[Greumach]

My MBP had a strange hiccup and rebooted itself with little warning. I suspected something was not right so I thought I'd try an anti virus program. I tried Protectmac, they had a free trial version.
After running it it found 9 "threats", some listed as Trojans.

I was a little surprised, I've thought that Macs were close to bulletproof (and they are), so I began to think, is this software "finding" threats to compel me to purchase a full copy?
I'm not picking on Protectmac in particular, just wondering about anti virus software in general.

Any thoughts? Any recommendations on other AV software?

[Dylstra]

There's a free one, ClamX I think, that used to be quite highly regarded. I had it many years ago, but haven't bothered since.

What sort of threats did ProtectMac find? I ask because much of what Mac AV detects are Windows threats that the Mac user can pass on to those less fortunate.

[BrianB]

There was a whole article on anti virus software in an issue of Macworld a while ago. I think thats where I read about it.

Maybe Dave can pinpoint which issue had the article. It was very useful.

I'll try and see if I can dig it up.

[pegi]

I have Mackeeper which I find excellent in many ways. It is doing about almost everything that you need and more. It is also very affordable. Does cleaning of old files which is real neat.

Sophos is free AV for Mac .

BrianB, on 16 March 2012 - 07:39 AM, said:

There was a whole article on anti virus software in an issue of Macworld a while ago. I think thats where I read about it.

Maybe Dave can pinpoint which issue had the article. It was very useful.

I'll try and see if I can dig it up.

[ehcin]

I ask about MacKeeper.

A few weeks back when the media were on about many thousands of Apple users being subject to malware as a result of Flash (?) software downloads, I read that MacKeeper was a good way to go at a not overly expensive price for what it did. I purchased a two computer pack and installed it on a MacBook Pro and a iMac and followed through with the scan and cleaning processes it recommended. I don't seem to be having any usage issues on either computer but the software seems overly intrusive and 'buts in' frequently.

I then googled MacKeeper and there doesn't seem to be a lot of support out there for the product, quite the contrary actually. On reading the related Macworld Forum comments just now, there is really only one contributor that writes in support of the software.

Because uninstalling MacKeeper is a seemingly a very complicated process, has anyone had a bad experience with MacKeeper and/or the uninstall process?

Paranoia is taking its toll.

[Ken Gracey]

I have had Mac keeper installed for at least 2 years now, maybe longer, and never had an issue with it.

It seems to work as advertised, and I have never considered deleting it, so I can't really tell you how hard it is to remove.

[Some Random Bloke]

I have very effective antivirus software. 0 system usage or UI interference. Never had one infection. It's called a Mac

[arcanedevice]

Threats to OS X are often talked about as being non-existent, but If you work in a mixed environment there is no doubt they can be carriers.

I have used the free Sophos AV that was mentioned in the recent AMW and it has been good. Very small footprint and non-invasive. Never found a mac issue but did find some odd stuff in Office documents.

If your AV is reporting threats then I'd recommend running one of these free ones over the top before wilfully deleting stuff...

[Some Random Bloke]

My son is getting a Windows convertible from school next term so maybe I'll have to consider that. Sigh.