Any thoughts on which Antivirus for Mac you would recommend if any?

AVG, Norton ect......

Or would you not bother.

I used to use AVG Free on my PC, which was very good.

Thoughts please....... 

In fact you don't really need an antivirus for your Mac. To get a virus, we really need to help "him" penetrate in our system (i.e : press ENTER on an .exe's attached file, knowing it's a virus).  Using our common sense will reduce the risk to be infected.

In my case, I do not use an antivirus with Leopard. 

Guy 

There are no viruses for Macs. There are trojans which are quite different as they require you to knowingly install them (as in you'd have to type in your password, and go through a whole 'installation' program), and very very VERY few people have few enough brain cells to allow this to happen. Nobody I know has even come across a Mac Trojan, they're very very rare...

As for AntiVirus for Mac, you wouldn't be protecting your Mac, just protecting other PCs which will be transferring files to/from your Mac (whether it's via email, or via a USB key etc...). IMO, there is absolutely no point.

If you get a virus in a file on your Mac, it won't affect your Mac at all, but is likely to be one of the 'newest' viruses which antivirus companies haven't responded to yet. ClamXav is good, but not kept quite as up-to-date as say, AVG for Windows. This means if you do get hold of a virus on your Mac, ClamXav isn't likely to pick up on it, whilst AVG on the PC will.

Put simply, there's no point in installing AntiVirus on a Mac.

Thanks Guy, Peter, Richard & Alex.

Pretty much as i thought, as i had asked a similar question on here when i bought the macbook a few months ago.

Just thought id confirm it with you lot as i dont know anyone else with a Mac.

Alex, i knew you would give me an idiots guide, thankyou.  

Beoworld = Best website ever  

ArgyleMoss:

Thanks Guy, Peter, Richard & Alex.

Pretty much as i thought, as i had asked a similar question on here when i bought the macbook a few months ago.

Just thought id confirm it with you lot as i dont know anyone else with a Mac.

Alex, i knew you would give me an idiots guide, thankyou.  

Beoworld = Best website ever  

Sorry if I patronised you a little! My dad has finally bitten the bullet and replaced our dreadfully slow Packard Bell 'family computer' with a beautiful brand new 20" iMac, and I'm having to show him and my mum how to do a lot of things they did on Windows, so I'm in a 'computers for dummies' mode at present.

 Alex, you didnt patronize me. You explained it perfectly, it was the type of response i was hoping for and got.

Cheers.
 

Alex:

 I'm in a 'computers for dummies' mode at present.

Just the lad for the job

Alex:

There are no viruses for Macs. There are trojans which are quite different as they require you to knowingly install them (as in you'd have to type in your password, and go through a whole 'installation' program), and very very VERY few people have few enough brain cells to allow this to happen. Nobody I know has even come across a Mac Trojan, they're very very rare...

Put simply, there's no point in installing AntiVirus on a Mac.

In the past I used to use Bittorrent on a windows PC to find music. Last week I tried it on my Mac. Now I'm wondering if it's possible to infect my Mac via Bittorrent. 

You would still have to install the program.

You are completely safe, or more accurately, a heck of a lot safer than Windows users. OS X isn't 100% secure - it is possible to break in to it as there are flaws, but they are practically unheard of, and kept under wraps pretty cleverly.

In comparison, it's estimated that a Windows user's computer has been infected/attacked within the first 20 minutes of being online without any protection.

What about Limewire Alex?  Are there any nasties you could catch for a Mac on there? I've often wondered..

Lee 

BBC: Hackers assault Windows PCs every 15 minutes, ignores obvious solution: Get a Mac

Monday, October 09, 2006 - 09:52 AM EDT "If every hour a burglar turned up at your house and rattled the locks on the doors and windows to see if he could get in, you might consider moving to a safer neighbourhood," Mark Ward, Technology Correspondent, writes for BBC News. "And while that may not be happening to your home, it probably is happening to any PC you connect to the net."

"An investigation by the BBC News website has established the scale of the dangers facing the average net user," Ward reports.

"Using a computer acting as a so-called 'honeypot' the BBC has been regularly logging how many potential net-borne attacks hit the average Windows PC every day," Ward reports. "When we put this machine online it was, on average, hit by a potential security assault every 15 minutes... However, at least once an hour, on average, the BBC honeypot was hit by an attack that could leave an unprotected machine unusable or turn it into a platform for attacking other PCs... Often once a machine has fallen under someone else's control, a keylogger will be installed to capture information about everything that the real owner does - such as login to their online bank account. This stolen information is often sold as few of those that steal it have the criminal connections to launder stolen cash."

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5414502.stm 

(Mac sales are taking off like crazy in the US, as a result of the above, Vista's problems, and serious prognoses concerning the inability of Microsoft to fix their platform and ensure it keeps pace with more sophisticated demands. Anyone looking for somewhere to invest ...) 

Thanks for this article. By the way, what are the main "nasties" that any Mac could get ?

Thanks for your reply.

Guy

9 LEE:

What about Limewire Alex?  Are there any nasties you could catch for a Mac on there? I've often wondered..

Lee 

Nope, not an issue.

There are 'nasties' out there, but they're targeting VERY specific flaws which were patched years ago.

Thanks for your reply about Lee's question.

Guy

Flappo The Grate:

i'm amazed anyone would want to use a windoze pc let alone hack it

I'm happy to move over to OSX when the corporation I work for decides to change.

i can't think of anything tbh

apart from using boot camp :)