Antivirus for iMac?

[Jonzjob]

Can anyone tell me what the best free antivirus programme is for my new, not yet arrived, iMac and Snow Leopard?

I am running Avast on my 2 M/soft/Windoze PCs now and am quite happy, but from the reviews I've read it seems a good idea to steer well clear of it for iMac?

[Chezstevens]

iAntiVirus

[Bugsy]

Check out the Mac forums John and you'll come to the conclusion that with good housekeeping, firewalls etc anti virus for a Mac is a questionable requirement.

.

[kimg]

i thought viruss only came with the windows programme and the selling point for macs is that theres no viruss.

i might be wrong tho

kim

[Mr Coeur de Lion]

Exactly what I was going to say Kim lol

[Quillan]

To answer Jons question yes there are free AV programs for the Mac and I have given a link below for you to see who they are.

http://antivirus.about.com/od/freeantivirussoftware/tp/freeantivirus.htm

To imply that having a good firewall will stop you getting a virus is wrong, what it will do is stop people accessing your computer remotely just as in the same way as it does with Windows based machine.

Trojans - They do exists for the Mac but because the OS requires a password to install programs they don't get installed unless you let them. That does not of course overcome the stupidity of a person saying yes to a dodgy looking attachment and allowing a Trojan to be installed.

Virus's - Yes there are viruses for Mac's. In the past they have been very few but the number has increased dramatically since Apple started using the Intel processors. The reason for this is that viruses are more often written in pure machine code and as such are not operating system dependant. However these virus's still need to be installed and whilst they 'side step' program installation security on Mac's its just the same as Windows machines in that they come as attached files to emails which of course you have to open. So the same rule applies, if your suspicious and don't know where the email came from then don't open it. The other way they are transmitted is by infected media like floppy disks and more recently CD's and DVD's be they either data, music or video. So if somebody gives you a Floppy, CD or DVD always scan it for a virus before using it.

If you follow those basic rules then in some ways you don't need AV software on your PC/Mac. Indeed I know of more than one person who has never installed AV software nor had a virus. Not the route I would go personally.

The most important thing you should do, after installing AV, is to make regular backups. Nice to see that Windows 7 now has a decent scheduled backup system embedded in it. You never have to backup programs because you should have the original CD/DVD's so its only the data you need to backup which for most people is not an awful lot. The only other things I backup is my 'Favorites' as I have quite a few that I have collected over the years and doubt I could find some of them again. I also backup my Outlook pst file so I have all my old emails. If you use 'incremental' backups you can get quite a few on one CD/DVD because after making a master backup of everything it then only backs up new and changed files which takes up a lot less space.

[Judith]

I have to support Quillan's arguments - I have a mac and so far I have not installed anti-virus - touch wood saying that will not cause a problem.

I try hard not to download things which are not from reputable sites, even rejecting offers to be a friend of social networking sites (especially from people I've never heard of!) I back up, to a smart disk, regularly all the files which have changed since I last backed up, and so far have never had to use it. 

When I first used a Mac in my (then) professional life, our IT man said much the same as you have Q.

[Bugsy]

[quote user="Quillan"]To imply that having a good firewall will stop you getting a virus is wrong, [/quote]

That,s not what I actually said Q.

.

[Quillan]

[quote user="Bugsy"][quote user="Quillan"]To imply that having a good firewall will stop you getting a virus is wrong, [/quote]

That,s not what I actually said Q.

[/quote]

Sorry Bugsy. I have read and reread your comment three times now and I can't see any other way that it can be interpreted. If the comment is supposed to mean something else that I have overlooked can you explain it to me, I am not being funny or argumentative. [;-)]

[Chezstevens]

I currently manage a large IT department in Naples (yes ... with all the connotations ref security that suggests) - Macs are becoming more popular ... this makes it more "cost effective" to attack.  If you are happy with the "Mac's do not need anti-virus" then simple - don't install.  The question was asked.  Personally anybody that believes Macs are safe from virus' is banking on a concept that is somewhat outdated. IMHO.

I use AVG on our Windows 7 workstations at home, iAntiVirus on our MacBook Pro's.  You make your own choice - but why risk it when both programs are free!!

 

[bubbles]

We have no anti virus on our Mac either.

But then we don't have any top-up insurance!

So far so good on both counts.

[Judith]

[quote user="Chezstevens"], iAntiVirus on our MacBook Pro's.  You make your own choice - but why risk it when both programs are free!!

 

[/quote]

Thanks for this - I thought I would give it a go, but, unfortunately I'm running OS 10.4, and it seems to only work on 10.5.  I don't really want to update to OS 10.5 until I'm forced to, as I'm happy as it runs now, so do you know of any other AV for that OS?  (Since you are in the business and might know, whereas even if I did a search, I wouldn't know if it was a good  product or not - ta!)

[Chezstevens]

Have a look on downloads.zdnet.com - any search engine will give you the correct link.  Then have a look at their thoughts.  Incidentally, within the last 6 months there have been 2 Mac specific virus' - all from a quick search.