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What are free options for mac os x anti-virus software? I know Norton is the most common software I find for virus protection on os x, but I don't like the subscription model.

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Do you really want to slow down your computer ALL THE TIME? You'd almost be better off "risking" getting a virus since it will have less negative effect than Norton :-). Snake Oil, my friend. Unless of course you are managing public computers or something with high traffic and many users (and memory sticks) in which case, you never know... – Jared Updike Jul 17 '09 at 7:43
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Please, stay clear of Norton. It's cure is worst than the sickness. – GeneQ Jul 17 '09 at 7:46
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I just want to make sure i know about all the options that exist. I have my opinions about norton just like everyone else along with performance concerns with using anti virus all together. I just want to know what else is out there, so I can recommend to people every possible solution out there when I get asked about it. – Troggy♦ Jul 19 '09 at 6:45
Just to reiterate: Stay away from norton. It's probably not worse than some viruses, but it's a constant drain on everything. – Phoshi Sep 30 '09 at 17:34
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4 Answers

up vote 12 down vote accepted

Try ClamXav. It's open sourced and pretty much the only free (as in freedom) Mac antivirus that comes to mind.

It's used a lot of Linux servers too so it's actively developed and has frequent virus definition updates. A Mac only AV would not have such a large community.

Download it here.

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up vote 6 down vote

ClamXav is a good option.

(As a general tip, not downloading and running suspicious files is about the best thing you can do for security.)

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up vote 2 down vote

What may also help is setting your DNS to OpenDNS, creating an account there (free), and block certain categories of sites. Phishing for example. OpenDNS may also speed up your browsing.

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up vote 1 down vote

iAntiVirus is free antivirus. I dont like ClamXav ( its not that great )

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