Malware attacks targeting Macs should have made it abundantly clear that Mac owners can no longer go without an antivirus. The "security through obscurity" that many Mac users have relied on over the years just doesn't stand up anymore (if it ever did). Fortunately, security vendors have made a wide variety of Mac solutions available. Most come from the familiar vendors who make the security software for your PCs; a few are Mac-specific. We've rounded up a dozen for your consideration.
Free Protection
Given the long-time perception that Macs don't need antivirus protection, you may not have budgeted for such a purchase. Don't worry! Fully half of those we've rounded up here are free.
Norton's iAntivirus (Free) is a lightweight model that specifically performs on-demand virus scanning, without on-access or scheduled scanning. On the plus side, it can detect and remove Windows malware as well as Mac-specific threats, so your Mac doesn't serve as a carrier. Kaspersky Virus Scanner (for Mac) ($9.99 direct) isn't quite free, but the price is low. It, too, detects both Mac and Windows threats and scans only on demand. Avira Free Mac Security (Free) detects both Mac and Windows malware, and does offer on-access and scheduled scanning.
Comodo Antivirus for Mac (Free) and Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition version 8(Free) are straightforward solutions that scan on demand, on access, and on schedule.avast! Free Antivirus for Mac (Free) omits scheduled scanning, but does scan for threats in email.
ClamXav (Free) is a bit different from the rest. It relies on the open source ClamAV engine and aims to please the more technically inclined user. It does scan email, but in place of full on-access scanning it just scans each new file that appears.
Social Engineering Protection
Social engineering threats like phishing work by fooling the user, independent of the computer platform or operating system. Straight antivirus protection can't do anything to block such an attack. However, quite a few Mac antivirus solutions include some type of Web reputation reporting, to steer users away from dangerous or fraudulent sites.
Website rating is a strong component in Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security for Mac($49.95 direct) and Intego's VirusBarrier 2013 ($49.95/year direct). Trend Micro checks over 50 million IP addresses daily and offers three levels of protection. Intego blocks fraudulent and malicious sites and also protects against Web-based attacks such as cross-site scripting and malicious JavaScript. Sophos's latest edition blocks access to known malware-hosting sites and scans all downloads.
Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac ($39.95 direct) focuses specifically on blocking access to fraudulent sites. The similar feature in avast! relies on user ratings to determine a site's reputation. You can see at a glance whether the site is safe or dangerous, with an indication of how many votes support the rating. Users can also tag a site with specific safe or dangerous attributes.
Unusual Features
While quite a few of the Mac antivirus products stick to malware protection, others offer a range of additional security features. For example, Panda Antivirus for Mac ($49.99 direct) can scan any iOS device that's attached to your Mac.
VirusBarrier and F-Secure Anti-Virus for Mac ($39.99 direct) both offer firewall protection along with antivirus. VirusBarrier also offers a private data protection feature, to help avoid inadvertent transmission of user-specified personal information. Trend Micro's antivirus includes optional parental control features.
In general, Mac antivirus products don't seem to update as often as their PC counterparts. Of the twelve products in this roundup, just four experienced significant updates: Panda, Sophos, Trend Micro, and VirusBarrier. VirusBarrier now scans for Windows malware passing through your Mac system, and Panda added scheduled scanning. Panda ditched the wildly unusual user interface for something just slightly tamer. And blocking malicious URLs is a new and useful feature for Sophos.
The field of Mac antivirus solutions spans a wide range of prices and of features. Choose the product that suits you best, but don't take too long deciding. The next Mac-specific threat is just around the corner. Note that we haven't tested these products, yet, but are currently examining the possibility of adding Mac antivirus testing to our Windows and Android security testing.
FEATURED IN THIS ROUNDUP:
Malware attacks targeting Macs should have made it abundantly clear that Mac owners can no longer go without an antivirus. The "security through obscurity" that many Mac users have relied on over the years just doesn't stand up anymore (if it ever did). Fortunately, security vendors have made a wide variety of Mac solutions available. Most come from the familiar vendors who make the security software for your PCs; a few are Mac-specific. We've rounded up a dozen for your consideration.
Free Protection
Given the long-time perception that Macs don't need antivirus protection, you may not have budgeted for such a purchase. Don't worry! Fully half of those we've rounded up here are free.
Norton's iAntivirus (Free) is a lightweight model that specifically performs on-demand virus scanning, without on-access or scheduled scanning. On the plus side, it can detect and remove Windows malware as well as Mac-specific threats, so your Mac doesn't serve as a carrier. Kaspersky Virus Scanner (for Mac) ($9.99 direct) isn't quite free, but the price is low. It, too, detects both Mac and Windows threats and scans only on demand. Avira Free Mac Security (Free) detects both Mac and Windows malware, and does offer on-access and scheduled scanning.
Comodo Antivirus for Mac (Free) and Sophos Anti-Virus for Mac Home Edition version 8(Free) are straightforward solutions that scan on demand, on access, and on schedule.avast! Free Antivirus for Mac (Free) omits scheduled scanning, but does scan for threats in email.
