[Leica] Antivirus question

[kididdoc at cox.net (Steve Barbour)]

re a recent OT thread...below I post a relevant note from Randy  
Singer  (from Sept 2006),  who feels the same now...

>> Randy Singer, whose opinion I highly value, recommended Intego Virus
>> Barrier in the past but I think he said he hadn't looked at it for a
>> year or two. The reviews on VersionTracker are less than unanimously
>> positive. Anyone using the current version? Any other viable
>> alternatives?
>
>
> Here is what is available, with some comments of mine (Randy):
>
> Norton Anti-Virus (NAV)
> <http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoffice/products/internet_security/nav10ma
> c/index.html>
> NAV has been known to cause nasty software incompatibilities.  (Not  
> for
> everyone, but for enough people that I wouldn't recommend it.)
> Symantec's Macintosh products, once the best available, have been in a
> free fall for a number of years now.  Their Norton Utilites for the  
> Mac
> product was discontinued last year after causing data loss for many
> users.
>
> Virex (Soon to be called VirusScan for the Macintosh)
> <http://www.networkassociates.com/us/products/mcafee/antivirus/desktop/vire
> x.htm>
> Virex interrupts your work to do scans (that is, it's not seamless)  
> and
> Network Associates are known for horrible tech support.  Apple no  
> longer
> offers a free copy of Virex as part of its .Mac service.
>
> VirusScan for Mac is in beta currently.
> <https://secure.nai.com/us/enterprise/downloads/beta/beta_mcafee/vsmac/vsma
> c.html>
>
> Sophos Anti-Virus
> <http://www.sophos.com/products/es/endpoint-server/sav-mac.html>
> An excellent product that is aimed at larger businesses, and which  
> has a
> high price tag. I don't think that a single license of Sophos is even
> available. This might be the ideal product for firms with a large  
> network.
>
> Intego Virus Barrier X
> <http://www.intego.com/virusbarrier/>
> The product that I use and most recommend.  It looks for and handles  
> all
> known Mac malware.  It works seamlessly and causes no performance
> slowdowns or software incompatibilities. It includes automatic  
> updating,
> so that you are protected as soon as possible when a new threat  
> arises,
> and it has a pretty cool interface too.   The July 2006 issue of  
> Macworld
> rated Intego's VirusBarrier as the best Mac anti-virus program. ($70)
> http://www.macworld.com/2006/06/magazine/july2006/index.php
>
> Authentium ESP Antivirus for Mac OS X
> http://www.authentium.com/
> I haven't tried this product.  I would love to hear about it from  
> anyone
> who has.
>
> ClamXav
> http://www.markallan.co.uk/clamXav/index.php
> ClamXav is a free product that is a port (with an added graphic front
> end) of the UNIX product ClamAV, which is used primarily on servers  
> for
> Windows networks.  (Apple includes ClamAV with Mac OS X Server.)   
> ClamXav
> won't protect you from all Mac malware (it actually includes  
> definitions
> for very little of the OS X malware that exissts), but it will protect
> you from Leap-A, and presumably it will detect a lot of Word and Excel
> macro viruses since they are cross platform.  It doesn't look for  
> the OS
> X Trojans Opener/Renepo and MacCowHand, or any of the OS 8/9 viruses  
> that
> can still infect Classic.  There are few contributions of Macintosh- 
> only
> malware definitions to the ClamAV project, so I don't consider this  
> to be
> a reliable anti-malware product for Mac users.
>
> ClamXav can't automatically scan incoming e-mail, and it can't  
> disinfect
> infected files, it can only flag them and then you have to delete and
> reinstall them.
>
> My biggest beef with ClamXav, even considering that it is a free  
> product,
> is that the developer leads you to believe that his product protects  
> you
> from Mac malware as well as the commercial products, and in fact it
> doesn't come close.
>
> Some users may not consider these last two products to actually be
> anti-virus software.  But they are marketed as such.  What they do is
> restore your drive to the exact condition it was in to start the  
> day, so
> any unwanted infections, and any other changes, are eradicated.  You  
> must
> save any work product to another drive (such as a file server) or  
> another
> storage medium if you use these products.
>
> Drive Vaccine
> http://www.horizondatasys.com/product_page.html?page_id=1#1
>
> MacShield
> http://www.centuriontech.com/products/macshield/
>
> I hope this helps.
>
>
> Randy B. Singer
> Co-Author of: The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th and 6th editions)
>
> MACINTOSH OS X ROUTINE MAINTENANCE
> http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html

Steve