We all assume that MAC does not need any additional antivirus, and their inbuilt security scanner is enough to protect our Mac books, but recently Apple admitted, that having another layer of Virus safety would be good.
The reason behind this is, as the technology is advancing Virus programmers are becoming intelligent and they are developing more sophisticated Virus/ Spywares/ Malwares. These “Build to Kill” programs actually are very smart, they reside in your PC and instead of doing anything which is directly harmful to you, these days they simply steal your personal information and uploads to programmer’s database.
Virus Barrier X6
Such Virus/ Spyware / Malware are very dangerous as you will not even know about them and they can easily bypass inbuilt security scanner of your MAC. So having another layer of safety or installing antivirus software on your MAC machine can be a good idea. Thus here we present list of few good and free MAC Antivirus software –
Intego VirusBarrier X6 – The Intego VirusBarrier X6 is one of the best antivirus programs for MAC users. It not only scans the hard disk but it can also scan email, components, and everything else which is connected with your MAC Book. It has scheduling feature which makes it run on predefined time for scanning and its user interface is easy to navigate. It can also scan your Windows based software installed on Mac machine. It is not free but at 70$ is very costly but with the features and options it provides it is worth the money.
But we have a free version of this Antivirus as well, based on Intego VirusBarrier X6 VirusBarrier Express is the free version for Mac User. You can download it from Mac App Store.
PC Tools Antivirus — This is Mac only antivirus and available for free. It keeps your Mac safe and clear from files which can be downloaded from internet and can create problem for you. Drawback is it will work only with OS X 10.5 or later and requires an Intel Based Mac.
Clamxav for MAC
ClamXav – ClamXav is an Open source antivirus for Mac and it is based on ClamAv engine. It works flawlessly on OS x 10.4 or higher and has limited support for lower versions. It can also scan mails and it also has a feature for real time scanning of files as they are written/ read. Being Open source it is free and there is nothing better than ClamXav if you looking for free antivirus for your MAC.
Sophos Home Edition for Mac – The Free version of this antivirus for Home users uses same engine as their Business edition. But it is free for Home users only. It can scan windows as well as Mac files. You can set the option to run a periodical scan or check the files every time they get downloaded from internet. This is one of must have Mac program as it also comes free for home users.
The review posted here is based on what manufacturers claim and what expert says on different site, to test real performance of these antiviruses you need to test them against a real virus. Probability of getting a virus on your Mac is really very very low, but it is always better to be safe than sorry!