The Macintosh Virus issue

Or should I say, the lack of Macintosh Virus issue. There’s still no serious threat in the wild, and anti-virus software vendors still warn we should be running anti-virus software on our Mac’s just incase there is a threat in the future. Macworld published an article this week looking at the recurring question, and concluded you don’t need anti-virus software on a Mac if you follow good practices.

I must confess that I am currently using VirusBarrier X5, as it was part of the current MacUpdate bundle. There was nothing wrong with Clamxav, but since I had the software I thought I might as well give it a try, if only to scan downloads destined for a Windows virtual machine. It works well, doesn’t appear to slow the computer down and has some neat features to speed up scanning. Would I pay for another years updates after this subscription expires? Probably not with the current lack of threats, but that may change as Mac’s continue to become more popular.

Do mac users need Antivirus?

I posted a while back on the various Antivirus apps available for the Mac. Anyone interested in an update should have a look at the article on Macworld that looks at the threat and makes some interesting points. And don’t forget that Windows running in a virtual machine (using VMware, Parallels or the free Virtualbox) is still Windows so needs protection.

One of the comments left after the article raised a good point, why hasn’t there been a major security breach of Mac OS X? Now that the Mac’s market share is growing there would be a lot of publicity for whoever writes the first widespread security threat, so where is it? is this luck, or is Apple doing something right?

Virus protection for the iPhone: Why?

There’s been a growing trend recently to question the behaviour of antivirus software vendors, who’s scaremongering tactics say you must buy their latest product or meet a certain silicon doom. The corporate antivirus market is a far calmer and sensible place, where the product must protect the machine and disrupt the user as little as possible. Contrast this with the domestic market where products have to add new features every year to persuade you to upgrade, and remind you those features are helping.