SAV virus def | Good product for PCs, but why use it on a Mac?

Symantec NAV/SAV virus def

For 9.x and higher.

Version: July 3

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Good product for PCs, but why use it on a Mac?

Feedback Type: Commentary

Contributed by: ActionAmerica.org Saturday, December 08 2007 @ 10:01 AM PST

Product Platform: MacOSX

Used Product For: Have Not Tried

Recommend Product: NO

I saw this product on the weekly update and felt that I had to comment. I have used Symantec anti-virus products on PC's, in the past and found them to be well above average products, with timely updates.

However, it amazes me that anyone would use any anti-virus product on a Mac. It's not that there is no possibility that a Mac will ever get a virus. It is however, extremely unlikely. Combine that with the facts that 1) NO OS-X virus has ever been found in the wild, 2) all Mac anti-virus programs are, at best, only fair at finding PC viruses and 3) anti-virus products are more likely than most other types of programs, to cause problems with ANY OS and it means that running any anti-virus program on a Mac is 1) far more likely to cause problems, than find a Mac virus and 2) somewhat more likely to cause problems, than find a PC virus.

Just a thought...

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Comments

Good product for PCs, but why use it on a Mac? - baddawg65

I don't what environment you have but Symantec has detected several viruses that clamav and MacAffee have missed. I do agree there are not many Mac viruses out there because of the low user ratio (about 5%) so malware writers concentrate on Windows.
However with the advent of Mac going to the Intel platform and having WINE/CrossOver with Windows OS on your system you system can get "infected" by an Windows malware also and if the malware is intended to erase your disk it will erase your disk since WINE/CrossOver is part of the system. Even with virtualization software like Parallels or VMware with Window OS if you double click on a virus it will launch Parallels or VMware with Window OS infect the Windows OS and shared drive if you have that configured.
Symantec has been pain for me also since they don't release their virus definitions as schedule which I remember from a Symantec Tech said was on every Thursday. Also they never update their product (until last week which they release Symantec AntiVirus 11) on the Mac platform that often.

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Tuesday, December 18 2007 @ 10:53 AM PST

Good product for PCs, but why use it on a Mac? - Laraine Anne Barker

I don't remember having any problems with Symantec's software during the days of the "classic" OS, but I haven't bothered since switching to OS X--mostly because nobody, whether using a Mac or a PC, seems to have a good word to say for it. I've used a Mac since 1986 (when NAV was called SAM). It's sad to see old software favourites go sour, but it seems to be happening all the time.

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Friday, January 18 2008 @ 12:00 AM PST

Maybe This Needs to be Rethought? - rapope--2008

I too thought that I'd never see any virus on the Mac platform. But in the area of Trojan's, there appears to be something that just came up very recently (FWIW, I don't consider this to be FUD):

http://www.macnewsworld.com/rsstory/63504.html

Regards,

Rocky

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Friday, June 20 2008 @ 09:46 PM PDT