newbie question paid antivirus vs free

[frocco 0]

Hello,

 

On my mac, I am currently using Sophos Home Free

 

I am interested in Eset and others and wanted to know from experienced users if the free version Sophos or Avast protect as  well as a paid version like Eset? I do online backing and basic web stuff.

 

50+ dollars a year is expensive to me, but is it worth it?

 

Thanks

[Jack's_Son 2]

froco,

 

I am a relatively new user of ESET Cyber Security Pro (for Mac) as I purchased the ESET Multi-Device Security suite at the beginning of February 2016. My primary laptop is a MacBook Air with a secondary Windows 7 HP Pavilion laptop.  I also own a couple of iOS devices and my brother owns an Android phone.  The Multi-Device suite comes with all of the components for each of my devices (except, of course, my iPad and iPhone) and also covers my brother's Android phone.

 

What I did was research all of the anti-virus suites; both paid and free.  I then installed them each individually, and thoroughly ran them through tests by going to the AMTSO web site.  Some passed each of the tests and others failed. My main concern was the "drive-by phishing" tests since Macs really don't pay much attention to Windows executables (*.EXE files) and I don't use my Windows laptop very often.  Anyway, I decided the ESET suite was the best for my purposes and have been happy ever since.  Some of the free ones are fine; such as Sophos and Panda (I previously was a McAfee user as that was the one that my cable company offered for free). However, my free subscription was due to expire so I decided to shell out the money.  Yes, they can be expensive, but so can any financial loss due to shoddy practices and software.

 

Do your research, test the suites and decide for yourself.  If the free suites are sufficient for your purposes, then you have your answer.  Some of the top suites don't offer Mac versions and NONE of them can run on any iOS devices. Check your inventory (Windows, Mac, Android) and decide what your needs are.

 

Good luck!

[planet 232]

Here's my two cents...

 

Sophos Home is currently the best free option for OS X, they are known to be reliable and stable with their products and always keep up to speed with Apple's new updates and releases to OS X. It provides enough protection for files on your Mac as well as keeping you protected as you browse the web. My only downside with Sophos Home is that it can affect browsing if you have a slowish connection due to the way it proxies your connections. Avast, although once a well-recommended free solution for Windows (now the dozens of 'features' and constant prompts to upgrade is annoying), is still quite new to providing a solution for OS X and from what I've seen and read isn't as reliable or stable as Sophos or ESET.

 

ESET Cyber Security or ESET Cyber Security Pro is so far the most well-suited paid product available for OS X at the moment, due to the variety of protection/features it provides for security on your device and while you browse, and for it's lightweight stability (doesn't impact the system, easy to forget you have it installed and feels like it's a part of OS X). The downside I see at the moment is it doesn't protect you from anything that uses HTTPS and cannot provide Email protection for current accounts that use SSL, but I have a feeling this will change in future releases.

 

To help you decide, I would suggest temporarily uninstalling Sophos Home (there's an Uninstaller in the Applications folder) and giving ESET Cyber Security a 30 day trial to see what you think (you can uninstall ESET with the uninstaller provided with the Installer you download), since you can just reinstall Sophos Home again afterwards. You could try ESET Cyber Security Pro for an additional Firewall and Parental Control features, but based on what you said you should be okay with just Cyber Security and turning on the built in OS X Firewall.

 

In short, ESET Cyber Security (or Pro) is my top pick for a paid solution.

However, Sophos Home would be my top pick for a free solution if cost is an issue.

 

By the way, AV-Comparitives does a great job reviewing most available products for OS X each year with screenshots too, which you can view here.

 

-

 

Some of the top suites don't offer Mac versions and NONE of them can run on any iOS devices. Check your inventory (Windows, Mac, Android) and decide what your needs are.

 

 

Very true, or they provide versions that are not friendly to OS X and can cause more harm than good.

 

If you have other devices that need protection:

Sophos Home can protect both Windows and OS X devices.

ESET can protect Windows, OS X, Android and Linux devices.

[frocco 0]

I am going to try ESET now, thanks for the advise and if anyone thinks of more reasons, I would love to read them.

[frocco 0]

Does ESET protect apple mail? ESET port is set to 143, but mail uses 993.

Would you consider ESET better than Kaspersky or NORTON?

