Free Firewall/Antivirus/Antispyware for OS X
Long story short, I'm a Windows/Linux guy who decided to give OS X a try by buying a new MacBook.
I'm going to be using my laptop on a college public wireless network. What applications do I need to make sure I'm secure? Specifically,
1. Is the built-in firewall good enough, or is their a preferred free software firewall out there?
2. What is the recommended free antivirus program? It looks like ClamXav is popular, and I know ClamAV is a popular choice on Linux.
3. Are there any OS X antispyware programs out there?
4. Are there any services (sshd, vnc, etc.) that are on by default that I will need to turn off?
Is there anything else I'm missing? (I am going to avoid making credit card purchases and online banking transactions just to be safe side, too.)
I'm going to be using my laptop on a college public wireless network. What applications do I need to make sure I'm secure? Specifically,
1. Is the built-in firewall good enough, or is their a preferred free software firewall out there?
2. What is the recommended free antivirus program? It looks like ClamXav is popular, and I know ClamAV is a popular choice on Linux.
3. Are there any OS X antispyware programs out there?
4. Are there any services (sshd, vnc, etc.) that are on by default that I will need to turn off?
Is there anything else I'm missing? (I am going to avoid making credit card purchases and online banking transactions just to be safe side, too.)
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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Don't even bother with AV programs for Mac. Since 2001 there really hasn't been anything documented. I find it somewhat funny that AV programs have been available since then for no reason - with updates!! In fact, those who used Norton did more damage to their Macs than if they had left them alone.
There is NO spyware that affects Macs. Period. If you are worried about cookies (I wouldn't be, to be honest), then go into your Safari prefs and clear out the ones you don't want in there.
There is NO spyware that affects Macs. Period. If you are worried about cookies (I wouldn't be, to be honest), then go into your Safari prefs and clear out the ones you don't want in there.
I'd recommend a VPN solution for a shared network, more to avoid people snooping on your activity online than anything else. Someone seeing you enter your login will be significantly more dangerous than any virus on the Mac.
There's a number of good VPN solutions available from HotSpotVPN.com, VforVPN.com, and various others, otherwise you could make your own SSH tunnel to a machine elsewhere.
There's a number of good VPN solutions available from HotSpotVPN.com, VforVPN.com, and various others, otherwise you could make your own SSH tunnel to a machine elsewhere.
ASKER
Thank you very much. The links provided by the other question are very comprehensive - now I only wish I had enough time to tinker around with the scripts from the O'Reilly link. (Don't worry, I know what I'm doing... to some extent.)
Also, thanks for your personal summary. It's always best to get advice from an experienced user than it is from whatever comes up on Google.
After being an experienced user for so long on Windows and Linux, it's a weird feeling to learn another OS from scratch. But it has been an enjoyable experience so far.