Apple → [Security] AntiVirus and Firewall on Mac?

Being a new user to the Mac o/s and longtime windows user who has always used an anti-virus, who here uses an anti-virus software package on their Mac. Reasons for doing so and the company you use too. I've seen several that are free and some paid. I've always used Eset on my windows machines and see that they also have a Mac version.

Regarding the firewall, I see it's off by default. What is the reasoning behind that? Windows is on by default and has been for years.

Here's some: »www.digitaltrends.com/co ··· r-mac/2/

I use Sophos personally. Why an anti-virus? With today's Internet, why in the world wouldn't you?

I've googled this and found several different opinions on this. Most say no, few say yes. There are several no's that say IF you do install one, to only use one of the free packages from the App Store. I think I'll get better answers here from those I trust!

I've used Norton and Malwarebytes on various Apple computers.

Turn both on. Sophos has a decent residential free offering but there's a lot of next gen stuff coming out in the next year that will be more predictive in nature and better protect you.

I use Norton Security Deluxe (iMac, Windows VM, Windows computer, Android phone). Never seen anything bad try to come by, but then again the same is true of the years I used Windows so...

Hint: I downloaded the trial and waited until the last day or two before buying. They sent a couple of e-mails during the trial period. The purchase price was much lower than at the beginning of the trial period - probably an incentive to buy.

I just used malwarebytes and Avira to clean my mother-in-laws mbp.

That's what I do. I have extra device "seats" left on my Norton Security license and installed it on my iMac along with my 4 other Windows computers.

I think ESET has a very expensive multi-device version where for $43 from Amazon you can get a 10-device version of Norton Security.

I'm in the "no" camp, especially if you have any decent level of internet/computer literacy. The biggest thing you have to be able to do is tell the difference between a fake software update popup and a real one (most often with Flash). When in doubt, always close the popup and go directly to the software vendor's website to look for an update. Can't go wrong with that.

If you use well known apps and download them from trusted sources, it's actually quite unlikely you'll get a virus or malware.

Malwarebytes is good to clean up if you do happen to pick up anything, but I stay away from any AV software that runs constantly. They are sometimes doing very questionable, abusive things to the OS in order to implement the always-on scanning. And that's not something I want to deal with.

For the firewall: no harm in turning it on, but it doesn't really add much security if you're already behind a home router most of the time. Would be a good idea on public WiFi networks.

Agreed on the internet/computer literacy and I have no problems there. Still on the fence about installing it. I have a multi-license for Eset and can use their Mac version. Not sure about system impact or performance (battery wise mainly).

re: the firewall, I do most of my connections from behind trusted routers whether at home or work, however, there is the occasional hot spot where I think it would be advantageous. I have enabled that.

What are your thoughts on FileVault? I googled that as well and I see where some people have boot issues that are attributed to it.

I'm a huge fan of FileVault. On a laptop with a SSD, I'd definitely use FileVault. The performance hit is minimal / negligible but the security benefits are substantial.

I've been using it on my MacBook Pro for a few years now - no issues on starting up that I would attribute to FV.

Anyone else here using FileVault

Yes, on my MBP, MBA, and on my iMac.

I've got Avast's AV running on my Mac. The other day, it did report a potential virus with the World Community Grid program. It was a false positive that went away after an update of the virus defs. I'll also get a notice every once in awhile that it's found a Windows virus in an email message that's in my trash.

I do run Little Snitch to let me know about outgoing connections. I started using that when I first moved from Windows to Mac 10+ years ago and have stayed with it. It's amazing how many programs want to phone home. At this point, I'm thinking of trashing all the rules and starting fresh. I'm sure some of them are for programs I no longer have installed.

I FileVault everything. AV nothing.

I'm a little on the fence about file vault. I have never had a laptop lost or stolen over the years so this one shouldn't be any different. I don't leave my things unsecured or unattended when I'm out in public (coffee house, etc), so I'm not sure why everyone feels the need to turn it on. Never had my windows laptops encrypted either. There are quite a few threads on google about it having issues (yes, the new FV2). The good outnumbers the bad, but still there is the chance.

Sophos, and yes turn the firewall on. Sophos is pretty light-weight and doesn't bog my machines down. Firewall should be on - especially if you travel in public and use free wifi hotspots.

I've have used Avira on my Macs - it's ok, but I prefer Sophos.

I also use Malwarebytes to periodically scan, and CCleaner to sweep the machine out once in a while.

My Macs are run only from a user account with limited rights, not from an account with administrative rights.

Little Snitch is also useful if you want a decent handle on in/out network traffic.

And don't forget to use Time Machine to multiple drives, and clone your boot disk periodically - my machines are connected to at least 2 Time Machine volumes each, and the boot drives are cloned a few times each week.

I have FileVault enabled on all my Mac's at home and work.
All have SSD's. I can't tell a performance difference with or without.

I have the firewall enabled on the notebook but disabled on the desktop that's always behind a router with firewall.

I'm using Sophos anti-virus, but let's just say that while I'd never run Windows with anti-virus, I would run a Mac with just the built in protection.

There are several consensus fine AV/anti-malware programs. Some free. Some not. The ones not free vary in price.

For the past year or so I've used Bit Defender and Malwarebytes. Bit Defender costs and Malwarebytes is free. Neither one ever finds anything. But Bit Defender tests the best IMO of the various sites or testing organizations that I consider valid.

Well, FileVault (or any other FDE software) is not meant to protect you from catching a virus. Its main function is to make your data inaccessible in case your machine gets lost, stolen or to anyone else who does not know your password. In case of Mac, if your drive is not encrypted, even if one doesn't know your macOS password, they can still boot it from Recovery CD/partition or connect to another Mac in Target Disk Mode and access contents of your drive(s). With FV, they will be prompted for password to open encrypted drive. Without it, good luck getting to the data.

BTW, Apple has enabled FV by default when Yosemite was released. That applies to clean installs only, when running setup, the encryption checkbox is automatically checked. So an average Joe who just bought a new Mac and simply accepts all defaults will end up with encrypted drive. Obviously, if you have upgraded from an older version and drive is not encrypted, it will stay that way unless you go to settings and turn FV on.

Yes, I run ClamXav (paid) with ClamXav Sentry "watching" my home directory. I also have the firewall on, run Nick Sweeting's Security Growler, installed RansomWhere?, as well as a periodic Malwarebytes scan.

Why... because my users will say "our Mac guy doesn't run anything"... which will cause more issues and re-imaging for me.

I've experimented with a couple.
Eset - Paid version. Runs very light. Caused a couple of occassional system crashes.

Sophos - Free. Runs very light. Caused a couple of system crashes.

Currently no AV running. Do have malwarebytes installed too for the occassional scan. Still would like something running full-time though to catch browser hijacks, etc.