Do you invest in Antivirus protection?

[Schranke]

A reasonable argument and I would agree, but I think as a community we should refrain from calling a Mac an investment because, to be frank, I believe that most people aren't buying a new computer for "work" or producing more value than the cost of the machine.

True, I would in most cases call a computer a tool. Different usage requires different maintenance, and for general maintains I do not think antivirus offers a good value compare to alternatives.
1. viruses and maleware are rare for MacOS, one often have to look for it or visit suspicious sites.
2. Using timemachine and cloud solutions offers a fast way to reset the system to an unaffected state.
3. Apple has some good build in security measures, people should just enable them.
4. programs like Little Snitch (I am really fond of that program) which allows to control what communication you Mac is allowed to do

 

[MarkShaw]

There is no universal "one size fits all" solution that works for everyone and there is no single best anti-virus. Every vendor's virus lab and program scanning engine is different. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses and they often use a mix of technologies to detect and remove malware. Choosing an anti-virus is a matter of personal preference, your needs, your technical ability and experience, features offered, user friendliness, ease of updating (and upgrading to new program release), ease of installation/removal, availability of quality/prompt technical support from the vendor and price. Other factors to consider include detection rates and methods, scanning engine effectiveness, how often virus definitions are updated, the number of resources the program utilizes, how it may affect system performance and what will work best for your system. A particular anti-virus that works well for one person may not work as well for another. Everyone's system is different and sometimes you may need to experiment and find the one most suitable for your needs.

 

[macintoshmac]

It helps me when it alarms me of potential viruses and malware that affects windows computers, so I do not accidentally send stuff to people I email.

Case in point:
I recently received a mail from an old client, asking me to look at an attachment. ESET warned me of the contents of the attachment and I never opened it. Though, if I had, it would not have mattered to me. But, the point is, had the client had any antivirus installed, he would not have sent spam mails to god knows how many people out there. He sent an apologising mail two days later, when I sent him a mail back about the potential malware.

I am usually quite careful but this is just a second line of defence that is money well spent, in my opinion, when you can be sure that you are not the reason your clients will ever get spammed, or receive malware in their inboxes. Protection of my image is important to my business, and as such this expenditure is worth its while for me.

 

[philosopherdog]

Anti virus on Mac is a con. You can get malware and Trojans but they are rare. I’ve had the odd malware thing in Safari a few years back. Don’t waste money with crappy anti virus on a Mac.

 

[macintoshmac]

Anti virus on Mac is a con. You can get malware and Trojans but they are rare. I’ve had the odd malware thing in Safari a few years back. Don’t waste money with crappy anti virus on a Mac.

I'd wager that had your system been running an antivirus software with malware/ trojan detection, it would have caught it.

You're right, no one should buy a crappy antivirus. One needs to research well and buy the one with the best detection rate, least false positives rate, and the best support.

 

[NT1440]

I'd wager that had your system been running an antivirus software with malware/ trojan detection, it would have caught it.

Which, to me anyway, wouldn't be worth the performance hit that AV software causes.

 

[chevelleguy3]

I have had some issues in the past where my AV has caught threats when opening a clients USB drive so I run AV on all my machines (both Mac and Windows). Yes those threats are to attack Windows so it's not a huge threat to my Mac but it still caught it. I use Sophos Free Edition on all of my personal machines. I see no need to upgrade to the "Pro" version. Sophos is a very light application that doesn't hog the resources, but will do the job. Unfortunately on my work MacBook Pro we use McAfee EPO and it sucks. Total resource hog.

 

[GGJstudios]

I know Macs don't get virus usually but I thought since I invested so much money for my 2017 model I thought id just buy one just to be 100 percent protected.

As others have pointed out, Macs don't get viruses ever (not usually), since there has never been a virus that existed in the wild that could infect macOS. The relatively few instances of Mac malware can all be avoided by using common sense, such as not installing pirated software. The reality is that Mac malware is so rare that most Mac users will never encounter any. Also, no antivirus/anti-malware app will provide 100% protection, since such a thing doesn't exist. Practicing safe computing alone will provide you better protection than trusting any antivirus app.

The idea of Macs being inherently secure by design are bygone days. Its just as mainstream as Windows and is susceptible to phishing attacks just the same.

While no OS is immune to malware, macOS is indeed more secure by design than Windows. Also, the "mainstream" or "market share" theory has been thoroughly and repeatedly debunked. If you want to use antivirus, that's your call. But it's certainly not foolish to opt instead for simply practicing some common sense in how you use your computer.

 

[macintoshmac]

Which, to me anyway, wouldn't be worth the performance hit that AV software causes.

Uh... No. It depends. One I use, I don't even know it's running unless it pops up with something.

 

[NT1440]

Uh... No. It depends. One I use, I don't even know it's running unless it pops up with something.

Maybe they’ve come a long way, but I’ve never personally seen the need to run an AV on my Mac. That said, I’m an IT guy so perhaps it’s because I’ve literally never had an infection on a personal device that I don’t care to use them?

 

[macintoshmac]

Maybe they’ve come a long way, but I’ve never personally seen the need to run an AV on my Mac. That said, I’m an IT guy so perhaps it’s because I’ve literally never had an infection on a personal device that I don’t care to use them?

Even I never had an infection on my devices. I am, in fact, only using so as to not let any propagate from my end to my clients' Windows machines. That it helps add a small layer of defence on my Mac is a bonus.