what do you guys think?

does one need to isntall a virusscan on a mac or not?
why?

if you answer yes, which one do you prefer and why?

You don't have to, but if you wanted to be 100% sure that you're protected you could.

The only free antivirus I know of for Macs is iAntiVirus which is free for home users (paid for businesses or whatever). It seems pretty good and is worth a shot.

odd thing is all my friends with a mac don't have any virus protection on it
and never had any either

which made me wonder

Well, Macs don't get as many viruses as Windows, but there are some (I remember a pirated version of iLife had a nasty mac virus).

If you're talking about the validity of the site, it's a real antivirus.

In the future maybe but not atm.

And btw that was a trojan not much of a difference though nonetheless.

A trojan is just a form of a virus, or at least that's just what I read in a Hacking for Dummies book.

You shouldn't, unless you're a no-good crack user. (Software cracks, not Amy Whinehouse crack )

I guess it depends.

If you're dual booting with OS X and a Windows OS and the Windows one gets a virus, you can use the OS X scanner to scan the Windows partition.

Then again, I don't know how well this would work. I don't know if the OS X scanners only have definitions for OS X viruses or all viruses, but I have a friend who does this with his Ubuntu partition and it seems to work fairly well.

I had two running for about 6 months and last week I uninstalled them both. There's really no need - unless you're visiting illegal download websites for Mac....

I'll keep that in mind

Better safe than sorry. At what point should you really consider it; when you get a big infection and your personal details now become public or your documents deleted? I'd say find a reliable free alternative and be more responsible with your computer. Getting your files erased is a bad way to learn that you should have been protected.

The last major virus on a mac I've heard of was about a month ago a fairly bad virus was going around attached to a pirate iWork 09 copy. Really you should be fine.

The marketshare for Apple is constantly on the rise. With the users like yourselves will come malicious users trying to steal your details and destroy your documents. Is it really worth the risk to wait it out until it happens to you?

The only reason macs aren't as prone to viruses are because the majority use windows so virus designers go after them.

With Macs market share being on the rise that could reverse so yeah you do need one. Even if you don't scan too often.

no that's why i installed the virus scan Monke posted

At the moment, no. It's not needed.

But in a year or so, things might change.

Just don't do stupid things (which I doubt you do) and you're safe.

not quite true.
there are still trojans waiting for the unwary mac user. so honestly. better to be safe than sorry. get yourself some anti virus software.

I'm not telling him to have an insecure computer, but honestly, it's not needed if you use your computer properly.

I think the speed of my computer outweighs the possible security gap.

Although, it's up to you.

You might aswell get one to be safe.
As long as you don't click on ads, you're pretty much fine without one. But better safe than sorry.

OS X is modified UNIX. There are vulnerabilities. They even announced them at WDC. When, they announce Snow Leopard. The only thing OS X users need to watch out for are phishing sites.

In my opinion, Macs are not under significant threat from malware at the moment, but as this problem is only going to get worse in the future, you are well-advised to get an antivirus. Unfortunately, there is this 'it's OK, I've got a Mac' attitude which Apple contributes to - on their site here, they say:


I find this very irritating. First they are implying that Macs are invulnerable, which they are not, and second, they use the term 'PC' to refer to non-Mac computers, which is incorrect as Macs are PCs too


In my experience I've never noticed any slowdown from installing an antivirus app (obviously, there is some resource usage, but not to the point that it becomes noticeable). The only ones that can slow things down are bloated apps like Norton, and even that seems to have sharpened up its act now. Of course, I'm talking about Windows antiviruses, but seeing as Mac ones are generally made by the same companies, there shouldn't be any difference.

Those Mac commercials annoy me because they improperly use the term "PC". Even then, they are using "PC" in reference as a Windows-based computer. "Mac OSX isn't plagued by constant attacks from PC viruses and malware." Of course, because they are different systems. They are confusing less knowledgeable people by making Mac OSX sound immune to viruses all together. It's a lie both ways. Macs are PCs and OSX isn't immune to all viruses.