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Main forum => Off Topic => Topic started by: bigsofty on 2009-Nov-12

Title: Antivirus and Mac
Post by: bigsofty on 2009-Nov-12
Hi,

As an new Mac user, what would old hand Mac users recommend regarding virus protection? Is it needed, if so, which one?

Many thanks.
Title: Re: Antivirus and Mac
Post by: MrTAToad on 2009-Nov-13
To be honest, you dont need one.

Whilst there are a few in the wild now, unless you start looking at dodgy websites, the chances of getting any are pretty near 0.
Title: Re: Antivirus and Mac
Post by: Sebastian on 2009-Nov-13
Yeah, you don't need an AntiVirus atm but you should turn the firewall on  ;)
Title: Re: Antivirus and Mac
Post by: freshworks on 2009-Nov-13
i Use Little Snitch, really great software for blocking incoming and outgoing traffic.

Cheers and welcome to the Mac family ;)
Title: Re: Antivirus and Mac
Post by: bigsofty on 2009-Nov-13
OK, that's +1 to Apple then  =D, AVG must periodicaly grabs about 50% of my resources when accessing the HD, real fed up with viruses on the PC...
Title: Re: Antivirus and Mac
Post by: MrTAToad on 2009-Nov-13
 Use a decent AV then :nana:
Title: Re: Antivirus and Mac
Post by: Moru on 2009-Nov-13
I'm using AVG and Antivir on most computers, do you have any better suggestions for Windows?
Title: Re: Antivirus and Mac
Post by: MrTAToad on 2009-Nov-13
You cant really go wrong with ESET
Title: Re: Antivirus and Mac
Post by: Neurox on 2009-Nov-13
Quote from: bigsofty on 2009-Nov-12
what would old hand Mac users recommend regarding virus protection? Is it needed, if so, which one?

I'm using iAntiVirus and have FireWall ON :)

Title: Re: Antivirus and Mac
Post by: Sebastian on 2009-Nov-15
Antiuvirus for Windows?

Try this http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/
Title: Re: Antivirus and Mac
Post by: Moru on 2009-Nov-15
All I get on that homepage is "Not available in your country or region" in ten different languages.
Title: Re: Antivirus and Mac
Post by: MrTAToad on 2009-Nov-15
Looks like its not available in your country :)
Title: Re: Antivirus and Mac
Post by: Hatonastick on 2009-Nov-18
I say open the door and let them all in.  They're just looking to travel and visit foreign lands after all.  =D
Title: Re: Antivirus and Mac
Post by: Leginus on 2009-Nov-18
Lol @ HatonaStick.  The best one i have used so far and still use is Kaspersky Internet Security.  I have had Mcafee and Norton and Bit Defender in the past, but Kaspersky is by far the best.  Uses very little resources, keeps the updates small, fast and inobtrusive and seems to catch everything without the false positive nightmare.  And no I don't work for them I just love it  =D
Title: Re: Antivirus and Mac
Post by: Leginus on 2009-Nov-18
er.....this is on the pc though, no idea if they are one the Mac or not.  Note to self "read the thread title"
Title: Re: Antivirus and Mac
Post by: Moru on 2009-Dec-13
Quote from: MrTAToad on 2009-Nov-13
You cant really go wrong with ESET

Ok, we tried this on my wifes computer. Booted in failsafe mode, started it and let it run the default cleaning. After 12 hours of running during the night it was on the last harddrive (she has a new fast computer and lots of harddrives). Then she notices a line something like this: "possibly virus <some virus name>" action: deleted. Before this he only found loads of files that he says are damaged. We know they are working fine since ages.

There is no logfile, nothing in the virus vault... and there was no questions if you want to delete or not.

We have tried recovering the files but they are nowhere to be found. Needless to say we both quickly removed this from our systems and installed AVG again. I'm ok with a little lower performance if it doesn't delete my packed files just because he THINKS he found some virus in them.

So, be aware that if you use NOD32 / ESET, you might delete important files if you are not very careful of what you do. Never run the default settings for the command-line tool...
Title: Re: Antivirus and Mac
Post by: trucidare on 2009-Dec-13
There are 2 Trojans for mac in the internet. Both requires root access to work and only in fake warez they are hidden.

So you can enable your firewall and filevault and work without viruses and you do not need any antivirus
Title: Re: Antivirus and Mac
Post by: MrTAToad on 2009-Dec-13
QuoteSo, be aware that if you use NOD32 / ESET, you might delete important files if you are not very careful of what you do.
It will certainly try if an important file has been infected, although usually it cant actually delete it (because its in use) - are you sure it was an important file ?   And why run it in Safe Mode ? Most anti-virus programs cant run properly in that mode because most important Window services aren't running.

You can see a log file in the Tools option, and tell ESET what to do in Options.
Title: Re: Antivirus and Mac
Post by: Moru on 2009-Dec-14
That's funny, AVG can run just fine in safe mode and usually removes those files avast, norton and so on didn't remove.

There is only one logfile in the program and that one is from a manual scan done in windows earlier (which didn't find any viruses). However a fresh install of AVG found several inactive viruses that ESET didn't pick up. I think I stay with AVG for the moment :-)
Title: Re: Antivirus and Mac
Post by: MrTAToad on 2009-Dec-17
Some can and some can't - it all depends on whether the correct services can run in Safe Mode and how much can run without it.

I'm surprised that ESET missed some thouhj  :blink:
Title: Re: Antivirus and Mac
Post by: Benjamin on 2010-Feb-18
Hi you can try to use ProteMac  NetMine.Itââ,¬â,,¢s firewall for Mac.Itââ,¬â,,¢s tool  protects against viruses and controls all your network.Itââ,¬â,,¢s must be helpful to your. :enc: