Modern Vespa

I'm a fairly new convert to Apple from Windows. I have read and heard that one should not bother with antivirus for OS X. Is this truly the case? If not, what antivirus would you recommend? I see AntiVirus Sentinel Pro gets great rating.

While there are far fewer threats for OS-X. I personally would recommend some type of protection. I use ESET and appears to work fine and I don't notice any slowdowns or other problems from using it.

http://www.eset.com/us/

The risk is there. OS X shares some of the attack vectors that Windows has. Most AV products for OS X won't protect the Mac, though. They focus on Windows malware that could harm other computers in your network and rely on Apple's in-built security measures for the Mac. I don't have an AV software on mine and I couldn't recommend one.

I use Avast Free Mac Security and it has been fine so far. No viruses detected, but I don't frequent sites with heavy virus worries.

Here is a link to Toms Hardware and they review a bunch of Mac security programs (free and paid).

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-antivirus,review-2588-6.html

Hope this helps.

For regular Mom and Pop type users, just turn make sure firewall is on and you can only download apps from the App store (maybe identified developers too).

If you want to download questionable apps then yeah, you probably need something more.

Thanks for the replies. I've only ever purchased from the Apple Store except once for mine craft for my son. I am however concern about websites. Sometimes while searching through topics I enjoy some of the websites I've gone to flood me with advertising and what appear to be pop ups even though I've turned on pop up blocker. Once I find a website like that I get out and avoid it. I'm always concern those types of site leave something unwanted and damaging.

You could use Firefox instead of Safari for these pages. Then install the Ghostery plugin and tell it to block everything. It's always good to have an alternative browser ready.
I'm not the biggest fan of Firefox, but I can't recommend the new Opera any longer.

... at the end it ends up with not being "free" at all

so, when changed to Yosemite, I installed Kaspersky AV software for Mac. had thorough swipe of everything that I have in electronic format

guess what, it found few Trojans in mailbox. Free software didn't found it (on purpose?). brings a thought or two to my mind

Kaspersky is quite good thing and would recommend it.

tried Nortons before, were working better on Windows, especially if you have full package with the computer health utilities. since Mac is so good with the rest, see Kaspersky as better solution.

no os is virus free. Osx wasnt a target for quite some time but Apple started telling people that macs are virus proof so a couple of bugs have been written just to prove apple wrong. Since then Apple stopped saying virus proof and started saying built for security instead.

Avast (free)

https://www.avast.com/en-us/index


Top rated year after year, much better than Norton or McAfee which failed over and over again through the years

Made my 6 year old computer run like new again (after removing half a dozen viruses that Norton could not find)

Make sure to scan your root directory monthly

PreddyBaer Do you find Kaspersky to effect performance much?

Strick and WillO same question for Avast?

am noticing no problems like other AV programs do with Windows

as said before, my strong recommendation for Kaspersky

All anti-virus programs I have used use up some of your cpu and memory, so performance is affected

How much would depend on how you have your anti-virus program set up, your computer and what programs you are trying to run

The program is free so you have nothing to lose
Download it, run it, full scan, boot time scan (both may take hours to scan so run the scan while you are a sleep)
If you don't like it, uninstall it


I believe Consumer Reports has had it rated #1 for the last 2 years
(not that it helps your performance any, lol)


Good Luck

Have been using Apple computers for the last 26 years.
Haven't had any malware issues but during the last 5 years
or so think it's prudent to scan for trouble.
Several products tried including Clamx, Sophos, and recently Avira. All free.
Quite impressed with Avira, just recently installed.
Full scan will take some time but then it will run in the background with very little impact.
Doesn't support Safari yet, but real time protection helps.

P.S. Meant to add:
Little Snitch, although rather painful to setup, is also excellent.
Not free, but worth the cost.

Cheers

I was a ClamX user for years, but when it became a commercial product, I decided to look at other solutions. Avira works quite well; found a few pieces of malware (not viruses) on my teenager's Macbook and took care of them.
I've been a Mac user since 1984 and the worst era of viruses was in the mid-90s when true viruses (not obnoxious malware or browser hijackers) would attach themselves to Microsoft Word macros.
I've worked in corporate environments and if you work from home even occasionally, you are required to run A/V software regardless of platform. Avira does the trick for me.

I haven't noticed any lags or slowdowns using Avast on my MacBook.

I've owned Macs since 2009. Never installed anti-virus and never had a virus scare. Apple does a good job of patching security holes; just keep your machine up to date and don't download anything dubious.