Author Topic: Norton Antivirus for OS X??? (Read 3131 times)

Francine Eisner · « **on:** June 21, 2007, 08:11:53 AM »

Hi guys,

I was looking around at the various Mac Maintenance pages on the internet, and realized that I hadn't seen the "presence of NAV" since I installed OS X. Sure enough, when I tried to run it, I received a message that it "will not run in Classic." Is there a way to update it? If not, is there a free antivirus program out there? (I have no $$$).

Cheers,
Francine

Texas Mac Man · « **Reply #1 on:** June 21, 2007, 08:32:17 AM »

Get the freeware ClamXav @ http://www.clamxav.com/

Cheers, Tom

Francine Eisner · « **Reply #2 on:** June 21, 2007, 08:34:39 AM »

Oh...another thing. The version I have is NAV 6.02.

I've noticed that Symantec has a "download update" of NAV from version 6.0 to 10.0 for $30, which I might be able to manage to scrape together. But has anyone done this successfully?

Cheers,
Francine

Francine Eisner · « **Reply #3 on:** June 21, 2007, 08:49:30 AM »

BTW...my system is OS 10.1.5, and I will be able to upgrade to OS 10.3 later today.

Cheers,
Francine

Highmac · « **Reply #4 on:** June 21, 2007, 10:37:06 AM »

Francine - I may have got hold of the wrong end of the stick, but I'm sure I've seen warnings from other posters not to use Norton with X - I should hang fire until some more of the experts come along...

Edit to add: If Tom recommends something, it's generally well worth a look!

pendragon · « **Reply #5 on:** June 21, 2007, 10:56:20 AM »

Francine,

In a similar MacFixIt thread, Tacit had this to say re NAV:

"I would advise you to get rid of your Symantec antivirus program. Norton Antivirus, if that is what you're using, has a large list of very serious known and documented bugs; Norton Antivirus can cause kernel panics, system corruption, corruption of files on your hard disk, and problems with iPods and iTunes. It is, quite literally, worse than the non-existant threat it pretends to protect you from."

A search of the MFI forums yields many like comments and the horror stories that originally prompted the post.

Years ago, I used NAV. But now, I would not, under any circumstances, run a Norton product.

Francine Eisner · « **Reply #6 on:** June 21, 2007, 10:56:28 AM »

OK...If you say so...!

Cheers,
Francine

Xairbusdriver · « **Reply #7 on:** June 21, 2007, 11:39:02 AM »

Just Google the phrase "don't use Norton in OS X".

Jack W · « **Reply #8 on:** June 21, 2007, 03:42:23 PM »

Ditto what pendragon said.

I wouldn't use Norton anything in OS X.

Nor in OS 9 if OS X is installed!

Jack

Paddy · « **Reply #9 on:** June 21, 2007, 04:00:28 PM »

Francine, I've been running OS X for six years and have never had any anti-virus software. There are no OS X viruses in the wild...even after all this time. Will there be? Maybe. I'll worry about it if and when it becomes an issue. ClamXav is there if you really feel better having something.

Your question related to Classic though (which nobody seems to have addressed) - again, for the number of viruses out there affecting the Classic OS, I don't think I'd worry. Many of them are older than the hills (and affected earlier versions of the OS than 9) and are about as likely to show up as snow in July at this point. I had anti-virus software for a few years but pretty much abandoned it by the time OS 9 rolled around.

Francine Eisner · « **Reply #10 on:** June 21, 2007, 04:11:30 PM »

...Hehe...

Couldn't resist,
Francine

Paddy · « **Reply #11 on:** June 21, 2007, 08:14:36 PM »

Yeah, well, I guess it could also depend on where you live!!

Gregg · « **Reply #12 on:** June 22, 2007, 07:37:31 AM »

Ditto what Paddy said.... I've never found a virus on my Mac. I still use OS9, and I have Virex. I have faithfully downloaded the anti-virus "updates" once a month, but I can't tell you why. Lately, the downloads don't finish, and I haven't had a problem without them. No need to worry.

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Author Topic: Norton Antivirus for OS X??? (Read 3131 times)