Mac Tales

Network security software in the Windows world is a really big deal. OS X is often touted as virus free, but does this mean you don’t need anti-spyware, anti-virus and firewall software?

Personal Firewall Software

OS X comes with a built in personal firewall. however, many people don’t realise that the firewall is, by default, disabled.

To enable the firewall, open “System Preferences” and select “sharing” from the “Internet and network” tab.

Click on the “firewall” button, then simply click “start”.

That’s it.

Mac Antivirus Software

At the time of writing, OS X users still enjoy virus free computing; well, sort of. There are no shortage of exploits, and OS X versions of popular software applications like firefox and skype carry the same vulnerabilities as their windows counterparts.

Additionally, there have been a number of worm scares in the past, and with the recent release of Safari for Windows we have seen a slew of exploits for safari.

So, should you install mac antivirus software? Vendors pitch AV software at mac users using the good citizen argument - whilst we might not be at risk, we are putting other OS network users at risk.

In short, I would advise investigating one of the leading commercial packages from Sophos, McAfee or Norton.

Alternatively, there an OS X port of the popular Free Clam AV.

Anti-spyware software

As far as anti-spyware is concerned, whilst there will certainly be a need for this in the future, and probably soon - there hasn’t been much activity in this sector so far.

MacScan and Norton Internet Security mac 3 both claim to offer anti-spyware controls for OS X. However, after reading the reviews of these products on macupdate, and Amazon - I’ve decided to hold off from purchasing one of these just now.

Summary

Definitely enable the OS X built in firewall, seriously consider purchasing some decent Anti-virus software, and be aware that the mac anti-spyware market is still in its early stages.