ClamXav (Free) is a bit different from the rest. It relies on the open source ClamAV engine and aims to please the more technically inclined user. It does scan email, but in place of full on-access scanning it just scans each new file that appears.
Social Engineering Protection
Social engineering threats like phishing work by fooling the user, independent of the computer platform or operating system. Straight antivirus protection can't do anything to block such an attack. However, quite a few Mac antivirus solutions include some type of Web reputation reporting, to steer users away from dangerous or fraudulent sites.
Website rating is a strong component in Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security for Mac($49.95 direct) and Intego's VirusBarrier 2013 ($49.95/year direct). Trend Micro checks over 50 million IP addresses daily and offers three levels of protection. Intego blocks fraudulent and malicious sites and also protects against Web-based attacks such as cross-site scripting and malicious JavaScript. Sophos's latest edition blocks access to known malware-hosting sites and scans all downloads.
Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac ($39.95 direct) focuses specifically on blocking access to fraudulent sites. The similar feature in avast! relies on user ratings to determine a site's reputation. You can see at a glance whether the site is safe or dangerous, with an indication of how many votes support the rating. Users can also tag a site with specific safe or dangerous attributes.
Unusual Features
While quite a few of the Mac antivirus products stick to malware protection, others offer a range of additional security features. For example, Panda Antivirus for Mac ($49.99 direct) can scan any iOS device that's attached to your Mac.
VirusBarrier and F-Secure Anti-Virus for Mac ($39.99 direct) both offer firewall protection along with antivirus. VirusBarrier also offers a private data protection feature, to help avoid inadvertent transmission of user-specified personal information. Trend Micro's antivirus includes optional parental control features.
In general, Mac antivirus products don't seem to update as often as their PC counterparts. Of the twelve products in this roundup, just four experienced significant updates: Panda, Sophos, Trend Micro, and VirusBarrier. VirusBarrier now scans for Windows malware passing through your Mac system, and Panda added scheduled scanning. Panda ditched the wildly unusual user interface for something just slightly tamer. And blocking malicious URLs is a new and useful feature for Sophos.
The field of Mac antivirus solutions spans a wide range of prices and of features. Choose the product that suits you best, but don't take too long deciding. The next Mac-specific threat is just around the corner. Note that we haven't tested these products, yet, but are currently examining the possibility of adding Mac antivirus testing to our Windows and Android security testing.
FEATURED IN THIS ROUNDUP:
How to Download and Install AVG Free Antivirus
Teclane Review: AVG is an award winning and one of the best Free Antivirus software tool. There are over 172 million active users using AVG antivirus around the world as per AVG website. AVG has tremendous capabilities of preventing malware attack and instantly blocks any upcoming virus threat. If your computer is not protected from virus attack, you must try AVG Free Antivirus. AVG has high customer satisfaction rate and mostly recommended Free Antivirus programs to install and use. AVG Free Antivirushas great Internet security option which protects from any harmful malware, spyware and virus attack. The AVG interface is simple to use and it scans the system quickly and efficiently. So I highly recommend this free antivirus to any computer user from my personal user experience and as per CNET user review.
Statistics as per CNET download user review.
CNET Rating: Outstanding Price: Free
Average User Rating: 4 Stars Total Downloads: Over 510 million
File Size: 4+ MB OS: Windows XP/Vista/7 /8
According to the above statistic, AVG Free is very popular and most downloaded antivirus software with Rank#2. There is upgraded paid version also available with more security options. You can get CNET up to date statistics for AVG free form the following link:
http://download.cnet.com/AVG-AntiVirus-Free-2014/3000-2239_4-10320142.html?tag=mncol;1
How to Download and Install?
You can download AVG Free directly from the AVG Free website but it will direct you to the CNET Download center. Here are the step by steps instructions on how to download and Install AVG Free Antivirus.
You can download AVG Free directly from the AVG Free website but it will direct you to the CNET Download center. Here are the step by steps instructions on how to download and Install AVG Free Antivirus.
Step 1: Go to the Avg Free antivirus website (http://free.avg.com/us-en/
Step 2: Under AVG Antivirus Free 2014 option, click on the Download FREE antivirus as showing on the picture 2.
Step 3: It will direct you to the CNET download center. Click on the Download Nowbutton as showing on the picture 3.
Step 4: Wait until a pop up window display for saving option. Save the exe file on the Desktop as shown on the picture 4.
Step 5: Double click on the exe file from the desktop and click on Run on the security warning window.
Step 6: Next, Initial window will show as End User Software License Agreement. Click on Accept button to continue.
Step 7: From the Select Your Product window, click on the full protection and clickNext.
Step 8: From Select type of installation window, select Express (Recommended ) option and click Next.
Step 9: From AVG tool bar option, check or uncheck AVG toolbar and click Next.
Step 10: Wait until the installation is completed and Restart your computer.
Step 11: After Restart the computer, access AVG interface from the Desktop or from the Program files and make a full scan for the viruses and remove those if infected.
Congratulations ! You have successfully installed AVG, the best Free antivirus software in your computer. Your computer is now protected.
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