Email client protection shows 0 total

[frocco 0]

ESET is reporting JS/ShellCode.gen and cleaned it

[TomFace 539]

Be sure to check e-stores like Newegg and Amazon as they run deals. I don't have a Mac but I know with my Windows ESS once you buy/have a license you can upgrade to the latest version for free.

Edited March 30, 2016 by TomFace

[planet 232]

Does ESET protect apple mail? ESET port is set to 143, but mail uses 993.

Would you consider ESET better than Kaspersky or NORTON?

Email client protection shows 0 total

 

It doesn't protect from the email connection itself, but it will still protect you from any attachments or content saved, opened or run in the Mail app, due to the real-time protection.

 

Norton on OS X has improved, but in past experiences (including just recently) there have been bugs or basic features not working with no solution or workarounds until they release an update, and they do install a lot more files/processes into the system which has more of a risk of issues if Norton does not keep up with OS X updates. Kaspersky has just released an Internet Security product for OS X, however I have only used their Antivirus in the past. I noticed it doesn't have any firewall functionality, and on their forums at the moment it looks like their SSL protection is causing issues with apps/processes using icloud.com (which is problematic as most builtin ones use it) with no fix yet other than to turn SSL protection off.

 

It comes back to stability and how lightweight a product is, and I would still suggest ESET for this (or Sophos).

Once again this is just my own experience/opinion so feel free to try them yourself and see what you think of other products.

 

 

ESET is reporting JS/ShellCode.gen and cleaned it

 

This is which means it most likely protected you from using your browser or an html file on your Mac. I would suggest manually running your first 'In-depth scan' to see if there is anything else sitting around on your Mac.

 

 

Be sure to check e-stores like Newegg and Amazon as they run deals. I don't have a Mac but I know with my Windows ESS once you buy/have a license you can upgrade to the latest version for free.

 

Pretty sure it's the same, good point TomFace 

Edited March 30, 2016 by planet

[frocco 0]

Has anyone heard of AntiVirus Sentinel Pro - Adware & Virus Scanner - Network Monitor & Protection for Mac?

ESET is still scanning and found 9 threats currently. HTML/Pharmacy.A Trojan

How bad is this?

[frocco 0]

I was going to buy Cyber Security Pro, but Multi-Device Security says it offers

 

Anti-Theft , Banking and Payment Protection and Antispam 

 

hxxp://offers.eset.com/compare-mac-antivirus/?CMP=bac-Google-G|D-US-NB-C-Retargeting|Aud&gclid=CImSp5eE58sCFQZZhgodu8kF1w

 

I thought the pro had everything.

Track, locate and lock a lost or stolen laptop.

 

Banking and Payment Protection 
Make payments online securely with automatic browser protection.

 

Antispam 
Keep unwanted email out of your mailbox.

[planet 232]

Has anyone heard of AntiVirus Sentinel Pro - Adware & Virus Scanner - Network Monitor & Protection for Mac?

ESET is still scanning and found 9 threats currently. HTML/Pharmacy.A Trojan

How bad is this?

 

It is not a well known product by a trusted vendor, and it has its limitations on your system being from the Mac App Store, plus over on Apple Support Discussions it is mentioned to avoid using it.

 

The threats are not too bad, it may just be from emails or your browsing history. At least ESET is finding and resolving them for you. 

 

 

 

I was going to buy Cyber Security Pro, but Multi-Device Security says it offers

Anti-Theft , Banking and Payment Protection and Antispam 

 

 

I thought the pro had everything.

 

I wanted to mention this to ESET in regards to how they compare Cyber Security Pro with Multi-Device Security because it can be confusing...

 

The anti-theft and banking protection features they mention are only on the Windows version of ESET Smart Security (included in the Multi-Device package). Anti-theft is built into your Mac, if you activate 'Fine my Mac' inside iCloud settings on OS X. Antispam is called 'Email Protection' included with both Cyber Security and Cyber Security Pro. If you purchase the Multi-Device package, you will still get ESET Cyber Security (and Pro) for your Mac (the same product). I suggest only purchasing Multi-Device if you have more than one device running Windows, Android, or Linux. With banking protection, it is quite new to ESET Smart Security on Windows and I wouldn't be surprised if it eventually arrived on Cyber Security for Macs in the future.

 

Don't forget that you have 30 days to use Cyber Security (or Pro) for free, once you install and activate your trial, so you can be 100% sure you're happy with the product before buying it.

