You’re a lot more likely to encounter a malware attack on the Windows box, both because Windows (despite Microsoft’s ongoing efforts) is still a more vulnerable operating system and because malware coders naturally target the platform with more users. The best commercial products offer more protection but if you cant afford the best, at least install a free antivirus.Put a Mac and a PC on your desk, hook both up to the internet, and start surfing all over the web with no antivirus protection. Avast Security for Mac, AVG AntiVirus for Mac, Avira Free Antivirus for Mac, and Sophos Home Free for Mac are totally free for personal use, although Sophos technically limits you to three devices, macOS or Windows.Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac, Trend Micro, and Webroot are examples. Which product should you choose? We’ve examined dozens of antivirus utilities for the Mac so you can make that choice with confidence.Quite a few Mac antivirus products, like their Windows cousins, cost just under 40 per year. You need security beyond what’s built into macOS. Ransomware and other types of attacks on Macs have made the news.McAfee goes beyond that, with a $59.99 per year subscription that protects all your Macs, PCs, Android, and iOS devices. ProtectWorks is unusual in that a single $29.95 payment lets you protect all the Macs in your household, with no subscription needed. But the bad guys get the best return on investment attacking the biggest target.As with Windows antivirus tools, the most common price is just under $40 per year for a single license. Yet although Apple machines are targeted less than their Windows counterparts, they can still be infected - and the risks are increasing, which is why you need protection.Handheld vendors leave Mac support up to third parties,' Sascha says. Many casual users may think that identifying the best Mac antivirus software in 2019 is rather redundant, given that Macs dont get viruses.
Pcmag Best Antivirus Mac And AStill, nothing we've seen suggests that upgrading to Catalina or Big Sur will obviate the need for an antivirus utility. Big Sur goes further, sealing the operating system in a protected volume that's unreachable by malware. MacOS Catalina piled on more security features, with enhanced control over data-access permissions, weak password warnings, a strengthened anti-malware gatekeeper, and more. At the high end, you pay $99.99 per year for a three-license subscription to Intego Mac Internet Security X9 or Airo Antivirus for Mac.When macOS Mojave came out, it advanced security in various ways, including tracker blocking in Safari, a password manager, and a tighter rein on AppleScript. Malware Protection Lab CertificationsWhen you go to select a new washer, refrigerator, or other appliance, chances are good you research it first. If you're using a Windows security product from one of these companies, it might make sense to do the same on your Macs. Avast Premium Security for Mac, ESET Cyber Security for Mac, Malwarebytes for Mac Premium, Sophos Home Premium for Mac, and Vipre Advanced Security for Mac are among those that earned three stars. Another nine managed a decent three-star rating, but there isn't room for all of those. The best commercial products offer more protection but if you can't afford the best, at least install a free antivirus.Eight commercial macOS antivirus products that earned 3.5 stars or better appears in the list at top. How about paying nothing at all? Avast Security for Mac, AVG AntiVirus for Mac, Avira Free Antivirus for Mac, and Sophos Home Free for Mac are totally free for personal use, although Sophos technically limits you to three devices, macOS or Windows. Protection against malware protection is essential, of course, as is a low impact on performance. A product can earn up to six points for each. When we first rounded up Mac antivirus products, we only selected those with at least one certification, but at present, many of them don't appear in either lab's test results.The researchers at AV-Test Institute evaluate Mac antivirus products on three criteria: protection, performance, and usability. Two large labs include macOS antivirus products in their testing, but the slate of products for testing is variable. But actual test results published by an independent lab give you more reliable information. Play macintosh games on mac emulatorThis lab, too, included a test using malware aimed at Windows. Another three took 17.5 points, enough to be named "Top Product."In the macOS malware test by AV-Comparatives, most charted products scored 100%. In the latest report, four products achieved a perfect 18 points, all six points for all three criteria. That's because it does not enable real-time protection out of the box, a feature required for certification.Results in macOS-specific tests have a much smaller point spread than in tests of Windows antivirus utilities. You'll note that although MacKeeper scored 100% against malware, it did not receive certification. Most products came in at or near 100% against these less-virulent annoyances. This lab recently added a test using PUAs (Potentially Unwanted Applications). Scores in the Windows malware test ranged from 19% to 100%, which is quite a span. We've coded a number of analysis tools over the years to help with this testing. Hands-On Phishing Protection TestingWhen we test malware protection on Windows, we use live malware inside an isolated virtual machine. Avira is the only product that currently boasts top scores from both labs. If one fraudulent site gets blacklisted or shut down by the authorities, they simply pop up with a new one. Malwarebytes and ProtectWorks also lack an antiphishing component.The wily malefactors who create phishing sites are in the business of deception, and they constantly change and update their techniques, hoping to evade detection. With ClamXAV and Intego, this just isn't an included feature. And it doesn't matter if you are browsing on a PC, a Mac, or an internet-aware sewing machine.Almost all the products in the chart below include protection against malicious and fraudulent sites. If you enter your credentials at the fake login page, you've given the phisher access to your account. Phishing websites imitate secure sites, everything from banks and finance sites to gaming and dating sites. Avast, and AVG aren't far behind, with 97%. Bitdefender and McAfee come next, with 99% and 98% detection, respectively. Webroot owns this test, with 100% detection, beating even its Windows-based equivalent. Discarding any that don't fit the phishing profile, and any that don't load correctly in all four browsers, we report the product's detection rate as well as the difference between its detection rate and that of the other three test systems.Most of the products in this roundup beat the combined average of the three browsers. The other three use the protection built into Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge. One is Safari or Chrome on the Mac, protected by the Mac antivirus that's under test. But since the consequences of missing a ransomware attack are so great, some security products add components with the sole purpose of preventing ransomware attacks.We've observed a wide variety of ransomware protection techniques on Windows. Of course, any antivirus utility should handle ransomware just as it handles spyware, Trojans, viruses, and other malware types. While ransomware attacks are more common on Windows devices, Macs have suffered as well. Our Windows test systems are virtual machines, so we feel free to release real-world ransomware for testing. Folder Shield, which, like Safe Files, prevents unauthorized document access, is the only layer that made its way to the macOS edition.Sophos Home Premium includes the same CryptoGuard behavior-based ransomware protection found in its Windows equivalent. Trend Micro offers multiple layers of Windows ransomware protection. On a Mac, it also protects your Time Machine backups. Of the products listed here, Avast Premium, Bitdefender and Trend Micro offer a ransomware component that blocks unauthorized modification of protected documents.As with Bitdefender's Windows edition, the Safe Files feature prevents all unauthorized access to your documents. The Safe Money feature on the Mac doesn't do that, but it does check URLs to make sure you're on a legitimate secure site. As with ransomware protection, we've observed more features specifically devoted to spyware protection on Windows-based security products than on the Mac, but a few products in this collection do pay special attention to spyware.Under Windows, Kaspersky's Safe Money feature opens sensitive sites in a secure browser that's hardened against outside interference. Imagine some creeper secretly peeking at you through your Mac's webcam! Other types of spying include logging keystrokes to capture your passwords, sending Trojans to steal your personal data, and watching your online activities to build a profile. Spyware ProtectionAny kind of malware problem is unpleasant, but spyware may be the most unnerving. We don't have the option to do that on the physical Mac testbed, so we just have to figure that since it worked on Windows, it probably works on macOS. ![]()
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