i have a desktop mac do i need anti-virus and if so where do i get it for free?

Question

i tried the free edition of AVG you get online at download.com. and i cant open it with any of my applications
i have used that on any other computer i have used
help please. my mac is suffering from something

Answer 1

There are NO Free ones for the Macs that I know of.

For those that think Macs are bullet proof, Please read the following.

Will Mac's growth make it a bigger target?

By Will Sturgeon, Silicon.com
Published on ZDNet News: August 2, 2006, 6:29 AM PT





A recent upturn in Apple's sales of its Mac computers has added fuel to concerns the Mac community's days of claiming a secure upper-hand may be numbered.

Last week it was revealed that Apple's shipments of its Mac machines had shown double digit growth, year-on-year, with analysts suggesting the growth is set to continue with more PC switchers in the pipeline.

And while that is great news for Apple and its marketing prowess, it has coincided with the question of Mac security rearing its head once more, with three large security vendors issuing words of warning for the Mac faithful while Apple remains tight-lipped about the security of its machines.



Mark Sunner, CTO of MessageLabs, said: "Now, as Macs become more popular, we're seeing an increase in attacks targeting OS X." Greg Day, senior antivirus researcher at McAfee, said his company's recent Global Threat Report found evidence to support that claim.

Day told silicon.com: "Microsoft has the biggest bull's-eye on it but there's a lot of interest in Apple right now. There have been more vulnerabilities discovered in OS X than in XP over the past two years."

Day said 95 vulnerabilities have been discovered in XP during that time compared to 238 in OS X.

Jay Heiser, research VP at Gartner, said he would expect to see the risks from owning a Mac increase with popularity and a greater market share. "The relative 'safety' of the Mac environment is not so much an issue of obscurity, as it is a lack of hack-leverage and perhaps biological diversity," said Heiser. "From the attacker's point of view, the bigger the set of logically identical targets, the bigger the payoff in creating 'crimeware.'

"Clearly, as the number of Macs increase, it becomes more appealing to target them."

Heiser added: "The most important consideration is the amount of code. The level of vulnerability is a function of the size of the code-base and it is inevitable that the Mac OS contains a significant number of unrecognized vulnerabilities."

Last week Russian antivirus vendor Kaspersky Labs also waded in to the Mac security debate, with its own findings reporting a similar hike in the number of vulnerabilities found in OS X. And while vulnerabilities and actual proven exploits are very different things, Kaspersky Labs echoed the concerns of others, saying 60 vulnerabilities discovered in the first half of 2006 suggests if growing popularity were to invite more attacks this could soon become a problem.

McAfee's Day also criticized Apple for being slow to address these vulnerabilities--adding that Microsoft, albeit due to an unflattering history of vulnerabilities, is at least largely on top of the situation.

He said: "I think Apple has not been as organized as Microsoft has had to be through necessity at dealing with vulnerabilities."

At the time of writing Apple had failed to comment.

AND THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES.

Mac Virus / Worm
http://msn.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,124755,00.asp

And more important.
http://msn.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,124543,00.asp

2006-08-02
Apple fixes 26 Mac OS flaws

By Joris Evers, CNET News.com
Published on ZDNet News: August 2, 2006, 5:25 AM PT





Apple Computer issued on Tuesday updates for its Mac OS X operating system to fix 26 security flaws, some serious.

Several of the vulnerabilities affect the way in which Mac OS X handles images and the file-sharing capabilities of the software, according to an Apple security advisory. Other flaws were found and fixed within components such as Fetchmail, file compression features, and DHCP networking functionality, Apple said.

The vulnerabilities could enable a variety of attacks, security company Symantec said in an advisory sent out to customers of its DeepSight intelligence service. "Remote attackers can execute arbitrary code, trigger denial-of-service conditions, elevate privileges, and disclose potentially sensitive information," Symantec said.



Apple credits a number of security researchers with finding the flaws. These include researchers employed by Google and Mozilla, as well as Tom Ferris, a freelance security researcher who has disclosed limited information on some Apple bugs in the past.

The bulk of the Mac OS X flaws affect both the client and server versions of the operating system. Attackers could exploit several of the vulnerabilities, specifically those related to image processing and file compression, by crafting malicious files and tricking people into opening them, Apple said. This attack method is seen often on computers that run Microsoft's Windows operating system.

A handful of flaws related to file sharing, handled by the Mac OS X AFP server, could expose user data or let a malicious user gain elevated privileges a system running Mac OS X or cause a crash, Apple said.

The update also increases the length of the passkey used for pairing Bluetooth devices with Mac computers, Apple said. This could provide enhanced security for the use of Macs with wireless devices that use Bluetooth technology.

Mac OS X users are urged to upgrade in order to protect their systems against possible attacks that may exploit the flaws. Symantec said that it doesn't know of current attack code for any of the issues, though some may not require specific exploit code, the company said.

Apple has released Security Update 2006-004 to address the issues. The update is available from the Software Update pane in System Preferences on Mac OS X systems or through Apple's Web site. Until now, Apple's most recent security update came out in late June.

Answer 2

2

Answer 3

there was a big thing last year because MAC had the first ever virus written for it.

I have used mac since the first web page was created and have never had a problem. Your mac probalby has some user input malfunctions that can be easily sorted

Answer 4

There is only 1 known virus for mac osx, and I don't even think its an actual virus, but a trojan or something. But anyways, likelyness is that u don't have a virus. However, if u really want a free anti virus app, try Clam Xav (http://www.markallan.co.uk/clamXav/).

I don't think you get AVG for mac's.

Answer 5

No! There are no known viruses for Mac ( OS X). You don't need an anti-virus software unless you are running Windows XP on your mac as multi-boot.

Answer 6

Are you sure? Maybe its just a bug, I don't think that any viruses have ever been proven to be on an apple as they are so secure. Anyway just take it to a computer store.

Answer 7

avoid the "free " ones.. you always end up paying in the end...
norton will work.. and download ad-aware to scan your computer
from download.com

Answer 8

There are AVG, Avast, Avira, COMODO(full internet security) and Outpost Free. I

Answer 9

if you're mac is having problems, take it into an apple store. they have good tech support. but apples aren't supposed to get viruses...

Answer 10

Try getting it directly from them

www.grisoft.com

Norton works on mac.

do a google search or yahoo!