Edited March 31, 2016 by planet

[frocco 0]

Thank you, ESET is still not finished scanning my Time Machine, but now it is reporting 17 threats. 

14 are the HTML/Pharmacy.a trojan.

 

I wist it was easier to select a threat and see all the info about it.

 

My Time Machine is 2TB, it it is only half way done in two days. 

[planet 232]

Thank you, ESET is still not finished scanning my Time Machine, but now it is reporting 17 threats. 

14 are the HTML/Pharmacy.a trojan.

 

I wist it was easier to select a threat and see all the info about it.

 

My Time Machine is 2TB, it it is only half way done in two days. 

 

Please stop the scan and create an exclusion for your Time Machine as ESET does not need to scan your Time Machine device, following the instructions here: hxxp://support.eset.com/kb3263/?locale=en_US

 

If you like, you can then start another scan in-depth which should be much faster as it should avoid your Time Machine device.

 

Hopefully Cyber Security (and Pro) will automatically exclude Time Machine devices by default in future releases. I went into detail in an older topic about Time Machine and ESET which you can view here: https://forum.eset.com/topic/4060-still-scanning-after-24-hours

 

To see the threats in detail after a scan is complete, go into Tools > Log files > and select 'Computer scan'. Double click on a scan to see a very detailed log. Otherwise, you can select the 'Detected threats' log for specific individual threats found.

Edited March 31, 2016 by planet

[frocco 0]

Thank you, should I not be concerned about the threats being found on Time Machine?

[planet 232]

Thank you, should I not be concerned about the threats being found on Time Machine?

 

In this situation it is okay as the threats are not on your Mac itself - as soon as you copy/restore something back to your Mac from the Time Machine device, ESET should block and resolve the threat on your Mac immediately because of the real-time protection.

[frocco 0]

Thanks, can you tell me why under statics, the Email client protection always shows zero?

Do I have to configure something?

[planet 232]

Thanks, can you tell me why under statics, the Email client protection always shows zero?

Do I have to configure something?

 

This is because Email protection only supports accounts using POP3 and IMAP without secure connections at the moment (these days everyone uses secure connections, also recognised as SSL), however you will still be protected by the real-time protection when viewing emails, and Mail.app has Junk mail filtering built in (you can enable it by going to Mail > Preferences.. > Junk Mail > Enable junk mail filtering).

Edited March 31, 2016 by planet

[frocco 0]

Thank you

[planet 232]

You're welcome @frocco, glad to have answered your questions. Hope you enjoy the remainder of your trial with ESET. 

[frocco 0]

Hello,

I have another question.

I deleted my Mac mail index file to fix an email issue.

My mail accounts include icloud and gmail

This resulted in mail rebuilding messages.

 

ESET is now reporting over 15000 messages that contain the HTML/Pharmacy.A trojan

 

Is this possible? Sophos or avast never reported any.

Edited April 2, 2016 by frocco

[frocco 0]

I found this thread about the HTML/Pharmacy.A trojan.

 

This thread is telling the user to delete ESET as it is worthless.

 

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7066529?start=0&tstart=0

[frocco 0]

I reinstalled ESET and now it is not reporting the gmail trojan.

I have not tried to rebuild the indexes in gmail. I think this is what triggered it.

[frocco 0]

Does anyone know if this was a false positive?

Should I not bother using ESET on a Mac?

[planet 232]

There are different opinions and views about having a security product installed on OS X, some people say not to bother as Apple implements their own methods, and others say to add an additional layer to protect you from further exploits, Gatekeeper bypasses, etc.

 

I would personally have the additional security product installed, but it is up to you.

 

If you will have a security product installed, I suggest installing ESET Cyber Security or Sophos Home (once again up to you if you want paid vs free), leave it on the default settings, and:

• if it is ESET, set your Network location and remember it (if using the Pro version), then set the Time Machine exclusions as described before. Then you can just leave it in the background and not worry about it.
• if it is Sophos, run an update from the menu bar, set the Time Machine exclusions on the Dashboard, then leave Sophos in the background.

If either ESET or Sophos detects anything, it will sort it out by itself and only ask you if it needs to.

Edited April 5, 2016 by planet

[frocco 0]

Thanks Planet, I looked at a bunch of AV's like Avira, Bitdefender along with ESET as some of the reviews I read say that Avira and Bitdefender scored high.

I am still leaning towards ESET, but do you feel Avira is a better choice over Sophos Home?