Best Anti Virus for Mac OS

[bakron1]

I have had several friends who are converting from PC to Mac and are always asking me what anti virus software I would recommend for Mac OS.

I know there are pros and cons to running anti virus software, just thought I would reach out and see if someone has any running on their machine and share their thoughts.

I have been using DR.Webb for many years, but they are falling behind and don’t have a current version for Big Sur and can’t tell me when one will be available. Any suggestions are welcome.

 

[doogald]

I don't use any for Mac myself (see https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/best-antivirus/ for a great article), but if I needed something, I would use malwarebytes (as also discussed in that article.)

 

[Lee_Bo]

I was an Eset user for years. Recently tried BitDefender as it seems to come up at the top of the list in many web searches. While I do like it, there's an annoying VPN service that's also installed.

 

[ksassy]

I use Bitdefender and Malwarebytes (free version). Both are great and meet my needs.

 

[mushroom_daddy]

Avast free version works fine for me; used on several Macs that I have, latest being MacBook Pro 2020. Significantly, it continues to be supported on some older versions of OSX and runs equally well on the older Macs that I have (eg. El Capitan), which is not the case for several other antivirus softwares.

https://forums.imore.com/e?link=htt...ww.avast.com/free-mac-security&token=qWceZ2d0

 

[imwjl]

I've been happy with Bitdefender and see it two ways. As an enterprise admin it's also a component in Cisco AMP. I have it at a site to small for AMP's min 25 licenses. Overall no complaints about compatibility, performance and effectiveness.

 

[EdwinG]

I used Sophos on my personal Mac. Stopped using it with Big Sur, due to incompatibility.

Professionally, when I still used a MacBook Pro, we used System Center Endpoint Protection, which is no longer available.

 

[metllicamilitia]

I use Malwarebytes. The free version, which means I have to manually run scans. I think I accidentally partially deleted it and then that version didn't work the big sur beta version I was on. I tried Sophos in the meanwhile. Then Malwarebytes had an update and I could use it again. It found multiple things Sophos missed.

 

[bakron1]

Thanks for the input folks, as with others, I used Dr.Webb for many years without any issues, but seems they are falling behind on updating their software to Big Sur.

Looks like I am going to look at BitDefender, seems to be at the top of the list.

 

[scruffypig]

I have been using Malwarebytes free version and it is great. I haven’t tried bit-defender, I am looking into it also.

 

[dmoskaluk]

Malwarebytes was suggested to me by a long time iMac/ MacBook user. I have no complaints and it runs completely in the background.