Katie MarsalAfter years of jabbing Microsoft for the seeming need to run antivirus software on Windows, Apple has quietly posted its own recommendation for similar security with its own operating system.
By using more than one piece of security software, virus writers can't assume that there will be a particular security suite to bypass, Apple says. In Windows, more advanced viruses already know to look for certain defense suites and will mask themselves or even disable the protection to make their tasks easier.
Apple currently recommends Intego's VirusBarrier X5, McAfee's VirusScan for Mac, and Symantec's Norton Anti-Virus 11.
The posting isn't necessarily a reversal of opinions for Apple, though it does reflect an overall softening of its opinions. While one of the first "Get a Mac" TV spots in 2006 made fun of Windows' susceptibility to viruses and portrayed the Mac as near-immune, the current campaign doesn't mention this point. The company's current FAQ for curious switchers also simply says that Mac OS X "resists most viruses" and doesn't make any blanket statements.
At present, there isn't any immediate cause for a change in Apple strategy. Outside of proofs of concept, few instances exist of widely propagated viruses or other malicious code for the Mac.
Charles Martin
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115 Comments
Oh no...the legions of younger Mac zealots will now start bludgeoning their skulls with this news! And from Apple no less.
The other way of looking at it is that if you are going to use antivirus, you'd better use more than one, because none of them are proven to work at this point.
Microsoft provides a malicious software removal application that is manually ran and doesn't actively scan the system. At the same they sell OneCare (piece of junk) that does actively scan for viruses and other malware.
Apple should mimic Microsoft's efforts and come out with their own malware detection and removal software. There are some viruses and malware out there for the Mac but maybe not spreading out in the wild like in the Windows world. At least Apple could proactively work with research team and develop their own research team to plug holes in the system quicker.
The age of virus free Mac is coming to an end. And I cant believe that the workers at Apple store still tell potential customer that the Mac is virus free.
Well one thing that I wish if there is an antivirus for Mac is that it has a VERY SMALL FOOTPRINT, I won't want it to be a big CPU hog. I think Apple need to address into Mac security in the future, maybe after SL. I like the idea of sandboxing though. Since most spyware/adware/virus came from the internet, I think they need to make like a special folder where all stuffs that came from the internet will be placed there (even video streaming), it will be locked (so that the files cannot go anyway unless it resides in that fixed folder). This will make it easier to detect and delete the virus.
I've been using Antivirus on my Mac for more than a year now for two reasons:
1. After years of Windows it is hard not to install one even on a Mac
2. Infected Windows machine on our university apartments network messing up my internet connection. Using AV helped me and our University IT department detect network attacks such as ARP poisoning.
You have no idea how many Windows machine are infected and trying to spread viruses to other computers on the network. Most people don't even bother with AV even though the University is giving them for free.