Question

Free Firewall/Antivirus/Antispyware for OS X

Asked by: JohnK813

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.)

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2007-01-09 at 06:23:37ID22116047
Tags

free

,

antivirus

,

os

,

x

,

firewall

,

MacBook

,

Cheetah (OS 10.1)

,

Panther (OS 10.3)

Topics

Mac OS X

,

Apple Operating Systems

Participating Experts
3
Points
400
Comments
4

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. Best Antivirus
    What is the best antivirus for example, AVG, NORTON, KAPERSKY. Give me some examples of each (required) and others. Thanks (250 points, easy catch!) --------------------------- Shai Bergman
  2. History of VNC client connections
    I recently had someone connect to my computer via VNC - it is password protected and only I know the password. I shut down the ability to access from the outside (which really stinks because now I can't). So here are my questions: 1. Can you view a history of IP addresses ...
  3. VNC for PC to connect Mac
    Which VNC version i have to use for PC to connect to Mac built-in VNC client?

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: eoinosullivanPosted on 2007-01-09 at 07:32:38ID: 18275938

John

See this previous discussion
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Operating_Systems/Macintosh/Q_22070145.html

To answer your questions in brief.
1. The OSX firewall is good but not very configurable .. access it via the Sharing System Preference .. Firewall Tab.  Mostly you can turn certain ports/services on and off.  There are alternative programs and ways of enhancing the OSX firewall but they cost or involve low level editing via Terminal .. see the article above. I use the OSX firewall by default.
2. The only FREE Antivirus I know is ClamAV for OSX .. (again see the link above)
3. The intego Suite and a few others offer anti-spyware .. personally I don't use an anti-spyware client... just cookie cleaner tools in Firefox and Safari
4. Most of the OSX services (vnc, ssh etc are disabled by default and switched on/off via the Sharing System Preference.  To see all running processes use the Activity Monitor app in your Applications/Utilities folder.

If you are on a college network .. then as long as you have disabled File Sharing, Windows Sharing etc. and enabled the Firewall in the System Preferences you should be pretty well defended.

Good Luck

 

by: JohnK813Posted on 2007-01-09 at 12:31:56ID: 18278811

eoinosullivan,

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.

 

by: MarketingDrivePosted on 2008-05-01 at 06:56:43ID: 21478595

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.

 

by: IdleFirePosted on 2008-06-02 at 05:38:55ID: 21691396

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.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...