ANTIVIRUS SOFTWARE FOR MAC?

[Fritz T]

Hello, this topic is not about archicad... Hope its the correct forum.
I'm in the process of migrating from PC to mac, and wonder if anyone out there can give me any pointers as to the potential risk of virus infection on OSX. I'm getting many conflicting opinions, ranging from from "take a deep breath and relax, then carry on working" (posting on the apple site), to something completely the opposite and sounding potentially life-threatening on Symantec's site.
What are the risks? What should one be doing - i.e. what is good practice?
Thank you
PS. I do not use Microsoft software, such as Office.

[Eduardo Rolon]

Actually Apple removed Virex from .Mac because it is incompatible with 10.4 so it can not be downloaded anymore...

www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=2005062008475429

[Dwight]

Another way to know that there are no more viruses.

Mac =Innoculation

PC = Festering Pustules.

[Ralph Wessel]

Fritz wrote:
I'm in the process of migrating from PC to mac, and wonder if anyone out there can give me any pointers as to the potential risk of virus infection on OSX.
What are the risks? What should one be doing - i.e. what is good practice?

At present Mac OS X is free from viruses, malware, etc. Of course someone will eventually produce one, so a degree of caution is advisable. You can also help your Windows-based colleagues if you detect viruses in their documents.

The main problem with most commercial products is that they can cause more problems than the threat they are supposed to counter, and often break with each new OS update.

I use clamXav, a free Mac front-end for an open source anti-virus engine. Take a look at http://www.markallan.co.uk/clamXav/

[Dwight]

Ralph wrote:

Fritz wrote:
I'm in the process of migrating from PC to mac, and wonder if anyone out there can give me any pointers as to the potential risk of virus infection on OSX.
What are the risks? What should one be doing - i.e. what is good practice?

Cupertino advised that your white hat is in the mail.

It is obvious, fromthe regular security updates published, that the MacOS has weaknesses, but Apple seems intent on preventing them from being exploited.

[Anonymous]

Dwight wrote:
It is obvious, fromthe regular security updates published, that the MacOS has weaknesses, but Apple seems intent on preventing them from being exploited.

Since the updates are coming out before any exploits are reported it seems like a safe bet.

[Dwight]

Just to be sure, they hired all the hackers to fix the problems.

Ad in Today's Hacker Magazine:

"Hey, buster: Earn EeeZee money while working in your underwear: Join Apple and get to make trouble!"

[TomWaltz]

At present Mac OS X is free from viruses, malware, etc. Of course someone will eventually produce one, so a degree of caution is advisable.

While that's true, it''s also pretty hard. With Mac's Unix base, most things that could do any real damage have to sneak in a "side door", like the early Tiger Widgets that snuck some code past Safari to actually get some user data.

You're not likely to ever see the "mass re-mailer" viruses for Mail/Mozilla/Thunderbird on Mac. The web-browser is really the weak point in most systems these days. You really count on that software's built-in security to CYA.

The other possibility is just plain old network hacking, which a decent firewall can help prevent.

[Dwight]

And of course, isn't it true that Mac has its "ports" closed by default while Windows has them "open"?

If this was customs and immigration, Mac would be like the USA after 9/11 and Windows would be like… Libya?

"Got money? Come right in…"

[Djordje]

Going Intel also means viruses ... it is OS as much as the porcessor.

Good luck.

[TomWaltz]

Going Intel also means viruses ... it is OS as much as the porcessor.

Huh? What difference would the processor make? Running Linux on an Intel machine does not make it mroe virus prone. Why would OSX?