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Do we need AntiVirus or Firewall for MacBook?
Like me, I am sure there must be a lot of users who switch from Windows to Mac. It's but obvious that we are concerned about firewalls & antivirus softwares.
But from what I have read, I have come to understand that it's just a personal choice.
Firstly, there is a good news: Mac OSX has it's own built-in firewall that can be activated in the 'Sharing pref' pane in System Preferences.
Now when it comes to antivirus software, let's see the pros and cons...
Pros:
1) Even though there is not a virus for Mac OSX that doesn't mean there will never be one. Having antivirus software installed makes you proactive in your protection.
2) If we use the machine in a network, antivirus software will help stop us from further infecting the network.
*While your Mac can't be infected by a Windows virus, it can pass it on*
We cannot see any kind of performance decrease or issues when running antivirus software.
Cons:
It eats up resources on some machines
In certain situations it could cause stability issues or kernel panics
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So in the end, it's for us to decide on what we have to choose.
Following are some antivirus softwares available for OSX:
Norton AntiVirus for Mac
McAfee Virex for Mac
ClamXav (free)
But from what I have read, I have come to understand that it's just a personal choice.
Firstly, there is a good news: Mac OSX has it's own built-in firewall that can be activated in the 'Sharing pref' pane in System Preferences.
Now when it comes to antivirus software, let's see the pros and cons...
Pros:
1) Even though there is not a virus for Mac OSX that doesn't mean there will never be one. Having antivirus software installed makes you proactive in your protection.
2) If we use the machine in a network, antivirus software will help stop us from further infecting the network.
*While your Mac can't be infected by a Windows virus, it can pass it on*
We cannot see any kind of performance decrease or issues when running antivirus software.
Cons:
It eats up resources on some machines
In certain situations it could cause stability issues or kernel panics
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So in the end, it's for us to decide on what we have to choose.
Following are some antivirus softwares available for OSX:
Norton AntiVirus for Mac
McAfee Virex for Mac
ClamXav (free)
Of course it's your own decision and your own position - is it safe to use Mac without firewall, are there viruses for Mac and so on. But i think that more safety can't be unnecessary. I'm using firewall soft - ProteMac NetMine. I think it's good and i fell protected)