule but no.

And for them so insist on Norton's is just beyond reason, since Norton's is the absolute worst A/V application you can install on a Mac.
 
disconap said:
Enable the OSX firewall (system preferences-->sharing). Click the "on" option.

There. You're done. If you're truly paranoid, you can get AVM for free (open source antivirus program), but it is completely unnecessary. NEVER USE ANY NORTON PRODUCT WITH OSX, btw.
Click to expand...

A good rule is to never use Norton with any OS!!!!! :D

fyi.. the firewall on my new macbook was off as well.
 
Yup Firewall must be activated once you're up and running.

Also strongly recommend "Little Snitch" personal firewall.

Little Snitch alerts you to any outgoing connections giving you the option to Allow
or Deny that connection.
 
i don't even think it's necessary to get a virus/firewall, the firewall that comes with OSX is sufficient enough.. save your $ and invest it in other software or hardware
 
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