#BEST MAC OS VIRUS SOFTWARE MAC OS X#
#BEST MAC OS VIRUS SOFTWARE INSTALL#
#BEST MAC OS VIRUS SOFTWARE MANUAL#
#BEST MAC OS VIRUS SOFTWARE SOFTWARE#
#BEST MAC OS VIRUS SOFTWARE PASSWORD#

That way, if something wants to install, you’ll have to pause a little more and think about it before proceeding – especially if you make your Administrator’s username and password something you really have to try and remember.

#BEST MAC OS VIRUS SOFTWARE SOFTWARE#

So, as an added step to preventing unwanted software from getting installed, it is recommended that you actually create an Administrator account that’s only used for installing software and use Standard account for your day-to-day work.

#BEST MAC OS VIRUS SOFTWARE INSTALL#

A “regular” user account can’t install software you must enter the username and password of an admin to install. Unfortunately, that complacency can prove problematic down the line. If your main account is an Administrator, all you need to do to install something is type in your password – something that most of us can now do almost reflexively. Over time, we tend to get a little complacent about entering our username and password on our computer. The lesson to learn from this is that unless you know the place you’re getting software from to be a reputable source, skip it – especially if they “come to you” trying to get you to download it.ģ.) Make installing that much more difficult. Frankly, I’d be a bit leery of installing software from someone who couldn’t even get the name of your computer right… The vast majority of the time, the only people who refer to the Macintosh platform as “MAC” are Windows users trolling for Mac/Windows flame wars in forums or other people generally ill-informed on the platform. Most reputable companies know that “Mac” is not an acronym it’s short for Macintosh and therefore not written in all caps. Secondly, the name should be a dead giveaway. If you don’t have something to remove it, how would it see the virus in the first place? Classic “chicken & egg.” If your computer is scanning and found this software, then it should be capable of removing it. I never got the whole “automatically scanning/download this” scam. Then you download it, and the real “fun” begins – opening windows and sites randomly and then asking for a credit card. The “MAC Defender” trojan runs by first showing a fake “Virus Scan” window, then telling you that your computer is infected. Go to Firefox>Preferences, click the “General” tab and check the option to “Show the Downloads window when downloading a file.” Now, every time Firefox downloads a file, you have to manually tell it what to do, including an option to cancel the download. Now, to open something downloaded from the Internet, you must actively choose to do so.įirefox has a similar option in its preferences. Turn that option off immediately! Just go to Safari>Preferences, click the “General” tab and uncheck the “Open ‘safe’ files after downloading” option.

#BEST MAC OS VIRUS SOFTWARE MAC OS X#

A little common sense and a proactive approach will go a long way in keeping your Mac safe…and to us is the best Mac anti-virus program available today.ġ.) Be aware of what you’re downloading and mounting.īy default, Safari in Mac OS X will mount a disk image it has downloaded, as well as open other archives and such. Just because we’re relatively safe from most malware out there, it doesn’t mean we should blindly open every file we come across and install each little piece of software. But, at least on a Mac, viruses and trojan horses are kind of like vampires: they can’t come in unless you invite them-with your admin password unlocking the door. So while you may not get a virus from opening an email, you can install something pretty darn awful if you’re not careful. There are, however, reports of “trojan horses” out there, most notably as of late “MAC Defender,” which poses as antivirus software that you download and install.

#BEST MAC OS VIRUS SOFTWARE MANUAL#

While in the Windows world, you can hardly log on to the Internet without encountering malware of one kind or another, we here on the Mac side of things have made it through relatively unscathed, especially under OS X.Īt this time, there are still no actual viruses for OS X out there “in the wild ” there have been some shown in demonstration but most, if not all, of them required actual physical access and/or a manual installation in order to work.

As you can guess, it wasn’t particularly well-met. A little over a year ago, we posted an article here on the OWC Blog that talked about why an anti-virus program on a Mac might not be a bad idea.

Best mac os virus software