fred avolio's musings

You may recall, in PowerBook Day 1 and Following, I said “I did install ClamXav, an open-source antivirus program. Viruses on Macs are not a problem. But, I don’t want a PC virus to get forwarded in a document from my PowerBook! And the price was right. So, I learned that I just drop the “.app” file where I want it to sit, I learned how to link to it from the Desktop or the Dock (like the Task Menu in Windows).”


Recently, I read a Cybertrust “Hype or Hot” recommendation, about recent Mac OS X malware. It said, in part, “To date, there are no known cases of Mac OS X users suffering significant data loss due to a virus. However, there have been at least three separate outbreaks of data loss due to OS X users running antivirus software. In light of this, Cybertrust recommends against the use of antivirus software for most Mac users until further notice.”

Good enough for me. Off it came.

Full disclosure: I am working on a contract for Cybertrust, directing their Risk Intel Team. The Mac security recommendations I get from them are a side benefit.

Some press on the subject: www.newsfactor.com www.cio-today.com www.toptechnews.com Macobserver